E3 2003: Deus Ex 2 Hands On

The promising Deus Ex: Invisible War had a strong showing at the Eidos booth. Here are our impressions, plus new screens...

A guy at E3 with a microphone and a little too much fondness for his own voice bawled that "Deus Ex was the most award-winning game of all time." Our team of fact checkers couldn't verify this claim, but we do know this: The original Deus Ex was a superb gaming experience that gave gamers the rare freedom to solve problems on their own terms. Sneaky types could rely on stealth and diplomacy, whereas more ruthless souls could kick ass first and ask questions later.

The highly anticipated sequel, Deus Ex: The Invisible War, continues this tradition and raises the bar a notch with enhanced gameplay and vastly improved visuals.

Invisible War is essentially an open-ended RPG set in a future world with a robotically-enhanced cyborg as the protagonist. Like any open-ended title, the game features both a main quest and dozens of tangential side missions.

Perhaps the distinguishing feature of Deus Ex lies in the variety of ways you can meet any given objective. For example, faced with a locked electronic door players can disarm it with a multi-tool, disable it with an EMP grenade, or hurdle over the wall with a jump-boosting biomod.

The developers say biomods - special abilities acquired and wielded by your character - will play a key role in Invisible War. Players hell-bent on stealth can seek and obtain biomods that facilitate or improve their covert skills. By contrast, trigger-happy cowboys can obtain biomods that give them the Schwarzenegger edge.

The biomods also provide a slew of unique abilities. We already saw one type of biomod that enhances physical characteristics such as jumping. Another biomod unleashes a robot that accelerates the decomposition of a (recently disposed) corpse and heals you with the energy it releases.

The developer also said they're giving gamers even more freedom than they had in the original Deus Ex game. This time around, it's possible to go from start to finish without ever using a weapon. By the same token, you could go through the game unloading rounds like a poster boy for the National Rifle Association. Think, for a moment, about how amazing that is.

When the whole thing is said and done, the visuals should impress as much as the gameplay. We only played a short snippet of the game, but that gave us ample time to see some of the most impressive lighting effects at E3.

Dynamic lighting is becoming the norm among Xbox and PC titles, but Deus Ex does it as well as any game. In the demo, we created a nice dark corner for ourselves by pushing some debris in front of a light source.

Armed with a flamethrower, we torched a barrel and lit up a previously darkened room. When we turned on the power, the light from the flaming barrel contrasted realistically with the light from fluorescent bulbs overhead.

Only true gaming geeks (like us) turn giddy over the prospect of dynamic lighting, but this is lighting that looks great and influences how you play the game. Basically, they're threatening to make gaming geeks of us all.

The visuals looked fairly impressive in other respects, but they didn't blow other Xbox games off the map. In fact, the whole game had a slightly grainy, stuttery appearance that could use a fine coat of wax. Fortunately, we fully aspect that loving attention to be applied. The developer said the feature set is basically complete, so now they have several months to fine-tune the gameplay and visuals.

When it's done, we'll see rag doll physics - a perennial crowd-pleaser - along with 5.1 surround sound and realist sonic applications such as the ability to muffle your movements by closing an open door.

It's a shame most console owners probably missed Deus Ex the first time around, but they can redeem themselves with the bigger, better, and badder sequel. Stay tuned for a holiday release.

Tony Scinta
Staff writer, Kikizo Games