Deus Ex: Invisible War Preview
Ion Storm's sequel to Deus Ex promises revolutionary gameplay and graphics. We check out an early version of the PC game.
It's hard to point to a first-person game that's given you more options to find your own way through story-driven action missions than Deus Ex, released for the PC back in 2000 and for the PS2 early last year. Often called a role-playing game because of its extensive dialogue and sophisticated system for developing and customizing your character, J.C. Denton, Deus Ex also had equal parts first-person combat and stealth. What it didn't have were cutting-edge graphics. Ion Storm got much more technically ambitious for the upcoming sequel, which will have dynamic lighting reminiscent of Doom III and a full physics system. But what makes Deus Ex: Invisible War so astonishing is that the technical enhancements will feed right into the gameplay. We simply can't wait to see if Ion Storm pulls it all off by the time the PC and Xbox versions are due out later this year.
At a recent visit to Ion Storm's office in Austin, Texas, we had a chance to see a pre-alpha version of the game and early versions of the opening cinematic that sets up the story. Deus Ex: Invisible War takes place in the mid-21st century, some 15 years after the first game, and nanotechnology is much more widespread. One of the first game's signature features was its multiple endings, which let you confront different parts of a global conspiracy. Naturally the designers have had to pick one ending to be the basis for the next game's story, but they just won't say which one.
The cinematic opens as a high-rise in Chicago is being evacuated. A terrorist has been spotted in the city, and attack drones are launched as the figure approaches the building. It's too late--the terrorist has time to open a cylinder and unleash a nano explosion that seems to feed off the material around it. But key members of the research team inside the building are able to escape by helicopter and leave for a more hidden installation in Seattle. An ominous voice echoes the title and gives a clue as to how it fits into the story: "We don't need armies. We have the cells in human bodies--an invisible weapon in an invisible war."
In the first Seattle mission, you'll find out that your character, Alex D., is one of four nano-enhanced agents working for the shadowy organization attacked in the city-leveling catastrophe. In the new game, you can choose to play as either a male or female character, both named Alex, and there are a few other options to customize the superficial looks of the two player models. Ion Storm invested a fair amount of effort to double all the voice work for the main character, and it's directly in response to requests from fans of the first games. The first mission is intended as a gradual introduction, and only at the end of it do you have to decide how to customize Alex's abilities.
Just as J.C. Denton accumulated superhuman skills and nano special abilities as you progressed through the first game, Alex will make similar progress. But now the system of skills and nano augmentation has been unified: There are nine bio-mod slots that can each be upgraded three levels. In the first mission, you'll get three bio-mods, and that's where the tough choices start. You can assign one to three different slots to get a variety of abilities or upgrade one to its maximum level, which will generally provide a radical enhancement--for example, an eye bio-mod will provide night vision at the first level, but it can be upgraded to allow you to see enemies through walls at the higher levels.
Deus Ex: Invisible War Quick Links
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- Eidos Interactive
- Ion Storm
- Sci-Fi Action Adventure
- Release: Dec 2, 2003 »
- ESRB: Mature
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