Deus Ex: Invisible War
Deus Ex: Invisible War is a 2003 action role-playing video game developed by Ion Storm and published by Eidos Interactive for Microsoft Windows and Xbox. It is the second game in the Deus Ex series. The gameplay—combining first-person shooter, stealth, and role-playing elements—features exploration and combat in environments connected to multiple city-based hubs, in addition to quests that can be completed in a variety of ways and flexible character customization. Conversations between characters feature a variety of responses, with options in conversations at crucial story points affecting how some events play out.
Invisible War takes place twenty years after Deus Ex. The game follows a scenario whereby a combination of all three possible endings of Deus Ex took place, and the first game's events led to a period of war and economic depression dubbed the "Collapse", which resulted in several factions attaining power and influence across the world. The player character, Alex D, is evacuated from Chicago to Seattle following a terrorist attack, soon becoming embroiled in a network of plots as factions fight for control of the world. In addition to the series' recurring cyberpunk setting and conspiracy theory motif, the story focuses on the theme of terrorism.
Development of Invisible War began following the success of Deus Ex. The aim was to create a more accessible version of the original game's systems while preserving its essentials. Original designer Harvey Smith directed the game, while Alexander Brandon and Sheldon Pacotti returned respectively as composer and scenario writer. Additional music and voice work was provided by the rock band Kidneythieves. Due to being developed for PC and Xbox, the game's environments needed to be designed with the console's hardware limitations in mind. In later interviews, members of the team have faulted their decisions for the title.
The game was acclaimed for its graphics, narrative and the freedom of choice in both gameplay and story. Criticism was directed towards enemy artificial intelligence, some of the design choices and problems with the PC port. The game has sold over one million copies worldwide as of 2011. Later opinions from both journalists and the game's staff have been polarized, with several websites calling Invisible War the weakest entry in the Deus Ex series. After several unsuccessful efforts to create a third Deus Ex game prior to Ion Storm's 2005 closure, a prequel to the first game, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, was developed by Eidos Montréal and released in 2011.
Gameplay
Deus Ex: Invisible War is an action role-playing game with incorporated first-person shooter and stealth mechanics. Players take the role of Alex D, whose gender and general appearance can be customized at the beginning of the game. The game has multiple difficulty settings; these range from "Easy", which increases damage to enemies, to "Realistic", which raises enemy health while also decreasing available ammunition. The player moves around the environment, being able to climb ladders and jump onto crates, and crouch to negotiate narrow spaces. Items such as datacubes and holoprojectors can be accessed to expand upon the narrative and progress the story. Certain objects in the game can be carried or thrown, from small items to human bodies. Each hub area of the game has a variety of missions given to the player by non-playable characters, which the player can choose to accept or ignore; these missions include quests linked to the main story and side quests unique to each hub area. These objectives can be completed in a variety of ways; these include using stealth to infiltrate an area, opening access points using hacking, or launching an armed assault. When talking with NPCs, the player has access to multiple dialogue options, with the option chosen influencing the course of the conversation.There are a variety of melee and ranged weapons in the game, both lethal and non-lethal; the melee weapons include a combat knife, a baton, and a "stun prod" shock device. Ranged weapons include a pistol, a shotgun, a rifle, an SMG, and a rocket launcher. Other weapon types include a variety of grenades and bombs. All guns found in the game share the same ammunition pool, which is represented by a bar, and each gun type uses different amounts from the pool. Guns can be customized with items and pieces of equipment, such as outfitting a gun with a silencer or allowing it to shoot through glass silently. Other upgrades increase maximum damage and decrease ammunition use. Items, weapons, ammunition, and equipment are purchased with credits, the in-game currency either gathered in the environment or earned through quests. Items range from tools such as disposable multitools for unlocking doors to canisters that replenish health or energy. Defeated enemies drop items that can be collected, or can be found in the environment or in containers such as boxes and cabinets. The player can carry up to twelve item types, with consumable items able to be stacked in a single slot.
During the course of the game, the player acquires biomods nanite-filled canisters that enhance their physical and mental attributes. There are two types of biomod canisters in the game: standard canisters and black market versions, both either found in the environment or purchased from certain NPCs. Standard and black market biomods cannot be installed in the same slot. Biomods are installed in five different slots representing different parts of the body—"Arm", "Cranial", "Eye", "Leg", and "Skeletal". Each region has three enhancement options the player can activate. Some biomod enhancements are exclusive to either standard or black market biomods. Biomod abilities range from enhancements to strength and agility to abilities linked to hacking terminals and taking control of hostile robots. Once activated, further biomod canisters can be used to upgrade existing abilities, or uninstall an ability to change it around, deleting and replacing the chosen enhancement with the new one. Biomod abilities tied to abilities such as cloaking use up the a portion of the player's energy bar when activated.
Synopsis
Setting
Invisible War is set in the year 2072, twenty years after the events of the original Deus Ex; the Deus Ex series is set in a cyberpunk future rife with secret organizations and conspiracies such as the Illuminati and Majestic 12, an Illuminati splinter faction. During the first game's events in 2052, original protagonist JC Denton—a clone designed to serve Majestic 12—was drawn into a secret war between the Illuminati and Majestic 12, led by industrialist Bob Page. Page intended to make himself a global dictator by first undermining the Illuminati by creating a pandemic to blackmail the world's elite into supporting Majestic 12, then merging himself with the artificial intelligence Helios. In the back-story revealed in the course of Invisible War, a combination of all three possible endings of Deus Ex took place; JC kills Majestic 12 leader Bob Page, merges with Helios, destroys Majestic 12's base in Area 51 to cripple the world communication network, then sides with the Illuminati to rebuild the world in the wake of these events. JC's actions triggered a worldwide period of war and depression dubbed the "Collapse". Following the Collapse, major capitals organize themselves into city states, creating walled enclaves where the population can be watched and expansion is closely controlled. The story moves between a variety of locations across the world, starting in Seattle and moving on to Cairo, Trier and Antarctica. A recurring feature are "Augmentations", advanced nanotechnologies that enhance the human body; the type used in Invisible War are dubbed "biomods".Characters and factions
The main protagonist is "Alex D"; their full name is Alex Denton, a clone from the same program which created JC and Paul Denton. Spirited away shortly before the events of Deus Ex, Alex is raised in Chicago before being inducted into the Tarsus Academy, a group controlled by the Denton-created ApostleCorp. At Tarsus, Alex is trained in the use of biomods. Alex's gender is chosen at the beginning of the game, with their selected gender affecting how some people react to them in conversations. Along with Alex, three other Tarsus students are encountered through the story: Billie Adams, a long-term friend of Alex; Leo Jankowski, a high-ranking and impulsive trainee; and Klara Sparks, a modest student who acts as Leo's friend and support. The students are overseen by Leila Nassif. Returning characters from Deus Ex include JC Denton; his brother Paul, who is rendered comatose after an unsuccessful biomod infusion; and Tracer Tong, an ally of the Dentons.There are several factions within Invisible War that Alex is contacted by and can choose to side with and represent different viewpoints on how humanity's post-Collapse society should develop. The two factions handling reconstruction in city enclaves are a future version of the World Trade Organization, which builds and maintains the emergent city states, acting as the de facto government body; and the Order, a religion combining concepts from multiple faiths which has gained support from people outside the enclaves and is opposed to the WTO's policies. Later in the game it is revealed that both the Order and the WTO are puppet organizations of the Illuminati, respectively led by Illuminati members Nicolette DuClare and Chad Dumier, the latter a veteran of the war against Majestic 12. Two other factions are the Knights Templar, a group led by former Order leader Saman that makes militant strikes against groups espousing biomod use; and the Omar, a cult of cybernetically-enhanced humans who share a hive mind.