You've seen the various introductory bits regarding the excessive wonders and thrills of E3, so we'll skip them. So, Deus Ex 2. "Deus Ex:
Invisible War" to give it its proper name. Having played the demo a bit and watched the team demonstrate the game as well, the game completely blew me away, visually, technologically,
and in terms of gameplay. It was difficult to do anything but stare in fascination, but I managed to disengage myself long enough to take a few notes.
The graphics, as the screenshots would suggest, are top-notch: lights flicker dynamically, the bump mapping makes things look extraordinarily
detailed and bumpy, and the polycounts said, "Time to upgrade!" Interestingly, the Xbox version of the game had a recognizably different
(although not inferior) visual effect, the colors being more saturated and console-like.
The HUD, cause of some concern due to its size, does not hamper gameplay at all. Far from it, in fact: the display is elegant, streamlined,
and visually appealing, without being intrusive. Just in case, however, ION is including an opacity slider, which will allow the player to
modify the visibility of the interface as they see fit.
The interface has been greatly simplified (think number of buttons on an Xbox controller), but everything relevant to gameplay is at the
player's fingertips, or one step away. One small niggle is the item and weapon selection, which requires the player to cycle through their
inventory of available items or weapons instead of using number keys--something that tends to become annoying, especially in a firefight.
Aside from that, the interface was very satisfactory, even to one such as I, who abhors console controllers.
Gameplay is very recognizable as Deus Ex gameplay, although the number of ways to accomplish a given task has increased exponentially. A
couple examples should suffice.
The first is Harvey "witchboy" Smith's use of the bot domination biomod to take control of a rather intimidating combat bot. Once the mod was
activated, he has ten seconds to hide his avatar in a safe place before the normal player viewport changes into a fuzzy, black-and-white view
from the bot's perspective, indicating he had taken control of the machine. This accomplished, he turns the bot's weapons system on a turret
which is blocking his progress through the level, then proceeds onward, stopping along the way to detonate a barrel of toxic gas next to a
un-suspecting guard.
The second example involves a hallway that served as a barrier between two outdoor areas. The entrance to this hall is protected by Deus Ex's
patent laser beam trip-wires, that flood the hall with toxic gas once triggered. There are options, of course: one can simply hack the
control pad and turn of the beams, or use their "invisibility to trip-laser" biomod to avoid triggering the release of the gas. The player
can also activate the speed mod and simply jump over the hall, bypassing it entirely, or use the Hazard Drone biomod to absorb the
toxin once the gas has been released. And once the hall is safely passed, un-suspecting guards can be lured into it...
Thief-style mantling is another important addition to the gameplay, as well as the ability to pick up dead or unconscious NPCs without having to deal with their inventory.
Replayability opportunities abound, which is ION's intention. They expect the game to be a bit shorter, but we'll likely be playing the game
more than once, given the variety of gameplay and the multiple endings.
Whatever is said about the weapons is immaterial, since the ones at the show were placeholders used for demonstration purposes. The team is
planning an overhaul of the weapons system next month, after which we'll be able to say more about them. Even the placeholders look
excellent, though, with flamethrower effects that rival Unreal 2's, and player-guided rockets reminiscent of UT's Redeemer--very useful for
destroying satellite dishes.
Real-time physics have given rise to a whole new mini-game: dropping unconscious guards down stairways and watching them flop about as they
roll--we now know what ION meant when they said "no new technology unless it effects gameplay!" Actually, in spite of a slight Silly Putty
tendancy that's a bit like Raven Shield's, the physics do work as a powerful immersive aid: no more bodies lying at odd angles to an incline.
Not to mention the new gameplay options, such as throwing crates about to distract guards, and rolling explosive barrels towards enemies then
detonating them. There's also some "wow" elements to the tech, like walking over a broom and watching it shift underneath your feet.
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