Deus Ex Invisible War (PC)

By PETER ELEY

Herald rating: * * * *

The first Deus Ex won rave reviews and notched up various Game of Year awards, so a lot has been riding on the sequel.

Deus Ex was one of the new breed of immersive computer games, and offered moral choices, adapting its course to the decisions you made.

Invisible War follows that line, and you can achieve objectives by stealth, cunning or violence. It's your choice: sneak into a building, bribe your way in, or shoot the guard and kick down the door. It will tell you a lot about yourself.

Like the original, Invisible War is a big and complex game of the sort that tend to let lawns grow knee high.
It picks up from the end of Deus Ex, and it helps to have played that to get a real understanding of the story.

Basically, civilisation is under threat from a shadowy cult which is trying to establish a new world religion, and using terrorism to achieve its ends.

But capitalism gets a bad press, too, and the game abounds with conspiracies and sub-plots, touching on some quite heavy philosophical concepts in the process.

It is set in the year 2072, and the game begins with a terrorist attack which destroys Chicago.

You play Alex D, as either male or female, who is being groomed to become some sort of top-level CIA-type. But your loyalties are called into question as the game progresses.

The $64,000 question with every sequel, of course, is if it is as good as the original. Deus Ex broke new ground, and the sequel has lost that shock value.
But it is at least as good in gameplay and graphics, and offers excellent value in the length of time it takes to play.

The game rates M17+ in the US, probably as much for its sexual themes as its violence. The New Zealand/Australia version will be released later this year.

(Ion Storm)