Deus Ex: Invisible War review

Deus Ex: Invisible War has the potential to take your breath away. Chances are, however, that you'll probably be holding your breath as the game decides whether or not it's going to crash. Gamestyle isn't quite sure who should be fronting the blame, but having thrice replaced its review copy, there's no question that stomach-churning 'bugs' are waging an Invisible War with the player. Every war has its casualties - will YOU be one of them?Holding its breath for the umpteenth time, Gamestyle reflected. It's hard not to fall in love with the delicious backstory; the tangible icing that so gloriously cakes the conspiracy-filled manifesto of JC Denton. Having thwarted a despotic bid for global domination in the original Deus Ex, UNATCO (United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition) peacekeeper, JC Denton, apparently took leave of his senses...and disappeared for 20 years. Pacifism - or its next of kin - never dies, because Alex D (for Denton) has been co-opted by disparate factions to uncover his whereabouts. For a game that espouses freedom of choice, it certainly divests those choices with the available player-avatars. The manual may boast of "three" male or female identities, but you're essentially getting one (per gender) palette-swapped choice. Bah, and humbug.Given that Deus Ex: Invisible War is a console-exclusive for Xbox, you'd certainly be expecting some attractive polygons. Well, Alex D otherwise lives up to "her" ambiguous image; she's thoroughly plain and featureless. Not that it matters - outside of the cutscenes, you're essentially working from her optical interface (ie, HUD) so all eyes should be on clean and responsive management. In this respect, Deus Ex 2 doesn't disappoint.To the left of screen is your Toolbelt and health meter, to the right is your Biomod abilities and EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) gauge. Biomodifications are like steroids of the future - they genetically enhance your abilities and are upgradeable throughout the game. Unfortunately, they have only three levels of improvement, and when you're maxed out you can't 'modify' the changes (unless you overwrite the ability, which means acquiring new Biomod canisters). Throughout those idyllic sections of bug-free performance, Gamestyle can't say that it had a problem with Biomod infusions. Certainly, the Black Market ability to control bots, cameras and turrets (via view transference) brought a swanky assurance to our side, and similarly, the remote piloting of a Spy Drone made for some brittle moments in the sub-zero clime of Antarctica.Deus Ex: Invisible War isn't wholly convincing as an emancipatory experience; locations are quite often sparse and desolate and the developer appears to be infatuated with volumetric space. For no good reason, there is a preponderance of packing crates, or dumpsters, or ladders and ventilation shafts. And then there are the loading screens...LOTS of loading screens. You don't actually 'travel' to new areas, you circumvent a series of transient interruptions (or crashes, natch) before the action continues. But when it does, you'll be thanking the gods of gameplay for such quintessential delights.Like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, conversations can be struck with literally every character in the game; secondary goals abound and there is a quite tantalising dalliance to be had with a 'virtual' pop star (ie, NG Resonance) who is accessible via realtime kiosks. While your confidence is stoked everytime you complete one of her virtual objectives (and she does claim to acknowledge you - if only from afar), it's a somewhat acerbic and sobering reality that 'bytes' when you finally DO cross her path. And of course, should you make it to the UNATCO Ruins on Liberty Island (and transport the Flag of Freedom to Manderley's bathroom, thereafter flushing the loo), you'll be whisked away to the 'DX2 Wrap Party' - where every principal avatar in the game can be caught dancing (including NG Resonance, whose knickers are finally visible).Elsewhere, a nod is given to the Havok middleware engine, which allows for 'ragdoll' physics that certainly ramp up your enthusiasm. Forgive Gamestyle its avuncular musings, but wading through the flotsam of lifeless bodies (see: Mako Ballistics Laboratory) certainly revived images of a gentler time; when the likes of Lara Croft could literally pass through the disengaged textures. It may sound macabre, but Gamestyle couldn't resist shuffling the bodies...receptionists in particular proved comedically agile.In many ways it's criminal that PAL code has proven to be buggy, because Deus Ex: Invisible War fairly screams at replay value. For starters, there's the option of playing through again as the opposite sex, and because you're free to choose allegiances, many of the game's fringe locations (and missions) are easily missed. There are four degrees of difficulty (adjustable in-game), and AI proved particularly responsive to sound cues and player prompting; as did the emergent dialogue (reportedly drawing from a vocabulary of 15,000 words). Lights and shadows were suitably immersive, although we did note the unwelcome spectre of aliased edges on objects.In light of its prevailing problems, Gamestyle would advise that you save manually to hard drive, and do so regularly. As incredibly ambitious and well-plotted the execution, Deus Ex: Invisible War falls slightly short of towering. If only those crash bugs and loading times were near-invisible, we'd be unapologetically, opaquely positive in our praise.