Games Convention: Deus Ex 2 Impressions (XBox)
Jaz, 2003-08-26

The Games Convention 2003 in Leipzig was significantly bigger than the first GC in 2002 - and what's more, this time a significantly larger amount of CRPGs (or games with RPG elements) were shown. Unfortunately, the two days I spent at the GC weren't enough to cover all of the RPG/like games - in fact, I was really glad I glimpsed as many games as I did, because sprinting from booth to booth, from award ceremony to press center and back while elbowing my way through hordes of gamers took a considerable amount of time.

Here is a short overview of Deus Ex - Invisible Wars (XBox version).

Deus Ex - Invisible Wars (Eidos, Xbox)
The first game I got to put my hands on was the XBox version of Deus Ex - Invisible War. I had seen a trailer/w game graphics at last year's GC; the physics presented were quite impressive. Unfortunately, the playable product of 2003 didn't leave a similarly favorable impression - mainly on the graphics sector. Even for XBox standards the visuals seem a bit dated. That's not to say character models don't look good, but there is no real lip-synching to talk of, and animations are choppy. Plus, the first level's drabness leaves a lingering memory of the warship-gray hallways in Halo, and with the exception of a few puffs of smoke no physics of note have been displayed.

On a more positive note, controls are XBox shooter standard and thus easy to get into. There's not much I can say about character- or storyline development - 10 minutes of talking to NPCs, lacking a set of keys and throwing things (including a decorative banner) against a door in the hope of smashing it open just weren't enough to get a sound grasp of what was going on. Generally, it seems in terms of manipulating items IW's game-play is pretty close to the original which might not be bad at all.

First Impression
Overall, my first hands-on impression is similar to the one the original Deus Ex left - graphics might have been better, but the set-up is promising. If the finished game doesn't lack in the story department, we might be in for a real boon. And perhaps - what do I say, quite probably! -PC graphics will be smoother.