I have never played any major game that comes off this infantile and soy and basic before. It's like a season of Paw Patrol produced by Tesla. Legitimately painful at times.

I guess chalk it up to MILES MORALES being way better than I expected, but in my apparently infinite naivete, I didn't even consider that this would be worse than the first game. It is, though - wow is it - in every way possible, including the above. Traversal, combat, story, quest design, side quests, incidental features, bugs - even the look of the game, which is supposed to be this thing's bread and butter - all took noticeable hits. Shocking how big of a stumble backwards this is.

It's perfectly clear at this point that Insomniac has nothing interesting to say or do with Spider-Man. The story of this game is so straightforward and basic it's embarrassing that it was written by adults. And once again, the dialogue and the extremely shaky and inconsistent motion capture and facial capture^ can't pull off the prestige MCU thing they're desperately reaching for. I'm no Spidey expert, but this is far and away the least interesting rendition of him that I'm familiar with. Nothing at all going on. Zero juice. It seriously feels like it's for little children.

^(not buying into the absurd conspiracies around MJ's face, but I can understand why someone would search for an alternative explanation for what they did to her because it genuinely seems impossible that they're that incompetent)

As for the gameplay, it really exposes itself in this one, with combat now being so overstuffed, spongey, and yet trivially easy that it becomes flat-out boring. They seemed to realize it and for variety's sake had no choice but to leaven the experience with UNCHARTED-style hold-forward-while-stuff-happens tunnels and, much worse, SEQUENCE after SEQUENCE after SEQUENCE of just walking around doing normal ass pointless stuff. It is CRAZY how much time you spend outside of a spider-suit (especially in the first few hours of the game!!!) looking at stuff, walking between nodes, hearing literal science lectures. The BATMAN: ARKHAM games had lots of different applications for its gameplay systems, always had different interesting things to do and discover that felt holistic to that world and story, and it never just felt like a sequence of samey fights (even though it accasionally was). Here, they have just got NOTHING to fall back on.

At one point, there's a sidequest where a Spidey fan has a copy of the first Daily Bugle photo Peter ever took of himself in action (recreating the cover of the real-world first Spider-Man comic, you know, where he's swinging and he's got the criminal under his arm). So Peter starts to flash back and you're like, oh nice, we're going to relive his first big adventure! But no, the sidequest is actually about him riding his bike to work to get the pictures in on time. I'd say that about fucking sums things up.

TL;DR - it sucks but probably not quite as much as you would think. Contrary to what many say, the story is also pretty bad but at least entertaining in how unhinged it is.

I was honestly expecting it to be much worse. The way people talk about this game I almost anticipated it bricking my pc or being a soulless half life clone with a coat of Deus Ex paint. It's definitely not THAT bad, but its by no means good and obviously comes nowhere close to living up to the original.

Here's my description of the game: imagine if the simplified gameplay of human revolution existed on the original xbox and was less balanced, polished, well designed, and less fleshed out. That's what this game felt like to me. The game exists in a strange place where its mostly an fps with some very light stealth and immersive sim elements. Like the original you can hack security systems, move objects to make alternate paths, shoot through glass to make new exits and entrances, blow up doors instead of unlocking them, etc. All of this however is far less extensively implemented than in the original. Unlike the original there are no skill points or stats, so you can use any weapon you want right off the bat. Hacking now requires an augmentation instead of skill points. Opening doors and electronic devices is now done with a generic multitool that isn't governed or improved by any stats.

In terms of level design, the levels are far smaller and less open than in the original. In the original most situations had 5 or more ways of approaching; in IW you're lucky if you get 2. The options are usually hallway 1 or hallway 2 and sometimes hallway 1 or vent. The levels can be fun to explore for their own sake and comb through for supplies and upgrades but exploring rarely nets you a new way to interact with the level or approach a challenge.

The immense codex of notes, emails, and passwords that you collect in the original is also missing here. For the simplified console experience this is a sensible change but I really found myself missing it in IW. The levels and tasks required of the player are far simpler than in the original so you don't need all of this information to complete the game. This change does however do a good job at illustrating the differences between the two games. Completing levels in the original was like solving a big puzzle using your own creativity and clues found around the environment. Solving levels in IW is literally just walking down linear corridors and shooting or avoiding enemies.

Gunplay in IW is far closer to a standard FPS than the original Deus Ex which I suppose could be considered a stats based shooter. Shooting in DE needed to be done very carefully and intentionally. In IW it's much easier to just whip out a gun and start firing away. Stealth mechanics in IW are mostly fine. The levels and enemies, however, are clearly not designed around stealth. There is no reliable one shot takedown melee attack like there is in the original if you hit enemies from behind. Not even basic grunts go down in one hit. You can upgrade your melee attack with augs and EVEN then it takes multiple hits to take down enemies from behind. I even switched the game to easy mode to see if it would work there and it takes at least two hits to take down basic grunts. There are also several enemies that you cannot practically take down with stealth based melee attacks. In the original, if you had the right weapon - like the dragon's tooth - you could take down even bulky enemies using stealth. The only ones that you couldn't practically do this with were the MIB, which were sparsely implemented and provided a nice challenge for players. in IW basically every enemy by the end of the game functions like an MIB - injuring the player if taken down using melee - and thus incentivizing gun play as opposed to stealth. By the final level of the game you'll be rushing down corridors blowing enemies away with your rocket launcher and headshotting them with a sniper rifle in a relatively mindless way.

This however doesn't mean that the game is easy. IW is shockingly and nonsensically much harder than Deus Ex when played on normal mode. Enemies will regularly one or two shot you in gunfights. This was also the case in the original but was much easier to get around due to the effectiveness of stealth, the multiple avenues for facing each challenge and the various augs and pieces of armor that could be used to buff your stats. IW is of course far less open, doesnt have any stats, has few defensive augs, and doesn't have armor. In IW when the only method of approaching a situation is sometimes a gunfight the game can get very frustrating - especially if you've only been purchasing and upgrading stealth-based augs.

The most interesting element of the game is definitely the story. It takes place a few decades after the original deus ex and hilariously assumes that all three endings took place at the same time. Writing is overall quite a bit weaker and less memorable than in the original but is still serviceable. IW does make a genuine effort to allow the player to make choices in which factions they support and does somewhat alter character interactions based on this - sometimes having characters unexpectedly return later to reward players for helping them in a side quest or deciding to spare their lives. The freedom players have to support different factions, however, is often implemented in a rather nonsensical way. There's no hidden or visible faction reputation mechanic so players are literally free to switch sides every single mission and kill important faction members with absolutely no consequence until the game decides to make them pick an ending during the final level. If you decide to pick a faction and stick with it from the beginning you probably wont notice this element of the game's design, but it can be very jarring and a bit laughable for anyone else.

The themes of IW are also similar to the original deus ex being about surveillance, privatization, class, and what it means to be human. The way these themes are presented, however, is only sometimes effective and generally much less nuanced than in the original. The more successful moments usually happen with simpler critiques along the lines of basic commentary about consolidation of power in large corporations. The subtext of the game and especially that of the endings, however, can at times be truly unhinged. Beloved characters from the original return in IW but instead of fighting to free humanity from oppressive power structures now work to serve that same power they once resisted. This is possibly a depressing commentary on human nature and how power continually grinds down those that try to resist it with punishment and incentives until basically everyone bends the knee and becomes a servant to it. Its also possibly a total reversal of the themes of the original game if taken with the context of the endings which seem to imply that these systems of power are our only options and that any attempt to resist them will basically destroy humanity in one way or another. Either way, it's a fascinating albeit very disappointing shift for the series in the case of the latter. There are multiple endings in this game which are honestly hilarious in how massively they change the world of deus ex depending on player choices. I wont spoil anything but your adventure in IW could easily be remembered in the history books of the deus ex world as the most important series of events in human history.

Overall this game is a somewhat mid FPS with light immersive sim elements and a sometimes effective story that seemingly tries to follow in the thematic footsteps of the original game. I would really only recommend this game to hardcore deus ex fans that are curious to experience where the series went. That said, those fans probably wont enjoy this game but might find it interesting, which was the case for me. Its really not as bad as people say it is but it understandably left a VERY bad taste in people's mouths due to the expectation that it would carry on the legacy of one of the best games of all time. It's relatively short - around 10 hours long. I would normally criticize it for this but in the case of IW this is probably a positive.

N.B. - make sure to download community patches before playing since it can be difficult to get running on PC.

Deus Ex is one of my favorite games. From its open-ended gameplay, to its intricate narrative, and its transcendent soundtrack, any flaws it has are, to me, superseded by its many qualities. Naturally, any prospect of a direct sequel excited me. The reception for Deus Ex: Invisible War went from rather positive at launch to increasingly negative the past two decades and after giving it an honest chance, it's plain to see why. Despite most of the original staff returning, key creative roles are different (director, lead designer) and it's fairly obvious as Invisible War launched the franchise in an entirely new direction that thankfully future games wouldn't repeat.

The gameplay is the biggest problem here. What made Deus Ex so engrossing on a design level was the unprecedented amount of player choice it offered, even putting a lot of modern games to shame. Invisible War purports to have a similar degree of choice, but it cuts down on it to such an insane degree that it might as well not have any. Levels are much smaller, which vastly limits your approach to completion. You never have anything like the original game's Liberty Island where there are numerous different approaches to completing an area (even though Liberty Island does return) - you'd be lucky to get two choices. Sure, there's a vent or a laser grid that can be disabled, but it's a far, far cry from the original. It also doesn't help that gameplay styles are so severely constricted in this game. Stealth or nonlethal options are so heavily disincentivized by the game's own systems that playing it like a standard first-person shooter is not only more fun but much more effective. In Deus Ex, if you snuck up on an enemy and hit them on the square of their backs, it would be an instant takedown. In Invisible War, this mechanic is gone, so attempting the same will just alert the enemy instead, meaning that headshotting them with the pistol is just easier and more efficient. The stun prod also takes much longer to take down an enemy than in the original, which means, once again, any tactical advantage it once had is practically sapped from it. Another remarkably stupid change is the universal ammo system, which means every gun whether pistol or rocket launcher pulls from the same ammo pool. Not only is this a needless oversimplification that even Xbox players would likely find baffling, but it makes the game more difficult since if you run out of ammo for one gun you run out for all of your guns. The removal of skill points also means that player customization is much simpler and different playstyles are once again discouraged. To Invisible War's credit, though, the biomod system is actually sort of interesting, being entirely modular. This means you can swap augmentations at will provided you have enough biomod canisters, and you're given plenty throughout the entire game to make experimenting viable. It's the only source of playstyle customization the game actually gives you and it's a nice breath of fresh air in a game that otherwise feels like a straightjacket. I also like how the game fixes the only gameplay complaint I had with the original - NPC reactions to player actions. Guards will aggro when you hack ATMs in front of them, and they'll react appropriately to seeing dead bodies on the floor. This is the only real improvement Invisible War has over the original, but it is notable, for what that's worth.

Few games can claim to be as thoroughly researched and well-written as Deus Ex, and Invisible War certainly doesn't fit into that category. Despite one of the writers returning, Invisible War entirely lacks the nuance, believable characters, deeper sociopolitical themes, or effective worldbuilding of the original, throwing in a dash of character assassination into the mix. For starters, one of the best parts of the original was the memos you could read throughout the game, which fleshed out the world to insane degrees while also feeling entirely convincing. Invisible War does technically still have these, but not only do they show up in lesser frequency but they're much less detailed too. It feels like they're there simply for the sake of it. This leads to a level of detachment from Invisible War's world setting and the progress that's been made since the first game. The most infamous decision was making all of the original game's endings simultaneously canonical, which is hacked and pasted together with glue and construction paper, feeling unconvincing and clumsy. None of the original characters are very interesting or memorable, they don't have the charming personalities of Deus Ex's cast nor is there much that sets them apart from one another. For example, Billie Adams is supposed to be your best friend from the academy, but there's no chemistry at all to make this believable. It doesn't help that protagonist Alex D is a bumbling idiot with seemingly zero idea of the world around him. While JC Denton was meant to be a player insert without a defined personality, he still had knowledge of the world around him and his interactions felt more genuine as a result. Alex on the other hand has to ask questions he would already reasonably know, and it feels like it only exists to serve the player, ignoring the ways Deus Ex did it far more intelligently. The most unbelievable part is how Invisible War treats its returning characters. Chad Dumier and Nicolette DuClare were terrorists with good intentions, desiring to overthrow the tyranny of Majestic 12. Like most of Deus Ex's characters, they were highly characterized by ideology. In Invisible War, these two characters now run the modern incarnation of the Illuminati, presumably having changed drastically after the Collapse. Not only does the game seemingly not actually go into any detail as to why these characters developed so drastically, but they might as well be entirely different characters. While peoples' perceptions of the world can definitely change due to major world events, I can't imagine Chad and Nicolette not only doing a 180-degree ideological turn but also rebuilding the entire thing that they lost so many lives fighting against. It's a ridiculous concept and easily my least favorite part of the plot. The game has a faction system that allows Alex to side with a myriad of different groups by doing their specific faction quests, but none of this amounts to anything narratively because the faction you align with (if any) can just be arbitrarily decided by the player at the end of the game, so there's little consequence to your choices.

Deus Ex was a respectable game visually speaking. Its enjoyably low-key cyberpunk aesthetic and solid (if unremarkable for their time) graphics created a visually satisfying game and one that I had no complaints about within that department. Invisible War ups the ante to Unreal Engine 2, but relative to the advancements in technology in the past three years, I find its visual presentation underwhelming. It's not a bad-looking game by any means, there are appealing aspects both in terms of art direction and technology, but I find it mediocre overall. Aesthetically, Invisible War is set far into the future, forgoing the grounded look for a future more in line with Star Trek. While not inherently a problem, the game's aesthetic is this weirdly washed-out, teal, steel corridor look which blends with so many other different sci-fi games. Ion Storm's conception of the future is generic, standard, and uninteresting. It extends to the hardly creative locations (neither are DX1's, but that game isn't going for the same degree of science-fiction) and the uninspired character designs. Hooded religious figures, goggled military men, and tight spandex suits don't inspire much in me. I'm all for developers playing with extreme color palettes, but the game is so washed out without it fitting any thematic purpose, such as a game set in the apocalypse having a similar palette to emphasize desolation. Graphically speaking, Invisible War does feature higher-quality assets and improved tech such as bumpmaps, but they somehow look worse. Characters have wide-eyed stares and mouths which have visible seams when animating. Textures, despite bumpmaps, are far lower quality than the original game and even have visible compression artifacts (almost certainly because of the Xbox's RAM constraints), lacking the detail texture option many Unreal Engine 1 games had. There's practically only one stock character face for each gender/race, and while the original game often had repeat NPCs they at least all looked distinct from one another. Despite the more advanced technology, the game's environments don't feel more detailed than the original's more often than not. Outdoor areas certainly look commendable enough, but all inside areas are bland and sparse. The lighting system looks great, however, and it's clearly something Ion Storm wanted to show off for better or worse. Every light source projects dynamic shadows across the entire area and it's honestly kind of stellar if somewhat over-the-top, reminding me a lot of Doom 3. It's probably why, among other reasons, maps had to be so much smaller to accommodate the Xbox, but I do enjoy looking at it for what that's worth.

It would be nice if the PC port was any good, though. Invisible War is a notoriously unstable game and even with the practically required Visible Upgrade mod, the game still frequently locked up on me during loading screens. It got to the point where I was quicksaving before exiting even small areas, holding my breath to see if the game would crash "the right way" or not. Seeing as the game handles level loading by deliberately crashing itself and relaunching in the new area every single time (which has the consequence of often running multiple game windows), this leads to moments where the game just crashes and freezes entirely, without loading the new areas. It also has the consequence of making loading screens way longer than they need to be, which feels especially sluggish in a game where areas are so small. There's a lot of veritable technical jank in this game, such as the framerate being uncapped by default yet physics objects speeding up above 100 FPS. The game will run at any framerate your PC can handle, but it never actually feels smooth to play, with a seemingly persistent judder to the experience. The port also lacks basic features, such as anisotropic filtering or key remapping for core gameplay functions. Certain things such as lack of widescreen support are somewhat excusable due to age, but others are just behind what other PC games were offering at the time. That in and of itself wouldn't be horrible had the game not been so unstable.

Deus Ex has, in my opinion, one of the best soundtracks ever featured in a video game. Invisible War takes an entirely new direction, forgoing the original game's focus on melody for an entirely ambient score inspired by Looking Glass Studios' Thief games. It's a major step down, but I can't say it's entirely ineffective either. Alexander Brandon is an incredibly talented composer and even if his work isn't memorable or even particularly creative here, it still capably supports the game's atmospheric needs. The theme for Heron's Loft in Seattle was a highlight, conveying a certain depressive yet comforting tone, reflecting the squalor the tenants lived in. Each area's dedicated themes fit them perfectly fine, and I never once had any complaints tonally. Some of the tracks are even rather relaxing. The direction that Ion Storm went musically wasn't strictly a bad thing, but it lacks memorability and doesn't properly build connections between the player and the environments, despite still being suitably immersive. Games like Resident Evil 7 have largely ambient, unassuming scores that still manage to create a soundscape that blends seamlessly with the environment. Invisible War certainly takes a shot but it doesn't become so immersive that it feels real nor is it melodic enough to cause earworms. A big missed opportunity was to have a dynamic soundtrack like the original game, with dedicated themes for general ambiance, combat, and conversations. The game suffers from a lack of combat music, which makes enemy encounters feel flat and lifeless comparatively. Variety was the spice of life in the original and it's just not here. I did like the inclusion of real-life industrial band Kidneythieves in the game's soundtrack as it did inject some life into what is an otherwise sort of anemic score even if it's kind of embarrassingly emblematic of the game's release year. Brandon at his worst is still Alexander Brandon, it's very competent and works well enough, but I understand his comments about it "not being right for Deus Ex".

Deus Ex: Invisible War is not a downright painful experience. It's hardly awful and on a surface level appears simply, unmemorably mediocre. Peel back the layers and you'll find a game whose systems hardly work, whose mechanics feel as constrained as a straightjacket, whose narrative feels cynical at best and often ridiculous, whose visuals have aged worse than the original, and whose stability is frequently an issue. Although I started the experience thinking that it "wasn't that bad", by the end I was entirely confident in branding Invisible War a downright bad game. While I understand publisher mandates and time constraints ended up hampering development rather significantly, it doesn't change that many strange decisions on Ion Storm's part were entirely unnecessary if not often detrimental. I'm surprised Deus Ex as a franchise even made it past this dud of a game and I'm glad that the next two games would, for their faults, at least return to the spirit of the original that got me invested in the first place.