Finished Deus Ex: Invisible War
Feb. 1st, 2004 12:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreamsharkI finished DXIW. Turns out Billie wasn't so tough after all; if my health hadn't been so low from the start, Antarctica would've been a piece of cake. I sided with the Dentons at the end, them being family and all, but I can't say I liked the way it turned out. Big brother or not, JC just wasn't all that human any more.
I've been participating in some of the online forums, something I usually don't get a chance to do with computer games since I rarely play them when they're new and hot. Among people who have played both games, there seem to be two points of view: (1) Deus Ex rocked, but the sequel is absolutely horrible and a disgrace to the very name of Deus Ex ,and (2) Deus Ex rocked; the sequel is not nearly as good but still a very good game. I go with #2. Almost nobody believes that DXIW is better than the original, or even as good. Which is a little bit odd, considering that Ion Storm worked on the sequel for three years. Somehow they ended up with something that was much shorter than the first game, missing a lot of features, and so buggy that many people are unable to get it to run at all. A sad commentary on the whole field of software development.
But still, a very good game. I played it obsessively to the end (something I do with at most 10% of the games I attempt), and am now replaying it with a differently configured character. First time through I played as a female. My character evolved to be that of a sneaky coward with pretensions of integrity. I refused to kill anybody who wasn't trying to kill me, but that turns out not to narrow the field as much as you might expect. I did turn down a couple of assassination contracts. I tried to use non-lethal means to accomplish other missions, but once I got that sniper rifle it was all downhill. Way too easy to hide in the shadows and shoot the guards in the head before they even knew I was there. *heh heh* Strangely satisfying, actually. Once I got the spy drone up to level 3 I could use that instead, which was usually a non-lethal attack, but way too easy.
Second time through, playing as a male for variety, I'm deliberately picking different biomods and different approaches to missions. I've augmented my arm strength and concentrating on melee weapons, chose not to install the computer hacking interface (too easy to bypass security systems) and not using the spy drone. I'm not playing as a mass murderer, but I did assassinate that lawyer for extra cash, and burn Queequeg's stash of coffee beans. I uncovered an entirely new area of the New Cairo level by accepting a side mission I'd turned down before. I'm playing on 3rd level of difficulty this time (out of 4) and thinking of cranking it up to 4. As shooters go, it's a pretty easy game. Normally I play games like this at the lowest level of difficulty, but I'm developing some skillz.
I've been participating in some of the online forums, something I usually don't get a chance to do with computer games since I rarely play them when they're new and hot. Among people who have played both games, there seem to be two points of view: (1) Deus Ex rocked, but the sequel is absolutely horrible and a disgrace to the very name of Deus Ex ,and (2) Deus Ex rocked; the sequel is not nearly as good but still a very good game. I go with #2. Almost nobody believes that DXIW is better than the original, or even as good. Which is a little bit odd, considering that Ion Storm worked on the sequel for three years. Somehow they ended up with something that was much shorter than the first game, missing a lot of features, and so buggy that many people are unable to get it to run at all. A sad commentary on the whole field of software development.
But still, a very good game. I played it obsessively to the end (something I do with at most 10% of the games I attempt), and am now replaying it with a differently configured character. First time through I played as a female. My character evolved to be that of a sneaky coward with pretensions of integrity. I refused to kill anybody who wasn't trying to kill me, but that turns out not to narrow the field as much as you might expect. I did turn down a couple of assassination contracts. I tried to use non-lethal means to accomplish other missions, but once I got that sniper rifle it was all downhill. Way too easy to hide in the shadows and shoot the guards in the head before they even knew I was there. *heh heh* Strangely satisfying, actually. Once I got the spy drone up to level 3 I could use that instead, which was usually a non-lethal attack, but way too easy.
Second time through, playing as a male for variety, I'm deliberately picking different biomods and different approaches to missions. I've augmented my arm strength and concentrating on melee weapons, chose not to install the computer hacking interface (too easy to bypass security systems) and not using the spy drone. I'm not playing as a mass murderer, but I did assassinate that lawyer for extra cash, and burn Queequeg's stash of coffee beans. I uncovered an entirely new area of the New Cairo level by accepting a side mission I'd turned down before. I'm playing on 3rd level of difficulty this time (out of 4) and thinking of cranking it up to 4. As shooters go, it's a pretty easy game. Normally I play games like this at the lowest level of difficulty, but I'm developing some skillz.
