so, how many people reinstalled deusex after reading last issue?

[Lizard]

Don't get Invisible War - its nominally the sequel to Deus Ex, but its so utterly appaling its best not to talk about it in polite company.

[CardJoe]

Originally Posted by RichCreedy

do i need the invisible war thing as well? or just deus ex? - £5.99 ea on steam

I'd just get the first one. James is exaggerating in my opinion as the sequel gets a lot of stick, but it really doesn't live up to the first game either way.

Originally Posted by Kyocera

Why should we bother with prehistoric quality graphics and all the problems the game has??

Because we as a demographic spend far too long chasing the latest graphics and biggest explosions and occasionally need to be reminded what actually constitutes 'quality'.

Deus Ex may not be up your alley, I'm not promising that, and the first level is definitely a bit too open and strange for some people - but it is honestly worth pushing through it just to remind yourself that games can actually be intelligent and important. Just give yourself time to adapt to it a little and, as I said earlier, try to get as far as the third mission before you give up. Deus Ex is like a fine wine in that it takes a little bit of effort to fully appreciate.

As for why (not how) you should appreciate it, it's because Deus Ex actually brings up some interesting questions about the nature of power and control, how it corrupts and who should have the power to wield it. It's a game that is constantly presenting you with a reasonable way of managing things, then shattering that presentation by exposing the human flaws beneath it. It shows you UNATCO, then the Majestic 12, then the Illuminati, then the X-51 intellectuals, then the individualists like Tracer Tong, dissecting them as it goes.

Simply; in a genre where villains are always villains and heroes are always anti-heroes, Deus Ex does the one thing that few other games manage to pull off - create a world not of absolute black and white, but shades of grey. If you're the type of person who's into story and understanding things like that then Deus Ex is the single most important shooter you'll play.

Jesus; the discussion you can have with Morpheus, the omnipotent AI who is carefully hidden off the main path so that only real explorers can find him, is worth the admission fee alone. It's a brilliant piece of writing.

Of course, it's also a shooter-RPG, so even if you aren't into that kind of stuff then there's still a lot to love in Deus Ex. If you're into RPGs at all then Deus Ex presents a very nicely constructed world where you're constantly balancing your skills and abilities and deciding who to stay allied to and for how long.

It's most weakly judged from an action point of view as, admittedly, the actual combat doesn't provide much feedback and there's not a lot of gee-whiz-'splosions. It's more Michael Mann than Michael Bay, quite simply. Still, it provides players with a huge amount of freedom from a combat point of view and the level design is magnificent in what it facilitates. Lots and lots of scaling buildings and sniping if you want it, or laying down traps for mechas or shooting rockets if you want.

It's quite simply a modern classic.

[Yoy0YO]

I know I'll play it through for my first time over summer. I will. I assure you all, I will.

[CardJoe]