I know I was just complaining that Invisible War went a little too far in letting the player choose to do whatever they want, but I wish the original Deus Ex had taken it a little further…

I’ve been making some different choices this time around, doing things that I haven’t done before.  I thought it would be interesting, mix up the gameplay a bit.  Unfortunately, my choices really haven’t had any impact on the storyline.

Rather than let execute the guy on the 747, or stand aside while Navarra killed him, I killed her first.  There were a few different conversations…  Talk of covering up what I did…  And then the storyline rolled right along pretty much the same way it did before.  Obviously she wasn’t there to arrest me at the train station later…but I still got picked up by Herman.  I thought maybe I should have been arrested sooner, skipped ahead to the MJ12 prison early.  But it really didn’t do anything to the storyline.

I also saved Paul when his killswitch was activated.  At his apartment, when he tells  you to run for it, I hung around.  A couple Men In Black and a bunch of UNATCO soldiers broke down the door, I fought them off, and Paul escaped.  But that didn’t matter either, since he later turned up dead in the MJ12 labs anyway.  Which is really odd since he makes an appearance in Invisible War…  I’m not sure how that works.

I’m still really enjoying myself…  And some of my choices have a dramatic impact on gameplay - for example, I snuck into the MJ12 labs in Tokyo without having to kill a single person while I went in with guns blazing last time.  But I wish some of the more momentous choices like whether I kill Navarra or not would actually change the storyline.

So, obviously, Deus Ex isn’t perfect. I’ve been having a lot of fun playing it…but last night I ran up against one of my major annoyances - keys & codes. There are tons of locked doors throughout the game which can be opened once you find the right code to type in or the right key to use. The problem is that the game doesn’t really remember any of that for you.

Sure… You’ve got your keyring full of keys and all you have to do is try to use it on the door to find out if you’ve got the right one - but why couldn’t the game just assume that you do that and automatically unlock the door?

Even more annoying are the many, many numeric codes you use throughout the game. Important information is recorded in your notebook, but it isn’t automatically retrieved when it becomes relevant. So if you stumble across a locked door with a numeric keypad next to it, you have to open up your notebook and scroll through all the information in there looking for something that looks like the right code. Why couldn’t the game just assume that you do that and either automatically unlock the door, or display the proper code automatically for you?

I’m not suggesting that the doors all be unlocked… Obviously you’d still have to locate the right key or code… But why doesn’t the game make things a little easier for you? Invisible War takes that approach - automatically enters the codes for you - which is one of the very few things that it got right.

For the most part this isn’t a huge issue… But I just finished up in the VersaLife labs in Tokyo - with all their codes, locks, and computer terminals. I wound up with a whole 8.5×11″ sheet of paper full of numbers and logins after my VersaLife expedition. I really don’t think that you should need to keep a notebook on hand when playing a game - it kind of distracts from the gameplay.

So, having finished Invisible War, I was left feeling fairly unsatisfied with the experience…  I was really looking for another trip through Deus Ex, and Invisible War just did not deliver.  So I’ve installed the original Deus Ex again, and spent most of the weekend playing it.

I was immediately by how much better the original is…  Sure, the graphics are pretty dated now.  The characters are so low-poly that it looks like you could cut yourself on them.  But the gameplay is worlds better.  The setting is so much more rich and vibrant than in Invisible War…  You see random people on the street, overhear conversations, can interfere in family problems.  There are bars, and sports goods stores, and restaurants to explore.  It really feels like you’re wandered into some kind of gritty sci-fi noir setting…something like Blade Runner.

I’m also really enjoying the different skills and tactics and varied approaches you can use in completing the objectives.  I’ve been putting a lot of emphasis into a more covert approach…  Lots of points going into hacking and bypassing locks of all sorts…  Crawling through ventilation ducts, sniping people from rooftops, bypassing security…  All the stuff that I wanted to do in Invisible War, but wasn’t really given the opportunity to do.

Another thing that really stands out is the storyline.  Invisible War put a lot of emphasis on what they called “emergent gameplay”.  Basically, what that means is that they don’t steer you in any particular direction.  There are no real badguys, no real goodguys, you can side with whoever you want.  The problem is that they tried so hard to avoid creating villains that you never really had a good reason to side with anyone.  In Deus Ex there really are bad guys, and when you suddenly discover that you’ve been working for them it is a real surprise.

So, while I am thoroughly enjoying Deus Ex again, I’m starting to realize just how bad a sequel Invisible War was.  I wonder if there’s any chance for a Deus Ex 3 that’d be more true to the original…or if the sequel just nailed that coffin shut?