The Rise, Fall and Rise (?) of Deus Ex

In the year 2000 - or 'Y2K' as the cool kids called it, computers and electronics all over the world became sentient, Skynet finally won and there was panic everywhere. Deus Ex was also released, and it was more exciting (it also actually happened). Allowing players to tackle their objectives in any way they saw fit, it was released to critical acclaim; offering a fantastic story and nicely integrated RPG elements, long before it became cool to add RPG elements to everything and anything.

I honestly couldn't praise Deus Ex enough, I'd be happy to write page after page about how brilliant it is; and to be honest, once I was done I could probably think of more good things to write about it, it's just that damn good! However, this piece is more focusing on the series as a whole, and what I’m after considering the soon-to-be-released Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

The first game was a success, on this we can all agree; originally released for the PC, it is still played by many today. It was also ported to the PlayStation 2, which during my limited time with, seemed to be pretty sub-par and not at all a good representation of the classic I had been raving about to my console-playing friends. This was all well and good, though, I just went on my way, replaying it over and over finding new ways to complete levels and awaiting the inevitable sequel, which finally came in the shape of Deus Ex: Invisible War.

Despite the brilliant sounding title, the game, quite frankly, stank when it was put side by side with its little brother. It had less depth, less charm, the lead character Alex D had nothing on the originals JC Denton, and the story itself was less immersive than the original. Oh, it also had pretty good physics and graphics for the time.

Contrary to what you might think though, considering what I've just written; Deus Ex 2 wasn't a bad game, it just wasn't a good Deus Ex game. On its own merits, and had it just been called 'Invisible War,' it may have had more success with its critical fanbase. A sequel to one of the most beloved FPS/RPG's ever released is never going to be an easy thing to live up to, but they didn't drop the ball, they threw it away. This is where Eidos come in.

Human Revolution acts as a prequel to both previous games, and this is already a staggeringly better – and simple - choice than Invisible War's sequel status. It means there's no need to shoe-horn previous characters or name-drop them, or events that occurred previously; thus not alienating new players to the series, and most likely the majority of console players - since their only experience is the dreaded sequel, or a sub-par port of the original. Free from the bonds of the first game, they are free to create an entirely new world for us to explore, create new characters for us to interact with and new scenarios for us to run through.

Assuming they keep the same gameplay features that made the original so successful (and don't drop things that made it so successful as happened with Invisible War), then Eidos should have no problems creating a fantastic experience for us all. As some know, I tend to avoid news and previews about games I'm looking forward to, and this is no exception, so I'm not sure if upon character creation you can allocate skill points like the original, or if it will just be a case of Biomods being your only source of upgrades. I hope it's the former, as this adds a second layer to customisation and upgrading which was missed in Invisible War.

From the screens and trailers I've seen the game looks pretty damn good, with an orange tint covering everything, much in the same vein of the original games blue tint. A simple thing, but something that may remind long term fans of the original.

Gameplay wise, I can see a need for a little updating as far as mechanics are concerned, such as aiming down sights when shooting. However I hope it keeps to its RPG roots when it comes to shooting, meaning you can't just head-shot everything from a mile away from the get-go without sinking some points or experience into your shooting skills. This might piss people off like it did with Alpha Protocol (which I loved, by the way), but hey, it's my wish list so shut up.

Basically, if they can even half-way repeat what Ion Storm achieved with the original game, they're onto a better Deus Ex game than Invisible War was, and if they manage that, I'll have their babies. Or buy their game, or.. something. It started off fantastically, then it went downhill with the sequel, so here's hoping the prequel can get things back in order and take Deus Ex back to the top where it belongs.