Rating: 
Summary: Horrible
Review: This game was simply horrendous. Above all, i hated the level design. I played for about an hour and had to quit due to crappy level design. It was extremely dark and gloomy. I could never see any natural light in any levels. It was a huge disappointment and I am grateful that the game wasn't mine and I didn't have to buy it.
Rating: 
Summary: A total and utter disappointment
Review: The first Deus Ex was, hands down, the best game I've ever played. I am a realistic person, however, so I tried not to go into this game hoping for a repeat of that experience. Even with lowered expectations, however, this game really does not cut it.Following is a list of major disappointments: 1) The RPG-style skill system is gone.
2) Multitools are both lockpicks and, well, multitools
3) Ammo is generic (i.e. all weapons use the same ammo), which pulls a lot of the mental arithmetic of a first-person-shooter out.
4) I had played for 30 minutes before I had the pistol, the energy blade, the shotgun, the sniper rifle, some grenades, and the submachine gun.
5) Most weapon mods had no visible effect, since the lack of a skill system meant that you weilded your weapon perfectly from the word "go."
6) Scant few enemies
7) Terrible AI (worse than most FPSes, and worse, I think, than the original)
8) Cramped level design (the vast expanses of the original are gone, and it is necessary to change maps more than any game I think I've ever played)
9) On an Athlon 2700 with 512MB dual-channel DDR memory and an ATI 9600XT, this game ran choppily, even after tweaking video settings.
10) The storyline is almost identical to the original, minus the sense of intrigue and discovery. I don't want to spoil one of the endings, but given the first story, it was absolutely ludicrous because you needed to do something that you did as JC Denton in the first one--for the same reason.
11) Despite doing every sidequest I could find, and being a pretty lousy gamer, I finished this game in about 10 hours.
12) This is maybe a minor thing, but since you are a clone of JC Denton, wouldn't it make sense that when you meet him, you're the same ethnicity? I played as the black Alex D, since that is how I played JC Denton. But then when I finally meet JC, he's some white guy I've never seen before. And if I'm black, how am I a clone?
13) There was no innovation on the biomods. Yes, there are black market biomods, which are touted as super-cool, but honestly none of them really do anything important, and they're all you can find for most of the game. The only good one is the hacking biomod, which used to be a skill in the first one, so giving up a biomod slot for that rather upset me.
14) It was easy. Really, really easy.
15) There were plenty of times when I said "Hmm. Pretty level design." I did not, however, say "COOL!" even once. When you're playing a game for entertainment, you shouldn't be noticing design, you should be noticing content. I suppose I should stop there. If you play this game, you won't be bored out of your head. It's still better than a lot of FPSes out there. It is not, however, anything too terribly special, and it is certainly no comparison to the original.
Rating: 
Summary: Dissappointing Sequel
Review: The only thing that DX:IW impoves its predecessor on is the graphics. The gameplay and story are both vastly inferior to the original Deus Ex. Story - Probably the best thing about the original, Invisible War's story is by contrast extremely weak. The way the story transitioned from the original is probably the most suspect link in the story. The ending of the original gave the player three distinct choices to make, and as you go through the story in Invisible War, it seems like Eidos tried to meld all three options together (otherwise there would be no story I suppose). The story also throws in some very out of place references to various modern day conspiracy theories just to make the story "cool". Perhaps Dan Brown wrote the story for Invisible War. Gameplay - The most bizarre part of the game is how Eidos decided to "dumb down" the gameplay from its predecessor. Instead of a system of experience points in tandem with biomods, the only character development system in the game is the biomod system, which is very similar to the biomod system of the previous game. Also strange is the "universal ammo clip" system. Apparently, in the future, stun prods use the same ammo as rocket launchers and flame throwers. They even dumbed down the lockpick/multitools system. Now there's only multitools, which gained the ability to pick the locks on doors. Despite its inferiority to the original, Invisible War is still a somewhat enjoyable game. It's just a bit dissappointing because the original was *that* good.
Rating: 
Summary: great game with stability issues
Review: Invisible War is a truly fun and original FPS. You get a lot of entertainment value for your money. The game is long and the story is interesting (confusing sometimes, too!). The graphics and gameplay are top-notch. You are afforded unlimited game saves, which is super convenient. As you progress through the game, there are many story paths you can take. This makes the game more enveloping and interesting. Why do people insist on comparing this game to the original Deus Ex? I have no idea. It's a different game, and it's equally as good, just different. I'm sure those same people will hate Half-Life 2 as well...because it will be different than the original Half Life. This game has stability issues when running in Windows XP, even when fully updated. It crashes to the desktop, and hangs occasionally. THIS IS ANNOYING! Overall, it's definitely a worthwhile game. The stability issue prevents this sequel from becoming one of the all-time greats (yes, it really IS that annoying). ....
Rating:
Summary: It's good, but not as good as the first
Review: Here's the deal. The story is excellent, the amount of choices they give you are excellent, and I like that you can kind of play it your own way. However, if you're a fan of the first game, this one is ultimately a little disappointing. The amount of customization you can do is gone. There are fewer biomods, the skill set is gone, all weapons use one type of ammo(?!?!?!?), there are no more lockpicks, there's VERY little space to carry weapons and equipment, you can't lean around corners anymore, and localized damage on Alex Denton is now gone. What gives? One thing Eidos really wanted to do with this game was to make it possible to never have to draw a weapon, but it ends up an impossible feat if you want to save lives and accomplish specific objectives. To me, that's not a big complaint, because I always prefer combining stealth with death. I'm just not happy that so many of the RPG elements in the first one were removed from this game. By the way, I have the graphics turned up, and the game runs well on my system, a system that mostly meets, rarely exceeds, the recommended requirements. I rarely crash, and the graphics and physics are really sweet on my system. Ultimately, depending on your system, you'll probably have varying degrees of success with this game. But it's still pretty cool. Four stars is reasonable.
Rating:
Summary: Invisible War - Set-up for failure?
Review: I am what some would call a casual gamer(I buy and play 3-4 games/yr). The original was a great game and I've replayed it several times. This game is also a good one even if it cut back on some of the aspects that made the original a "game of the year". If several have expressed their dissapointment, I believe they(and the programmers of "The Invisible War") have set themselves up for it. It is very hard to come out and top a game like Deus Ex and I believe they tried but made some understandable errors along the way. One is the issue with the generic ammo Alex D. picks up along the way. I think the programmers were thinking that since this game scenario is further along the timeline, the technology must have gotten better. Coming up with ammunition that can be configured for any weapon seemed like a logical step. But, as many have commented, this took away some of the stress and planning your character had to do to conserve it for different weapons. 2nd was the biomods Alex D. had to acquire. They not only made it too easy to upgrade to your maximum level, you could replace them anytime during the game if you decided you wanted a different biomod. This was a mistake for the same reasons as above. The size of the environments was dissapointing but I'm not going to rehash that as most others have commented on it. My last pet peeve: The dialog in this game was lousy compared to the original. In the original Alex's interaction with the other characters was very engaging, drawing you deeper into the role. And his conversation with the Echelon IV AI was very philsophical and actually made a lot of sense. In this game most of the characters were spouting crap most of the time. Alex D.'s conversation with Alex Denton made no sense whatsoever.
Now, as to the good of the game. It was still very interesting and fun to play. If this had been the original game, it might not have gotten "game of the year" but it would have gotten good reviews. Some of the weapons were great(I particularly liked the alt fire of the rocket launcher that allowed you to remote guide the missle). A couple of the biomods were also very good. The ability to dominate any robot was a lot of fun. In the original, you had several ending scenarios to choose from, however, it seemed clear to me which one they were steering you toward. In this game, it was unclear which ending seemed best until you had tried them all. Even then it wasn't clear which one would be the best for humanity at large. Overall, I enjoyed the game. While it missed the mark of the original, it was still a lot of fun to play.
Rating:
Summary: Here's the real conspiracy
Review: I've played the demo and it was poor. Other reviewers have played the entire game and thought it was poor. Even the American messages boards are saying its poor. Yet the games magazines still give it a score of 90+ precent!! So here's my conspiracy theory: who's paying them to score it so high? I'd spend time pondering that instead of playing this game - it would be time better spent.
Rating:
Summary: Crashing Disappointment
Review: One of the best PC games ever (Deus Ex) has been ruined in a lame-ass console port sequel. The maps are tiny because they were simultaneously developed for XBox, which only has 64 Meg of Ram. Similarly, the outdoor environments are claustrophobic, and there's never many characters onscreen at any one time. The text is HUGE (again, lame-ass console port) and the gameplay has been dumbed down. The story is interesting, but so many off-topic journeys are possible that you completely lose track of the through-line. Buy CHROME instead, the awesome and exciting sci-fi PC shooter which is the game INVISIBLE WAR should have been.
Rating:
Summary: A great PC game dumbed-down for X Box?
Review: That's my impression. As other reviewers have stated, some of the greatest things about the original DX are missing from this game. No more improving skills. No more choosing your skill specialty. You character never grows, never evolves. Just adds biomods and beefs those up a level or two. Gone are the open vistas that made some levels of DX so cool. You can gaze out the windows of the Arcology pyramid on future Cairo, but can you go outside? No! What a bummer. I could be wrong, but I can't help but feel the sequel to my beloved game was hobbled to make it console friendly. Or to make it more appealing to the Casual Gamer. The original DX was one of the top PC games of all time, but it didn't sell buttloads of copies. I guess we diehard DXers should've seen the writing on the wall. The only technical problems I've had are a few crashes to desktop. But I'm playing on a P4 2.8 9800 Pro with a gig of memory. The game does have atmosphere and does evoke the feeling of being in a Deux Ex sequel. It's nice being able to play as a female character for a change (you have a choice of male or female). I still like this game. Quite a bit. But I can't help but feel a little disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Too Short, Buggy and disappointing
Review: An overall disappointment. The game for one, was too short. Without all the side missions, this game would have been a skeleton. The Story was in no way suspensful and did a poor job of keeping my attention. Inventory, now theres a doosie. Whoever dreamt that up needs to find another vocation, I felt like i was pushing 'v' every other minute to change something out or to get rid of something. If i were to compare the original with the sequel, i would say it was a step back. The first had everything and the second had nothing. On top of that, the amount of bugs this game has is ridiculous. You can tell they pushed this out quick as possible for an X-mas release. From beginning to finish the game crashed at least 5 times, which isn't to bad from what i'm hearing from others. i probably had the same amount of freeze ups. I'm willing to bet that we will be seeing many patches to help this game out as much as possible, because i for one know it needs it. And like others have said, don't let the system specs that are shown everywhere fool you. What your most likely looking at is minimum requirements. And just to throw it out there, i got a 2.8gh whith 1024 ram and a 9800 Radeon and i must say the graphics were no big deal.
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