Deus Ex, from the phrase "deus ex machina” is Latin for "god from the machine". It originated from Greek and Roman theatre when stage machinery would lower a god or gods onstage to resolve a hopeless situation: thus god comes from the machine. The phrase "deus ex machina” has been extended to refer to any sudden resolution to a story that is implausible and unexpected, used purely to allow the author to end it in the way they wanted. The parallels to this definition and the Deus Ex series (pronounced either "DEE-us ex” or "DAY-oos ex”) are quite evident. The players character possesses god-like abilities through the use of "bio-modification” and has an uncanny knack of at the last moment changing the world as we know it (or would know it if we lived in the future).

Deus Ex: Invisible War (DE:IW) takes place in the year 2062, twenty years after "The Collapse” caused by the protagonist of the original Deus Ex game JC Denton. The world of DE:IW is a gritty sci-fi universe where the middle-class is all but gone and the divide between the exceedingly rich and agonisingly poor is immense. The World Trade Order (WTO – the similarities with the "real world” organisation with the same acronym appear intentional) and the religious cult The Order, are fighting for control over the worlds inhabitants. The WTO are focussed on economics, trade and surveillance whereas The Order are driven to restore balance to the world, or so they both say. Most of your choices in DE:IW are whether to accept the WTO or The Order missions (as they are usually mutually exclusive) but it is quite possible to play both organisations against one another without destroying your relationship or trust with either.

Deus Ex: Invisible War is at its core, a streamlined Role Playing Game (RPG) but it does contain elements of a First Person Shooter (FPS) and stealth. By "streamlined” I mean changes have been made to the original game mechanic in order to make it far more accessible to a wider gaming audience and better suited for a console platform. Don't start up the game expecting a re-hash of the original with updated graphics because DE:IW is essentially a different beast. You have a number of inventory slots for weapons and equipment, but not an area such as a backpack to arrange your items like a jig-saw puzzle. There is no longer a skill-point system and the emphasis is now placed on upgrading your characters abilities through the use of "bio-mod canisters” and weapon mods. Bio-mods can be installed in 5 different areas, Arm, Cranial, Eye, Leg and Skeletal. Each location has two possible "legal” options and one "black market” option with three levels each. The black market bio-mod is usually darker in nature and more powerful than standard legal bio-mods. Also, each weapon can have 2 out of a possible 8 upgrades ranging from more efficient ammo consumption to a silencer. Ammo in DE:IW is a standard cartridge that uses Nanites (microscopic machines) to convert ambient particles into each weapons required ammo type. This common ammunition negates the need to keep track of different types of ammo as every cartridge picked up will work with every weapon. Ammunition can almost never be bought throughout the game but sufficient supplies can usually be found in different areas or scavenged off defeated enemies.

One aspect of DE:IW worthy of its own paragraph is the games physics engine. In a word, it's splendiferous! Any item not bolted to the ground can be picked up, moved, destroyed or a combination of the three. An example of the physics engine at work is as follows: A group of enemy is standing behind a series of laser security beams that trigger the release of poisonous gas. So you pick up a crate and throw it down the corridor through the beams and gas the enemy. If a gas canister is shot with a high power weapon such as a shotgun or rocket launcher, it will explode in an expanding cloud of gas that flows down corridors and through air vents in the floor, walls and ceiling. If the same canister is shot with a pistol then a small puncture hole will be made. This results in a jet of gas escaping from the hole causing the canister to spin, roll and slide all over the ground from the thrust created by the venting gas. There are numerous ways to complete missions and the versatility of the physics engine creates more. Can't reach a higher area? Then build some steps by stacking crates on top of one another or lean a pallet against a wall to form a ramp. Dead and unconscious bodies can also be picked up and moved or thrown (If you enjoyed blasting your Warthog high in the air with grenades in Halo, you will have endless fun with dead bodies in DE:IW and you wont get arrested for it). The "rag doll” physics are the most eerily realistic I have ever seen and all bodies remain in the level instead of eventually disappearing as in some other games. This is great as you can hide bodies by dumping them into dumpsters but there is no real incentive to do so as the enemy AI barely, if at all reacts to finding them.

The enemy (and friendly in the rare occasions you have help) AI is quite poor. When attacking they tend to always charge you and don't use cover very well. They don't work together and they are very easy to evade if chased. If an enemy security guard finds a dead body he may make a comment along the lines of "What? A dead body!” before searching the immediate area for about 10 seconds. When he can't find you (trust me, he wont) he will just continue on his merry way as if nothing has happened. You would think that a game that allows you to move bodies would emphasise the consequences of them being found a little more such as in Splinter Cell. You can also steal items from right under the nose of non-playable characters without any consequences whatsoever. It would have been nice to get challenged for stealing cash from a wall safe or weapons from a foot-locker. Also there is no indication on the user interface of how visible you are to others. The game is full of beautiful real-time shadows and areas in which to hide but with the exception of a reference that explains you are harder to see when crouched, there is no way of knowing if the patrolling guard will notice you or not (until it is too late).

The graphics in DE:IW are simply stunning. Just about every object is bump-mapped and has real-time shadows that transform realistically to changing light conditions and moving objects. Even your flashlight casts shadows from objects. Fire produces flickering light sources with shadows and when extinguished sends it's surrounds into darkness. Every last graphical effect the Xbox is capable of is utilised and it is clear that the Xbox is pushed to its computational limit. This limit is occasionally apparent when the frame-rate drops noticeably, although it never drops to an unplayable or even annoying level. You would be hard pressed to find a game on Xbox that looks as good as DE:IW. Combine this graphical detail with the incredible physics engine and it makes for a very realistic looking world that draws the player in, grabs them in it's jaws and digests them like a Venus Fly Trap!...Well maybe not the jaws and digesting bet, but it definitely draws you in.

The sound track to DE:IW is delivered in glorious Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. Enemy locations can be determined from the direction their voice and footsteps come from. Background sound such as Holo-Jukeboxes sound different in different rooms and conversations can be heard through air vents and certain walls. Every piece of dialog is spoken and the voice acting is generally of a very high standard. The music suits the game superbly and really adds to the tension, never becoming overbearing or annoying. The sound track can either make or break a game and in the case of DE:IW it definitely adds to an already impressive and immerse game universe. Ion Storm have gone to great lengths to create a very high quality product and the high production values can be seen in every aspect of the game.

There are a couple of minor niggles that I'm really being anal-retentive bringing up but I haven't had my Sultana Bran this morning. The standing first-person viewpoint is too close to the ground, not by much but enough for me to think I was crouched a few times. This would be fine if Alex D was 4 foot tall, but from the cut scenes he/she is definitely taller. Also the conversation dialog is not recorded in a log or similar to allow the player to pause the game and go back over conversations to confirm details. You won't miss any mission objectives because these are recorded however, this was a problem towards the end of the game as the story got more complex and numerous people from different sides spoke all at once. It is very easy to get lost in what is being said. Another minor point is that the load times between areas are quite long (30 – 40 seconds). This can be a pain if you are frequently moving between areas or loading save games. Saving games on the other hand is comparatively fast. None of these points really warrant much of a reduction in the games final score, but I thought they were worth noting nevertheless.