Deus Ex: Invisible War Comments by Rob Fahey

sorry, but those were 'commander keen'-quality sprites in dx1! :) and the funny weapon sounds in the 'unreal 2' way... nevermind, i didn't play at all.

Halo is fab! Best AI ever. I didn't like Deus Ex 1 though, didn't understand why everyone said it beated Half-Life - it didn't stand a change IMO.

Haven't played Fatal Frame 2, only the first one which I enjoyed but still prefer Silent Hill. From what you say Forbidden Siren sounds like it's ok as opposed to great.

The NPCs are terribly animated
turning on taps and showers results in what look like sprite effects
The game runs quite slowly on my pc
Very poor game

Haha. Way to rate a game, mate ;)

In DE - 1 you didnt realise the decisions you made had consequences until later or you replayed the game.

I don't really remember many instances in the first one where decisions you made did have consequences actually. Most of the choices it offered simply allowed you to go about things in different ways, on very few occasions did they actually have any (significant) effect.

Only a couple of arbitrary, and very binary, instances stand out as exceptions for me, such as with Jock and Paul. The difference between killing people or knocking them out, almost completely evaporates after pretty much the first mission.

As probably the favourite game I've played I'm not trying to knock DX here, I think the freedom it gave was fantastic, I just that I think it's a bit over-stretching it to try and suggest that there was much effect from following different paths, more just that it was nice to have an option of paths in the first place.

its the fact that it didn't listen to its fans...AKA the people that buy the majority of its titles, and decided to push the Xbox version and let the PC people have a ported version

I'd disagree with you here, I don't think they've ignored the fans, they've simply shifted the fanbase. They never intended to make Deus Ex all over again, they wanted to make a game with some similar main concepts, so there's no reason why the fanbase for it should be identical to that of Invisble War.

As for pushing the Xbox version being against the fans I don't see how this is true. I, for instance, as a big fan of the original, would have been greatly disappointed if only a PC version had been made, as my PC can no longer run new releases. As I read Warren Spector say in an interview, for people who played the orignial DX, buying an Xbox would be cheaper than upgrading the video card on their PC, let alone the rest of it.

How can you shift a fan base? Do you mean, ditch the old and in with the new?

That was bad wording on my part really. What I meant was that Ion Storm made DX, and it had its fans. Then they made another game, and it also had its fans. Although the games are from the same series, and so the fanbases of each will overlap, there is no reason why they should be exactly the same, and it is not unreasonable for them to not be. It's not as though Ion Storm said, "we want to give something to all the fans of DX, so we're making them a sequel." They wanted to make a game, and they wanted it to continue in same world of the first. This does not mean they are obliged to ensure that the fans of the first also like the second.

Yeah but the game uses the unreal engine. UT2004 looks better AND runs better. If they had coded efficiently people wouldn't have had to buy a videocard OR xbox, so spector is full of shit.

Which way do you think the third will go?

I think with the third Ion Storm will continue to do what they've done with the second, removing as much as possible that separates the player from the gameworld (the cut-down hud, removal of skill points etc).

I used a P3 550, 128 mb ram, 64 mb geforce 2 mx 400 to play the original

Yeah, similar to my Athlon 800MHz, 128Mb RAM and TNT2 32Mb graphics card. I was thinking, upgrade, or get an Xbox, and then when they knocked £100 of down to £199 there was no contest. How could I have spent £200 on PC upgrades just under two years ago and had a system that'd be running DX, Far Cry, Doom III, Half-Life 2 et al.

Guys you really can't expect to upgrade for so little money. You need to get some major upgrades every 3 years or so. Basically i you upgrade 200 euros a year you can keep up to date.

Sure it's a bit more expensive hadrwarewise than consoles, but games are cheaper.

AND you get advantages as easy and free online play, the best graphics and 'insert other pc propaganda'. :-)
Seriously though, it is worth it IMO. Not to say you shouldn't get a console. But a mix of both is best and can be financially the most succesful payign 20 euros a game less for multiplatform games.

Guys you really can't expect to upgrade for so little money. You need to get some major upgrades every 3 years or so. Basically i you upgrade 200 euros a year you can keep up to date.

Sure it's a bit more expensive hadrwarewise than consoles, but games are cheaper.

AND you get advantages as easy and free online play, the best graphics and 'insert other pc propaganda'. :-)
Seriously though, it is worth it IMO. Not to say you shouldn't get a console. But a mix of both is best and can be financially the most succesful payign 20 euros a game less for multiplatform games.

But that's exactly my point, I don't expect to expect to upgrade for so little money, I'm well aware that to upgrade it would cost much more money, that's why a bought a console instead, a console which at least up until now, may prove to be for longer, has kept pace with the PC.

As for games being cheaper offsetting the hardware costs it really is a minimal difference. I get Xbox games off Amazon for £30, where they're £25 on PC. The best graphics point you make is true, but the difference really is marginal compared to any other generation of hardware. It's John Carmack's words, not mine, that state Xbox is capable of running Doom III at the top end of the PC settings (lower resolution, I know, but other than that). Free online play I can see is a bonus for some people, but unable to justify the cost of broadband, it makes no difference to me.

I'm not saying the PC doesn't have its advantages to balance out the extra cost, and I'm not saying it isn't worth it for some people, I'm just saying that for many people (such as me) it definitely isn't worth it.

The PC's main advantage is you can pretty much get all the top games from the other systems (Nintendo aside) on the one machine. Yeah its cheaper to buy the console but if you have to buy a PS2,Xbox and GC then it mounts up. With a PC you can play Halo, GTA Vice City,Deus Ex IW,
etc and you can get them on import as theres no territory lock out if you can't wait for the european launch.

The downside for me and the reason I have the consoles as well is that sometimes a game just works better on a console (GTA & Halo being prime examples).

I love all my consoles and PC without them I'd have to spend time with the missus :)

/girlfriend looks over shoulder proceeds to punch shoulder while muttering somthing about not getting any tonight.

With a PC you can play Halo, GTA Vice City,Deus Ex IW,
etc and you can get them on import as theres no territory lock out if you can't wait for the european launch.

I play all three of those games though and I only have one console, they're all available for Xbox. For £40 I can also get a solder-less mod-chip that'll let me import.

Very good point! But obviously I was using those as an example not the entire catalogue available. I also dont agree with the mod-chip as it invalidates your warranty and more importantly when you go online to play Halo 2 (and we all will) you run the risk of your xbox getting tagged as a modded machine and then your banned, nice work my friend NOT!!!!