In defense of Deus Ex: Invisible War

The week I planned to argue for why Deus Ex: Invisible War deserves another look coincided with its creators publicly disowning it. They admitted the same grievances long voiced by players: intrusive loading screens, a switch to universal ammo, and a shift toward console sensibilities in a sequel to a famously PC-centric original.

On a broad scale the game pits a WTO surveillance state against the Order, a unified global religious cult. Up close, much of the play revolves around navigating the loyalties of nightclub owners and arms dealers, where your cybernetic augmentations and moral flexibility are as useful as any weapon.

Some side objectives underline that tension in absurdly specific ways. Rival coffee chains Pequod's Coffee and Queequeg's Coffee—named like Starbuck's after Moby-Dick characters—hire you to sabotage the other, a feud that can end in industrial sabotage or outright firebombing.

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