Review by: Dustin Arient
Published: December 26, 2003

Deus Ex: Invisible War is the long-awaited sequel to Ion Storm’s epic. The original amazed me with its combination of first-person shooter and role-playing elements, the unique Biomods and skill specialization, and the large number of weapons. What struck me most, however, was the utterly compelling nature of the story. It was a game that placed a high priority on crafting a believable, yet disturbing, future. There were shades of “The X-Files,” Tom Clancy, Ian Fleming and George Orwell, all rolled into one perfectly-formed plot. As the saga continues some 20 years after the first installment ended, you take control of Alex D, a young and impressionable clone of JC Denton, the main character in the original.

A great deal has happened in the decades between the two games. When Denton uncovered and destroyed the Aquinas super-router in Area 51, which controlled and supervised all financial transactions and computerized communications, a global depression resulted. Known as the “Great Collapse,” it was the ruin of 21st century civilization as it had been. The United States, along with many other nations, devolved into a cluster of fragile city-states. As the world’s peoples tried to dig out from the confused ruins, the World Trade Organization and a non-denominational church known as The Order stepped forward to take the rein of global power.

The WTO embraces a return to commercialism and stratified, wealth-based society, while The Order seeks to attain the rehabilitation of society by rejecting those values. Other societies include the Omar, a creepy cadre of cyborgs who share a collective consciousness and a penchant for illegal arms dealing; the Knights Templar, who militantly oppose biological upgrading of the human body; the Standard Security Corporation, a company that trains and employs thousands of armed security guards; and a group of elite private schools known as the Tarsus Academies. Still more groups, such as the Illuminati and JC Denton’s circle of associates, play their parts as the story unfolds.

As Alex D, whom you can choose to be either male or female, you’re thrown violently into the midst of the global power struggle when a terrorist group destroys your hometown of Chicago. The chaos continues when elements of The Order launch a raid on the Tarsus facility in Seattle, where you’re completing your training as a private covert-ops agent. As you make your way to the wilds of Seattle, you begin a stormy relationship with any and all of the political organizations mentioned above.