drooollbwahaharagdollphysicsbwarggimmersiveplot…
Although I do find Deus Ex the first to be superior so far.
Can you give us a comparison between the two at least,like a small review?
hmm, ok.
The graphics for the sequel got a major facelift. The lighting and shadow effects are amazing and show how much promise other beefier games will have when they come out, like Doom3 and HL2. The most interesting aspect of the graphics engine is the physics engine – boxes roll and things smash like they would in real life, I found myself for the first five minutes just picking things up in my room and tossing and pushing them around 
The second best part of the graphics is the ragdoll system, when you hit people they react physically in real life, with death shots contorting their bodies and all sorts of things. It’s most noticeable when you throw a body against the wall, it falls off of it in different contortions.
As for the plot, I don’t know too much just yet. It takes place twenty years after Deus Ex, and the world had been plunged into a global depression (both economically and technologically and communicationsly) called The Collapse, that it’s just come out of. You play a character named AlexD (you can be a boy or a girl), and the Dentons (particularly JC) are more known of than legends than actual people, they haven’t been seen or heard of in twenty years, and most people don’t think they were or what they did was real. In the vaccuum of power created by the Collapse new factions have risen to carve out niches in the world. You start out as a trainee in the Tarsus Program, a group who trains specially biomodified individuals for corporations around the globe (biomods --> augs in the first one). That’s about all I should say, but of course know that the game has the usual “who can I trust” and conspiracy elements to it of the first game.
Gameplay is cleaned up in some areas too. Things are much more centralized in DE2 than the first game. Lockpicks and multitools perform the same function, all weapons use the same ammo, each inventory slot holds a single item but you only get like 12 slots, etc. The biomod system is also slightly different. You have like six biomod slots where you can put one of three different mods (the first game had like 9 slots of 2 choices or something). The menus and stuff are also arranged around you in a concentric circle at the exterior of the screen, and all but your toolbelt (hotkeyed items) disappear when not in use. This is really convenient and I think more natural to use than to have it at the bottom of the screen. While the game system isn’t quite as deep as the first one (you don’t get skill points to upgrade your swimming and things, you don’t record conversations or add notes); it is arranged more efficiently. The usual mutliple solutions to a problem that Deus Ex pioneered is of course emphasized in this game as well; to get around a single laser alarm you could deactivate the beam, hack a computer, disable, blow up, go around, use a biomod, or even just run through it.
My main issues with the game are its loadtime, it can take a while to reload, which is annoying; particularly if you want to try certain things in different ways. I also feel more detached from the plotline than in Deus Ex, since in the first one the events felt so vivid and possible (and its conspiracy talk all related to previous history and current trends); whereas in this one things seem more made up for the most part. Although it does seem like a natural progression from the events of the first game. Also, if this series has taught us anything, it’s that the future isn’t all that bright.
Anyway, the game has its flaws, but if you liked Deus Ex, I definitely recommend this one. And if you like computer games, then this one is a good choice as well. Better than a lot out there.
What I’m excited about is that your decisions actually matter in this one. In Deus Ex, they had a small impact, but they didn’t have any effect on the big picture. In this one, you can choose to side with a faction through your actions or stradle the line, and the side you ally with will give you different missions from the other, AND some missions that are assigned to you are based on your biomods. There’s also multiple endings, which is nice since I was disappointed with how you picked the different endings in Deus Ex (although the story up to there was good).
One of the problems is the map size, though. Since it was designed for both PC and X-box, the maps are smaller than in Deus Ex and less immersive because of load times.
And yeah, ragdoll physics are fun. I like to grab boxes and things and throw them at pedestrians.
Damn, I am so getting this game when I get my new computer.
Heck, my current comp hits the bare minimum to run it dead-on, I might try it like that! (and run the game at 5 fps asa result, heh)
yeah the levels are small which makes loading a real pain; and while I like the much more open-endedness of the game it’ll be ultimately annoying because I will want to keep going back to do stuff differently!
Another difference is like what Alice said, you’re given more freedom. MajorNPCs are surprisingly killable almost all of the time and you are given a wide variety of allegiances to choose from, whose objectives always end up conflicting. This creates some tough choices, as I’m finding out.
If you don’t mind my asking, Merlin, what are your system stats, and do you feel like the game is choppy at all? I ask because the biggest complaint I’ve heard about Deus Ex is that it’s got serious choppiness issues, seemingly arbitrarily. Even people with high level computers have complained of choppiness. I’m interested in the game, but I’m not going to get it if I can’t even play it on my hardware. =P
Wouldn’t call it totally awesome myself. I’d call it Deus Ex for dummies. Universal ammo? No skills? Come on! I mean, I don’t want to complete quests anymore. I just kill everything that moves and take the stuff I want (Because there is no exp rewards anymore). But yeah, it’s still incredibly addictive… For stupified Deus ex. I just love the way you can kill people by tossing trash cans at 'em.
…And yes, the game drains incredible amount of CPU power. It runs fine with my 2600+/GeForce 4400 combination if I reduce details to medium, though
I dunno, I run a 1.4 Athlon with ATI 9600 with 512 RAM and my game moves seamlessly at the highest detail levels; and that’s below the recommended processor spec. But that’s at the 800x600 resolution though. It slowed down at higher ones, but that might because I’m using a 19’’ monitor.
and Saladin I agree, the centralization of stuff is both a blessing and a curse. But who really put experience points into environmental training anyway?
I got it but It turns out my comp is a total peice of shit…
;_;
I did play it at a friends and wow…
In an ironic twist of fate, DX2 has frame rate problems on nVidia based cards, yet nVidia stamps their logo on every DX2 ad with their moto “Best played on a GeForce!”
That’s probably why you’re able to play the game at all Merlin, you’ve not only got an ATI, but a really good one at that. =P
I’m sure the comparable GeForce is nearly as good, but ATI has been making better cards as of late. BTW, I bought this card only for DE2, Doom3, Max Payne 2, and Half-Life 2 (although with the graphically enhanced Sims 2 coming out in January…)
It’s not that the Radeon is a much better card than the GeForce line, it’s just that DX2 has code that doesn’t run well on nVidia made cards, which causes massive drops in frame rates for anyone unlucky enough to own the hardware advertised as making DX2 “look its best!”
It’ll definately be fixed in the first patch though, far too many people have complained about it. =P
Just got a demo today.
HOLY MOTHER OF GOD
It’s just a damned, damned shame that my laptop can’t play it. ;_;
I’m sure some more patches will fix the major stability and card problems. From what I hear, the game runs horribly on all but the most super-powerful computers, which makes it seem like a beta version was released so they could get it out by Christmas.
That, and I have a crappy GeForce FX 5200 256MB PCI card. My computer meets all of the other requirements (and then some), but I have a PCI card, so I don’t know if the game will work. Besides, it’s a GeForce FX 5200, and people have complained about REALLY bad performance on it.
That’s the card I got, d… I have no major complaints so far.
How good a GeForce2 MX is?
Deus Ex 2 won’t run on MX cards, Lun… and 2 is really out dated.
Sorry man.
Originally posted by PC Glenton
[b]Deus Ex 2 won’t run on MX cards, Lun… and 2 is really out dated.Sorry man. [/b]
Good thing you asked here, Lun. The Gamefaqs and Eidos boards have become insanely hostile because about ten threads are made every second about MX cards.
sorry Lun ;_; but it’s not quite as good as DE1 anyway.