FPS (First Person Shooter) games do their best to immerse a gamer in an atmosphere. They go for total immersion, and total freedom, allowing the gamer to really become the character. Usually this is done by allowing the player to choose where to go, and of course how to dispatch the various enemies. Deus Ex really takes things to a new level though, and raise the bar when it comes to interactivity and immersion.

You play as Alex, a recruit for the Tarsus Academy, a futuristic military training school that pumps out highly trained mercenaries. Not everything is as it seems (of course), and soon you are thrust into the world, alone, with only your skills and a few friends who may or may not be trying to use you. From here, you really make all of the choices. You can choose which groups to back, who to trust, what to do and how to do it. You are granted an almost overwhelming amount of freedom. Even through all of this freedom, the game manages to steer you on a course so, whichever path you take, you will play a part in a wonderfully written story. What part you take in it though as well as who you are, is up to you.

Upon taking a mission, you explore the huge environments, talking to people and following clues that lead you to your destinations. It’s never difficult to find your way, but they don’t hold your hand either, which is a nice touch. All of the cities are fleshed out with people who have something to say to you. Sometimes its just a simple greeting, but othertimes they may need you to take care of some dirty business for them. The side quests are very engaging and rewarding. Which is fortunate because some of the missions, especially toward the end, are brutally hard. Expect to use your traps, skills and brain to finish off some of the later enemies. They are frighteningly smart, and outgun you every time.

It is really satisfying though when you go MacGyver on a group of terrorists, using a noisemaker, one grenade and a box to take out four armored bad guys. It inspires a really good feeling, and you can’t help but smile. Such events aren’t required, but highly recommended as ammunition becomes quite sparse later on. In a simplistic touch, all weapons use the same ammo, just in different amounts. It sounds odd, but works pretty well, thanks to an on screen gauge, rather then a number to indicate how much you have left. Of course, you can always skip the guns all together and just go toe to toe with the villains, using a katana, crowbar, combat knife or other melee weapons.

Unfortunately, theres no multiplayer aspect to Invisible War. The single player game is very engrossing, enough so to warrant a few play throughs to see all of the story arcs, but one can’t help but imagine how fun it would be with a partner in co-op, or even in a simple deathmatch. Still though, the single player game is very well done, and the combat, while fun, isn’t the main draw here anyway, this is a game you play for the excellent story and the level of freedom. Its even possible to beat the game killing less then ten people. Of course its also quite possible to massacre the villains, civilians, heroes and anyone else who you feel deserves some wrath.

To aid you in accomplishing your goals, whatever they may be, you have a huge array of skills you can master, ranging from hacking, to night vision, to health drains, to stealth, among many others. The skill system really lets you choose what to make your character, unstoppable combat tank, stealth ninja or charismatic orator. People compare the game unfavorably to the first game, saying that the amount of options was pared down, which it was, but honestly, should you have to teach a cyborg killing machine how to swim? Look at the game for what it is, instead of what it isn’t, and you will see a masterpiece of a game.

Final Grade: A