Deus Ex Clan Wars Takes Series Toward Action? 33
Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to an Eidos Interactive financial presentation, originally from late 2003, but only noticed recently, mentioning the development of Deus Ex: Clan Wars, a previously unhighlighted title that continues the popular stealth action series. The game is mentioned in context of an "Example WIP [Work In Progress]", and a newer financial presentation on the Eidos UK site indicates Clan Wars may only be a working title, since it lists 'Deus Ex 'Action' game' on release schedules for the next financial year. Online rumors suggest Clan Wars may be a PlayStation 2/Xbox title that's in development at Eidos-owned Crystal Dynamics, who is also developing the new Tomb Raider title, and elsewhere, the recent Eidos financial presentation lists other unheralded forthcoming titles, including "Commandos 'Tactical Shooter'", presumably an extension of the Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines franchise, and new IPs called "Crash N' Burn" and "25 To Life".
Oh dear. (Score:4, Insightful)
The first Deus Ex was utterly groundbreaking and beautifully crafted. The second was an enjoyable, if failed, experiment; average compared to its peers, dire compared to the original. The third sounds like an outsourced game in the dated Tomb Raider mould (the two games even share the same developer).
Unfortunately it seems that creative games simply aren't as reliable moneymakers as unintelligent sequels.
Re:Oh dear. (Score:1, Interesting)
(not that I love Invisible War. maybe back when Deus Ex 1 came out the faults it has were excusable, but these days there's a higher level of polish expected. Both games are lacking in many of the same areas and it's ridiculous to pretend that Deus Ex was some perfect creation and Invisible War is crap compared to it.
Re:Oh dear. (Score:1, Insightful)
Err... interface? I'll grant that the gameplay isn't as dire as some like to make out, but IW's interface is totally counter-intuitive to anyone who's more used to a mouse than a gamepad. Not to mention the crazy decision to force people to use a toggle-crouch, despite the fact that the majority of PC gamers prefer hold-crouch.
Re:Oh dear. (Score:2)
Re:Oh dear. (Score:1)
Hold-Crouch is preferred for situations where the crouch action is "instantaneous" - either you are crouched or you are not. In these cases, you don't mind holding down the extra finger in order to move around while crouching to enter and leave the line of fire. This appears in games like Half-Life or other conventional FPSs.
Toggle-Crouch is better in games where
Re:Oh dear. (Score:1)
Re:Oh dear. (Score:2)
In DX2-IW you still receive passwords and PINs, but you never needed to actually type
Re:Oh dear. (Score:1)
Re:Oh dear. (Score:4, Informative)
No, they don't. Crystal Dynamics is just handling the latest game in the series. They're better known for the far superior Legacy of Kain series.
And even if Core Design, the original developer of Tomb Raider, was making this new Deus Ex, they managed to do a pretty good job on Project Eden [eidosinteractive.com], so I wouldn't be so depressed about it.
Rob
Re:Oh dear. (Score:4, Interesting)
I think there's all sorts of possibilities for a game in the Deus Ex universe that's more action oriented. Biomods and tools skewed less towards rpg interactions and more towards offensive or defensive combat, simulation based so you can make combat-interesting tactical decisions that result in emergent behaviors, etc.
Say what you will about DX:IW (which I'm immensely proud of, BTW), but I think this could be totally cool, and I'm honestly a bit perplexed that so many people would start slamming Clan Wars without knowing more than the barest of facts about it.
Re:Oh dear.Why slam clan wars? DXIW. (Score:1)
If they had simply used the same game engine and made more maps for the original, more of the loyal Deus Ex fans would have pleased, but Ion Scum sold out to the console market to make money. Frankly, rename the series. I know fiscal concerns rule in the gaming business but don't piss off a loyal fan base by ruining games
Re:Oh dear.Why slam clan wars? DXIW. (Score:3, Interesting)
Um, you do realize that I was the Lead Programmer on DX:IW, right?
As far as reviews go, DX:IW ended up with marginally worse reviews than its predecessor, see:
GameRankings [gamerankings.com] or
MetaCritic [metacritic.com]
Note that the vast majority of reviews are in the 80-100% range. And then read a few of the ones that aren't to get a gauge on their quality.
Anyway, sorry that you didn't like the game. I hope that our future endeavor
Re:Oh dear.Why slam clan wars? DXIW. (Score:1)
I hate to burst your bubble, but you don't quite yet have the name recognition of John Carmack or Richard Garriott.
As far as reviews go, DX:IW ended up with marginally worse reviews than its predecessor, see:
It's funny that you link the X-Box reviews of the games. The PC reviews are lower.
Note that the vast majority of reviews are in the 80-100% range. And then read a few of the ones that aren't to get a gauge on their quality.
Re:Oh dear.Why slam clan wars? DXIW. (Score:1)
As far as DX:IW, the levels were just too damned small.
Out of curiosity, how much of your job was 'design', and how much 'coding'? As an example of what I mean, does the decision to have a simplified inventory system (IOW, no Deus Ex Inventory Tetri
Re:Oh dear.Why slam clan wars? DXIW. (Score:1)
Red Alert 1 -> Red Alert 2.
While Red Alert isn't as great as it could be, and while Red Alert 2 is quite popular, those two games are a great example among a significant group of people of a game turning sour.
Re:Oh dear. (Score:1)
I'm sure you know about reputation.
When a software company is known to produce high-quality products, they are generally considerd to be good companies. If, however, a software company releases products that don't meet expectations, a bad reputation is formes. This results in an irrational dismissal of any games from that company, regardless of what merits can appear.
Spector as Video Gaming's Lucas? (Score:3, Interesting)
Now, I'm not so sure. I'm quite certain I would reject any advances, no matter how drunk either of us was. He sounded way too much like Lucas in his post-mortem defense of DE:IW, not at all unlike Lucas in his defense of the prequelogy; oblivious to the fans, tinged with arrogance, and with a sense of justification that what he did was right while everyone else knows it wasn't. It sounds like Spector has surrounded himself with yes people, a Denton Ranch if you will. I used to think Molyneux was like that, but at least Molyneux had the gonads to admit that Black and White wasn't the shiznit everyone thought it would be. Spector, I get the impression he thinks that it was us who was off base, not him.
I remember hearing the president of Lucasarts defend the abomination that was Force Commander with something along the lines of, "This is the future, but the gaming universe just wasn't ready for it." Which sounds a little like Spector now. For shame, for shame.
It's done (Score:2)
Small features that add to the immersive effect... (Score:2)
Re:Small features that add to the immersive effect (Score:2)
- having to right click your weapons in the description area, and then picking up another weapon of similar size and having them both take up the same space.
And, the venerable:
(>set DeusEx.JCDentonMale bCheatsEnabled True
(>spawnmass 40 hooker2
That being said, I wish there were texture and model packs out there that would make Deus Ex 1 pretty. I've got a 9700 pro here, and Deus Ex isn't making it
Re:Small features that add to the immersive effect (Score:1)
You'd think he would have learned from history.
This is the same kind of thing that happened to Origin with the Ultima series (which Spector has worked on) oh so long ago. Ultima 8 was stipped-down and more action-oriented than the previous games, and lost a lot of the interactivity that had been there since Ultima 6. When fans complained, Origin derided them saying Ultima was about more than just "baking bread". They were see
Coming Soon: Deus Ex III-D, Conspiracy Fighter! (Score:2, Funny)
Warren Spector, producer, says, "I think we'll
Well, that's it. (Score:2)
But if this is going downhill into Brotherhood of Steel territory, that's it. Invisible War came close enough to "mainstreaming" the series, and this might kill it.
This again? (Score:2)
#1) Most of people, and by that I mean most of you, didn't even realize how good DX1 was until it hit Europe and actually started to sell. So this rabid devotion to the original is near hilarious in light that most gamers dismissed it as a crappy Quake-Killer-Wannabe when it came out.
#2) There were probably as many, if not more, bad reviews of DX1 than there were for DXIW.
#3) Also willing to bet that a lot of people are bitching about DXIW because of the demo, which was poor