For nearly four years, my author bio on this website has informed you that Deus Ex: Invisible War was pretty good, actually. The much-maligned sequel to one of the greatest games of all time had its flaws in spades, I don’t deny that, but it kept enough of a beating imsim heart that my 13-year-old self fell in love with it nonetheless.
One thing I can’t argue with: universal ammo sucked. If you’ve not played IW, it had a some-would-say innovative system that meant every weapon in your inventory shared the same pool. From the rocket launcher to the magnetic beam rifle to your rinky-dink pistol, it all pulled from the same pile (though your pistol would pull just a little while your rocket launcher would pull a lot).
“Players would have their two favourite guns, but they’d never even fire these other three guns,” recalled Smith. “At the time, I was like, ‘Let’s lean into nanotechnology: what if all the ammunition is based in the same matter?'”
Well, then they wouldn’t use guns at all, it turns out, and curse the devs who apparently thought a shared ammo pool was a good idea.
The shared ammo was one of several things that made Deus Ex: Invisible War go down poorly with fans, and it sounds like that response really stung Smith at the time. “It’s painful to fall on your face and feel like you’ve disappointed people,” said Smith. “And you don’t trust yourself at first. For a couple of years after, 50 per cent of what you say about that project is going to be bullshit, because you’re still protecting yourself.”
But all’s well that ends well, he says. “I feel like I can talk about Invisible War now.”
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