Deus Ex: The Fall

The Good
One sentence before I start. I played the game for Android (HTC Smartphone) and for iOS (iPad). It is the identical game but I preferred the iPad Version because of the bigger screen. But when it comes to tapping around, the Smartphone is my choice and the iPad is much heavier. The iPad I own of course, I can not speak for new hardware.

So this was more than one sentence but anyway lets have a look on Deus Ex: The Fall.

A lot has been written about "Deus Ex: The Fail" and jokes of this kind. And to talk about the downside of a game is always easier than to pinpoint its strength or good aspects. In my opinion the worst mistake a lot of "journalists" made, was that they compared it to its bigger brother Deus Ex: Human Revolution (DX:HR), even on the technically side. But Deus Ex: The Fall (DX:TF) was developed for a complete different platform and therefore for a different audience. It is also title which costs (as I am writing this review) 1,27 € for Android Smartphone and 6,99 € for iPad. So again, you cannot compare it with a huge AAA-Million-Dollar-Production. I have to admit, that DX:TF was also released for PC via steam (I do not know the price). Although I am a PC gamer I did not try the PC release. I have read it was done very poorly and in this case I understand the boos and jeers of the PC gaming community.

So first of all, what is Deus Ex: The Fall and what is it about? The Fall is the official fourth installment of the Deus Ex series. It was the first Deus Ex title for mobile gaming and was first published in 2013 for iOS and one year later for Android and PC. It takes place in the year 2027 and is on the timeline a prequel to Deus Ex: Human Revolution and a sequel to the book Deus Ex: Icarus Effect. It features the main protagonists from the book: Anna Kelso, an ex-agent from the US Secret Service and the former British SAS officer Ben Saxon. As you can read the both protagonists are not employed any longer because they are on the run and the reason for that ... is explained the book. I do not want to spoil the very nice story from this book. It is also not that important for the game. You just have to know that they are hiding in Panama City and stay in a loose contact to the juggernaut collective, a group of hackers who also play a minor role in DX:HR and the DLC Deus Ex: The Missing Link. Reading the book first will give you a better understanding for the point of departure but there will be no disadvantage if you did not read it at all.

You play the role of Ben Saxon, who has been a short-termed member of the tyrants. They recruited him after a Belltower squad, led by Ben was entirely killed during the Australian civil war. You see, this game offers a lot of background information for every Deus Ex Fan. The game starts with a flashback, when Ben had his first military operation with the tyrants. This is also the tutorial for the game and it is pretty cool to meet the so "beloved" Tyrants from the original DX:HR, by name Lawrence Barrett, Yelena Fedorova and Mr. Cyborg Jaron Namir in person. And this time they are not hostile, well at least for the beginning. These two flashback mission are done nicely. They explain every piece of the controls very properly and provide some unknown background information about the Tyrants. (Yes, there is a reference to Gunther Hermann).

But then things did not pay off so well and Ben decided to leave the Tyrants, in a very direct way and this is where the main game starts.

I do not want to spoil the story too much but the premise is that there is a shortage on Neuropozyne and Ben and Anna are suffering from it. For all who do not know what Neuropozyne is, let me just say, it is kind of drug which all people with augmentations need (except for Adam Jensen) and is responsible that a body will not reject the augmentations. Augmented people need it their whole life or they will die and the company VersaLife (Hello Bob Page) has the exclusive right to produce and to sell it. So there is a shortage on this drug/medicament and you have to find out why and if there is maybe an alternative to it. The more you find out on during the game the more questions will pop up and soon you will find yourself in a tangible conspiracy with Belltower, VersaLife, other Pharmaceutical companies, the Tyrants and the WHO. There is nothing more to expect from a Deus Ex Game.

So in essence this game provides the same look and feel as in any Deus Ex Game. Conspiracy, stealth, hacking, dialogues, augmentations just to name a few buzzwords. But due to the chosen platform the developers had to make it smaller and a little bit simplified. And I think they did an excellent job balancing this claim for a big Deus Ex franchise and the convenience for a mobile game at the same time. And yes, there a restrictions on a mobile platform. Big restrictions, but I come back to this later.

If you are familiar with the gameplay from DX:HR there will be no real problem to get into this piece of software. Controlling your hero is done by holding your two thumbs on the surface. The left thumb is for movement forwards, backwards, left- and right-strafe and the right thumb is for looking around. Basically it is the same as holding an Xbox- or PlayStation-Controller. For every other action, like crouching, firing a weapon, performing knock-downs, go to the inventory etc. are buttons on the surface you have to tap on. There is also this function, where you double tap on any point of the screen and your character moves automatically to this point. And if you tap on a wall, Ben Saxon will automatically switch into the sneak-and-hide mode. I really was surprised how nice they implanted the sneaking mode in the game. Once you lean on a fence or a wall you can move along very easily and with a tap on button you leave this mode and move on normally. When you want to sneak around a corner or past a door gap there will also pop up buttons for these actions. Knocking down or killing enemies in melee combat will also show up the equivalent buttons. I just can speak for myself because I usually play every Deus Ex game with stealth and sneaking tactics and do not shoot so often. For a player like me the controls work very well on a touch device. You have also the option to customize ("augment") your interface, which means you are able to move all the buttons to other locations.

A lot of people complained about the fact that you cannot jump. Well it is a complaint the developer has to deal with, because it makes the world a step more unrealistic but on the other hand, I can understand this decision to cut off this element. They would have built an additional button for it and this would have made the whole controls more complicated and uncomfortable. Because of the level design you do not miss this element and when jumping is needed in the game there will pop up a button for it in the middle of the screen.

A typical inventory, as one knows it from previous games is missing. Instead you have a shop interface where you can buy (for in-game credits) weapons, upgrades, ammunition, praxis kits, candy bars, beer and all the other known stuff. You do not have to bother with inventory-management any more but of course it is a bit unrealistic because you still find all this stuff in the world but if you have the credits you may purchase every weapon, every upgrade, every anything immediately. And you cannot sell anything here. There is also a "real" shop where you can spend your bucks to buy in-game credits but I never tried this because it did not function and I do not need this kind of stuff. You can beat the whole game without buying anything. That is also a fact I really appreciate compared to other mobile games. There has not been one situation throughout the game, where the game reminds you that you could have beat the particular situation better and faster, if you have bought this or that. Though the game offers in app purchases but does not even show you that option and does not bother you.

Since our hero Ben is an augmented soldier, the customization of these perks plays also a big role. Of course you can manage the whole game without any augmentations but since there is no achievement for it (and there are lot achievements) it only makes sense for gamers who want it really hardcore. As far as I can judge it, the most augmentations known from DX:HR made it also in DX:TF, with some drawback though. For example, the hacking skills are only the basic skills; the sight skills provide only the "look through wall" augmentation and the jumping skill has been cut off trough reasons the whole jumping as a gameplay element has been cut off. But all in all the augmentations are still very helpful and you just need a handful of it (if you play as a hacker and with stealth tactics). There is even a new augmentation in this game, called "stealth dash".

The hacking mini-game is nearly the same as known from the previous game and with the tapping function it is a bit easier. Also the tapping is very handy when there are objects in the world to interact with. If you are near enough a description of an item pops up und by tapping on it, it finds its way in your inventory. Sounds like an overloaded interface but it is not.

The setting is Panama City in the year 2027 and there are different areas to discover. The game provides three bigger and a couple of smaller areas, including a nightclub, a hotel and drug house, each of them with multiple floors. And of course there is LIMB clinic. One may say it is a very short and small game but as I mentioned in the beginning it is a game for a mobile platform for a very low price. When you have a regular job with at least 7-8 hours of work every day and a private life and you play these kind of games with stealth tactics, then this game will entertain you for at least a couple of days, maybe one week or longer. That is because there is a lot do and a lot to read on PDAs, Emails and eBooks, a bunch of nice side quests and you can talk to every NPC in the game.

For a mobile device (and for the year 2013) the graphics are nonetheless breathtaking. The art of the graphics are very similar to DX:HR; a lot of yellow and yellow but it look very beautiful and as all of one piece. The lighting fits also perfect in the environment and most of the main characters are modeled pretty well. At some places the graphics were also reduced but it never gets too ugly.

The sounds and the music assist the game to unfold the typical atmosphere which is inherent in every Deus Ex game. The common places like the inner city or the starting house have ambient, calm tunes which stay in the background. When you enter enemy region the music shifts to a mysterious setting and a bit impulsive. If you are spotted and a gunfight starts, the tone gets more action orientated. Additionally there are compositions for the LIMB clinic, which is the same as in DX:HR and for the nightclub "Nightshade"; a very electronic piece of music with a nice bass line.

All these little pieces really help to immerse into this world and make it (not for Deus Ex fans only) a very good gaming experience.

The Bad
It seems that I am a Deus Ex addict from the first time I have met JC Denton. And that is absolutely correct. That is also the reason why I think DX:TF is a good game and even better when you compare it to its price. But as I mentioned it early it is a game for a reduced platform that has its limits and therefore the game is not flawless at all.

To start with I want to quote the German journalist Carsten Görig, who writes for the German magazine "Der Spiegel" (The Mirror): ""The Fall" reveals one of the grand delusions of the iPad: It is not a gaming console at all, even many gamers use it for such purpose. It is just not designed ergonomically. At least when you have to use two hands."

Well, a console controller is also used with two hands. So what? What Carsten Göring means are the constant interruptions in the game flow you will have playing this game on a mobile device. On a console you can move your character while picking up items or performing other actions. Here you always have to stop, take of your right hand, move it to the middle of the screen and tap. It is a bit easier on a smaller screen but the problem remains. I really got used to it very fast and because of my slow way to play the game it did not really bother me. The moment you recognize the consequences of this control, is the moment when you are right in a battle. For precise aiming you need patience and time. Two things you usually do not have during a battle. With practice it gets better but this Deus Ex game is definitely not a shooter and it is highly recommended not to play it as one.

The Fall occupies approximately 750-800 MB on your mobile device. This explains why it looks so fantastic for a mobile game and simultaneously why it does not look so good sometimes and explains a lot of flaws. As I wrote before the graphics are done very nicely but there are also characters, objects and parts of some areas which look kind of poor. Also there are a lot of graphical objects which are copied endless times. Furthermore your clearly see the restrictions in the movements of your enemies and your finishing moves. After 10 knock-downs you will become bored. You see and feel these restrictions in the whole game and even if they do not bother you so much it may lead to a game where you perform the same actions over and over. Not to mention that one area (Drug House) is brown, with brown, mixed with brown. That means in the end you have a different Deus Ex experience because the level of detail – not only for the graphics is not that high as in the other installments.

The characters are in the broadest sense ok. They are not really bad but you get the feeling that something is missing. Maybe emotions. I really like the main protagonists Anna and Ben and I like Ben’s British accent. He is a kind of a character to identify with, but the identification with Adam Jensen was much higher, also because you knew his motivation for his actions. If you have not read the book this Ben Saxon is much harder to grab and the connection between player and character is not that strong. For me it would have been a nice idea to play Anna Kelso instead. She seemed like an interesting character and would have fit more my hacking and stealth tactics. And she does not wear golden pants. The other NPCs are more or less interesting and except for one female character you meet later in the Nightclub, they are mostly flat and you only meet every Quest-NPC for a short time.

One of the biggest flaws according to the game design is the save system. You only have one save slot. One! And the game only saves automatically when you enter a new level. If you want to save your game, you have to go the menu, then tap on menu, then on the save button and finally close the menu to resume the game. That is a pretty long way when you could have a quick-save button instead. The one-save-slot issue can lead to serious problems. When you are in a desperate situation during a gunfight and mistake the save with the loading button it may happen that you just saved the second before a grenade explodes in your face. If that happens there is only one way to proceed. Restart the game. It is not understandable why the developers put it this way. All the other mistakes and flaws are more or less understandable because they took a large and complex gaming system and had to reduce it to a mobile platform but this one here cannot be explained.

For the next and the last point in my list, I have to mark a SPOILER ALERT. Not a big one though but the story ends with a not so small cliffhanger. At a point when the whole story starts to get interesting. And due to the reason that the game was published in 2013 and did not sell out so well (no claim to be correct) it does not seem that we will have another adventure with Ben Saxon. There is an option in the main menu labelled "more content" but there have never been any updates. Sad enough though.

The Bottom Line
In the beginning I complained about the many comparisons with Deus Ex: Human revolution made by other reviewers and did it not any better. These two games are only two years apart from each other and have the same feeling in the first place, so a comparison is inevitable, at least for some points. Beneath the shining surface Deus Ex: The Fall is a reduced Deus Ex experience but indeed it is a very good one. And I have to write it again: For a very low price you get a great game in the Deus Ex Universe. "This is the test, Ben."

The Good
One sentence before I start. I played the game for Android (HTC Smartphone) and for iOS (iPad). It is the identical game but I preferred the iPad Version because of the bigger screen. But when it comes to tapping around, the Smartphone is my choice and the iPad is much heavier. The iPad I own of course, I can not speak for new hardware.

So this was more than one sentence but anyway lets have a look on Deus Ex: The Fall.

A lot has been written about "Deus Ex: The Fail" and jokes of this kind. And to talk about the downside of a game is always easier than to pinpoint its strength or good aspects. In my opinion the worst mistake a lot of "journalists" made, was that they compared it to its bigger brother Deus Ex: Human Revolution (DX:HR), even on the technically side. But Deus Ex: The Fall (DX:TF) was developed for a complete different platform and therefore for a different audience. It is also title which costs (as I am writing this review) 1,27 € for Android Smartphone and 6,99 € for iPad. So again, you cannot compare it with a huge AAA-Million-Dollar-Production. I have to admit, that DX:TF was also released for PC via steam (I do not know the price). Although I am a PC gamer I did not try the PC release. I have read it was done very poorly and in this case I understand the boos and jeers of the PC gaming community.

So first of all, what is Deus Ex: The Fall and what is it about? The Fall is the official fourth installment of the Deus Ex series. It was the first Deus Ex title for mobile gaming and was first published in 2013 for iOS and one year later for Android and PC. It takes place in the year 2027 and is on the timeline a prequel to Deus Ex: Human Revolution and a sequel to the book Deus Ex: Icarus Effect. It features the main protagonists from the book: Anna Kelso, an ex-agent from the US Secret Service and the former British SAS officer Ben Saxon. As you can read the both protagonists are not employed any longer because they are on the run and the reason for that ... is explained the book. I do not want to spoil the very nice story from this book. It is also not that important for the game. You just have to know that they are hiding in Panama City and stay in a loose contact to the juggernaut collective, a group of hackers who also play a minor role in DX:HR and the DLC Deus Ex: The Missing Link. Reading the book first will give you a better understanding for the point of departure but there will be no disadvantage if you did not read it at all.

You play the role of Ben Saxon, who has been a short-termed member of the tyrants. They recruited him after a Belltower squad, led by Ben was entirely killed during the Australian civil war. You see, this game offers a lot of background information for every Deus Ex Fan. The game starts with a flashback, when Ben had his first military operation with the tyrants. This is also the tutorial for the game and it is pretty cool to meet the so "beloved" Tyrants from the original DX:HR, by name Lawrence Barrett, Yelena Fedorova and Mr. Cyborg Jaron Namir in person. And this time they are not hostile, well at least for the beginning. These two flashback mission are done nicely. They explain every piece of the controls very properly and provide some unknown background information about the Tyrants. (Yes, there is a reference to Gunther Hermann).

But then things did not pay off so well and Ben decided to leave the Tyrants, in a very direct way and this is where the main game starts.

I do not want to spoil the story too much but the premise is that there is a shortage on Neuropozyne and Ben and Anna are suffering from it. For all who do not know what Neuropozyne is, let me just say, it is kind of drug which all people with augmentations need (except for Adam Jensen) and is responsible that a body will not reject the augmentations. Augmented people need it their whole life or they will die and the company VersaLife (Hello Bob Page) has the exclusive right to produce and to sell it. So there is a shortage on this drug/medicament and you have to find out why and if there is maybe an alternative to it. The more you find out on during the game the more questions will pop up and soon you will find yourself in a tangible conspiracy with Belltower, VersaLife, other Pharmaceutical companies, the Tyrants and the WHO. There is nothing more to expect from a Deus Ex Game.

So in essence this game provides the same look and feel as in any Deus Ex Game. Conspiracy, stealth, hacking, dialogues, augmentations just to name a few buzzwords. But due to the chosen platform the developers had to make it smaller and a little bit simplified. And I think they did an excellent job balancing this claim for a big Deus Ex franchise and the convenience for a mobile game at the same time. And yes, there a restrictions on a mobile platform. Big restrictions, but I come back to this later.

If you are familiar with the gameplay from DX:HR there will be no real problem to get into this piece of software. Controlling your hero is done by holding your two thumbs on the surface. The left thumb is for movement forwards, backwards, left- and right-strafe and the right thumb is for looking around. Basically it is the same as holding an Xbox- or PlayStation-Controller. For every other action, like crouching, firing a weapon, performing knock-downs, go to the inventory etc. are buttons on the surface you have to tap on. There is also this function, where you double tap on any point of the screen and your character moves automatically to this point. And if you tap on a wall, Ben Saxon will automatically switch into the sneak-and-hide mode. I really was surprised how nice they implanted the sneaking mode in the game. Once you lean on a fence or a wall you can move along very easily and with a tap on button you leave this mode and move on normally. When you want to sneak around a corner or past a door gap there will also pop up buttons for these actions. Knocking down or killing enemies in melee combat will also show up the equivalent buttons. I just can speak for myself because I usually play every Deus Ex game with stealth and sneaking tactics and do not shoot so often. For a player like me the controls work very well on a touch device. You have also the option to customize ("augment") your interface, which means you are able to move all the buttons to other locations.

A lot of people complained about the fact that you cannot jump. Well it is a complaint the developer has to deal with, because it makes the world a step more unrealistic but on the other hand, I can understand this decision to cut off this element. They would have built an additional button for it and this would have made the whole controls more complicated and uncomfortable. Because of the level design you do not miss this element and when jumping is needed in the game there will pop up a button for it in the middle of the screen.

A typical inventory, as one knows it from previous games is missing. Instead you have a shop interface where you can buy (for in-game credits) weapons, upgrades, ammunition, praxis kits, candy bars, beer and all the other known stuff. You do not have to bother with inventory-management any more but of course it is a bit unrealistic because you still find all this stuff in the world but if you have the credits you may purchase every weapon, every upgrade, every anything immediately. And you cannot sell anything here. There is also a "real" shop where you can spend your bucks to buy in-game credits but I never tried this because it did not function and I do not need this kind of stuff. You can beat the whole game without buying anything. That is also a fact I really appreciate compared to other mobile games. There has not been one situation throughout the game, where the game reminds you that you could have beat the particular situation better and faster, if you have bought this or that. Though the game offers in app purchases but does not even show you that option and does not bother you.

Since our hero Ben is an augmented soldier, the customization of these perks plays also a big role. Of course you can manage the whole game without any augmentations but since there is no achievement for it (and there are lot achievements) it only makes sense for gamers who want it really hardcore. As far as I can judge it, the most augmentations known from DX:HR made it also in DX:TF, with some drawback though. For example, the hacking skills are only the basic skills; the sight skills provide only the "look through wall" augmentation and the jumping skill has been cut off trough reasons the whole jumping as a gameplay element has been cut off. But all in all the augmentations are still very helpful and you just need a handful of it (if you play as a hacker and with stealth tactics). There is even a new augmentation in this game, called "stealth dash".

The hacking mini-game is nearly the same as known from the previous game and with the tapping function it is a bit easier. Also the tapping is very handy when there are objects in the world to interact with. If you are near enough a description of an item pops up und by tapping on it, it finds its way in your inventory. Sounds like an overloaded interface but it is not.

The setting is Panama City in the year 2027 and there are different areas to discover. The game provides three bigger and a couple of smaller areas, including a nightclub, a hotel and drug house, each of them with multiple floors. And of course there is LIMB clinic. One may say it is a very short and small game but as I mentioned in the beginning it is a game for a mobile platform for a very low price. When you have a regular job with at least 7-8 hours of work every day and a private life and you play these kind of games with stealth tactics, then this game will entertain you for at least a couple of days, maybe one week or longer. That is because there is a lot do and a lot to read on PDAs, Emails and eBooks, a bunch of nice side quests and you can talk to every NPC in the game.

For a mobile device (and for the year 2013) the graphics are nonetheless breathtaking. The art of the graphics are very similar to DX:HR; a lot of yellow and yellow but it look very beautiful and as all of one piece. The lighting fits also perfect in the environment and most of the main characters are modeled pretty well. At some places the graphics were also reduced but it never gets too ugly.

The sounds and the music assist the game to unfold the typical atmosphere which is inherent in every Deus Ex game. The common places like the inner city or the starting house have ambient, calm tunes which stay in the background. When you enter enemy region the music shifts to a mysterious setting and a bit impulsive. If you are spotted and a gunfight starts, the tone gets more action orientated. Additionally there are compositions for the LIMB clinic, which is the same as in DX:HR and for the nightclub "Nightshade"; a very electronic piece of music with a nice bass line.

All these little pieces really help to immerse into this world and make it (not for Deus Ex fans only) a very good gaming experience.

The Bad
It seems that I am a Deus Ex addict from the first time I have met JC Denton. And that is absolutely correct. That is also the reason why I think DX:TF is a good game and even better when you compare it to its price. But as I mentioned it early it is a game for a reduced platform that has its limits and therefore the game is not flawless at all.

To start with I want to quote the German journalist Carsten Görig, who writes for the German magazine "Der Spiegel" (The Mirror): ""The Fall" reveals one of the grand delusions of the iPad: It is not a gaming console at all, even many gamers use it for such purpose. It is just not designed ergonomically. At least when you have to use two hands."

Well, a console controller is also used with two hands. So what? What Carsten Göring means are the constant interruptions in the game flow you will have playing this game on a mobile device. On a console you can move your character while picking up items or performing other actions. Here you always have to stop, take of your right hand, move it to the middle of the screen and tap. It is a bit easier on a smaller screen but the problem remains. I really got used to it very fast and because of my slow way to play the game it did not really bother me. The moment you recognize the consequences of this control, is the moment when you are right in a battle. For precise aiming you need patience and time. Two things you usually do not have during a battle. With practice it gets better but this Deus Ex game is definitely not a shooter and it is highly recommended not to play it as one.

The Fall occupies approximately 750-800 MB on your mobile device. This explains why it looks so fantastic for a mobile game and simultaneously why it does not look so good sometimes and explains a lot of flaws. As I wrote before the graphics are done very nicely but there are also characters, objects and parts of some areas which look kind of poor. Also there are a lot of graphical objects which are copied endless times. Furthermore your clearly see the restrictions in the movements of your enemies and your finishing moves. After 10 knock-downs you will become bored. You see and feel these restrictions in the whole game and even if they do not bother you so much it may lead to a game where you perform the same actions over and over. Not to mention that one area (Drug House) is brown, with brown, mixed with brown. That means in the end you have a different Deus Ex experience because the level of detail – not only for the graphics is not that high as in the other installments.

The characters are in the broadest sense ok. They are not really bad but you get the feeling that something is missing. Maybe emotions. I really like the main protagonists Anna and Ben and I like Ben’s British accent. He is a kind of a character to identify with, but the identification with Adam Jensen was much higher, also because you knew his motivation for his actions. If you have not read the book this Ben Saxon is much harder to grab and the connection between player and character is not that strong. For me it would have been a nice idea to play Anna Kelso instead. She seemed like an interesting character and would have fit more my hacking and stealth tactics. And she does not wear golden pants. The other NPCs are more or less interesting and except for one female character you meet later in the Nightclub, they are mostly flat and you only meet every Quest-NPC for a short time.

One of the biggest flaws according to the game design is the save system. You only have one save slot. One! And the game only saves automatically when you enter a new level. If you want to save your game, you have to go the menu, then tap on menu, then on the save button and finally close the menu to resume the game. That is a pretty long way when you could have a quick-save button instead. The one-save-slot issue can lead to serious problems. When you are in a desperate situation during a gunfight and mistake the save with the loading button it may happen that you just saved the second before a grenade explodes in your face. If that happens there is only one way to proceed. Restart the game. It is not understandable why the developers put it this way. All the other mistakes and flaws are more or less understandable because they took a large and complex gaming system and had to reduce it to a mobile platform but this one here cannot be explained.

For the next and the last point in my list, I have to mark a SPOILER ALERT. Not a big one though but the story ends with a not so small cliffhanger. At a point when the whole story starts to get interesting. And due to the reason that the game was published in 2013 and did not sell out so well (no claim to be correct) it does not seem that we will have another adventure with Ben Saxon. There is an option in the main menu labelled "more content" but there have never been any updates. Sad enough though.

The Bottom Line
In the beginning I complained about the many comparisons with Deus Ex: Human revolution made by other reviewers and did it not any better. These two games are only two years apart from each other and have the same feeling in the first place, so a comparison is inevitable, at least for some points. Beneath the shining surface Deus Ex: The Fall is a reduced Deus Ex experience but indeed it is a very good one. And I have to write it again: For a very low price you get a great game in the Deus Ex Universe. "This is the test, Ben."