Deus Ex: The Fall

The best looking game on mobiles? It's up there. But dodgy shooting controls let it down. [Oct 2013, p.78]

As a straight-up FPS, Deus Ex: The Fall is an unequivocal failure. But as a stealth think-'em-up, it's a triumph of good first-person game design on a format that is, historically speaking, stubbornly ill-suited to similar fare. [Issue#138, p.114]

The voice-acting is one major problem, but the slow pacing of the story is another low point. Overall, the entire package is a fun little distraction.

Deus Ex The Fall is a rather nice attempt at pushing a Deus Ex experience on touch devices; it works, but not flawlessly. With a less than stellar level design, some annoying bugs, and limited branching, The Fall seems to make the most of less than ideal devices, but do not think for a minute that it can go on par with the real thing on a full-fledged console or PC. Still very nice to play, though, as a point of entry to the series or a quick fix until a real sequel to Human Revolution.

Deus Ex: The Fall is a good experiment, limited by the devices it runs on.

Deus Ex: The Fall isn’t bad, it’s just not great with the main takeaway being disappointment based on the promise the game showed.

Despite the game's stumbles, there's an awful lot to like about this mobile Deus Ex. It's an impressive adventure, one that sets a few new standards when it comes to navigating mobile 3D worlds, and squeezing mechanics onto touchscreens. It's an inescapable conclusion, however, that the game's undeniable accomplishments also serve to highlight its rougher edges.

Deus Ex: The Fall works far better with touch controls than one would think, and it offers up a lighter, if a little bare-bones Human Revolution experience. In many ways though this experiment feels like a waste, as it would really be stronger as either a PlayStation Vita game or even a downloadable console title.

The technical feat of getting a game of this pedigree up and running on iOS is impressive. Without competent combat, however, all that work is for naught.

Remove the lazy in-game shop, add gamepad support, give some brains to AI enemies and more freedom to players – and the inevitable sequel to Deus Ex: The Fall will be a great game.

This is a good looking but foul compromise. It replicates the atmosphere of Human Revolution but in terms of gameplay this is just second class.

The game sort of falls apart in combat. [Oct 2013, p.78]

There’s nothing here that wasn’t done bigger, in more detail, and with more options, in Eidos Montreal’s game, while the story so far fails to introduce new ideas or themes.

The Fall is at times rewarding but, unfortunately, often frustrating. It’s certainly ambitious and a step towards progression in mobile gaming, intending to deliver a comprehensive blockbusting experience. Ultimately, it falls short of the mark.

Deus Ex: The Fall is a short but sweet spin-off for fans of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, just make sure you double check your iOS device's firmware and hardware before downloading.

Deus Ex: The Fall isn’t the great game we’ve been hoping for. It’s actually quite disappointing. Big chunks of it just don’t work well, but decent fiction makes up for some of the problems. It’s not enough to warrant a purchase though.

All the ingredients are there from Human Revolution, but the final dish is disappointingly tasteless – even if its main problems are the opposite of what you’d expect.