Deus Ex GO is out now, and it's nothing like Deus Ex: The Fall or, by extension, the Deus Ex series it's spun off from. But it's undoubtedly the better mobile game.
Starting out life on PC before working their way to consoles, the Deus Ex games are complex first person actions games that tend to offer you multiple routes to success through their dystopian sci-fi worlds.
2013's Deus Ex: The Fall attempted to bring that formula over to mobile, with a surprising degree of success. It looked (and still looks) stunning, and managed to nail the key elements of the full Deus Ex: Human Revolution game, right down to the first person perspective.
All in all, it's a highly entertaining game and still well worth a shot. But viewed in the cold light of 2016, it's not a particularly great mobile game. Its first person shooter controls may have been functional, but they never quite felt natural on mobile.
GO, GO, GO
Deus Ex GO, on the other hand, bears little resemblance to its source material. It casts you as Adam Jensen from Deus Ex: Human Revolution (and forthcoming sequel Deus Ex: Mankind Divided), an augmented agent uncovering a sinister conspiracy. But aside from existing in a familiar world, that's where the similarities end.
As the name may suggest, Deus EX GO's gameplay is much more closely related to Hitman GO and Lara Croft GO than any other games in the series. It's a turn-based puzzler of sorts, as you shuffle Adam around a series of self-contained boardgame-like puzzles.
Various opposing elements, from guards to turrets to robots, will react to you in different ways. The former will start charging at you the second you cross their path. Turrets, meanwhile, will shoot on sight.
It's up to you to utilise all of these rules, as well as your own unique abilities (you can cloak temporarily, attack enemies from behind, and hack terminals to gain control of turrets), to make your way safely to the exit.
The future's bright
It's a simple, concise system, but it's one that's augmented (fittingly enough) by sharp presentation. Adam might be moving around a board, but he's no static figure, with a host of fluid animations selling his every move - from brutal takedowns to booting robots in the chops. The music, too, is the kind of atmospheric synth soundtrack we've come to expect from the Deus Ex series.
There's also a twisty-turny plot tying all of the disparate levels together, making it all feel like a cohesive game despite its bite-size, mobile-friendly structure.
Just like the other GO games from Square Enix, this combination of elements makes for a great mobile game. It's not the Deus Ex game we're used to, but it is a mobile game Deus Ex fans will be able to enjoy unreservedly on its own terms.
You can buy Deus Ex GO from the App Store now for £3.99.
