Deus Ex: The Fall

The Fall is a side-story to Deus Ex: Human Revolution, complete with the same mix of stealth and combat mechanics, first-person and third-person angles, branching conversations, augmentation options. It weighs in at around five to six hours of gameplay, and yes. It plays out on mobile and tablet.

The game is a collaberation between key members of Eidos Montreal, novelist James Swallow (whose characters in Human Revolution lead-in book Icarus Effect, Ben Saxon and Anna Kelso, are core to the story) composer Michael Mann, who's back with a new score, and New Jersey-based development studio N-Fusion. The game's releasing this summer on iOS (the team are keeping quiet about an Android version for now) and will be playable across iPad, iPad Mini and iPhone.

We went hands-on with the game during its unveiling, and graphically it looks fairly close to the home console versions, the game's iconic gold and black visual trim lending a softness to the sharper curves expected from character models and environments on a mobile take. There's a multitude of game control options on offer, with the traditional virtual twin sticks complmented (or bettered) by a variety of touch and tap-based options, as well as the choice of manual or automated systems for taking out foes with augmentations or standard weaponry. There's a big sub-menu of options dedicated to tweaking it as you want.

According to Eidos Montreal, the title has been worked on for some twelve months now, and is considered by them as a proper entry rather than curious offshoot. Opening aside, it's set during the time frame of Adam Jensen's recovery period, and while the Sarif agent won't be making an appearance (at least that's what we're told), there will be some familar faces in the form of the Tyrants, the mercenaries that clashed with Jensen during his adventure. In fact when we join Saxon at the game's start, he's on the other side of the fence, working alongside the mercs, until events transpire that cause him to question what he's doing with his life.

Ben Saxon is ex-S.A.S and as fully capable as Adam in a fight or flight situation. The main thrust of the story's still under wraps, but it has something to do with him forced into active duty to track down the drug Neuropozyne, required by those augmented to keep ticking over, an issue that's afflicting Anna when we join the two in the story.

Augmentations are still a big part of the game, Collecting Praxis letting you upgrade your cybernetic body for increased athleticism, power, and abilities such as invisiblity. While it's not a straight lift from that which was on offer in Human Revolution, there's twenty-four unique abilities in Augmentation, and the bulked screen is enough to prove this isn't a trimmed down version.

While you'll still need to build up an arsenal of weapons, as well as decide whether you favour stealth or aggressive engagements, in The Fall the suitcase of Human Revolution has been ejected, allowing you to stack the twenty plus guns expected in the game and customise them to your heart's content. There will be the option to pay your way, but we're promised you won't need to spend any more than the cost of the initial App purchase (somewhere just over a fiver at current estimations) to get everything you need out of the game.

The team is concious of the format's interface, trying to give players both the classic control scheme and a simpler version (the latter more to attract a wider audience). While multiple icons and changable drop-down menus are kept as subtle and as natural as possible along the rims of the screen, coupled with the choice to tap targets and cover points, it can get overwhelming quickly. Our five minute play far too short to see if we'd acclimatise to the setup; the multitude of inputs may lead to a cross-pollination of styles, as everyone settles into what works for them. At least everyone can agree the hacking mini-game is going to work just fine with a touch screen.

We played on the iPad, though a iPad Mini version was doing the rounds as well, and given the estimated game length, we can't help but think the smaller tablet - lighter than the original, as well as more screen space than a iPhone, will be the way to go. But whatever device you've got, The Fall looks promising.

You can read our interview with Jean-Francois Dugas, executive game director here.