yep it’s another deus ex: human revolution review. so to begin with if you are a fan of the series, read on. if you like rpgs, read on. if you are after an action FPS like COD leave now – this game is not for you.
i still rate the original deus ex as my favourite game of all time. it had a brilliant story, interesting gameplay and a world that just sucked you in. so when i first heard of DE:HR i was very sceptical. at first it seemed doomed for failure with all the modern ‘gaming for dummies’ additions like regenerative health, a cover system and important object highlighting. so how did they get so much so right?
to be honest i only pre-ordered the game because i wanted the soundtrack and the artbook supplied with the augmented edition. and these are two areas the game excels. the art style is meticulously created with attention to detail thoughout the game. the game is set in 2027 so the team had to come up with a style that was futuristic but still felt not too far away from today. now i’ve never been to detroit, hengsha (shanghai) or montreal but they managed to create a fairly believable 2027 – alhough i think a bit optomistic with regard to augmentation technology. nonetheless it’s an extremely immersive world, and the sound work plays a large role. the soundtrack, although more than half the number of tracks than the original has a very nice sci-fi theme to it. the epic intro music grabs your hand and forces you to hit the play button and this is where the game begins.
you play an ex swat soldier turned private security contractor for a large biotech corporation. at first you get lead through an on-rails sequence through the labs of sarif industries, where you meet and greet several fellow employees and witness the testing of the ‘typhoon’ system – an augmentation that fires ball bearings in a 360 degree sphere around the user – which you will later be able to install in yourself (which i never did ). the lab is attacked, you are shot in the head and left for dead. you undergo surgery and 6 months later you wake up half human, half machine.
right from the getup, you learn very quickly that your actions will affect the story. you are urgently called up to the penthouse to receive details about your first mission involving a hostage situation. i took too long because i like to poke around and explore everything before i move on. when i got the mission breifing i learnt the hostages had already been killed and the mission objectives changed. there’s a lot more of these situations throughout the game.
there are also plenty of nods to the original such as being given a choice between a lethal and non-leathal weapon for the first mission. the first code you receive is also identical to the first code in deus ex: 0451. DE:HR also contains plenty of newspaper articles, ebooks and emails to read giving some great backstory to the game and adding to the immersion. there’s also quite a few storyline links with the original (including a nice one at the end of the credits).
gameplay is similar to the original, although slightly ‘augmented’. you can go in and gun everyone down, hack your way into networks and make turrets and robots your friends, act all ninja like and crawl through vents and be the pacifist and use non-lethal take downs. in-fact there is so much emphasis on playing nicely that there is even an achievement for playing through the game without killing anyone (unless you have to). this was mostly the approach i took, although sometimes i just couldn’t help but knock off the old villian like a particularily nasty drug dealer i encountered. and this is exactly where the game shines. it makes you think about the consequences of your actions and tries to get you to play in a certain style, only to then lure you into trying a different approach.
ok so to cover a few of the complaints of heard.
- regenerative health: yeah it’s not really necessary. the team’s excuse is that having health packs would break the flow of the game and i agree but they could have made it an augmentation like in the original which healed you over time and used up energy. this would have added a bit more strategy to some of the battles.
- boss battles: yep these are pretty jarring. they were by far the most challenging parts of the game for me because i basically only had non-lethal weapons and a zooped up pistol just in case. it would have been nice if they weren’t forced on the player and if it was possible to actually beat the bosses with melee attacks.
- third person cover system: i actually didn’t mind this too much. although i didn’t use it much either. i preferred to hide in the air vents and pick off enemies one by one. i don’t think it really adds or takes much from the gameplay.
- ‘augmented reality highlights’: the game has a feature that places a yellow highlight around objects you can interact with. this was originally going to a permenant feature but the internet cried and it was turned into an option. it was off by default as i chose the hardest difficulty setting to play. i did turn it on for about 10 mins and then turned it off again as i wanted to explore the world myself. but next playthrough i might just put it on. very glad the developers listened to the community and made this optional.
- mirrors!: indeed there are no mirrors in the game. there’s some funny stuff on the net on this! 2027 and mirrors are no more…
now for some of my own gripes.
- the environments are a little bit too repetative. it seems like you are either in a street or an office for 90% of the game. a bit more variation would have been welcome.
- vent placements are a little too common and predictable. some more thought on alternative routes would have been nice, although the wall punching augment is welcomed.
- more intersting augmentations. there are a bunch of augmentations that are just useless. there is no point upgrading your radar when the stock one provides sufficient information. these could have been replaced by a lock pick or a hearing enhancer for example.
- some melee weapons. the only way to melee attack is to press a key when close to an enemy which initiates a random scripted sequence which seems to freeze everyone around you until you knock out your target. and this costs one energy unit which means you can’t melee attack if you run out of energy. i’d think a man made half out of metal could do some pretty serious damage without using any energy.
issues aside, after completing the game i just want to jump back in and start again. this time i’ll probably play the terminator role and kill everything i see but i’ll have to wait for a new computer first. i played the game on a Dell studio one all-in-one computer which ran it on the lowest settings with a tiny bit of lag, which made the shooting a little tricky, but i still found the game extremely enjoyable.
eidos have done a remarkable effort in providing fan service for the orginal and i’d hope a good experience for new comers although i’m not a very good judge of that! if you are a fan of the original and are still holding out, don’t. go grab it.
rating for deus-ex fan: 96%
rating for non deus-ex fan: 85%