Bought it, finished it. Was not sure what to think.
For those who do not know, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is the prequel to the first Deus Ex, what was a (apparently) groundbreaking FPS experience back when it was first made along the lines of Half-Life 1. I say apparently because I am too young to remember ever playing it, and too new-generation to be able to appreciate it in full nowadays.
However, unlike Yahtzee, I am not reviewing the original; back to Human Revolution. In the game, you are Adam Jensen, former SWAT and current director of defenses for Sarif Industries, a corporation specializing in augmentations; futuristic, sci-fi bionic implants. Lose a limb? No problem, have a synthetic one with all the functionality of the old, and more… of course, only if you can pay. That’s right, this technology is improving everyone’s lives everywhere, except for the ones who can’t afford to pay for it. Not only this, but the augmented must take a highly addictive drug, “Neuropozyne,” to force your body to accept the changes you are putting it through. If you don’t, terrible (unsaid) things happen.
So, what you would expect occurs; worldwide riots. The proletariat rises against the rich, either demanding that they also have access to this technology or simply that this technology go away, because their family and friends are all getting addicted to Neuropozyne and this cannot go on. Behind this stage, in the back, there also appears to be a, or several, puppetmaster(s) trying to influence events…
Note that I’ve said nothing of the gameplay yet. The story and setting of Human Revolution is an extremely engaging one. The game is mostly linear, but when you do get a sidequest, you want to do it. Not just because you want the upgrade points, or the credits, but because you really want to know what is going on. There is mystery upon mystery heaped upon Adam Jensen, and for each mystery, multiple ways to approach investigation. Here is where the original Deus Ex differed from all others; you actually get a choice as to how you solve your problems. Will you be a gunman, coldly using lethal means to force your way to the objective? Will you be the pacifist, only tranquilizing people to reach the target? Will you be the hacker, crawling through vents and hacking doors and turrets, gaining entrance to secret rooms? The choice is yours. Gladly, I can say that Human Revolution offers all these options.
The route I chose, that of the sneaky pacifist, was strangely reminiscent of Metal Gear Solid. There are cameras, turrets, guards, and boxes. It’s all about timing and patience; when guards move away or turn, you have to take the opportunity. When they are looking the way you need to go, you have to be able to sit tight and wait for them to move away. The guards respond dynamically when they see bodies, and when you are spotted, you are quickly taken down with almost no opportunity to retaliate - on “Give me a challenge” difficulty, I could survive about 2 shots with no “dermal armor” augmentation, but on “Give me Deus Ex” difficulty, you die on the first shot you take.
That might make gunplay seem a bit obtuse, but I think it’s the contrary. While people criticize the shooting aspect of the game, I think it’s ok. To be fair, I only killed about 10 people in the entire game - minus the bosses, we’ll get to that - but the ones I did kill were based on a lot of skill. Again, you only get one or two shots to survive, so you’d better shoot for the head and get a quick kill every time you duck out of cover or you will be gunned down.
Now, the bosses. The sore spot of the entire game. Most reviews I’ve read on the game criticize this. What the hell were they thinking, to include mandatory shoot-to-kill boss fights in a game that’s all about choices? Well, honestly, I think it fits with Jensen’s character.
SPOILERS AHEAD.
The bosses are the ones who attempted to kill not only you, but also your love interest. To those who have already finished the game: believing something is true makes it as good as true in your mind. No matter how much you might wish Jensen to play calm, I don’t think he would be able to repress the tons and tons of rage directed at them from the incident those six months ago. It may be incongruous to the game, but I believe that it is definitely within reason to have Jensen forced to kill the bosses. During my pacifist run, when Malik is about to be killed, I just pulled out my gun and started shooting. Sure, I was doing a pacifist run. But there was no way that I could let the baddies kill a friend. It’s the same thing for the bosses.
SPOILERS ENDED.
All in all, it’s a great game. My brother keeps telling me that the ending - which I won’t say anything about - just completely ruins the experience, but I don’t believe so. I do think it’s a shame that it’s so rushed, and that there’s not much closure, but it doesn’t make a recommendation into a total turn-off.
Consensus: Play it