Review: Deus Ex Human Revolution (PC)

4 Sep, 2011

Title: Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Platform: PC, Xbox 360, PS3 (reviewed on PC)
Developer: Eidos Montreal
Publisher: Square Enix
Tagline: It is all about Player Choice in a futuristic world
Family Friendly: People are stabbed, shot, and occasionally getting their necks broken. A violent beginning and a body missing limbs is the tip of the iceberg. It does earn its M Rating.

When Deus Ex Human Revolution was first announced (Deus Ex 3 back then), I was a huge skeptic of the project. Without the main people behind the first game, it seemed like Deus Ex Human Revolution would be destined for failure. Fast forward to current day, and Deus Ex Human Revolution has arrived, and it is sweet and satisfying experience. The promises made have been delivered on by the development team. Deus Ex Human Revolution removes the shackles that come with traditional gameplay, instead looking to mingle different gameplay aspects into one cohesive game, and it works through all angles. Deus Ex Human Revolution delivers gamers on a hell of a ride, and ends up being an early contender for game of the year.

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Deus Ex Human Revolution has gamers playing as Adam Jensen, a security officer that is recently returning to duty six months after an attack on his employer that left him on the verge of death. It was only with the implantation of mechanical augmentations, that he was able to survive his injuries. Now back on his feet, he has been asked by his boss to find out who was behind the attack on Sarif Industries. As Adam proceeds on his journey, he starts to realize that not everything is as black and white as he might have assumed, and he must rely on his skills to get to the bottom of the truth.

While on its surface the story may not seem all that great, it does take a deep look at ethical issues while opening up a discussion on how we as people define our humanity. And while the themes constantly come up through every main mission and side quest, they never hit you over the head with the theme, instead sublimely working them into conversation. What does it mean to be human? Does augmentation take away the very soul of the person? The questions are fascinating, and did make me think a bit about my choices as I moved through the game.

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It was also smart of Eidos Montreal to set their game much earlier in the Deus Ex universe, as it allows them to put a fresh layer of ideas into the universe. Don’t mistake that with the idea that they ignored the prior games. Instead, a lot of reverence and respect can be found for the first game. The new development team has worked hard at creating links between people, locations and concepts that were used in the first Deus Ex title. The first time I saw an email from Joseph Manderley, a smile grew across my face as I could tell that Eidos Montreal got the full understanding of the mythos of Deus Ex.

Of course all of this babble does not mean much of anything if Deus Ex Human Revolution plays like crap. Thankfully for the legion of fans out there, the game plays extremely well. The idea of choice is a core mechanic for a Deus Ex game, and here you are presented with four different paths that you can mix and match throughout the game. You are never locked into a path for the most part, and the game can be successfully finished using any of the methods or mixing and matching methods. For my play through, I mixed up stealth and hacking, with the occasional use of weapon. There always seems to be multiple paths for any objective. Need to get into a room, you know that there is probably a vent to get your there, or a code you can hack, or by punching in a soft wall. Thankfully, each method of gameplay is given the same amount of care, making each one a viable choice for getting to the end of the game.

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For those that do like their guns, you can play Deus Ex Human Revolution as a shooter. It is a fairly competent when using weapons, but be advised that you will want to supplement your shooting with some carefully selected augmentations. More often than not you can get overwhelmed by the enemy, as they will react to a disturbance with brute force. There are a wide selection of weapons to choose from over the course of play, but you will not be able to carry them all, as your inventory plays like a tetris puzzle. You can only hold so much, but over time, you can upgrade to boost what you can carry, but even then, you are going to have to pick and choose what weapons are important to you.

Of course, you cannot have a Deus Ex title without discussing the augmentations. In the original, augmentations were sleek and flesh-like due to nanotechnology. In 2027, things have not moved that far, as augmentations are based around more mechanical designs. Augmentations can be upgraded with different modifications to help you progress through the game. While you will have to make choices on augmentations, thorough players will earn or find enough upgrade, modules to select most of the upgrades. Augmentations allow you to pull off all sorts of creative tricks. Some will allow you to cloak, turning invisible to enemies. Or you can upgrade your hacking skills to unlock stronger terminals or hack them more efficiently. While most are not flashy, they become an integral part of gameplay when looking for a solution to a quandary. I found myself really enjoying most of the augmentations. Most will end up pulling you out of a jam on more than one occasion. I learned to live by the Typhoon and Stealth Cammo augs for moving through some of the more challenging parts of the game.

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Deus Ex Human Revolution is not without its faults. As I leveled up my hacking skills I noticed the game became a lot easier due to bypassing a lot of roadblocks with the skill. At level five, I became an unstoppable hacking machine. I also ran into some strange glitches during the occasional cut scene. Overall, my play through was relatively glitch free, with one crash to desktop. Others have not been as lucky, especially with Nvidia cards. I was spared these issues, but just beware of them – they do exist. My biggest issue though had to come with the boss fights. While you can stealth your way around every section of the game, you will most likely need a gun, or some very creative thinking for the boss fights, and if you have spec’d out as a stealth or hacker, you might not have the skills or weapons to finish the battle. It would have been nice for pacifists to have a little more leeway with these battles.

All said, Deus Ex Human Revolution is a fantastic title. It finds a way to mesh so many choices into a very coherent story. It asks poignant questions that challenge your moral compass. It is completely successful with merging together distinctly different genres and gameplay styles, and never compromising on any of them. Deus Ex Human Revolution is a title that will keep you entertained throughout, and leave you wanting so much more at the end, and in this case, it is a good thing.