I guess part of my apathy towards this game when it came out was due to the fact I didn't really love the original Deus Ex as much as some of it's bigger fans. Words like 'ground breaking' and 'innovative' are often used when describing the original Deus Ex - not that I necessarily disagree or dislike the game - but it just didn't grab me as much as other games I was playing at the time. It probably didn't help that when the game came out in 2000 PC gaming for me was predominantly Quake 3: Arena and Unreal Tournament so a slow-paced, methodical first person game was perhaps too radical a departure.
Regardless, I went into Deus Ex: HR with minimal expectations and within moments duly had my socks blown off! I'm playing it on the PC and this game is absolutely gorgeous. However, it's not just the lighting effects, resolution, textures and animations that make this game shine - no, it's incredible art design. The game takes place in 2027 and you can see Eidos Montreal put massive thought and effort into the aesthetics of their world. In the game you trot around the globe from future Detroit to Shanghai and it really feels like a living, breathing future world. The environments themselves tell a story. I love the slums in lower Hengsha (a fictional city near Shanghai) not just because of the dark alleyways and neon signs, but because of things like the 'Alice Garden Pods' - a hotel where space is a premium, finances are tough and people are crammed into a space like sardines with communal bathrooms and living areas.
This is also the first game where I have ever noticed costumes and fashion. It's 2027, so the clothes aren't radically different but different enough to reflect 15 years of changing fashion and societal change. And it's not as if everyone is wearing the same clothes - wealthier NPCs dress the part. I never thought I would pay so much attention to actual art design but the amount of effort Eidos Montreal have put in makes it impossible to ignore. It's fantastic stuff.
Likewise, the sound design is brilliant. NPC chatter, ambient sounds, gunfire all sound great. And the score? Incredible! In fact, I'm listening to Michael McCann's incredible original soundtrack right now and the dark, moody electronic and orchestral notes really set the tone of the game. I'm not surprised it was nominated for a BAFTA for 'Best Original Score'.
As a game, Deus Ex: HR is first/3rd person action RPG. The combination of absolute freedom with which to approach quests, solid shooting mechanics (with a great 3rd person cover system), and a well-thought-out upgrade tree make for a game that I pretty much played till the wee hours even on week nights. The freedom with which to approach quests is what makes the game so much fun. You can go in guns blazing and appropriately use upgrades that pertain to that - such as improved aiming or bullet-resistant shielding. Or you can go using stealth and use upgrades to reduce the sound footsteps make, or even unlock a short term cloaking device. Another route would be to focus on 'hacking' - using the fun hacking mini-game to circumvent security droids, turrets and cameras. Upgrades for this allow you to hack faster, safer (from detection) and give you access to a greater variety of objects in the world. You can also try to talk your way to success with numerous dialogue options and even the ability (through upgrades) to use pheromones to influence NPCs.
More often than not you'll use a combination of all four of the above (combat, stealth, hacking and dialogue) but will focus more on one or two particular areas. I focused more on stealth and hacking - get in and get out before anyone knew I was there. But there were definitely moments that called for the more direct approach and the mission/level design design allows you the freedom to mix it up whenever you want.
The story and characters in the Deus Ex: Human Revolution are fantastic. You play as Adam Jensen, a private security officer for Sariff Industries - a leading biotech company in 2027 that specializes in human augmentation. At the beginning of the game, Sariff Industries' headquarters is attacked, a major research project destroyed and you're left with severe injuries. You awake, 6 Million Dollar Man-style, recovered but with numerous 'augments' such as robotic limbs, enhanced vision and so on. You return to Sariff Industries to find out who orchestrated the attack and as a result uncover a vast conspiracy that spans the globe.
The game is generally linear in scope but intersperses chapters of the story with open-world, non-linear areas where you can explore and find/complete quests at your own pace. I am a sucker for open-world games so this grabbed me from the onset.
The narrative in the game is not nearly as crazy as the conspiracy laden narrative in the original Deus Ex (remember that madness?) and much more focused. The characters and side missions are well written and really suck you into the world. You also make a lot of decisions, even early on, that have lasting impacts on the characters and the game world. I only just found out, after finishing the game, that one of the main NPCs who dies in the game (I don't want to spoil it by saying whom) could have been saved - I didn't even realize that was an option! There's also the underlying theme of augmentation and human progress, should we augment our bodies to make them faster, stronger? Is this evolution? Do we lose our humanity by doing this, or are we merely fulfilling our potential? The game doesn't just bring up these questions fleetingly, it tries to address them through the narrative.
Best of all, the story isn't rammed down you throat with just cutscenes and deliberate exposition (though those are both there). You could run through this game as a shooter, barely register the story and still have a fairly good time. But if you take your time you'll see the story in Deus Ex: Human Revolution is everywhere. It's in journals and PDAs that you find around the environment. It's in the news/TV broadcasts that are playing in the background, or the newspapers left lying around. As I mentioned before, the environment itself helps to fill in the narrative.
I love this game. Sure, there are four 'boss fights' which are utter garbage and shouldn't have been in the game but even they weren't enough to sully my opinion of the game as a whole. I think Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a masterpiece. The amount of effort that Eidos Montreal put into the story, the world, the mechanics and the presentation are clear to see and it really shines through.
If you haven't already, you simply must play this game. It was on sale a few weeks ago on Steam for $7.50 which is borderline theft. Even without a Steam sale it's still around $30 and the soundtrack is around $11 (and well worth it too).
Why didn't I play this sooner?
Lavan [off to play the 'Missing Link' DLC]
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