So Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The game everyone loves. This game has scored consistently high scores from reviewers around the globe. But does it deserve such high praise?
You are Adam Jensen, head of security for Sarif Industries and the most stoic man in the world. The game begins with a lengthy, yet well done, cutscene. Megan Reed, the ex-girlfriend of Adam Jensen, takes Jensen on a tour of Sarif Industries, one of the leading developers of human augmentations. After a short while, Sarif himself calls Jensen into his office. However, their meeting is cut short by terrorists who kidnap several scientists and nearly kill Adam Jensen.
Jensen, however, is saved through two miracles: first, his boss likes him enough to give him state of the art augmentations, and second, his body is strangely receptive to the augments. Other people are not so lucky, and have to rely on a drug in order to live with the augments they receive.
Shortly after Jensen returns to work, a Sarif manufacturing plant is hit by extremists, giving Adam and excellent opportunity to try out his new toys. Eventually, it comes to light that the extremists who attacked the plant were puppets to a greater enemy, and Jensen must figure out both where the kidnapped scientists were taken, and who is really pulling the strings.
Early in the game, the flaws are nearly non-existent. The controls are some of the smoothest I have ever had in a game, which greatly enhances the experience. However, some decisions made by the developers are confusing. Why must I hold A (on the 360) to round a corner? Why you can't simply walk around the corner is puzzling.This is not a big deal, but it gets annoying when you're trying to time your movements so you don't get spotted, and it gets worse when it forces you to hold A when the corner is a 135 degree angle.
This brings me to another point: choice. For a game that supposedly has so much choice, there is surprising little to be found in terms of how you approach everything except conversations. If you attempt to run and gun, Jensen will die, and rather quickly at that. Stealth is rather forced, with the cloak augment being almost required to pass through certain areas. Not only that, but there is far, far to little ammunition to support a guns blazing approach (which I found out the hard way, when I ran out of ammo and was forced to resort to take downs). The feeling of choice is also lessened during boss fights: a player cannot stealth their way through, and must kill the bosses. One fight, an AI you meet asks if you're going to save the defeated boss, who is bleeding out on the floor. Adam says "I'll think about it" and leaves her to die. There was no choice for the opposite, which was very disheartening, as I usually play games with a sense of morality and not letting people bleed out on the floor.
Speaking of energy, Jensen has an energy reserve, which is used up when Jensen performs certain actions, such as walking/running/ falling silently, cloaking (which drains energy rapidly), doing take downs, or utilizing the Typhoon augment (Jensen shoots out dozens of tiny steel ball in a 360 degree area around him, killing anything close enough). The energy does recharge, and you can upgrade this, but for some strange reason, only the first cell (of an eventual five cells) regenerates energy. The rest must be replenished by eating bars found throughout the world. This is puzzling for a few reasons, but mainly because there is no reason the other cells shouldn't regenerate energy. No reason is given for this, other than because it doesn't. Also, god help you if you run out of bars to eat, because you will have to deal with one energy bar being emptied and regenerating.
Earlier I said that the enemies would run into rooms and die like mooks. This is true. The AI does not seems to be capable of rising past general mook territory. The AI isn't rock stupid, but after watching thirteen of their buddies walk into a room and not come out, one would think a grenade might be necessary. Jensen also has the magical ability to completely disappear when crouched behind cover, even though he was there two seconds ago. Some areas, with multiple guards on multiple patrol routes, can be difficult, but not terribly so. Unless, of course, you go in guns blazing. Then you might as well just save them the trouble.
Switching gears to the graphics and art style, I loved them. The art style is very interesting, with lots of triangles everywhere. The graphics vary between great and passable, with certain things looking great, like the augments and environments, but other things not so good, like faces, which becomes even more noticeable when the characters speak. The facial animations are a bit stiff on occasion, and the hand and arms movements leave a lot to be desired. The weapons, on the other hand, are well designed, and the upgrades you can purchase for them (aside from the ammo capacity, damage increases, etc), such as silencers, laser targeters, and even bullet guiding systems are all visual upgrades to the weapon, which I think is fantastic.
However, my main problem with this game lies in two places: the characters and the story. Adam Jensen himself is the most defined character out of the bunch, and that isn't saying much. The pilot, Malik has a close second, but only because she has a side mission that explores a bit of her past. The "love story" between Jensen and Dr. Reed is never touched upon aside from maybe three lines of dialogue, leaving the player with out any real motivation to find her. In fact, many of the characters lack any sort of depth or dimension. Zhao, for instance, comes off more as a Bond villain than any sort of serious threat.
The story is mediocre. The game love details, so if you miss even the slightest thing, you might miss a key point. After about the halfway point, it turned into ramblings about the Illuminati, something about FEMA, and a security company called Belltower, none of which were explained in any depth or serious fashion. Heck, the main bad guy (the one who almost killed you in the beginning) is never even mentioned or given a name until after he is defeated. The only boss fight that has any weight is the first fight against Barrett, who monologues for a few seconds to tell you who he is and why you have to fight him. The others? Not even. They just appear and you two fight. The only decent choice is when Adam and Malik crash land on a roof, and you can either save her by killing or subduing the attackers or flee and leave her to die. If you leave her to die, you find her later, dead, with a hole in her head. That was amazing to see your choices have some real consequences. But it was a one time deal.
That isn't the worst part. Oh no, that is an honor saved only for the ending(s). They are, to put it simply, boring, unsatisfying justifications of why you picked that choice. I felt that the final choice had zero emotional weight or significance, leaving me feeling like nothing I did mattered. All that happens is Adam talks at you for three minutes about who he is, what he did, and why he did it. There is no look at how the choice affected the world, or anything for that matter. Instead, we get stock footage and a gravelly voice. The endings were the worst part of the game, and completely ruined the experience for me. Not that anything made me particularly invested in the first place, but that didn't make the endings any less disappointing.
I wanted to love this game, I really did. But I just couldn't. It's as if they either ran out of time, so they had to think up an ending quick, or they switched writers halfway through, and the second one wasn't as good as the first.
Does it deserve such high praise? No. It is a slightly above average game; visually stimulating, but marred by questionable design choices, a lack of real choice, poor characterization, and a story that get weaker and more confusing as you progress.
When I began the game, I was calm like this
You are Adam Jensen, head of security for Sarif Industries and the most stoic man in the world. The game begins with a lengthy, yet well done, cutscene. Megan Reed, the ex-girlfriend of Adam Jensen, takes Jensen on a tour of Sarif Industries, one of the leading developers of human augmentations. After a short while, Sarif himself calls Jensen into his office. However, their meeting is cut short by terrorists who kidnap several scientists and nearly kill Adam Jensen.
Jensen, however, is saved through two miracles: first, his boss likes him enough to give him state of the art augmentations, and second, his body is strangely receptive to the augments. Other people are not so lucky, and have to rely on a drug in order to live with the augments they receive.
Shortly after Jensen returns to work, a Sarif manufacturing plant is hit by extremists, giving Adam and excellent opportunity to try out his new toys. Eventually, it comes to light that the extremists who attacked the plant were puppets to a greater enemy, and Jensen must figure out both where the kidnapped scientists were taken, and who is really pulling the strings.
Early in the game, the flaws are nearly non-existent. The controls are some of the smoothest I have ever had in a game, which greatly enhances the experience. However, some decisions made by the developers are confusing. Why must I hold A (on the 360) to round a corner? Why you can't simply walk around the corner is puzzling.This is not a big deal, but it gets annoying when you're trying to time your movements so you don't get spotted, and it gets worse when it forces you to hold A when the corner is a 135 degree angle.
This brings me to another point: choice. For a game that supposedly has so much choice, there is surprising little to be found in terms of how you approach everything except conversations. If you attempt to run and gun, Jensen will die, and rather quickly at that. Stealth is rather forced, with the cloak augment being almost required to pass through certain areas. Not only that, but there is far, far to little ammunition to support a guns blazing approach (which I found out the hard way, when I ran out of ammo and was forced to resort to take downs). The feeling of choice is also lessened during boss fights: a player cannot stealth their way through, and must kill the bosses. One fight, an AI you meet asks if you're going to save the defeated boss, who is bleeding out on the floor. Adam says "I'll think about it" and leaves her to die. There was no choice for the opposite, which was very disheartening, as I usually play games with a sense of morality and not letting people bleed out on the floor.
These two will be dead soon. Really, really dead.
Take-downs are a very crucial part of how the game works. Being able to silently take out a person, or two people of you purchase the Reflex Booster upgrade, is great. For a stealth character. There is also the option of killing the opponents via swanky arms blades, and it becomes hilarious when you end up having a pile of knocked out or dead mooks in a doorway because they just keep on coming into the room. Take downs are fun, but the lack of any real, non-energy-sucking melee attacks is disappointing. Speaking of energy, Jensen has an energy reserve, which is used up when Jensen performs certain actions, such as walking/running/ falling silently, cloaking (which drains energy rapidly), doing take downs, or utilizing the Typhoon augment (Jensen shoots out dozens of tiny steel ball in a 360 degree area around him, killing anything close enough). The energy does recharge, and you can upgrade this, but for some strange reason, only the first cell (of an eventual five cells) regenerates energy. The rest must be replenished by eating bars found throughout the world. This is puzzling for a few reasons, but mainly because there is no reason the other cells shouldn't regenerate energy. No reason is given for this, other than because it doesn't. Also, god help you if you run out of bars to eat, because you will have to deal with one energy bar being emptied and regenerating.
Earlier I said that the enemies would run into rooms and die like mooks. This is true. The AI does not seems to be capable of rising past general mook territory. The AI isn't rock stupid, but after watching thirteen of their buddies walk into a room and not come out, one would think a grenade might be necessary. Jensen also has the magical ability to completely disappear when crouched behind cover, even though he was there two seconds ago. Some areas, with multiple guards on multiple patrol routes, can be difficult, but not terribly so. Unless, of course, you go in guns blazing. Then you might as well just save them the trouble.
Switching gears to the graphics and art style, I loved them. The art style is very interesting, with lots of triangles everywhere. The graphics vary between great and passable, with certain things looking great, like the augments and environments, but other things not so good, like faces, which becomes even more noticeable when the characters speak. The facial animations are a bit stiff on occasion, and the hand and arms movements leave a lot to be desired. The weapons, on the other hand, are well designed, and the upgrades you can purchase for them (aside from the ammo capacity, damage increases, etc), such as silencers, laser targeters, and even bullet guiding systems are all visual upgrades to the weapon, which I think is fantastic.
However, my main problem with this game lies in two places: the characters and the story. Adam Jensen himself is the most defined character out of the bunch, and that isn't saying much. The pilot, Malik has a close second, but only because she has a side mission that explores a bit of her past. The "love story" between Jensen and Dr. Reed is never touched upon aside from maybe three lines of dialogue, leaving the player with out any real motivation to find her. In fact, many of the characters lack any sort of depth or dimension. Zhao, for instance, comes off more as a Bond villain than any sort of serious threat.
The story is mediocre. The game love details, so if you miss even the slightest thing, you might miss a key point. After about the halfway point, it turned into ramblings about the Illuminati, something about FEMA, and a security company called Belltower, none of which were explained in any depth or serious fashion. Heck, the main bad guy (the one who almost killed you in the beginning) is never even mentioned or given a name until after he is defeated. The only boss fight that has any weight is the first fight against Barrett, who monologues for a few seconds to tell you who he is and why you have to fight him. The others? Not even. They just appear and you two fight. The only decent choice is when Adam and Malik crash land on a roof, and you can either save her by killing or subduing the attackers or flee and leave her to die. If you leave her to die, you find her later, dead, with a hole in her head. That was amazing to see your choices have some real consequences. But it was a one time deal.
This is how I raged after watching the endings. Also, spoilers ahead.
That isn't the worst part. Oh no, that is an honor saved only for the ending(s). They are, to put it simply, boring, unsatisfying justifications of why you picked that choice. I felt that the final choice had zero emotional weight or significance, leaving me feeling like nothing I did mattered. All that happens is Adam talks at you for three minutes about who he is, what he did, and why he did it. There is no look at how the choice affected the world, or anything for that matter. Instead, we get stock footage and a gravelly voice. The endings were the worst part of the game, and completely ruined the experience for me. Not that anything made me particularly invested in the first place, but that didn't make the endings any less disappointing.
I wanted to love this game, I really did. But I just couldn't. It's as if they either ran out of time, so they had to think up an ending quick, or they switched writers halfway through, and the second one wasn't as good as the first.
Does it deserve such high praise? No. It is a slightly above average game; visually stimulating, but marred by questionable design choices, a lack of real choice, poor characterization, and a story that get weaker and more confusing as you progress.
I give this game a 6.5/10. No more, and no less.