Extra Punctuation: What Human Revolution Got Wrong

[ZippyDSMlee]

For me it goes like this:

Deus Ex = Unreal Tournament + System Shock + Thief + whatever else they could also squeeze in
Deus Ex: Human Revolution = Gears of War + Metal Gear Solid


The original has much more interactivity. I remember going to Paul's apartment where I could pick up all of his dishes and throw them at strangers. In UNATCO I could move "wet floor" signs. Yes, it doesn't make any change in gameplay, but it was immersive and fun to redecorate my office with random shit and whatnot. In HR every item you can interact with is there for a purpose, be it hiding a vent or the ability to throw it at an enemy. Yeah, you could flush the toilets which felt as a homage to the original, not really as some immersive sim mechanic.

Oh and yes, I absolutely loved how shitty you were with guns depending on your skills. The health system is also the best I've seen.
HR felt in certain ways more like IW rather than the original. Actually, IW had more gameplay versatility than HR.

Face it, it's true: they just don't make them like that anymore. ;_;

I dunno IW=HR, they are the same but diffrent, I would still say HR is the best they can make these days, at least out of a FPS/RPG hybrid.

 

[Roganzar]

Yes all of Yahtzee's points are valid. These are definitely areas the Devs got it wrong when the made the game. However I still really like this game.

 

[thenamelessloser]

For me it goes like this:

Deus Ex = Unreal Tournament + System Shock + Thief + whatever else they could also squeeze in
Deus Ex: Human Revolution = Gears of War + Metal Gear Solid


The original has much more interactivity. I remember going to Paul's apartment where I could pick up all of his dishes and throw them at strangers. In UNATCO I could move "wet floor" signs. Yes, it doesn't make any change in gameplay, but it was immersive and fun to redecorate my office with random shit and whatnot. In HR every item you can interact with is there for a purpose, be it hiding a vent or the ability to throw it at an enemy. Yeah, you could flush the toilets which felt as a homage to the original, not really as some immersive sim mechanic.

Oh and yes, I absolutely loved how shitty you were with guns depending on your skills. The health system is also the best I've seen.
HR felt in certain ways more like IW rather than the original. Actually, IW had more gameplay versatility than HR.

Face it, it's true: they just don't make them like that anymore. ;_;

Deus Ex 3 was actualy Rainbow Six Vegas + splinter cell games and/or metal gears solid (not sure about the stealth parts as much)

Just play the Rainbow Six Vegas 1 or 2 demo. Basically very similar FPS style to Deus Ex. First person but third person in cover. To me in a sense Deus Ex 1 was a combination of the FPS and stealth games at a time with a little bi to of an RPG and Deus Ex 3 is the same thing but for a different time/generation of gamers/games.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Yes all of Yahtzee's points are valid. These are definitely areas the Devs got it wrong when the made the game. However I still really like this game.

The augs are better developed than the AI, yet he is not bashing the AI.

 

[thenamelessloser]

Yes all of Yahtzee's points are valid. These are definitely areas the Devs got it wrong when the made the game. However I still really like this game.

The augs are better developed than the AI, yet he is not bashing the AI.

You either didn't play the first Deus Ex or only skimmed the article. Yahtzee is talking about things that Deus Ex 3 got worse than Deus ex One. The AI in Deus Ex was terrible at times probably worse than Deus Ex 3. The specialization of augs/skills was definitely something missing from Deus Ex 3 which was in the first one.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Yes, HR has problems but in my opinion they are overshadowed by everything that HR does good. I don't even notice those problems because in the end, I know I had a lot of fun playing the game. But if I looked at games from Yahtzee's perspective (perspective of a video game critic) I'd probably be annoyed about those flaws too. That's why I'd never want to be a video game critic or reviewer. It would give my games a sour taste. Like lemon lime.

Anyway, I'm already on my third playthrough. And specializations can be done as long as you don't buy praxis kits. If there is one thing I really dislike about the game, it's the option to buy praxis kits. That should have been his fifth point. Yes, it's only an option, but a game breaking one in my opinion.

 

[The_ModeRazor]

There's Orange and Lemon-Lime in HR as well. Not that they're for your mechanised non-Gunther arse (so you won't even get Lemon-Lime), but they're out there. The mercs are named Barrett (the big fucker), Fedorova (who happens to be mute or something), and Jamir (who's Jewish and has a family). I think I found that on TVTropes. Game had a prequel comic or something focused on them. The group is called "Tyrants". Eventually you do find out why the Sarif labs was attacked in the intro. Their motivation is more or less "we're goddamn mercs working for the shady conspiracy, what do you expect", and the boss fights... really do suck.
Etc, etc good article nevertheless.

 

[artanis_neravar]

Pretty much. The character development does tend to funnel the player somewhat, but it is possible to make a specialized Jensen if the player is particularly bloody minded about it. My (and a lot of other peoples') first character panned out as Yahtzee said, but I have since gone back and done pure combat and pure stealth runs.

Also, the boss fights were totally (and I mean totally) fucking pointless. A character geared for stealth will be ripped a new one by even the weakest boss, but a character built for combat will destroy each boss in literally seconds (max level Typhoon, two volleys per boss). Seriously, try it. The balance (or lack thereof) is appalling.

And Reason 5 eliminates the need for Reasons 1-4.

The first boss fight was a good example of their poor implementation since the "non-guns" approach was just throwing barrels... not quite fitting for the non-lethal character either.

Even with these flaws, Human Revolution is still one of the more refreshing games recently. Does that excuse them? No, far from it. But I can still see usual trend of people coming here who take one or two things Yahtzee says about a game and declare it bad regardless of not playing it.

For the first two bosses, you can just stun gun then to the face somewhere between 6 and 10 times and they die without being able to move.

 

[Doom972]

Even Invisible War got those things right (even number 5).
I guess we can't have another perfect Deus Ex game.
I would've been happy enough if I the game had skills and one more hub.

 

[Jandau]

1. Agreed. Boss fights or no boss fights, these people could use some characterization. The three mercs seemed like they had some interesting backstories (well, except Barret). Why doesn't Fedorova speak? What did Namir mean by "Men like us never get back the things we love"? I'm led to understand that there is some kinde of extra material (comics or books or whatever) that explains this stuff, but shouldn't it be in the game?

2. Disagreed. Well kinda. Clubbing people with no real feedback isn't something I miss in games that much. The only difference between a Baton and Dragon's Tooth was the damage numbers. At least here I get to see Jensen twist someone's head off. It's a sidegrade at worst or a lesser evil at best. Neither is particularly good, but I liked the DE1 melee even less.

3. Agreed. You just get too many Praxis points. Sure, you can't get EVERYTHING, but when you factor in the utterly useless augs (Fortrify, Stealth Enhancer, Sprint augs, etc.) you can get everything that's any good roughly by 2/3 of the game and then start buying up the useless crap.

4. Agreed. Also, would it have been so hard to have 4 DIFFERENT endings, not slight variations of the same thing that all lead into the events of DE1? Just make one ending "canon" and the others alternate timelines...

5. Lemon lime > Orange. Deal with it.

 

[Do4600]

Man, I'd feel dirty if I just reloaded a save to get all the endings. Why go through a great experience and then totally cheapen it at the end?

Why design a great experience and then totally cheapen it in the end by disregarding the players actions and giving them a big console with four buttons on it that decide which ending you get? Even if you made yourself play through it four different times to see the endings, the only difference it would make to the ending is which button you push at the end.

If they wanted you to play through it four times or even if they wanted you to play through the finale four times they would make you "push the button"(Frank) before the finale like Deus Ex did.

 

[beetrain]

I used to enjoy seeing each FPS' iconic melee weapon.
That point made a thought occur: I don't think I've ever seen an FPS, or any other genre, where your gun just had an ordinary bayonet.

 

[nyysjan]

On one thing i disagreed with Yahtzee, to me, Deus Ex has aged amazingly well.
Decade from launch, and i can still install it on my computer, and play it with same amount of enjoyment i did ten years ago (well, some frustration with having to fiddle with it to make it run on windows 7 and widescreen, but other than that, awesome all the way), sure, i know the story and most, if not all, of the secrets, but gameplay still stands on it's own, story is still good and characters are relatable, all the things i want from a game are there.
There are very few games i can say that about.

 

[mental_looney]

I loved this game but the boss fights are horrible especially if you were trying not to kill anyone and have no decent guns.

The end for me was horrible it was all vague about the state of the world when I would have preferred a little bit about Adam himself what he did after or if anything happened but I strongly suspect DLC.

 

[Stabby Joe]

Pretty much. The character development does tend to funnel the player somewhat, but it is possible to make a specialized Jensen if the player is particularly bloody minded about it. My (and a lot of other peoples') first character panned out as Yahtzee said, but I have since gone back and done pure combat and pure stealth runs.

Also, the boss fights were totally (and I mean totally) fucking pointless. A character geared for stealth will be ripped a new one by even the weakest boss, but a character built for combat will destroy each boss in literally seconds (max level Typhoon, two volleys per boss). Seriously, try it. The balance (or lack thereof) is appalling.

And Reason 5 eliminates the need for Reasons 1-4.

The first boss fight was a good example of their poor implementation since the "non-guns" approach was just throwing barrels... not quite fitting for the non-lethal character either.

Even with these flaws, Human Revolution is still one of the more refreshing games recently. Does that excuse them? No, far from it. But I can still see usual trend of people coming here who take one or two things Yahtzee says about a game and declare it bad regardless of not playing it.

For the first two bosses, you can just stun gun then to the face somewhere between 6 and 10 times and they die without being able to move.

But you still have to unload on them, stun or regular gun.

 

[ExtraDebit]

They said all geniuses are a little crazy and Yahtzee is the embodiment of that statement. Everything he says is true and makes sense yet he make short vids where he talks really fast.

1)Regarding the boss fights, I think it's the biggest failure in Human Revolution. In terms of gameplay it lacks tactic, in terms of story it lacks....well....story! Metal gear games remained one of the few games with great bosses.

2)One have to actually play and BEAT the game before they can see the flaws in Human revolutions melee and pre-cooked cut scene; What seems to be cool the first few times will seem like a drag when you're 1hour in. In addition the cut scene makes it impossible to jump over roof tops because they'll cut you half way and show you a slow, anger inducing animation.

3)4)5) agreed with everything.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

I agree with that. But i liked DE:HR regardless. And i liked DE, which had loads of negatives as well, but i guess people overlook all of them. Thats nostalgia for you.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

I couldn't agree with you more on this article Yahtzee and here's why.

I have had a certain plan at the beginning of the game where I would decide to go full guns blazing lethal without any hacking or nothing whatsoever and I got my ass handed to me.Then after noticing that investing in hacking augs would literally make praxis kits fall from the sky,I decided to start power gaming and hacking everything in sight.It might of been boring and dull,but the reward was very appreciated.By the end of the game I managed to have 90% of my augs filled up apart from the cloaking device and some feet upgrades,just because I decided to read all the Ebooks and hack everything even though I had a code for it.

Even if the game showed you multiple ways of reaching your destination,it still encourages you to go back and try another path which leads to more xp/loot along the way.

The game has it's flaws,but it is a good title as a prequel to Deus Ex.I do wonder,however,which path will they take with the ending after credits.Since it is a prequel after well,we should all know.Will they try to remake Deus Ex 1 or go a different way? Time will tell.

 

[gerrymander61]

I agree with Yahtzee 100% about the first point. The boss fights were my biggest complaint about the game. I was more miffed about actually having to fight in them rather than them having no significance to me but still, it is a valid point.

Lack of melee weapons never bothered me. I did though, enjoy being able to silently and instantly take down enemies as opposed to having to stun-baton them for 3 seconds. I would say though that I missed hunting around in crates for ammo although I didn't feel that not being able to took away from the experience for me.

I also didn't feel that the reduced specialization bothered me at all either. By the end of each Deus Ex I had a character that was quite sneaky and hacky and was reasonably competent in a fight. The only difference really was that in the original you specialize by weapon type whereas in DX3 you just specialize in combat in general. I think that they made up for it though with the improved weapon-upgrade system though. You generally won't be carrying around more than 2 good weapons at any given time anyways. Plus, the addition of a hacking minigame and the improved stealth made it feel (to me anyways) that there were *more* specialization options given that you actually could make a character who was designed to go through the game without being seen.

As for the disappointing endings, yeah sure. I agree with Yahtzee here too. I suspect that this was more of a "omg we're out of budget/time" issue than actual bad game design. I find it somewhat hard to believe that a game which got so many things so right would be so far off the mark for something so big.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Yes all of Yahtzee's points are valid. These are definitely areas the Devs got it wrong when the made the game. However I still really like this game.

The augs are better developed than the AI, yet he is not bashing the AI.

You either didn't play the first Deus Ex or only skimmed the article. Yahtzee is talking about things that Deus Ex 3 got worse than Deus ex One. The AI in Deus Ex was terrible at times probably worse than Deus Ex 3. The specialization of augs/skills was definitely something missing from Deus Ex 3 which was in the first one.

HA the AI in DX1 is sharper and less dumb than what you have in DX:HR and IW had slightly better AI as well, now DX:HR's AI can fight but thats abotu all they can do..