Don Incognito said:
But we already know he's going to do no such thing; in fact, they are only going to become more powerful in the years to come...
That was always a major issue I had with HR - it seems more damaging to DE than most to abuse prequels 'cause you can't be arsed to deal with continuity and yet want to make more moneyz; there are a lot of artfully crafted elements to HR (and, I assume, MD though I've not played it yet), but at it's heart it's ironically deeply soulless and commercially exploitative.
DE broke new ground, but what do HR and, apparently, MD do? Wallow in that game's world, whilst not actually doing anything constructive or surprising with it.
Invisible War was much maligned by fans, but I still think it was an incredibly intelligent game in terms of writing and themes. It was pretentious in a kind of written-by-a-teenager way, but I admired its shameless philosophical musings. That game's writing nudged me into getting into Plato and reading de Tocqueville, so it was quite literally intellectually and philosophically inspiring, at least to me (and the game itself was pretty damn good, particularly if that was your first DE, as it was mine).
Human Revolution, by comparison? Didn't have an intelligent thought in its head. Fine gameplay, gorgeously detailed world, but it had had a veritable lobotomy, and it seems like MD's just carried on down that track if its 'aug-lives matter' thematics are anything to go by.
George Weidman/Super Bunnyhop did a pretty decent review of it as well, btw:
He had issues with it, but still thoroughly enjoyed the actual gameplay elements. Since HR I kinda just see the series as
Adam Jensen: Badass Simulator, and as that it can work superbly, so more of the same doesn't overly bother me this time, if that's the case.