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Deus Ex: Human Revolution review

Game: Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: First-Person Shooter (Sci-Fi)
Developer: Eidos Interactive

Staff review by Mike Suskie

September 24, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution so astutely recaptures the spirit of the 2000 original that I’m amazed an outside developer is responsible for it. Compare it to Invisible War, the slicked-up, dumbed-down sequel that still has fans reeling, and you could conclude that Eidos has a better understanding of what makes this series tick than the people who got it running in the first place.

Nearly everything that encapsulates the Deus Ex experience is on display in this prequel. It’s evident in the way your character slowly transforms into the supersoldier you make of him, and how the open-ended level design always seems to cater to the way you want to play. It’s apparent in the futuristic setting, in which daylight is no longer something that exists and all of humanity’s technological advancements can’t stop America’s city streets from looking ugly, ramshackle and miserable. It’s also perceptible in the game’s complex, politically-charged plot, and in the way the ending forces you to make an Earth-changing, morally grey decision and leaves you to ponder over the effect it ultimately has. Like so much good sci-fi, Human Revolution raises heavy questions about humanity’s place in the universe that the real world hasn’t yet been confronted with.

It’s 2027, a quarter of a century before the events of Deus Ex. Human augmentations are still a relatively new thing, and society is having a difficult time adjusting. Some people want augmentations to be outlawed, claiming they’re unnatural; others simply want them to be regulated. Some are seeking peaceful protest; others are, say, storming the headquarters of a major biotech corporation and murdering all of its employees. It’s during this incident that our protagonist, Adam Jenson, is injured and forced to undergo major augmentation. He emerges as the spitting image of JC Denton in that he wears a black trench coat, sounds like he could use a cough drop, and now has sunglasses attached directly to his face.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution asset

Jenson is the face of Human Revolution, not simply because he’s the hero, but because he’s whatever hero the player wants him to be. The traditional RPG leveling system that was more or less absent from Invisible War has returned, though it’s now focused less on major styles of play and more on a large set of smaller, more unique skills. I’m betting that Deus Ex fans will be comfortable with this change, because instead of committing to one direction, players gradually construct their own customized character throughout the course of the game. Every new augmentation purchased opens new doors to the way you progress through Human Revolution’s missions.

Being able to jump higher or punch through certain walls, for example, gives players access to shortcuts that they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to use. Having the extra strength to pick up large objects means you can employ mobile cover, crush enemies with vending machines, or uncover hidden air ducts. There are plenty of stealth-based upgrades that muffle your footsteps, or allow you to track your last-known location, or provide enemy cones of vision. Dumping experience into hacking means you can access confidential emails, deactivate security cameras, or turn turrets against guards.

At one point, an automated turret was aimed directly at a terminal I needed to hack. I couldn’t find the computer that controlled it and I didn’t have enough energy to cloak for the amount of time I needed. So instead, I wound up sneaking up behind the turret, picking it up using my strength mod, and pointing it into a corner, rendering it useless. If it sounds stupid, but it works, it’s not stupid. Later, while descending a very tall building, I accidentally plunged into what I’m pretty sure was a smokestack of some sort. I figured the impact of the fall would kill me, but then my Icarus Landing System kicked in and softened the blow, upon which I realized I was on the bottom floor, right where I’d been headed. Stumbling upon unconventional solutions like that illustrates how little of Human Revolution runs on rails.

As someone who went the non-lethal route throughout the entirety of Human Revolution, I can confirm that the stealth works incredibly well, as long as you’re okay with the AI operating under the usual parameters (enemies have pre-determined movement patterns and are incredibly quick to dismiss perceived threats, etc.). The new third-person cover system is smooth and makes it incredibly easy to move across levels efficiently while having a keen understanding of your surroundings. For those seeking a more straightforward approach, the combat works well enough, though there’s definitely far more satisfaction in experimenting with your augmentations than in sticking with the standard cover-based gunplay. Again, allowing players to find their own means of overcoming obstacles is what the original game did, and what the prequel emulates so well.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution asset

Except when it comes to the boss battles, that is. Yeah, wow, Human Revolution’s bosses are awful. In any other game, they’d be bland, overpowered and cheap, but it’s especially damning for this game, where player choice is such a major element of the design. There’s a sequence late in the game in which an injured character is attacked by dozens of soldiers, and you can choose to either fend them off or use the firefight as a distraction and sneak right past them. The bosses should have received similar treatment, but instead, they force us into heavy combat even when we’re not necessarily prepared. I’m glad Human Revolution doesn’t have weapon skills, because I can’t imagine going into these battles without even being able to accurately fire a gun.

Last year’s Alpha Protocol suffered from the same issue, but even that game had that wonderful instance early on in which you could creep past a certain boss’s guards unnoticed, sneak up behind him, and throw him over the side of a bridge. It was one of the few cases in which gunfire wasn’t necessary to win a boss encounter, and games like these need to take that approach more often. I was fortunate enough to have invested in an explosive mod called Typhoon that wound up being extremely effective against most of the bosses, but they still stick out as a crippling design flaw.

Of course, that’s only the case because the rest of Human Revolution so wonderfully mimics the dynamics that the original established, and that many felt were missing in Invisible War. Those who still feel that the prequel is a disappointment would do well to realize that we’ll probably never see another game like Deus Ex again, one that forgoes all attempts at theatricality and polish to truly explore the potential of interactive entertainment as an art form. The new title falls into a few of the traps of modern games (such as with Jenson’s ridiculous scripted takedowns, which are brutal and bone-crunching and anything but stealthy), but for the most part, it’s a smart, earnest production that demonstrates a sharp understanding of its source material. It’s the first game in over a decade to truly be worthy of the Deus Ex name.

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