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Deus Ex: Human Revolution looks, sounds, and plays like the love child of Mass Effect and Metal Gear Solid. Depending on your opinion of those titles, this is a good thing. This is a very good thing.
Players take on the role of Adam Jensen, an ex-cop that was recently hired by Sarif Industries to be their defense specialist. Jensen, augmented against his will early in the game, will witness the birth of a new era in mankind. An era where augmented and engineered humans are growing in popularity as corporations like Sarif grow to be more powerful than the world's governments. The year is 2027. The place is Detroit, Michigan and advances in genetics, robotics, information, and biotechnology has grown by leaps and bounds. Super human speed, strength, vision, and hearing are no longer mere flights of fancy but a reality that is often a bit too much for some to accept as the way of the future.
Choices are presented to Jensen throughout the game, some are the typical black and white, good and evil, night and day fare. Others contain a moral grey area and it's entirely up to you to dictate how you want Jensen to respond to any given situation. The problem is, there is no immediate feedback on how these responses affect the course of the game. Many of these choices won't be apparent until later in the game and even then you'll question whether or not it was the result of you having chosen one response over another. Only through replaying the game and making alternate choices will you really begin to discover the repercussions to your actions, or sometimes as a result of your inactions.
Gameplay
Imagine for a minute that you took the vent crawling excitement from Metal Gear Solid, the radar and guard "alert" system from Metal Gear Solid, the mechs from Metal Gear Solid 4, the CQC from Metal Gear Solid 3, the dialog trees from Mass Effect, the music from Mass Effect, a third-person cover system from any modern action title and sprinkled in a dash of classic Deus Ex Action-RPG gameplay and you have a great idea for what to expect in Human Revolution. But guess what? It works out quite well for Human Revolution.
I really enjoyed what Eidos Montreal has done with these combined elements. They work together nicely to make a gameplay experience that feels both fresh and familiar all at the same time. I will admit that there were some instances where I had a strong sense of deja vu, especially when stacked up against Metal Gear Solid. This is why the unique elements specific to Deus Ex really do a lot to enhance the overall gameplay experience. Augmentations allow you to build your character to match your particular style of play. If you prefer a more stealthy approach, be sure to spend your Praxis points on augmentations that boost your ability to move silently or engage a full body cloak ability. Feel like going in guns blazing? Then spend those points on augmentations that bolster your recoil control, sprint speed, and carry capacity.
Played primarily as a FPS, Jensen will have the ability to utilize a third-person cover system. Right click near a surface and he will throw his back to it, taking cover in the process. From here, you can blind fire, move from cover to cover with ease, pop up for a precision shot, or evade the enemies during their alert phases.
Most of the weapons in the game can be fired from the hip or, for when precision matters, can be used in iron sights or scoped mode, depending on the weapon being used. Weapons themselves range from your basic 10mm pistol, to tranquilizer sniper rifles, Tasers, rocket launchers, and more. Each weapon has its use throughout the game and thanks to the ability to modify and enhance your weapons, none of them ever feel like they're useless. I spent most of the game using and upgrading the pistol you get at the beginning of the game and it ended up being quite the handy killing utility.
Something that may upset some gamers is the fact that there is regenerating health in the game. However, Human Revolution features some rather powerful weapons in the hands of the enemies as well, and often times all of the regenerating health in the world won't help you when a frag grenade is placed at your feet. Health regen in Human Revolution is slow. This isn't Call of Duty levels of regeneration where two seconds in cover and you're back to being Rambo. Pain killers, medicinal needles, and other consumable items will allow you to quickly get your health back, quite handy and often very necessary to have while in the middle of an intense battle.
Jensen isn't one to just let his new augmentations go to waste. Decked out with blades hidden in his arms, a military weapon embedded in his chest, and other cool gadgets, Jensen is packing quite the arsenal all on his own. These abilities can either be passive, such as those that affect the game's hacking mini-game, or active, such as when Jensen allows someone to get up close and personal to his blades. Active abilities use up batteries. These batteries can be recharged through energy bars, or expanded beyond the default of two batteries by way of further augmentation. It's a simple mechanic at its core but proper battery management is vital to being efficient. You don't want to rush up to an enemy to knock him out and then find out too late that you didn't have enough juice to do so, do you?
Missions take place in a few different main "hubs" throughout the world. Beginning in Detroit, Jensen kick starts his journey by getting used to the home territory of the Sarif Industries HQ. Missions and side missions start to accumulate and it's generally up to you as to what order you would like to tackle them in. HUD elements note the locations of each active mission, so the choice is always up to you as to what you will do next. If you don't want to do any mission, then don't. Just want to go around knocking people out? Go ahead! Just be sure to watch out for law enforcement patrolling the area or weapon carrying thugs that may be around.
The beautiful part about this game is that each area and each mission gives you so many choices as to how you want to accomplish your goal. I've lost count of how many times I'd discover one route I'd want to travel, only to find out after the fact that there was two or three alternative routes I could have gone that might have been faster or more stealthy than the one I found. This is the sort of feature that really lends itself to wanting to play the game more than once.
However it is that you find best to dispose of your foes, Jensen will eventually accumulate a number of experience points and credits. Credits are the in-game currency that can be used to purchase new weapons, weapon mods, ammo, and even additional Praxis points from vendors scattered throughout the city. Experience is simple. Get enough experience to "rank up" and another Praxis point is made available to you. There is really no other use for experience points other than to get you to your next Praxis point unlock. Nearly everything you do in the game will net you experience points. Travel through a vent? 100 easy experience. Take down an enemy? 10 points. Hacking terminals, headshots, completing missions, and more all provide you with experience. It never feels like a grind to reach the next level as the points tend to flow like water.
If you are just playing the main story missions and taking your time, you should be able to get about 20-25 hours of gameplay from Deus Ex. If you're taking your time, doing side quests, and reading the wealth of digital media, the game is said to take players upwards of 50-60 hours to fully complete.
There are some rather serious issues I had with the gameplay. The AI isn't the brightest out there. There were a number of times where I would pop a guy in the head only to have his buddies rush over to investigate. I'm hiding behind a box no more than five feet away, pop out to kill another guy, and they go right back to scratching their heads and going "where did he go?" There were quite a few body piles as a result of this rather lacking AI. It isn't always like this. They are able to flank you, but overall I really wish they posed more of a challenge.
Boss battles. The first one you're thrown into is almost guaranteed to end in your death because once you regain control of your character, you're already staring down the barrel of an SMG attached to a man's arm. Oh, and the room you're confined to is littered with explosives. So those items that can be used against him sure as hell will be used against you if a stray bullet hits them and you're near enough to absorb the blow. These battles are also the only time you are forced to kill someone. The rest of the game can be played just by knocking people out or stunning them, which makes these boss battles seem all the more out of place.
Finally, the hacking mini-games can become quite tedious. It might not have been so bad if they actually adhered to their assigned difficulty levels but they don't seem to do that. When one terminal that's a level 3 difficulty can be hacked with multiple seconds to spare and another one right next to it, also a level 3, results in repeated failures until you find a hacking aid, then something seems a bit broken in the overall balance.
Story
The game opens with Adam Jensen narrowly surviving a brutal attack on Sarif Industries from a group of mercenaries that are under the employ of a private military corporation (PMC). Near death, the only way to survive was to undergo a variety of augmentation procedures. While Jensen was fortunate to survive the attack, many were not so lucky, including Dr. Megan Reed. Dr. Reed was one of the most prominent neuroscientists working at Sarif prior to the assault on the company. Was her relationship with Jensen more than "strictly professional?" Perhaps, but that is up to you to discover as Jensen deals not only with the loss of Dr. Reed but with the shady corporate dealings of Sarif, the hidden motives of the PMC, and conspiracies that have a true global reach.
Story progression is carried out through a variety of means. Sometimes it will be done through a CGI cinematic, other times through in-game and in-engine cut scenes. The best sequences of storytelling happen when you're still in a first person perspective and experiencing the conversation with an NPC through Jensen's eyes. I honestly wish the entirety of the game's story played out like this as it's far more immersive than being ripped out into a third-person camera view and observing the conversations as a bystander. Otherwise, the in-game scenes are presented in this third person view, much like in the original titles. The camera often intentionally jumps from one angle to another but on one occasion it actually spazzed out by way of sudden, jerky movements that happened quite randomly.
That might be a tiny bit racist...
Story is also presented to the player through the game world's various media outlets. News broadcasts on televisions will sometimes have stories up about some of the events that just transpired but with additional information added to flush out the story more. Digital newspapers are often found throughout the city that provides more background information on the world events going on around you. Book excerpts are very common and provide viewpoints from both sides of the coin, the pro-augmentation group and the anti-augmentation group. It's very interesting to take the time to read these as they may start to sway your moral choices one way or another depending on whom you find yourself sympathizing with more.
Jensen's world is populated with a number of very chatty characters. NPC characters on the street will hold conversations that you can eavesdrop on. These conversations, much like the newspapers and book excerpts show a more human side to the story. The conversations present a view that isn't completely marred by corporate greed and corruption. The other major players, those characters you have regular contact with are fully fleshed out individuals with their own histories, stories, and personalities. Undoubtedly, there will be at least one or two of these persons you immediately loathe. There's just something about them that just rubs you the wrong way right from the first time you meet them. Frank Pritchard, I am looking at you.
The story will take you places far and wide. While the opening takes place in Detroit, it isn't long before Jensen finds himself in places such as Montreal and Shanghai. Each location offers up a number of new missions to partake of and new sights to behold.
Visuals
The creators describe the general look of Human Revolution as being "Cyber Renaissance." The theme of black and gold is found through all aspects of the game from the main menu to the gold outline that wraps around important or interactive objects. The game has a very unique look to it and it is certainly a stand out title from the brown and bloom common in recent shooters and action titles.
The interior of buildings has a very clean, very sterile look to them. I was initially reminded of the rooms in Portal when I looked at the smooth surfaces, clean walls, and plain decorations in a number of the buildings in the game. The streets and back alleys are another story entirely. Filled with graffiti and litter, these areas look and feel closer to what current Detroit-ians are probably already used to in their town (no offense to those living in that great and wonderful city). Trash cans spit out fire that a nearby drunk undoubtedly started. Gang members walk the streets, ready to open fire if you so much as look at them.
Beyond Detroit, places such as Shanghai have a similar look to them but with quite a bit more flair. There are more neon signs dotting the streets in Shanghai. The buildings extend much higher into the sky and the overall gameplay in this area reflects this by being far more layered. Ladders and back stairways are far more common in Shanghai as there is just as much to do on the rooftops as there is to do on the streets below.
Human Revolution has support for DirectX 11, soft shadows, FXAA and MLAA, tessellation, and ambient occlusion. With a few minor exceptions, it's actually rather difficult to notice much difference between the DirectX 11 mode with all of the bells and whistles enabled, and the non-DirectX 11 mode. Keep in mind that disabling DirectX 11 will limit you to just using Edge AA, hard shadows, and no tessellation.
L to R:
1. DirectX11 on, MLAA, Soft Shadows On, Tessellation On, HQ SSAO on, Post Processing On
2. Same as above but Tessellation Off
3. Same as 1 but with post processing off this time
4. DirectX 11 off, Edge AA, Normal shadows, HQ SSAO, Tessellation off, Post Processing On
I wish I could say that the game looks amazing in all regards, but I'd be a liar if I did. There are some truly ugly faces in this game. Jensen's face looks fine, for the most part, but there are some other faces on the non-important NPC's that look downright awful. Important NPC faces often look quite good, which makes the times you come across a random ugly NPC all the more jarring.
There is another issue I came across. I don't know if it's because of some setting, or a driver issue, or if it's just a visual glitch, but I would often see these small seam lines on characters as they moved and talked. They were very faint lines that seemed to be where textures met or where polygons met. I'm not really up on some of this, but it was very odd to see this flickering happening and sometimes took me out of the moment when a serious and tense moment was going on.
What is wrong with your faces?!
Environments are fairly sterile, as mentioned, but sometimes they are too sterile. There is severe lacking of environmental interaction in almost every area. Sure, you can pick up boxes, crates, fridges, exploding barrels, and trash cans, but that's not enough. When I see a bunch of bottles or random small objects on a shelf, I've almost come to expect that in this day and age, I should be able to knock those items off of said shelf. Perhaps games such as Fallout and The Elder Scrolls have spoiled me in this regard.
Finally, the CGI scenes seem to be compressed a bit too much for those playing on higher resolution monitors. I don't know if this is indeed the case, but if the console versions only run the game at 720p, it is possible these videos were upscaled to match the resolution you play the game at on your PC. It's not a huge deal but it once again makes me wonder why all of the scenes weren't just done in-game and not a mix of video and in-game story scenes.
Audio
The quality of the audio is some of the best I've heard in any recent action title. The music immediately brings up memories of Mass Effect to me. There's just something about it that makes me feel as though the soundtrack for Human Revolution and the soundtrack for Mass Effect could be swapped and I would never notice much of a difference. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, as the score is quite good in its own right. I just would rather I didn't have memories of a second game while I'm playing another.
The sounds of the cities and environments are subtle but add a great deal of depth to being fully immersed in the title. Audio Director, Steve Szczepskowski pulled inspiration from the sounds of Blade Runner, The Thing, Escape from New York, and even Nine Inch Nails.
The weapons, though mainly based on real world weapons (with a few exceptions), have a decidedly sci-fi twist. They sound powerful without being heavy in added bass to added unnecessary oomph. The tranquilizer rifle has a nice soft hiss that lets you keep your stealth intact.
Voice acting is a hit and miss affair. Most voice work comes through clear and crisp. Emotion is properly conveyed and nothing seems too out of place. There are, however, a few exceptions. One such moment came shortly after arriving in Shanghai. In talking to one of the (ahem) ladies of questionable virtues, the Asian accent just came across as horrid. I'm sorry if that's the voice actress' real voice but it came across as comical in the game. Here she is, telling me how her friend is in dire need of being saved and all I can do is stifle a laugh at her voice.
Bottom Line
I may have been a bit harsh when it came to the flaws of the title, but for a game that is as anticipated as this one is, it's hard not to be critical of even the smallest issues. However, the bottom line is this: The game is fun and you should get it. Overlook the issues I mentioned or wait to see if a patch is released that addresses some of them if you want, but pick it up eventually. None of the issues that I had a problem with were game breaking in any way. In fact, the game ran quite well on my machine. Saves were instantaneous and load times were manageable, if not a tiny bit on the long side while in Shanghai and shorter in Detroit.
Even if you rush through the game, you will still have a lengthy experience to look forward to. Unless your expectations for a new Deus Ex game were beyond the scope of realistic, you will enjoy the game. I guess now might be a bad time to mention that I never really played much of the first two games?
Gameplay: 8.5/10
Story: 9/10
Visuals: 8/10
Audio: 8/10
Overall: 8.5/10
Story: 9/10
Visuals: 8/10
Audio: 8/10
Overall: 8.5/10
Dat chin
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Title: Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Release Date: August 23, 2011 (NA)
Rating: M for Mature (ESRB)
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Eidos-Montreal
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