by When will this roller coaster ever end? Well, I should just be happy–welcome to another high point in the Deus Ex series, this time brought to us by Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
Similar to Hitman: Absolution, this is another title picked up by Square Enix and once again it shows heavily what money and experience can do to a game. Powerful cinematics, enormous detail and decent pacing, DE:HR really scores big on my first impression. What’s funny is, there’s actually a lot about it that I don’t like… some of it I even hate… but it’s completely offset because the thing just looks and feels so good.
Storytelling, it’s nothing new. Deus Mcmain-character-man is a hardened ex SWAT member who works in office security now. He’s white, he’s edgy, he’s tall and he’s stereo-typically mean to everyone around him and everyone puts up with it because deep down they know he’s really a nice guy. He has a forced emotional baggage once-upon-a-time girlfriend…
Gets thrown through a window and shot in the head during a security breach in the scientific complex he was supposed to be guarding…
And get fixed up back to life, becoming a nanite super-soldier in 6-Million Dollar Man fashion.
Now, when you break all of this down, it’s stupid, contrived and unoriginal… but it’s done so well that I can’t help but like it. It’s not perfect… and I rolled my eyes at some bits, but really; it’s fun to watch. Gameplay is a nice mix of the original DE and modern day cover-shooter and it works fairly well. Surprised? I normally disdain cover shooters as devolving into a repetitive dull mechanic that becomes a skilless grinding time-waster, but once again, similar to Hitman Absolution, it’s done in a sensible fashion. It’s more a feature than a mandatory slog–you can hide behind cover if that’s your style, but it’s not necessary. Additionally, the cover mechanic can be used for stealth, adding to its utility.
The old grid-based inventory system is back (thank goodness) which adds a fun and somewhat realistic aspect of equipment management. Health does regenerate, but doesn’t quite fall into the same sins as other games with the same mechanic. For starters, they address the health regeneration in the game itself–one of the scientists says that the nanites will slowly repair the main character’s body after a time when he’s not in danger. The second redeeming factor is that health comes back slowly. Because of this, a few seconds of crouching behind a rock is no longer enough to overcome bullet wounds to the head. Additionally, health readout isn’t limited to ambiguous guessing depending on the red shade of your screen. You can see your HP in the form of a number in the top left, which is my preference over the former.
The last and perhaps to me, the most exciting prospects revealed by the first hour of play, were the return of actual choices in how you tackle a mission. Check this out:
Do you see the words “Lethal” and “Non-Lethal?” Possibly the most wasted mechanic in the original DE was the lack of game-recognition of the player’s actions towards lethality and non-lethality throughout the game. In DE:HR though, you choose how you want to approach the mission by telling your debriefer how you’ll handle it, which makes me hopeful that it may be utilized much better in this game. Likewise, you get a simple choice of weapons. It’s nothing mind-blowing, but it’s nice again to feel like you’re impressing your own playstyle into the game itself. It even alters the dialogue of the characters a bit.
With extremely strong environmental detail, little Easter eggs here and there, and decent gameplay to back it up, DE:HR feels like the perfect blend of DE’s gameplay and DE: Invisible War’s focus on story. I’ll definitely be giving this one another visit with the hopes that it stays further away from its 2013 popular gaming culture and trends closer to the freedom of play that made the original so much fun. Tier 1 for now, with the bonus that even my wife wants me to put it on the big screen so she can watch me while I play through it.
