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Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Eidos Montreal
System requirements: 2 GHz dual core CPU; 1 GB RAM (XP), 2 GB (Vista and 7); GeForce 8 or Radeon HD 2000; Windows XP, Vista, 7 with DirectX 9.0c; 8.5 GB disk space
Genre: RPG
ESRB rating: Mature
Release date: August 23, 2011
2011 has so far been a great year for games in general and for highly anticipated sequels in particular. A lot of favorites got follow-ups; some were impressively good, while others were of the sort not mentioned in polite society. Different types of gamers looked forward to different game worlds getting expanded, and quite a few of us were holding our collective breath for Deus Ex: Human Revolution – a prequel to one of the best role-playing games of all time: Deus Ex. The classic PC masterpiece was released in 2000, and blew away the critics and the audiences alike. In 2003 a sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War was released for PC and consoles, and although it was a decent game in its own right, it failed to live up to the glory of the original and has always remained something of a disappointment to the hardcore fans.
It is no secret that measuring up to one’s predecessors is often hard, and when Human Revolution was announced, there was a lot of skepticism. Those upset by Invisible War were quick to voice their fears of shoddy narrative and gameplay. Others doubted the ability of the developers to do justice to the franchise. PC-purists (such as myself) were worried that shortcuts would be taken that might result in dreaded “consolitis” – a dumbing down of the game in terms of the controls and visuals in order to make it more accessible to the console audiences. As new details continued to emerge, however, the skeptics found it harder and harder to to raise objections. The developers turned out to be avid connoisseurs of the original. A competent writer was recruited. The PC version was being enhanced by a separate developer, resulting in DirextX11 implementation, high-resolution textures, mappable controls, skippable cut scenes and other things we’ve come to expect on the PC. When the download code arrived in my mailbox on Friday I took a deep breath (a number of those actually, as the game is 8 gigabytes and takes a while to download) and went in.
 The year is 2027 and you are Adam Jensen, a former SWAT operative now working as the head of security in a firm that builds augmentations – the kind of advanced prosthetics that will undoubtedly exist one day but can seem almost magical in comparison with today’s technology. Passions revolving around the use of these enhancements are running hot in the dystopian world of tomorrow, and Dr. Reed (the company’s chief scientist and also Adam’s ex-girlfriend) is about to fly out to DC for a congressional hearing. Suddenly the corporate office comes under an attack by a group of augmented mercenaries. Many of the researchers are slaughtered and Adam is wounded so grievously that an immediate surgery is the only option. A surgery that sees him being heavily augmented as there is no other way to save his life.
That was just the prologue, and the real game begins when Adam is called back to work six months after the attack. Dr. Reed is dead, and he should still be recovering, but a new crisis requires his presence. Anti-augmentation terrorists raided the company’s factory and took hostages. In the trademark fashion of Deus Ex games, you are given a problem and it is up to you to find a solution. You can grab a gun and mow down those who would oppose you. You can take it to the air-ducts and dark corners, sneaking past your enemies without them so much as suspecting your presence. You can hack doors, computers and security systems, turning turrets and robots against your adversaries. In addition to that you have the option of reading your opponents during conversation, and manipulating them into doing what you need them to do. Naturally the game can play very differently depending on what path you take, but you can be sure that whatever you do, you will be rewarded with XP points – yes, even for crawling in the vents.
Most people opt for a combination of the above approaches, but Adam Jensen as played by Alaric Teplitsky is a bit of a special case. You see, MY Adam doesn’t kill people. Not for any philanthropic reasons, of course. He just feels that he is so far superior to the rest, that he allows them to live as an ultimate display of contempt and disdain. There is nothing they can do to thwart him and he doesn’t mind a bit of an extra challenge. Firearms are of no use to him; his weapons are a tranquilizer gun and an electroshock. Many an armed thug have had their arms dislocated and lights punched out when Adam drops in on them unexpectedly. They get to live, all of them, but nowhere does it say that their lives must be pleasant. Altogether combat is satisfying, challenging and looks and feels great. The game is not at all shy about killing you, and that adds to the immersion. Mechanics-wise, an excellent third person cover-based system is implemented, which I used more often than not, though it is entirely optional and if you are a Deus Ex classicist and don’t need no stinkin’ cover, you are free to do your fighting and sneaking the way JC Denton did. Same goes for the highlighting of usable objects and so forth. To me that feature makes perfect sense, but turning it off is just as viable an option.
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Ummm. Did we just pos a spoiler? Ending spoiler?
Spoiler, yes. Ending spoiler…heck no!
Yes, you just spoiled the ending and the boss fight for me, thank you very much!
Upset the guy died at the end?
Guys, I was talking about the first boss. And yes, he dies when you kill him, as bosses would. My complaint was about the fact that you cannot avoid killing him, which is annoying for those who want to complete the game without a single death.
There are more bosses after him, and I’m not gonna tell you a thing about them. Unless you pay me.
Then that was my misinterpretation. Sorry about that. You can delete my previous post.
Nice – great review Alaric. I’m surprised you didn’t mention a peep about DRM (or lack of it). Gonna trust you on this and and pick it up on Steam.
Marco, DXHR uses Steamworks for DRM, which will hardly matter since you plan on getting it on Steam anyway. Enjoy the game!!!
Wow.. So basically if i loved the first one and hated the second you reccomend i buy this game ?? Ive not even looked at gameplay vids on release for fear of hardcore disspointment.. im pretty sure we are on the same page as far as expectations..
Vapus, if we are on the same page – you’ll love it. But just to be sure, check out the footage and maybe a few other reviews. I really liked the ones by John Walker and Ben Kuchera.
Good review Alaric! I may wait on getting this, I don’t like when you’re forced to confront bosses to move forward in a game, but some people I’ve talked to are really enjoying the game so far.
Thank you! =)
I’m generally not a huge fan of bosses myself, but sometimes boss fights make sense so far as the story goes, plus it’s less than 1% of the game. In the original Deus Ex, for example, confrontations with Navarre and Hermann were absolutely integral to the game.
Just got it and can’t wait to start playing. woo hoo….
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All i can say now is what a pleasant surprise.. This is the very last thing i was expecting , and im so very glad to eat some crow along with the MASSIVE buffet of gaming goodness that is Deus Ex.
A friend showed me Deus Ex: HR and I wasn’t that impressed. After the last couple Fallouts and a couple other RPGs I’ve played in recent years It feels very limited and hemmed in. You can practically see the rail you’re on. Graphically its about on par with a typical FPS from 3-4 years ago. Not being able to remap all the keys is an unforgivable sin in my book because it blows my entire control scheme (esp. in a game with so many keys you NEED handy). The controls occasionally felt sluggish, with commands often needing a second or two before they kicked in. The writing and voicework seemed very solid, which is a huge plus in a game like this, but everything else felt dated and confined. Environments look really cluttered but offer very little interaction. The inventory system is awful, like they barely even tried. I had hoped this one might be a purchase, but alas.
It doesn’t sound like we’ve see the same DXHR. The version I was given lets you remap the controls just fine. Also there was never a hint of sluggishness, and the graphics were top notch.
Were you looking at it on a console or something?
@psycros – I’ve played the entire game twice now, and did not experience any of the issues you mention. Keys can be mapped,the open environment allowed for multiple paths [sometimes even surprising ones], the graphical environment was believable and top notch, and I did not experience any sluggishness at all. The inventory system was okay, nothing great.
I’m with Psycros I’m afraid, aside from the control issue he mentions which I didn’t experience I got a definite “on rails” feeling playing this it does offer choices true, but those choices tend to be between taking a stealthy path or being shot to pieces when you try fighting your way past enemies (a lot like splinter cell, you just never have the ammo, firepower or armour to fight more than 2 enemies at once) and try as I might I couldn’t shake the impression that I was looking at a first person version of the PS2 classic metal gear solid, the character models are all very nice but everything else just looks bland and featureless and each “new” environment consisted of repeated grey or yellow walls and corridors peppered with the same cleaning cart over and over (a cleaning cart incidentally that is one of the very very few objects that uses the vaunted Dx11 tessellation along with cups, trash cans and paint pots liberally placed in almost every level, essentially there just to justify tessellating them).
I did like the voice acting though and the plot is relatively engaging (in fact the plot was the only reason I bothered continuing to play) and the conversation system, in spite of being lifted right out of Mass Effect, was quite good too allowing you to charm or bully information out of people (it’s a little more than just charm or bully but you get the point).
I wouldn’t have given it 5 out of 5, maybe 3 out of 5, I just can’t really like it no matter how much I want to, perhaps it has something to do with having a “superhero” central character who simply isn’t very “super” (or at least not super enough to win a stand up fight, leaving you feeling vulnerable the whole time, what’s the point of having augmented legs and arms etc etc if they get shot off every time you dare to do anything other than hide behind a table?).
The game was a disappointment, stupid to say the least. You could go on a rampage and kill an entire police station without anyone giving a damn.
Ridicilous game, crappy voice acting. Like someone dying and gasping for the last bits of air to say something.
I think the conversation system was a MASS improvement over bEAwares regurgitations myself.. Certainly Not the deus ex of old, Cant be done in this fidelity on a console and in the age of multiport Sacrifices must be , alas , made. Still a great game. and such a great change from Dragon age 2, the recycled city tales..
Untill the next gen of console, nothing will come close to the level of immersion we saw in 2000 unless its truly PC exclusive.
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