Pages: 1 2  The most amazing feature of DXHR (at least so far as I am concerned) is the level design. Both during missions, such as the factory stand-off, and in city hubs there are numerous locations to discover and countless ways to get there. It took me about 4 hours to finish the prologue and the first mission because I felt that I must survey every square inch of the game world. (My refusal to kill increased the time substantially.) Then there is the Detroit hub, which is amazing. It is an explorer’s dream with nooks, crannies, secrets, stashes, overheard conversations and so on. To give you an example, there are four distinct ways of entering the Police Station. It reminded me a lot of Hell’s Kitchen as depicted in the original, but bigger, better and more atmospheric. I’m pretty confident I found every single item, hacked everything that could be hacked (even if I had passwords), and discovered every hidden location. This took me 12 hours to do so, but I enjoyed it immensely.
Of course DXHR wouldn’t be a Deus Ex game if you couldn’t build your character via augmentations. Adam starts off with a few of them enabled, but after that it’s up to you to unlock them. There are no character levels in the game, and the XP you earn gets converted into Praxis points, which you use to get new augmentations, or improve the ones you already have. You can also buy a few Praxis points in a couple of special locations, and – very rarely – find them in the world. Augmentations themselves are designed to enhance your play-style. I opted for hacking, social and stealth ones, but those who play differently might go for strength, armor, accuracy and the like. Much like Adam, weapons can be improved via various modifications and, unlike in case of Invisible War, each weapon has its own ammo type.
 Graphically the game is stunning. I was left speechless by the most brilliant art direction I have seen in a game in a very, very long time. The now-famous gold and black color scheme is recurring and has a rather powerful effect. The distinct triangular patterns work amazingly well with costumes inspired by the Italian Renaissance. I’m not a follower of fashion, but if someone ever releases a line of clothing based on these designs, they will have my business for sure. The technological aspect of bringing the story to life is quite up to par as well. Animations are smooth and realistic, and the interplay of light and shadow is sometimes breathtaking. When you first enter Adam’s apartment, the windows in the living room will do something absolutely incredible. Whatever you do – do not miss it!
Are there any problems? Yes, a few, but all of them minor and insignificant. The single biggest issue for me was the long wait associated with loading a saved game or entering a new area. Other than that, the first boss battle felt a little weird, and I was upset at having no choice but to kill him. Zooming and dragging of the map and hacking screens is awkward. Some conversations don’t always make a lot of sense. For instance, someone told me that they blame me for ruining their life, yet a moment later they were happy to hear me suggest that we should put the past behind us and move on. Datapads seem to go missing from the list sometimes, although the passwords contained in them are still usable. Occasionally a low-rez texture would make an appearance. Lastly, I think it would be a very nice touch if the saved games had unique screenshots, as opposed to generic, mission-based ones.
I’m sure you can tell that I’m in love with this game. Out of all the excellent titles I’ve reviewed this year, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is the single best one by far. The story and humor are superb, the level design astonishing, and the way it handles progression is marvelous. I don’t want to sound like a hyperventilating fan-boy, but there are hardly any flaws with it at all. To me it’s no longer about whether the game lives up to the greatness of its ancestor because that is decidedly so. The question is whether it surpasses it. I won’t make any pronouncements here, but this is definitely a topic worth discussing. What I will tell you is that if you consider yourself a fan of the original, DXHR is a must-own for you. If you are new to the Deus Ex world, this is probably the best way of getting introduced to it. Go and buy it, and then let’s talk about it. Maybe you’ll even find something that I missed, although frankly I doubt it.
Our Score: 
Our Recommendation: 
Pages: 1 2 |
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….
Want to find out how to win your own copy of the game? Keep watching today for more information.
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.
Post a Comment