Poor boss fights remove the element of choice Long load times, dated facial animations, and other technical drawbacks Weak AI detracts from both the shooting and the stealth. and still an 8.5?
Deus Ex: Human Revolution Extended Hands-On Preview - First Five Hours
By
Maxwell McGee, Editor
Deus Ex: Human Revolution's conspiracy-filled storyline starts making sense after we spend some extended hands-on time with the game.
The debate over human augmentation hangs heavily over the world of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. If you replaced your arms, legs, heart, or brain with cybernetic augmentations, could you still be considered you? Where is the tipping point from human to something else? If you have been following our previous coverage, then you already know that protagonist Adam Jensen had the decision for augmentation made for him after his employer, Sarif Industries, was unexpectedly attacked. From that starting point, we recently went hands-on to play through (roughly) the first five hours of the Xbox 360 version of the game. It brought together many familiar locations, let us explore the hub city of Detroit, and tackle a few side quests. Humanity's revolution has just begun. [Spoiler Alert: This preview details a small number of story elements from the first five hours of the game].
Before we could dive into the unknown, Jensen had to make his fateful transformation. The opening attack on Sarif Industries went off without a hitch, forcing us into a firefight we were destined to lose. As the fight started, we realized that Human Revolution rewards careful fighting and punishes carelessness--just like the previous games in the series. If we stuck our neck out too far in a fight we were dropped in no time. That isn't to say a direct confrontation wasn't practical; in fact, we purposely took the direct approach during our time with the game. We just had to keep moving. Enemies followed a strict pattern of targeting our last-known location and would try to draw us out by flanking us, or by or tossing a grenade our way. Moving through cover let us repeatedly surprise our foes by popping out a few feet away and opening fire. At this point, the enemies would assault our new location until they spotted us again somewhere else.
Navigating through cover was a breeze. Human Revolution gives you the option to either manually put Adam into cover by pressing and holding the left trigger button, or to have him automatically take cover with a single press of the trigger. When we approached a break in cover, we could either tap the A button to hop to an adjacent spot or hold A to rotate around. This let us move around corners or crates without having to expose ourselves to gunfire. Even with these techniques, the intruders still emerged victorious, and Jensen ended up in the hospital. The opening credits followed, showing Jensen's transformation from human into something more than human. After an unusually fast recovery, our hero returned to Sarif Industries to find it packed with security guards and hushed whispers about another attack. This time, a terrorist group had taken control of a Sarif-owned manufacturing facility.
Our mission was to go in ahead of SWAT and secure a prototype weapon system, as well as rescue the hostages. After shooting our way through the facility, we reached a hostage-negotiation sequence with the terrorist's leader. Dialogue sequences such as this are all about breaking down your opponent with a verbal barrage. Oftentimes, what we were going to say was already determined, but how we were going to say it was up to us. Aggression, sympathy, and cold logic were out typical choices, and striking a balance among the three was key in getting our target to yield. The conversation spanned numerous breaks for us to choose our next line, and we could see it in the terrorist's body language that we were making an impact. At times he would drop his shoulders with regret or furrow his brow in disgust. Finally, he agreed to release the hostage--but we won't spoil what happened next.
After making it through the game's opening areas, we got the chance to venture off the beaten path onto the filth-covered streets of Detroit. While there were impressive landmarks--such as Sarif Industries and the LIMB clinic--they were surrounded by the homeless, the violent, and the desperate. From this hub city, we restocked our supplies at a local arms dealer, purchased medicine at the clinic, and received a side quest from a colleague. Apparently, he was being blackmailed into stealing some medicine manufactured by our company and handing it over to a street vendor for distribution. Our charge was to recover the incriminating video the dealer had on him. The only lead we had was that the video might be on the dealer's home computer, which was across town.
By
Maxwell McGee, Editor
Maxwell McGee earned a degree in Journalism from the University of Arkansas, and has contributed to The Escapist, GamePro, PC Gamer, and more. His introduction to video games was Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on the Sega Genesis, and he has never looked back. He welcomes your feedback through the site, or Twitter.
70 comments
This reminds me of MGS and he looks abit like Solid Snake. Cant wait to play this game
I remember the adverts for Alpha Protocol looking awesome too, and looking forward to it coming out. But then I stuck the game in my console and played it. What a piece of poo that game turned out to be. Not doing that again. Will be buying this on Steam if it reviews well, so yeah Gamespot, please review this a few days earlier than release date, cause I want to save a couple of quid with the pre-purchase price that Steam offers before the game comes out.
Wait for reviews before buying! Been stung too many times on games that preview well only to be utter trash upon release.
this is the game that if u talk about it, for sure someone will reinstall it (reffering to first title which was the best)
@3dfreak2000 I'll have to disagree with you in regard to James Cameron. He can handle visuals; that point was made salient with his work on Avatar. His dialogue is always terrible, though, which is one of the reasons I've never liked James Cameron movies. Nolan, on the other hand, can handle visuals and dialogue impeccably, making him the better choice. Besides, the dark, gritty tone of this game seems to better suit Nolan's past work -- The Dark Knight, Memento, The Prestige, etc.
"redmoonseven Posted May 12, 2011 1:19 pm GMT can they make a movie of this? " If is directed and produced by James Cameron or Christopher Nolan. Otherwise is better to keep Deus Ex franchise just like a game. (My worst nightmare is to see Deus Ex directed by Uwe Boll :P)
"We dropped him easily, and as an added bonus, we dragged his corpse onto the dealer's bed as a sort of "Thank you" for all the trouble he was causing us." ^ This would be awesome if there were consequences to the NPC :D
This game will kick asses, Game of the Year for me. The only worthy competitor would be Elder Scrolls Skyrim. I would love to include both Arkham City and Dead Space 2 in this list, however the zillion hours of gameplay and plethora of details existing in these two behemoths would beat them flat out. These are some of the unbeatable qualities these two games will have, not to mention, some delightful DLCs these huge game worlds will invite in near future.
Been a fan this series so far I like what I see! hope this one lives up to the hype its generating!
@cZ9r2Ul7J "I'm not really a gamer - I have adult responsibilities" the average gamer is 30 years old. i'm getting tired of waiting for this game....but i'm sure it'll be great when it finally arrives.
I'm not really a gamer - I have adult responsibilities such as career and family, and I can't devote the time to it - but I AM ALL OVER THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If it's even *half* as awesome as the previews look then it will be well worth the effort to carve out the time to play it. It will be installed on my PC five minutes after it is released!
Looks like next level cinematic quality, on par with mass effect. This has unbelievable potential & i really, really hope the gameplay can live up
We've had to endure much, you and I, but soon there will be order again. A new age. Aquinas spoke of the mythical city on the hill, soon that city will be real and we will be crowned its kings. Or, better than kings... Gods!
It's almost as if Metal Gear Solid and Alpha Protocol had a baby - it looks awesome. I've never played any of the previous games, but I've had my eyes on this for a lonnnng time. It looks more amazing every time I see it. I'll definitely be buying it on Day 1, it's my taste in games down to a tee!
If the graphics are the only issue then I am delighted. They look decent enough to me and being a long long time Deus Ex fan my major concern was the atmosphere and the gameplay. If they got that right then the odd flat face won't bother me at all.
Shame about the graphics, I still feel they won't be quite up to par by the time the game comes out. I just wish they had delayed it as long as they actually wanted to, and produced a really amazing looking game.
This game keeps looking better and better. Almost everything I read in this preview made me more and more hyped. I can't wait.
Not trying to be elitist, but I can't help but shake my head when someone doesn't understand Deus Ex
Since the dawn of stealth games I can not get enough of those. Thief: The Dark Project, Deus Ex, Hitman: Blood Money, Assassin's Creed (just the first title) were my favorites. 4 games in a top 5 list with an empty spot. Once Metal Gear series, Splinter Cell series, the sequels of AC did not make it to the top 5 I have high hopes for this. If it doesn't I really can;t see what will.
@Coolyfett this game is not an fps. yes its played using 1st person perspective, but its more of an adventure game that is incredibly story driven. albeit with certain actions/choices you can take or make which alter the outcome of ur quest.
Interesting that it should have visual problems since it has always looked like a top notch graphics game. Even worse that gamespot had negative things to say in a preview. Even for bad games during previews they're always all smiles and compliments. Hopefully the end product comes out polished
Personally I think this game would have been cooler if you had a choice to play in 3rd Person and 1st person at will; meaning you could switch on the fly. I'm not all that enthralled about the game mainly being in 1st person throughout the entire game, except for a few firefight occasions while in cover.
Nice touch in tying together very old interest with future themes with the use of a CG version of Rembrandt's "Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp". I am looking forward to this hyper-realistic pseudoscience cyber punk extravaganza.
I'm waiting this for soo long,and its about to come out.. I just hope that we will get game atleast awesome and intruing as first one :)
I gotta say, if it comes out with subpar graphics, that would just make it even more in the spirit of the original. ;) But, of course, I'm hoping it'll have great graphics.
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Review Scores
| Platform | GameSpot | Metacritic / User Score |
|---|---|---|
Game Info
- Release Date: Aug 23, 2011 (US)
- ESRB: MTitles rated M (Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older.
- Release Date: TBA 2013 (US)
- ESRB: MTitles rated M (Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older.
- Release Date: Apr 26, 2012 (US)
- ESRB: MTitles rated M (Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older.
Related Unions
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
- Publisher(s): Square Enix
- Developer(s): Eidos Montreal
- Genre: Action
- Release:
- ESRB: M
Deus Ex: Human Rev. Navigation
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