My Blade Ru -- Deus Ex: Human Revolution review.
It is also a time of corruption and conspiracy."
For those who aren't familiar with Eidos' genius franchise: Deus Ex was one of the games that defined a new generation of more intelligent gaming back in 2000, but after its disappointing successor Deus Ex: Invisible War, nobody really had any hopes left for another pre- or sequel. But at the '10 E3, Eidos Montréal surprised friend and enemy with an astonishing first trailer of its brilliantly atmospheric new game: Deus Ex: Human Revolution was born.
And here it finally is. Was it worth the wait? Yes.
DXHR is a prequel, and the game is settled in 2027, when nanotechnology doesn't even exist yet and human augmentations are just making their introduction. The main story of the game is that bio-activists are against this new, controversial type of improving humanity, and you, Adam Jensen, head of security of one of the biggest augmentation distributors in the world, are here to maintain the chaos that those biological looneys bring with them. In the -- beautiful -- intro movie and title sequence, a lot of stuff happens. I'm not going to spoil too much, but it ends with you in a hospital, forced to get augmentations if you want to survive. You didn't ask for this.
But now you're one of those augmented monsters, and you're gonna have to live with that fact and the shenanigans that brings with it. That's your personal story, but when you go further in the game, the plot thickens, and alot of interesting events take place, with espionage and politics and oh you probably saw Blade Runner anyways.
But enough about the intriguing plot and atmosphere, how's the game look and play? Gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. The game's looks have this whole yellow-y orange-ish thing going on, but that really adds to the whole bionic, techno-superior [insert more advanced adjectives here] theme that the game has. About the gameplay: it's brilliant. Actually, it's just like we're used from Deus Ex: there aren't any restrictions and you can play the game the way you want.
There's four core gameplay mechanics (shoot stuff, hack stuff, persuade or threathen people and sneaky sneaky) that you can mix to create a hybrid gameplay style. The game can get pretty hard at times though, because the game uses an extensive skill tree that makes use of these four mechanics, and if you're gonna start upgrading one of them to become the ultimate ninja / hacker / shooter (?) / persuasion... guy... which you probably will, then you're gonna have a hard time if it's recommended to use another tactic at certain moments, e.g. if you're stealthing your way through, but get discovered by coincidence, it's going to be really tricky to shoot your way out anyways...
But don't let that spoil the fun: the gameplay system is brilliant, and the game really gives you choices in everything; from lethal and non-lethal weapons and takedowns, to weapon upgrades that can make your gun an explosive device of mass destruction or a deadly life-taker of utter silence... There's only one real thing that I can complain about, and I know this for a fact, this isn't subjective: the boss battles are BULL. SH*T. In a game where freedom and no restrictions in what you do is an important element, one does not simply add boss battles! Especially if they're so freaking cheap as here! If you're gonna make your bad-ass cyberninja, then what the hell are you going to do when you fight "The Bull", with his terminator-esque motherf*cker of a gun? The overpowered weapons and skills the bosses have are frustrating and just unnecessary, especially here.
Anyways, my final verdict for an otherwise fantastic game:
GFX: Colorful, futuristic design choices make the game's theme stand out even more. The in-game cutscenes are pretty ugly though.
GAMEPLAY: Doing everything the way you want to feels smooth, innovative and natural. Unfortunately, the obligated boss battles are cheap, frustrating, and just unnecessary.
SOUND & MUSIC: Everything in the games sound like it should. Adam Jensen has a voice to die for when he does the narration and the music is atmospheric as hell, and really adds to what the game wants to achieve with you.
STORY: The mature story about corruption, technological controversy, and how conservative our world can be at times really stands out and the different endings are all classy.
FINAL VERDICT: Deus Ex: Human Revolution is the prequel everyone wanted, and if it wasn't for Skyrim this could've easily been my GOTY. This game shines in all its excellence, even though "I never asked for this."