It doesn't quite live up to the original's story, but this is an exceptionally good game...and personally, I loved it.
I should preface this review by saying that I am a big fan of the original Deus Ex (played through it several times + the sequel a couple times). In fact I consider it to be the greatest game ever made. Not because of the graphics or the combat/mechanics of the game (because they weren't too great). For the story, setting and atmosphere. Which IMO has never been surpassed in many ways by any other game I've played since.
So I came to play Deus Ex HR with a lot of expectation and anticipation. There were a number of things going in I had issues with. The 3rd person cover, regenerating health and take-downs for instance. As it turned out none of those were issues for me, I thought they all worked rather well.
There were however several minor issues that I came across when I played. So firstly the negative about this game;
The Negative
Graphics - The facial animations are undeniably bad, peoples teeth stick out, the dialogue and mouth movements don't match up at points and generally speaking the facial animations are some of the worst I've seen in a modern game. Still this isn't something I'm going to cry about, the original Deus Ex obviously had worse and that didn't stop me enjoying the game at all.
Location - Inevitably I'm going to end up comparing this to the original. The variety of areas and to some extent the openness of those areas isn't quite what the first game was. Although they do a very good job and some of the areas are fantastic. In terms of actual size the areas most definitely are larger, but the feeling of enclosure seems to be greater despite this. You also go all around the world as in the first, however not to as many different and distinct places. In a way this relates to the story also. The city hubs are great and everywhere you visit is good in this game. However it all feels like it could have been set in one giant area with numerous buildings in it. The cities will always feel like that a little bit and they are distinguishable. However I would have hoped for a more varied environment for other moments in the story. It's not the quality I contend, it's the variety.
Gameplay - A few minor niggles, the cover system which I was dreading did turn out to be good but occasionally there would be problems leaning over the top of cover and shooting with guns. Perhaps that's how it was designed, I'm not sure. Also it is a shame you can't interact with as many objects in the world as you could before and you generally haven't got quite the freedom of movement you had in areas as you did before. It just felt a bit more limited despite the size of the actual areas themselves being as big if not bigger.
Story - Again, inevitably I'm going to compare this to the first game. The story is good, don't get me wrong, it is enjoyable and well executed and certainly has its interesting moments. It's hard when you are going to be compared to easily the best storyline I've ever encountered in a game i.e. the original. The problem here is the unexpected. The original added unexpected areas and moments into the game. Unexpected choices, twists etc. This game isn't entirely devoid of them but it doesn't quite deliver on a par with its namesake. In the original, you felt like drastic changes had occurred, you had travelled a long way through various varied situations and your perspective had shifted. In this game you feel like you pretty much experienced everything within the same pocket of environment. In the same pocket of perspective.
Overall the story does not quite live up to the original and the ending felt a little rushed and slapped on to me. I still liked it, but I think more could have been made out of it and it could have been presented a little better.
Music - The soundtrack to this game is outstanding. However in game it is a little too unintrusive at times. The original Deus Ex in game soundtrack stood out a little more. That's why when you listen to the soundtrack, watch the trailers and can hear how good it is...you wonder why during the game it isn't more notable and distinctive. I'm sure this was a design decision, however I would have liked to have a more distinctive and intrusive sound-scape during the game.
Cut-scenes - It's my opinion that the breaking off into the cut-scenes only serves to separate the player from the story. Possibly they did this because they recognised the facial animations weren't great and it would serve the story better to use cut-scenes. I can understand that, however IMO it is almost always better to use in game graphics for those scenes. It helps keep the player immersed in the game.
How can I give a game 10/10 when I have those complaints you might ask? Well because the game does so much, so well and in such an enjoyable fashion;.
The Positive
Graphics - The art design in this game and general ambience/setting and appearance of the areas is truly a landmark for games IMO. It's incredibly good and at points beautiful. It sets the tone wonderfully for a Deus Ex game and I can't think of another game that can rival it.
Sound - The guns sound fantastic, the reloading, the firing etc. The voice acting is also very good IMO. The soundtrack, when it does intrude more is always very good and in general the ambient sound and music is much like the art design - exceptional. As I said before my only contention was that it isn't used distinctively enough and intrusively enough.
Gameplay - I love the combat. I really mean "love" it. It is superb. the guns feel great, the shooting feels great...your vulnerability adds an edge to it. I've seen people complain it is frustrating or too hard. Well personally I love games where you are vulnerable and the enemy is vulnerable. A head-shot or a couple shots and most enemies go down using only the pistol. Likewise early on you go down after a couple shots. You can upgrade your armour and that helps but at no point are you bulletproof or can you wade in with an indestructible confidence in your immortality. The cover system works well (I generally speaking hate 3rd person cover shooters). The stealth is excellent and works extremely well. You will find yourself enjoying the stealth so much you forget to kill anyone. Which is a shame because the combat is extremely enjoyable also. The gameplay overall is a highlight of this game. Very well designed and as much fun as I can remember having in a game.
The take-downs actually turned out to be pretty good. I rather enjoyed them. They were one of the things going in I was sure I would hate.
I also thought the hacking was good, possibly the best hacking system I've seen in a game. Not difficult at all as I'd heard going into it, however has enough of an edge to be a decent game dynamic.
Augmentations/levelling - Brilliantly designed, awesome augmentations. I was sceptical of the typhoon, until I got it and actually used it. It's a lot of fun jumping into a big room from the ceiling and typhooning a bunch of enemies all around you instantly. I also adore the Icarus landing system. It makes moving through cities very enjoyable and also looks extremely cool. All in all I thought this was a perfectly designed area of the game.
Atmosphere - The atmosphere is superb and this really pleased me. One of the main positive qualities of the original was its excellent atmosphere. A Combination of the art design, music, tone and setting. IMO this was a major achievement, because I rarely see a game that even comes close to the original Deus Ex in terms of atmosphere.
Story - Intelligent, simple and relevant. Just like the original. As I said before, it didn't quite live up to the originals story but it was a very good effort. However as perhaps with the atmosphere, the story could have done with maybe going a little off the rails and being a little more abstract at points. It did touch on these things but only lightly, whereas the original delved into them more.
One thing I would say about the story though is that it relied upon you reading a lot of emails/memos etc and it was fairly adult in tone and discussion. I can imagine that a younger gamer (I am 30) might either find this confusing or dull and uninspiring. There are no aliens invading etc.
The A.I - IMO, works perfectly for the game. Yes it isn't realistic, yes the opponents are dumb to a certain extent...but that's what makes the game mechanics work so well. The exact same thing can be said of any game. I've yet to see an A.I that isn't fairly dumb in any game I've ever played. The idea of A.I in a game is to make it enjoyable and challenging in the right balance, not to mimic reality. If it was, any shooter you have ever played would be a horrible tedious grind. If you put intelligent realistic human A.I in any shooter or stealth game of any sort people would complain that it was too difficult and wasn't fun to play. A smart person doesn't ever poke his head back up over cover he just went behind when he knows someone could well be aiming a gun there, yet that happens in absolutely every game eventually. You add facets of reality to the A.I where you think they will help the enjoyment of the game. Personally aside from some minor tweaks I thought the A.I worked well in making the gameplay enjoyable.
Overall I enjoyed every single second of my 35hours+. I haven't had this much fun with a game in a long long time and I hope desperately that more Deus Ex games are made. For me personally this is easily one of my favourite games of all time.