The backstory of the release
The crew from Eidos has been surprising us for almost 2 decades now, making a name for themselves with the Tomb Raider (1996) series. Other great titles followed like the great, hard RTT Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines (1998) and the awesome Hitman (2000) franchise. However, it was of great surprise when the original Deus Ee (2000) was released, with its very unique style and essence. To cyberpunk lovers around the world, it was great to play in a futuristic environment where men and machines have been merged. Being named "Best PC Game of All Time" in PC Gamer's Top 100, Deus Ex: Human Revolution had some pretty big shoes to fit.
It wouldn't be this impressive, if we consider that the original Deus Ex was only published by Eidos, but was developed by then legendary Ion Storm (id Software talent). Due to inner turmoil (not going into details) Eidos disbanded Ion Storm in 2005. Around the same time Eidos, experiencing monetary difficulties, was taken over by SCi (a monolith within the industry). This, however, led to many of the staff members at Eidos being let go. It is because of this, that Deus Ex: Human Revolution is so impressive. They have fit the shoes well and I take off my hat. The only thing left to add is that Square Enix purchased Eidos during the game's development, and obviously the money boost helped with the title's release.
The anticipated game
You don't have to be a cyberpunk fan to enjoy this game. Just like with the latest Splinet Cell: Blacklist, the game caters for all kinds of players and styles of completing the game. Since this FPS is combined with RPG elements, you can build your character concentrating on either stealth, hacking or tank, or the combinations of all. Every objective and mission can be completed in numerous ways - either talking your way through and getting your point across to other characters, changing their mind, or blowing a hole in their foreheads. You can bypass all the guards and security systems without triggering the alarms (earning yourself the "ghost" bonus) by using the vents and cover and jumping from one building's rooftop to the next. You may hack all the alarms and security systems, turning the turrets and AI-controlled robots against their former "masters".
The whole game feels a lot like being a cyborg in the Ghost in the Shell universe. Cyberpunk concepts are often similar, as we can draw many parallels between Blade Runner and Deus Ex, William Gibson's Burning Chrome and the classic Neuromancer, and the Japanese Appleseed. The dilemma and question posed by these titles is usually along the lines of: "what it means to be human" and how AI, machine and man is different (if at all), and where does the border end and begin. The Deus Ex series has drawn hugely on the conspiracy theories about the Illuminati and co, and how this enigmatic group of people tend to use technology to control the oblivious population.
Since Human Revolution is a prequel to the original game, where nanotech augmentations (augs) were the state of the art, here, only biomechanical augs have been developed. You assume the role of a corporate security agent, who has been augmented against his will by his corporation in order to save his life. This gives you some very impressive hardware, giving you ability to punch through walls, cloak, sprint silently, stabilize aim and negate recoil, hack into otherwise unhackable security terminals, see through walls and release a 360 degree Typhoon blast to eliminate all opponents around you. Overpowered? Maybe. But your opponents have many of these augmentations as well and the boss fights are usually like fighting yourself. All-in-all I found the game not to be very challenging but I only played on the normal difficulty.
In fact, I ended up with around 85% of total augmentations but I pretty much searched every corner of the game. The maps are large and opened and gameplay is, in a way, none-linear. I'm sure you can get 100% of the augmentations of you kill all living and mechanical things in the game, after hacking through every single computer and terminal and destroying several mechs. The game has a large amount of e-books and emails within the computers you can choose to read through, sometimes discovering security codes and passwords, but usually just adding more flavor to an already rich world. You can also choose to storm (speedrun) the game in, I'm guessing, around 3-4 hours. It took me around 30 hours or so to complete, but I took my sweet time :) I really love this game.
The number of weapons is bellow average, but it has the standard ones and they're all upgradable. I was trying to create a massive 9mm pistol with great power and accuracy and ammo capacity, but ended up giving it to a hacker half way through the game, in order to save his sorry ass. I was well disappointed, however a few hours later I was already holding a laser rifle and by the end you can get your hands on a very powerful grenade launcher and a nice plasma ca...gun? Cannon? Rifle? I dont know what is this thing and I have no inventory space for it. At the final boss fight, I had an inventory full of useless things, since I subterfuged my way through the first half of the game and hacked through the second half. I have to admit, in the end I ended up pretty much shooting everything in my way, since I had a stockpile of ammo (2500 "shots" of laser and 500 bullets for my heavy rifle). The Typhoon 360 degree barrage aug is sweet, but I only used it 3 times through the game, and only during a boss fight. It worked like a charm. I 'finished the game with 15 Typhoon shots left, around 30 "nuke" viruses and 30 "stop!" viruses, which help you hack terminals if you're having trouble.
The story unravels with good pace as you continue through the levels, discovering about your past, the history of the world and what has happened in the past years, the technology and the corporate and government games played by the mammoths in order to control the population. The design of places you visit is beautiful and some of the rooms you visit feel so normal, you forget you're playing the game. They feel natural. Sometimes you end up stopping for a second and realizing how beautiful the environment is, since you don't really notice it because it's so natural. It really does engulf you. The controls are fine and there's nothing complicated about this game. Some versions of the game have also an extra level and stream lets you download some extra stuff to enhance your experience.
The soundtrack is done by Michael McCann (Splinter Cell: Double Agent, X-COM: Enemy Unknown) and adds a lot to the great atmosphere to the game. It's a blast! The graphics team did a good job and the emotions are well-felt in the game's character's mimics and dialogues. The ending of the game is rewarding and gives you open-end options. It really is sad when the credits start rolling, since now you wonder, what can be better than this? But, there's always another game, with another great gameplay and ending.
In the end, the only bad side I could find is the lack of a more random AI behavior and the repetitive sneaking. Albeit, you can always NOT sneak and just blast your way through, It would still be more of a challenge if there were more original options to sneak by the enemies. Don't ask me how, but where there's a will - there's a way. The game is still top-notch. A few bullets can kill you so take cover!
Apparently there is a film adaptation underway, but we all know how these things end up screwing up. We can always hope, however.