I'm feeling weird about that game, because I have so much inconsistencies to tell about it, yet I still like it.
Graphics:
So much people crying about it looking bad, or looking like a game from 2008 or whatever (actually read people saying 10 years old graphics...come on!). People are so un-profesionnal about what they say, they should just restrain from even talking about what they don't know **** about. It's easy to see what is making them saying such things. TEXTURES. That's about the only thing lacking details in the game. Characters, objects, guns are all great looking. There's even a "je ne sais quoi" about the overall style of the game. It's pretty unique, and characters conversations are a gift to the eyes. Animations are kind of sub-par, I admit though. And while the frame rate is pretty good, there's a lot of stuttering in outside areas, on my computer that is. Also, some AA settings making the game crash for a lot of people. But forgivable since the High AA setting works properly.
8.5/10
Sounds:
Ah damn, each time I want to speak in details about every aspects of a game to make a great review, I get bored pretty quickly, and start to want to just botch some parts. Well, let's botch this one a bit, because it's hard for me to really recall the true sound quality of this game. I feel there's a lack in the sound effects department. And while the music is great at the beginning, and fits just well the universe you're immersed into, it starts to take a drop in variety and quality as you progress further into the game.
7.5/10
Mechanics:
Okay, so that's where my Review Deck becomes relevant. There's SO MUCH THINGS that could easily have been done better, making the game a DAMN GREAT game instead of just a good game. Lack of Side Quests: There's plenty in Detroit, while the area is small. Then you travel to China, where the area is big, and yet, there's like half the Side Quests there is in Detroit. So there's a lot of generic space there, that just serves no purposes whatsoever.Haven't been to Montreal yet so I can't confirm about this area. Badly designed hacking placement: Let's start by saying the hacking mini game is really well done and fun, but the logic behind where the hacking possibilities are placed and used are not so well thought. Let's start with the fact there's no ATM to hack, like in previous games, but plenty of credit chips lying everywhere, like if nobody gave a damn about their money....Stupid logic, isn't it? But there's so much hacking in missions, it's not even funny. Almost every damn path involves an hacking possibility, while the possibility to use Gas Immunity, Fall Protection and Jump Enhancements are almost never there. And when there's a Turret to hack, you actually had to use the alternative path solution to access the computer BEHIND the Turret to take control of it, but since you already found the alternative path so easily, you don't need to hack the Turret anymore anyway. Poor Level design. Ammo management: A lot of people complaining about the lack of ammo, well, it's not the actual lack of ammo that is the REAL problem, since we're not playing call of duty here. It's more related to the Inventory Space the ammo is taking. Your fully upgraded inventory space is full of it, yet, you don't have so much. Poorly thought inventory space management. AI: it's not BAD per say, but it's far from good either. Sometimes they react correctly, sometimes they don't. No arguing that they're too easy though. It's principally their lack of aggressiveness when responding to alertness that makes it not enough of a challenge. There's also the boss fights which Gamespot pointed out. Again, POOR LEVEL design. Great levels allowing to use all kind of augmentations against the bosses would have fixed this, but they decided to just stick you there in simple, botched areas with them. WHY? Yet, even with all these inconsistencies, I can't help myself but to give a nice score to the mechanics, because there's a lot of things well done, but I'm too lazy to enumerate them right now.
7.5/10
Gameplay:
Fun. Cover system is very well done. Shooting is not bad. Conversations are great. Some may think there's not enough shooting to their likings though, I can't argue with that. A lot of exploration is nice, even if sometimes it's just pointless.
9/10
Story:
Ahhh story, I never review that. First cause I'm too lazy to, second because that's not SO much important for me. But since so many people seems to say the story of that game is crappy, I had to say something about it. It's not like an epic story OVERALL, but what is mostly nice about it are the Side Quests. They're interesting and intriguing. By a Square Enix standard, yes, the story may seem blend, if you compare to stuff like Final Fantasy. But stuff like that RELY so much on story to compensate for BORING gameplay (IMO), it's not the same. If you compare to stuff like Fallout, it's just as good. So I don't know why some are crying about it. Sure it's less great than the original Deus Ex story, but it's about as good as the Invisible War's one.
8.5/10
Conclusion:
It's a pity I'm such a lazy guy, cause there's so much good things to say about this game I haven't. It's just that I'm so focused on the POORLY designed stuff, that could have been so easy to adjust, it's just pitiful, and now it's too late. It's not like it was actual problems, it's poor design choices, that BETA Testers could easily have pointed out, and it could have been fixed in a month or so. Still, this game have charmed me on a lot of levels, and I'm eager to continue playing it till the end, hoping it can still surprise me with good stuff that can compensate the bad ones. That's a shame Eidos Montreal. You could have done so much more, please improve on your mistakes with your next games. Don't become a generic studio like Ubisoft Montreal. Make us proud to be French Canadians having a great game making studio with great game conceptors that don't fall to the bad trends the market has fallen into. Which is simple minded. Be open minded. The franchise Deus Ex was the perfect one to do so. You were almost, but not quite.
Overall: 8.5/10
EDIT: It's a pity people abuse the review score system, or that professional reviewers seems to be bought by companies to give exaggerated scores or something. Because now, 8.5 may seem arch to some, while it's perfectly suitable. Because you get re-ashed, mindless games like Call of Duty - Black Ops (or any Call of Duty after MW 1 for that matter) getting huge scores like 9. I know it's hard to really compare because they don't address the same people, and are not in the same category. Yeah, CoD - BO or whatever may be a great Multiplayer focused Action First Person Shooter, but I think it's still overrated. There's a lot of things they don't take into context of the overall game industry when they make their review. It seems like the review scores go with the flow. The flow of the hype of the mass of people. But the mass doesn't represent professionalism among game analysis/analyzers. Just needed to clarify that 8.5 for me is PRETTY great, and that lazy games like CoD, while it can still be entertaining, don't deserve anything higher than 8. Because I think it is only fair to judge a game by the amount of effort that were seemingly put into it, and not only the finished product in itself.
EDIT: All flash, no substance. New Score 7/10, and I'm generous. Don't feel like wasting time saying more, too pissed off. Eidos Montreal, you suck as much as Ubisoft Montreal, may you die a slow death, thanks.