Some assembly required
I want to start the actual review portion with the things that disappointed me about human revolution, so with that said here is my list of issues with the game. Firstly there isn't a lot of emphasis on real power. I spent my gameplay time augmenting strength, armor and weaponry capabilities. Despite having done this I was still very susceptible to being gunned down by street hoods. Throughout the game they talk up the aug process as basically making people into gods, yet stealth is pretty much your best option all the time. Another issue is the fact that I gained 5 power cells to use my augmented abilities more frequently, however, only the first cell regenerates power. You need cyborg energy bars to restore the others. These issues cramp the streamlining of combat in more ways than one to be certain. When you knock someone out they never get back up either, so if you get the urge to knock someone out make sure they're not essential to any quest or subquest or you've screwed yourself. Lastly, many subquests require you to have high hacking aptitude (capture software) which means you will lose a lot of praxis kits to gain the ability to read peoples e-mails.
Now that all of that is behind us, Human Revolution shines in a great many ways that often overshadow the aforementioned shortcomings. The stealth aspects are put together very well, fans of Metal Gear games (yes, this includes me) will enjoy how much the stealth plays out like MGS. Basically Jensen is Snake and the Cyborg Ninja combined, so use your stealth skills but also build a pretty slick arsenal of robot powers. The weapons have upgrades you can find or buy from random weapons dealers, and certain augments carry perks that occur passively. For instance, augmenting your strength to lift and throw heavy objects lessens recoil, while there is also an augment list to lessen recoil period, it is neat to gain a cause/effect perk from super strength. The narrative is engageing and well written, and the twists and turns make for an interesting conclusion. The characters are decent and the things you can and will do in the game are numerous, this pertains to the routes one can take to accomplish missions as well. If you decided to let hacking go by the wayside, look for vents, or walls you can punch though. Sometimes there is a place to climb up higher. As you can no doubt tell I could go on and on about this game, so I will finish up by saying the aiming is precise, headshots properly aimed always kill the targets without head armor, and the assault/kill animations are pretty cool (especially when you upgrade to the reflex booster).