Deus Ex: Human Revolution Review

 

The highly anticipated and much hyped Deus Ex: Human Revolution is ready to be released upon the masses. Want to know if it lives up to the hype? We have spent a week with it and might be able to augment your decision with our review. Check it out after the jump.

 

 

The year is 2027 and the line between human and robot has been blurred dramatically with the ever growing science that is human augmentation. An augmentation can be something as simple as a chip implanted in your brain to improve intelligence, or it could be a full on limb replacement, or a combination of many things. Augmented humans, or augs for short, are used by law enforcement and military forces around the world because they are almost invincible. Is it ethically wrong to create super humans with human augmentation? There-in lies the main storyline for Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Augs aren’t always decent human beings, and augs are readily available to purchase by anyone with a buck, so augmented criminals can be found everywhere. Most companies are now ran by corrupted individuals and crime syndicates, and these are all backed by these criminal augs. In this distant future, man kind is in the middle of an ethical debate, with one group crying out for human purity, while the other is crying out for more advanced augmentations. This debate is intertwined within the vast story and the purists are ramping up their protests with violence. Kidnappings and bomb plots lead to heavy handed responses, and it’s a no win situation for all involved.

Someone Always Misuses Power

The World’s leading company in human augmentation is Sarif Industries and this is where we find our protagonist Adam Jenson. He is a non-augmented former S.W.A.T. team member from the Detroit PD. He found himself on the wrong end of a disobeyed order and was railroaded right out of the force. David Sarif, the founder of Sarif Industries, hires him as head of security for his firm and this is where Jenson’s story begins.

The Sarif building is under attack and Jenson, assuming it’s a group of purists, rushes in to fight off the attackers. When he arrives he doesn’t find purists, instead he faces off against a group of mercenary augs that leave him hanging to life. Through scenes that are fading in and out, Jenson’s life is saved, but only through augmentation. His body, being too damaged for normal healing, was augmented without his approval. After 6 months pass, we begin seeing life through Jenson’s augmented eyes.

Mercenary Aug

The storyline is well written, well thought out, intriguing, and entertaining. Multiple characters are introduced through game play and cut scenes, and most are well developed. The game has one main storyline but many side stories in the form of quests that help create a vast world for you to adventure through. The open world environment and these side quests might side track you a bit from time to time, but that’s not really a bad thing.

Gameplay is where this game sets itself apart from just about any game on the market today. The game can be played as a first person shooter, with a third person view while in cover. You can blast your way through just about every mission, taking out bad guys right and left, and killing your way to the end. Or, you can slow down the pace a little and try a more stealthy approach. It is possible to completely finish the game without taking one life (with the exception of a boss here and there). Every mission and side quest allows you to select a path with minimal resistance, and each mission has multiple paths, just as long as you stay stealthy. Learning to use your augmentations becomes paramount for anyone who doesn’t want to be seen or heard. Non-lethal weapons and attacks are also important for anyone wanting to keep blood off their hands, but more on this later.

As you progress through the story, accomplishing tasks and missions, you are awarded with experience points. These points add up to earn you Praxis Points, which can be used to upgrade your augs that have already been enabled, or to enable augs which are still inactive. There are 21 separate augs already installed, but only a few are enabled when you start your story. Jenson was tore up pretty bad by those mercenary augs, and one look at him emphasizes just how complete his destruction was. Both arms and both legs have been replaced. His eyes, ears, lungs, heart, etc. have all been replaced. His brain has been chipped and everything he sees and hears can be listened in on by anyone with the proper security clearance back at Sarif Industries. How you spend these Praxis Points is entirely up to you. If you want to just go Rambo through the entire game, then armor and strength would probably be your best bet. For your sneaky gamers, stealth augs will probably be your best bet.

Adam Jenson and His Augmentation Menu

These augs can play a big part of how you go about completing missions and quests. Fully upgraded stealth augs can cloak you so that you can walk right past someone. Couple that with augs that quiet your movement, and sneaking around just got that much easier. Upgrading your retina display can allow you to see through walls, and one arm upgrade allows you to smash through that same wall. The many augs available, and the upgrades for these augs, gives the game a depth that is usually only found in role playing games.

The weapons of death in the game consist of your basic shooter fare. Combat rifle, crossbow, machine pistol (SMG), 10mm hand gun, revolver (probably a .357 or .44), sniper rifle, rocket launcher, and a heavy machine gun. There are upgrades that can be found and applied to these, so always keep an eye out for them. Adding a laser and a damage upgrade to your combat rifle is definitely a good thing. There’s also ammo upgrades that provide for a larger magazine, and having more rounds between reloads is never a bad idea.

Sniper Rifle

For those squeamish about death, non-lethal weapons have been provided. Ranging from a simple stun guy to a much more advanced Pulse Energy Projection System (P.E.P.S.). These non-lethal weapons are sure to help some bad guys take a nap, without it being a dirt nap. You also have two choices when you need to melee a bad guy. You can quick press the attack button for a quick non-lethal take down, or long press the attack button for an entertaining to watch lethal maneuver. Seeing some sort of steel blade shooting out of Jenson’s arm and directly into a bad guy is a cool thing to see, unless of course you are one of those squeamish gamers. Always be sure to search the lifeless bodies, dead or not, as you never know what they may have on them. Bodies can also be dragged out of sight, and this is a must of you want to remain undetected.

Lethal Take Down

During missions you’ll some across computers and security devices that will require either a pass code or will have to be hacked. Some pass codes can be found on PDA’s called, Personal Secretaries, lying around or found on the bodies you leave in your wake. These PDA’s, as well as accessed computers, may also contain emails with clues to future destinations and places where you may be able to find other side quests. Everything is stored in your memory banks via your own personal secretary, so no need to memorize anything. Hacking PC’s and security devices can be a little confusing at first, so pay close attention to the tutorials as they are worth the time to watch and listen to. You hacking skills are rated on a scale from 1 to 5, and you can only attempt to hack devices that fall within your range. You can upgrade your hacking aug so that all devices are hackable rather quickly, and this will lead to even more XP and Praxis Points, so in our opinion that’s probably the best place to start upgrading.

If all of that isn’t enough to interest you in the world of Deus Ex, hold on to your augmented hat, because there’s more. Want to be able to read people, or maybe even have a built in lie detector? Check out C.A.S.I.E. It is the Computer-Assisted Social Interacting Enhancer augmentation that will allow you to read anyone like a book. It can even you give you suggestions on how to persuade someone to give you information for free. Want to save some credits with the local informants? Purchase that upgrade today!

Adam is Ready When You Are

The graphics for the game are very two faced. The game play has some of the best graphics on a console to date while the cut scenes look like like they belong on a Wii. The only complaint we have for this game lies here. Why they chose not to use HD video for cut scenes is hard to understand, but they are just cut scenes and really take nothing away from the game itself.

Eidos Montreal’s and Square Enix’s Deus Ex: Human Revolution introduces the Deus Ex world to this generation of consoles, and it has Multi-platform Game of the Year written all over it.

If you haven’t pre-ordered this game, we hope you can find a copy somewhere.

10

 

Louis Edwards

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