More than four years after its announcement in 2007, Deus Ex: Human Revolution has hit the shelves and is available on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The third entry in the popular Deus Ex RPG series, it serves as a prequel to Deus Ex (2000) and Deus Ex: Invisible War (2003), with its action occurring in the year 2027 — 25 years before the original game’s events.
The plot of Human Revolution concerns corporation security chief Adam Jensen, who is employed by the mega-powerful manufacturing company Sarif Industries. After he is shot in the head during a vicious attack on his plant by a squad of soldiers, his body is regenerated and biomechanically augmented by the leaders of his corporation, and soon Adam engages in a quest to discover what rival company was responsible for the attack. Prowling through the innermost recesses of manufacturing plants, spying and dispatching enemies with an array of guns, the game is similar to Nintendo 64’s Goldeneye, only there’s more plot and story videos, plus our hero even has the capability to move the bodies of killed characters!
As in the first two Deus Ex games, Adam gains different superhuman abilities throughout the game through augmentation of his body, but this time his transformations are biomechanical rather than nanotechnical, since Human Revolution is set in a period before technical augmentation is possible. There are four modes of gameplay the player can choose from — combat, hacking, stealth and exploration — and the type of skills Adam gains through physical augmentation are specific to each mode. Like in Deus Ex 1 and 2, Adam must keep himself ticking by sniffing out food and medicine throughout the plants, though in Human Revolution there is the addition of a new feature that gives our hero the ability to slowly regenerate his own health in the absence of consumables. The game also adds fights with various bosses to the mix, different than the first two games; most of the fights end in violence, but some confrontations can be resolved simply through tactical discussion with the foes.
One of the most impressive features of Deus Ex: Human Revolution is its realistic graphics, the design of which was no doubt a major reason for the game’s rather lengthy production. The intricately detailed plant chambers you must explore are spectacularly life-like, and the story exposition and gruesome (but not overly so) shoot-outs make one feel as though they are watching a true motion picture. The voice acting in the story exposition is first rate and breathes life into the characters, making it very easy to lose oneself in the action of the game. The music score is deliberate and ominous, hauntingly underscoring the drama.
Whether you play it on the PC, PS3 or Xbox 360, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a game with very few flaws and has achieved nearly unanimous praise from critics and fans due to its awesome visual design, clever plotline/characters and challenging, exciting gameplay.
My ratings:
Plot/Narration 10
Gameplay 9.5
Graphics 10
Music 9.5
OVERALL SCORE 10