After thoroughly playing through this game over the past couple of days, I have to say that I am certainly happy with Deus Ex: Human Revolution. It lives up to its predecessor in both gameplay and story and will keep you playing much longer than you intended (a 3 AM finish). While it’s not completely perfect, I have to say it is amongst the best games I’ve played recently and a must-buy for any fan of Deus Ex, or the RPG/Shooter market.
First let me begin with the graphics. With my now mediocre computer I managed to set the graphical tuning reasonably high and still maintained an solid framerate in all but the most intense events. That being said, the graphics were sometimes hit or miss. I can understand the need to keep some textures lower resolution or lower some polygon counts when you want to load a huge area (which is often done) in a timely manner and avoid the constant loads you see in other modern shooters. However, there are some areas where I wish they had focused a little more to please the eyes. For one, the skybox looks like the same one you saw in the original Deus Ex 11 years ago. That was strange to me. Also, it just felt like some objects were muddy or just not at the same level as the rest of the game.
Another issue I found a bit distracting is that the animations for some characters were very wild and gestures were over the top. It seemed some characters were just flailing arms around regardless of what they were actually saying. Yet in all cases these can be easily overlooked as you enjoy traversing between buildings and large areas without load screens. And with the most recent patch, loading is so fast you sometimes can’t even read the tips that grace each one. I assume with a faster computer they would barely show up at all.
Something that I found truly impressive was that, after turning off the “object highlighting,” many useful objects were seamlessly integrated with the surroundings. You might be able to pick up a bottle of painkillers, but they’ll be on a shelf of other unusable items and you can’t easily discern them from any other object without moving the cursor over them. It seems like this is the reason they included the highlight function to begin with. However, I have to admire their ability to integrate them so flawlessly. On the same note, I would suggest keeping the objective icons on because navigating the large areas can be extremely difficult if you don’t know exactly where you’re going. These regions are so large and so rich with random buildings, rooms, and people that you’ll find yourself just wandering around looking for nice goodies instead of doing any of the missions.
Graphics aside, the game is extremely fun. It of course plays much like the original Deus Ex with lots of sneaking (perhaps more) and plenty of action. Of course both depend on how you wish to play. You can approach a situation head on with guns blazing (though early on it might get you killed quickly), or you can skillfully sneak around an entire group of enemies and never fight a single one. Or maybe you’ll maneuver your way to the proper computer and turn a turret against them without ever lifting more than a finger for a few keystrokes. Hacking was one of the routes I followed most intensely. In doing so, you can clear yourself a glorious path to your goal by simply deactivating cameras, or go on the offense by turning an automated robot against your enemies with devastating effect. You will also be able to use the skill to unlock doors and safes as well as various mission-related objectives with ease. The gun combat is as intense as any of the FPS games you’ll find. You can have scenarios where you engage several enemies as once and they’ll use intelligent tactics to suppress you behind cover, or clear you from it to get the kill… and kill they will. Even maxing out your armor doesn’t give you a lot of protection as enemies become more resilient and use deadlier weapons. Cover is something you’ll have to cling to like it’s your only hope (and often it is) else you’ll end up looking at the load screen for the tenth time in a row. Taken as a whole, these gameplay aspects are the real core of what makes Deus Ex: Human Revolution a quality game.
One of the most compelling aspects of the game is how each acquired skill opens up different routes in meeting an objective. Whether you make yourself more apt to survive direct combat, or make yourself so sufficiently stealthy that no one finds you, or hack your way through door to circumvent the whole process, your skills can make each aspect of that more or less viable… or even possible at all. For instance, you may see an air vent behind some large boxes, but you can only move those large boxes if you’ve upgraded your strength abilities. If that doesn’t work for you, you may see an area that you can reach only if you’ve upgraded your jumping ability and can leap to that goal. If both are out of the question, you may realize that a code you acquired from a Pocket Secretary (the rough equivalent of an iPhone) will unlock a door that lets you get to your goal without any specific skill. Often times you’ll have multiple options and the path you take is entirely up to you. That, to me, is exactly what I want in any RPG.
A seldom explored but extremely interesting gameplay mechanic is the scenario where you are communicating directly with an individual to obtain information. It’s sort of an interrogation minigame. What’s so great about it is that you must actually listen and interpret what the individual is saying in order to select the correct response. Each response is outlined in the selection and fits the original statement. Your only indication of its success is to gauge the response of the individual. It’s something that is fairly innovative and really fit well into the flow of the game, I only wish that it was explored more than the four or five times within the game.
My play through took around 26 hours which, by modern game standards, is a lifetime. It also fits roughly in line with the original Deus Ex game length. It contains tons of content and side quests that aren’t required, but skipping it is akin to cutting out half the pages in a book just because it makes it shorter. You’d be eliminating part of the allure of the game. There’s so much good about this game that the minor issues like some odd animations and the occasional confusing routing through the large areas are easily ignored. The biggest selling point about this game is that everything about it screams maturity. It’s the first game I’ve played in a long time that actually feels like it was made for adults. It isn’t quite as complex as the original Deus Ex… the random bits of text you’ll read are things that could be understood by your average person… but it’s something you can dig in to deeper and enjoy if you set out to do so. I would suggest this game to anyone short of an individual who plays exclusively bad games. Play it. Enjoy it. It’s that simple.