Choice in most roleplaying games (RPGs) is crudely binary and clumsily presented through a dialogue tree. Press X to butcher the fluffy kitten; press Y to rescue it from a snarling Rottweiler. Cyberpunk epic Deus Ex: Human Revolution sets itself apart from the pack by building choice deep into the mechanics of its gameplay.
The first-person RPG-cum-shooter-cum-sneaker, a prequel to the 2000 Warren Spector classic Deus Ex, is a glorious labyrinth of options that rewards careful exploration and planning. Each of the game’s maps is densely packed with alternative routes to the objective as well as a number of tools that you can use to reach your goal.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution is set 25 years before the events of Deus Ex and casts you in the role of Adam Jensen, a security manager working for biotech company Sarif Industries. After a violent incident that leaves Jensen fighting for his life, his employer rebuilds his shattered body with mechanical augmentations that give him near-superhuman powers.
It is by adding and upgrading augmentations to Jensen’s body that you shape how exactly you play the game as Jensen tries to uncover the terrorist conspiracy against his company. Some boost his computer hacking skills, others bolster his strength or allow him to soak up more damage, and others yet allow him to sneak around more silently or use a cloaking device.
Paired with the game’s extensive arsenal of weapons and environmental features, these powers give you a number of ways to play. Perhaps the most of obvious and rewarding of these is to play the game as a first-person sneaker that owes a little something to the Metal Gear Solid games.
You can carefully chart the movement of your enemies around a room, then focus on carefully knocking them out one by one without alerting their comrades. You can strike from the shadows Batman-style with melee takedowns or pick them off from a distance with a scoped tranquiliser gun, then carefully hide their bodies from cameras and other guards.
Alternatively, you could hack a computer and turn their own turrets on them or even simply sneak around them using any cover and air vents that will help you to reach your objective. If subtlety is not your style, it’s just as viable to rampage through a mission with a shotgun and a few grenades, or to throw vending machines at anyone who gets in your way.
Unlike the Fable games, for example, this is not choice without consequence. Jensen is powerful but not invincible and he will not be able to upgrade and add every augmentation by the end of the game. Especially in the early stages of the game, deciding where to spend your augmentation points can be agonising.
Should you build up your hacking skills so that no door or safe will get in your way, knowing that you’re sacrificing a point you could use on that handy augmentation that will let your fall from any height without hurting yourself? And is the sheer cool factor of that upgrade that will let you punch unwitting fools through walls really worth one of your hard-earned augmentation points?
Even the four boss fights, the one element of the game that most reviewers have heavily criticised, feed into this ethos. After your first encounter with a boss you cannot sneak around or outwit with words, you realise that it might be a good idea to save some space in your limited inventory for a frag grenade or two, and a rocket launcher. The trouble is deciding what to ditch to make room. Chucking a gun aside is not done lightly in this game.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution trailer (via YouTube):
Even the dialogue system is handled with finesse. You need to listen closely to what other characters are saying and then pick the right response from a few options. You need to steer your way through the conversation using persuasion, bullying, empathy or directness to get the best response from the person you’re talking to.
Deus Ex weaves its gameplay, narrative, sound and graphics together with the unifying theme of trans-humanism, a staple of cyberpunk fiction. Its visuals are built on a heavily modified version of the engine used in the more recent Tomb Raider games, which is not quite as cutting edge as the technology you might find in upcoming games like Uncharted 3 or Gears of War 3.
Graphics 8/10
There are some technical shortcomings – dated animations, the occasional framerate hit on the console versions – but the coherence of Human Revolution’s visual design more than compensates for them.
Sound 8/10
Some of the voice acting is a little flat, but the tastefully understated synth score seethes with tension.
Gameplay 10/10
With its deep, freeform blend of shooting, stealth, exploration and roleplaying, Human Revolution stands out in a sea of uninspired shooters and dumbed-down RPGs.
Value 10/10
Deus Ex: Human Revolution will keep you busy for a couple of dozen hours on your first playthrough, and also rewards multiple replays.
Overall 9/10
Equally rich in gameplay and atmosphere, Deus Ex Human Revolution is one of the best games of the year.
Yet the gold-and-grey design of the game, with its grimy streets and clinical corporate interiors, is so striking that any technical concerns quickly fade away. This is a vividly drawn dystopia, where you can augment your body and become better or less than human, but at a cost.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution has a few problems — long load times, the somewhat annoying boss fights, lifeless animations, occasionally brainless AI — but it is far better than anyone expected when Eidos announced that it would be reviving the franchise. In a market of dumbed-down shooters that are little more than series of set-piece shooting galleries, this is a thoughtful and grown-up game.
After the dismal Deus Ex: The Invisible War, this is the sequel the original game really deserved. It streamlines the gameplay in the right places while retaining most of the depth and ingenuity of the classic that inspired it. It respects its past, yet points to the future. It is the best game of the year so far. — Lance Harris, TechCentral
- Reviewed on Xbox 360. Also available on PlayStation 3 and Windows PC.
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