BE THE COOLEST GUY
Cyberpunk Badass (You) Throws a Concussion Grenade into a Room Full of Guards and then You Get in There and Tase and Augment Their Beat Asses to the Floor
The Game
It's the dream video game that we all constantly experience in our sleep. It slips in and out as a distant thought, bringing a semblance of joy to our insignificant lives, before facing the reality of modern society once more.
But wait!
Dream no more.
Hope no more, for hope has come and hope has physically assembled itself into an entertainment package for all capitalist and urban cityscapes peoples. It is called Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
It's the video game that you've always wanted to play, or if you're an olde-time PC guy, wanted to play again.
You're thrown into the role of Adam Jensen and Jensen's in-the-near-future world is mired in worldwide moral dilemmas and ethics, due to the science of human augmentation. Some say it's unethical and that it strips out humanity in humans, while others argue that we've simply taken control of evolution. Before Jensen even gets to voice a proper opinion on the matter, some augmented jackwad throws him across a room, puts a bullet in his head and lights his girlfriend on fire.
With little choice in the matter, Jensen's thrown in the ER, augmented with all kinds of life-saving robot tech seared onto his being, like knives that protrude out of his elbows and the ability to turn invisible. Six months later, Jensen and the augmentation company he works for starts seeking out answers and so you play as this pissed off and brooding robocop for the next 30 hours.
You'll be going places, from the dingy streets of Hengsha to the dingier backalleys of Detroit, scouring the world for answers. It's an exhaustive and fully realized world, with an unified art style of hard angles, a bold color scheme and a ton of crap littering the streets, offices and the complexes you'll scour and sneak around in.
Or blast faces and take names. Human Revolution leaves a lot of room for you to engage and accomplish objectives. Creeping around and finding a vent, allowing you to avoid major patrol routes is rewarding to some, but an good old-fashioned gunning is more rewarding to others. Maybe a little in-between, like hacking into security terminals and locked entrances here and there. It doesn't matter, because there's a lot of extensive and considered design that allows for just about everyone to be happy one way or another. The AI doesn't quite measure up to adapting to all of these options, but when your idea of a text book assault is throwing vending machines at unsuspecting private security guards and your idea works, then there's not much to complain about. The only moments when you're thrown into a corner are a trio of pointless boss battles that seem to solely exist so that there's something worth complaining about.
Too bad those arrogant developers didn't expect that there were a couple other things to bring to light and complain about! Things like: It's a bummer that with such a strong world and level design, that the core story doesn't measure up. Supposedly, there's a lot of conspiracy and corrupt corporate maneuvering, but the big picture never truly manifests until the end and when it does, it's underwhelming, because it just kind of takes a surprise dump on your head and you're left a dumbfounded by the mess.
A couple narrative opportunities, like Jensen's initial reaction to receiving augments he never asked for and his girlfriend being fried to an unidentifiable crisp are never explored, which is, well, kind of a crazy thing to leave unexplored.
That initial disappointment with Human Revolution's plot just starts falling by the wayside the more and more you plunge into the depths of everything this game has. The ethical quandaries of this controversial science are always present and the manipulation from the media mirrors our present reality that it's kind of freighting. So, it's not just a game that plays well, but also spurs some genuine thought on relevant, real-world matters. It makes Human Revolution all the more of a stunner of a video game, that represents some of the best the medium has to offer and the potential it holds as a device that provides interesting commentary.
That and yeah, it's crazy fun.
