After hearing on the Bombcast how underwhelming it was at E3, I am pleasantly surprised to see these initial reviews.
I already had it pre-ordered, and now I'm super pumped! Anybody who wasn't already picking it up gonna change their mind?
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Reviews
OXM: 8.5/10
1up: A+ Superb mix of stealth and combat; open-ended level design; responsive controls; killer music.
+ Lots of body-enhancement and weapon-customization options enable widely varying play styles.
- Disappointing story; dismal voice-overs; dull conversation system.
? Will we have to wait another eight years for the next chapter?
Ars Techinca: BuyRW: I don't normally replay games, but there are exceptions: I've probably played through Metal Gear Solid 3 a dozen times and Deus Ex about four. I have a feeling that DEHR is going to be one of those games. I'm loving the sheer amount of choice I have because it's up to me to discover it. Crysis was a game about player choice like Deus Ex, but without the strong narrative component. Crysis 2 tried to continue that tradition, but botched it by making the choices so rote and obvious with giant cues on the HUD that amounted to, "go here for stealth" or, "go here for a sniper perch." I was worried that DXHR would fall into the same trap, as that's how many of the demos leading up to the game's release made it seem. However, I think we were all pleasantly surprised to find that the game allowed for freedom beyond the creator's pre-baked routes.
JP: Unlike you guys, I came into this without much familiarity with the previous Deus Ex games. In a way, I think that works to my advantage: I played DEHR without any massive preconceptions or expectations. All I really wanted was a game that lived up to the cool demos and brash talk the developers have doled out over the past couple of years, and in that regard it's more than exceeded my hopes. Not only does DEHR contain all the open-ended, player-determined mechanics they've promised us, it all comes wrapped in an immersive game world and solid combat and cover mechanics. It has its quirks, but I'm believer in this team, and I hope that in a few years we're playing another Deus Ex that further refines all the great stuff that's happening here. I know there's been a lot of skepticism about this revival, but I for one have been made a believer.
TN: While chatting with Arthur at IGN, he made an astute point: this ends up fulfilling the role that DE: Invisible War should have. When I dinged the Deus Ex years ago, project lead Warren Spector promised me at an E3 that there will be a Deus Ex that addressed my concerns to be a pain-free great DE game. It just happened to be this one a decade later.
IGN: 9/10The Good
- A Deus Ex game, and a very good one at that
- Wonderful use of both first- and third-person views
- E-mails and news reports do a great job of building the world, and are often funny
- Many side-quests, and choices that matter as the game progresses
- Varied weapons
- Augmentation system means everyone can play in their own style
- Multiple ways to complete each mission
- The hacking minigame remains fun through the entirety of the game
- Impossible to see everything the first time you play
- A lengthy single-player experience: I put in around 25 hours and can't wait to play again
- Standard branching conversations are enhanced with higher-stakes conversations that change how the story plays out
- Adam Jensen is a mirror for the other characters in the game: some see a monster, others see the future
The Bad
- The transitions between the game and its cutscenes can be jarring
- Lack of support for NVIDIA's 3D Vision technology (3D fans can only use AMD's HD3D)
- The voice acting can be spotty in places
- The conspiracy can get a little thick at times, and a lot is thrown at you near the end of the game
- I experienced a few crashes while playing on the PC, causing me to save more often than I would have otherwise
The Ugly
- The game has a quick-save ability, and I admit to using it every now and again, but abusing saves to see the "right" way through conversations will harm your enjoyment of the game. The "Ugly" tag is for people too cowardly to live by their own in-game decisions. And I mean that in a nice way.
- An early mission in a police station can be exceedingly tedious if you tackle it at the wrong time, which is a design flaw in a game of this type
Eurogamer: 9/10While Deus Ex: Human Revolution can't be the revelation that Deus Ex was in 2000, it's an achievement nonetheless. It's a visionary, considered piece of work, and while my thoughts drift to the things that could have been and the compromises made due to the possibilities of video games in 2011, they're just as quick to consider playing through it again. Human Revolution is a smart, rewarding piece of transhumanist noir that does justice not just to Deus Ex, but to the fiction that inspired it.
EDGE: 9/10Deus Ex: Human Revolution is probably not as perfect as I'm making it sound. Some of the rules about what's interactive and not seem quite arbitrary, which is a pretty blatant failing in a game which tries so hard to make you feel like you're not being restricted, and while the level design is clever and varied, the interior design definitely is not, and there's also a lot of repetition in the incidental details. Sure, it's important to hear some of those looping news broadcasts, but maybe make them longer than half a minute or record variations or something.
But the important point is that Deus Ex: Human Revolution is one of those rare games that knows you can't be perfect all the time, and that you have the right to change your mind about your actions later. It just wants to be played with and enjoyed - and when you finish, you just want to play with it again.
Quibbles about boss battles and hacking aside, few games offer this level of expression. Even Bethesda’s RPGs, with their malleable skillsets and open worlds, rarely allow players such dominion over the environment – even if, with Human Revolution, that dominion is often prescribed in the convenient design of ventilation systems. But it’s the way that your larger decisions trickle down through these low-level choices that makes the game remarkable and unique for each player. A decision to help a victim of extortion means that we end up spending half a day experimenting with different non-lethal methods to neutralise pockets of security without alerting the entire Heng Sha police force, just so we can break into a few lockups without harassment and find funds for the side-mission. Our multi-stage solution involving the split-second juggling of tranquilliser darts, dual-takedowns and invisibility is obscenely cool, a heist sequence of such fluidity and audaciousness that it would look the part in a Chris Nolan film, although we suspect he might have got the action in the can in a smaller number of takes. And that’s the kicker: for a game that is so much about the delight of experimentation, with often fatal consequences, the loading times punish you. On our none-too-shabby PC, they clocked up 20 to 30 seconds; running off disc on 360, we sometimes sat there waiting for just under a minute.
While the game is plenty long, dramatically it wants for a stronger third act with its own city hub to explore. Its closing chapter will also prove divisive. But such things are hard to resent when its 30-plus hours offer such a dense experience, rich in choice and saturated with credible detail and powerful, intriguing ideas. From its sluggish, restrictive start, Human Revolution opens into a world of scintillating possibility in which your actions’ significance reaches far into the future. And with something like that difficult future approaching fast, Human Revolution achieves a rare accolade: it’s not just a great game, but a timely one.
What you have here is a compellingly entertaining game, with some of the most rewarding stealth I’ve encountered. And most of all, you have choice. Choice about whether you mow down enemies with a machine gun, or tap them on the shoulders and punch them in the face. Choice about whether you sneak in via the roof, through the sewers, or march boldly in through the front door. Choice about whether you hack, smash or learn passwords through information retrieval. Choice about whether people live or die. So in those tiny moments when the game robs you of choice, it rather offends. But mostly it does not, and it’s a fantastic, elaborate, and so rarely today, long game.
The most interesting parts can’t be discussed here, because they’re yours to discover. And really, discover them you should. Despite its obvious visual console shackles, this is a game that remembers what PC games were once all about, and honours them. It’s a refreshing reminder of what games can be in the current swamp of six-hour follow-em-up shooters, and stands shoulders, chest and waist above. When games get close to the glory of Looking Glass, our expectations can rise extremely high. That Deus Ex: Human Revolution meets so many of them is a remarkable feat.
So few games allow you to carve a subtly unique path through every single encounter and, while major plot points remain the same, you'll feel like your journey was your own. It's also a game about empowerment - alongside the rising sense of involvement in a global conspiracy is the increasing feeling of deadly efficiency, as Jensen goes from regular schmo to face-punching, laser-toting whirlwind.
Smarter, deeper and more stylish than your average shooter, but with stealth-bent action that stands up to scrutiny, Human Revolution will be plenty of people's favourite Xbox 360 game this year. For those who were fortunate enough to play Ion Storm's original Deus Ex, know that this effortlessly captures the same tone, feel and sense of consequence, complete with fan-pleasing references and a storyline that slots beautifully into the fiction. If you're fresh to the series it's high time you found out what all the fuss is about. Deus Ex: Human Revolution's priority is freedom of choice, but your first decision is also your easiest - buy this game.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution, like its augmented hero, is a step above its mundane peers. With its flowing, open approach to mission structure, thoroughly engrossing story and gorgeous visuals, this is the kind of game that all others should strive to be. While there are some elements that don't feel quite as developed as they should have been, and augmentation is more Hobson's choice than true choice, Human Revolution provides a level of quality that only the most adamant cynic could fail to be impressed by. More importantly, it is everything a fan of Deus Ex could want in a game, and it effortlessly embraces the arduous task of living up to the legacy, standing next to its 2000 predecessor and holding its head up in pride.
This game is truly deserving of the name Deus Ex. In fact, there's no other name it could have had.
The Human Revolution should be televised--from your couch or computer chair. Deus Ex offers a good deal of mischief to get into, and it's all backed up by a great stealth system and a solid shooting game. With its variable story, as well as how it encourages you to alter your approach to obstacles, it's also a game that rewards multiple playthroughs. The future is bleak and at times ugly, but we wouldn't have it any other way.
Indeed, Eidos Montréal has gotten a suspicious number of things right in its first game. The art exhibits cleanliness without feeling sterile, the warmly lit, awe-inspiring architecture neatly precludes the obligatory Blade Runner comparisons (for the most part), and the synthesized soundtrack is understated but absolutely essential. In the category of amateurish blunders, however: mediocre, grenade-spamming boss fights that don't do much to reward ingenuity on your part, some sparse checkpointing (save often if you're playing stealthily!) and some serious loading times.
Those issues sting less in a game that doesn't coddle you. Eidos Montréal allows you to play freely within its intelligently layered systems, rather than dragging you by the nose through cinematic event after cinematic event. This is the difference between a game that is well made and one that is well designed.
And let's remind ourselves that it is not being judged in a vacuum -- newcomer Eidos Montréal flippantly barges onto the scene and hushes the crowd of streamlined, focus-tested roller coaster games. Human Revolution is an imperfect, complex and ambitious reminder of what a game can be when it's unafraid.
Bennett: Now the hard part – deciding on the score. I have to admit that when I first started playing Human Revolution it felt like real Game of the Year material, and I was gushing like a rabid fanboy to anybody who cared to listen. However, over extended playtime the overly simplistic behavior of the AI was hard to ignore, taking the shine off an otherwise dazzling experience. It's still an excellent game, with one of the best blends of the FPS and RPG genres ever realized, and I have no hesitation in recommending it to fans of either. But it's also not quite the perfectly believable and open sandbox game we all wanted it to be. As a result I'm giving it a very good 4/5.
Dan: I agree entirely. Human Revolution is a remarkably well-constructed game, beautiful to look at and a pleasure to explore, but let down by a host of flaws too obvious to ignore. Aside from the ones we've already mentioned, one other issue I'd like to draw attention to is the inclusion of boss fights, which are – without exception – frustrating and pointless, especially if you're playing a stealth build, and ESPECIALLY if you're trying to avoid killing anyone.
I still love it, though. Although it doesn't quite match the lofty excellence of the original Deus Ex, it's a much better game than Invisible War and a welcome rebirth for a brand that many – including me – thought was long past its prime. Not quite a classic, but definitely worth your money and time.
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