I didn't actually play this game. I did, however, watch quite a few hours of it being played on OnLive's little "see what other people are playing right now!" feature. I'm sure the experience would have been better if I'd been making my own decisions, and I do intend to pick it up sometime next year, but what I saw was enough to convince me of how great this game is. Patrick Klepek's point about it was on the right track but not completely made. Here's, I think, the full argument.
¶
The original Deus Ex came out at a time when games were simpler in scope, and generally pretty lightly scripted. The trend was all about giving you room after room and arena after arena of great action gameplay, but it was all very simply done and pretty freeform. There were, of course, exceptions to be had, but if you wanted to play the latest and greatest 3d games, that was more or less what you got. The freedom that the game gives you, and that it's so celebrated for, was remarkable because it was difficult to do. At that point in the industry's development, ambitious design produced more Daikatana's than it did Deus Ex's.
¶
The fact that DXHR manages to recreate that quality of the original feels significant for two reasons.
¶
The first is that game design has changed so much from how it was when the original came out. The concept of a corridor shooter was barely known — everything was about wide open spaces. Action setpiece moments were unheard of; it would be years before games like Call of Duty and Uncharted would come to redefine what action should be in a video game. The expectation for games to deliver a dense, tight, action-packed experience was nonexistent a decade ago and pumped up to unrealistic levels now. The fact that DXHR manages to adapt the freedom of the original into the modern era and still deliver reasonably well on those expectations is pretty impressive.
¶
The second reason is similar to the first, but with a different conclusion. With action games becoming more and more scripted and on-rails, it's impressive and important that this game came along and completely ignored those trends, and did so in a way that still convinced people to buy it. I think it's remarkable enough for that reason to stand among the top ten games of the year.