Deus Ex: Human Revolution Review

Last night I had decided it was time to finish Deus Ex: Human Revolution (DE).  Around 5 months ago I hit the 30 hr mark in the game and had a plethora of new games to play so it got temporarily shelved.  The way the game had been progressing I figured I had at least another 12 hours to go, but as it turns out I only had 3.

You play as Adam Jensen.  A normal human cop/security officer that gets almost completely destroyed in the opening section of the game.  You're pieced back together (RoboCop anyone?) without given the opportunity to choose to die or take the augmentations to save your life.  So some months later you're back in the field still working for one of the biggest augmentation companies in the world, Sarif Industries, and in search of the people that not only almost killed you, but that kidnapped several high ranking scientists from Sarif.

DE was an amazingly refreshing and excellent game.  The experimental gameplay coupled with excellent level design (complete with "hero sized vents"), the best soundtrack I've ever heard in any game and some pretty stellar graphics all created one of the most rewarding experiences I've had in any game this generation.

It controls very well and rewards patience.  In case you weren't aware the game lets you play in a myriad of ways, but doesn't necessarily make any of them easy because ammo is limited.  I played it stealth...or at least as stealthy as I could manage with the tools at my disposal.

Flipping open your map you can see yourself and your objective.  The  interesting aspect comes in when you realize that the building you're in might have 5 floors and there could literally be dozens of different paths to take.  Along the way you'll come across guards, locked doors, security cameras, turrets, laser alarms and, of course, the occasional boss fight.

The main cities gave me a huge boner because of how they were conveyed.  It's rare that a game so realistically builds a world that it feels like it could actually exist.  That even if I weren't in it at that moment that it could be out there somewhere.  Tons of attention to detail and an amazing aesthetic really go far and this game does it with the best of them.  Only other games to give me this vibe were Half Life 2, Resistance 3, The Darkness and The Chronicles of Riddick.

I was really happy with the story as I thought it was going to pull the obvious double cross with one of the main guys, but instead it went with the larger ideology of the game in the end.  Is evolving the human race through technology a good or bad idea?  I also really dug Adam's borderline resentment towards those that saved him.  He's not a fan of augmentations and has literally been saved by them and made to be more than man from them.  He's grumpy yet compassionate all at once and I felt like I related to the character.  It is worthy of note that the voice actor not only isn't Nolan North, but did an excellent job.  In fact all the cast did.  Some would argue that Adam's voice is too gravelly, but I really liked it a lot.  Take that Gordon Freeman you voiceless shit!

The game also features a heavy rpg element in that you earn xp and can use Praxis Kits to further augment your abilities.  Want heavier armor?  How about running silently or going completely invisible?  Do you want to jump higher or take no fall damage?  Would you like the ability to hack higher rated locks?  Shoot explosive shells out of your arms?  See through walls?  The list literally goes on and on.  It was awesome to see just how customized I could build my Adam to fit the play of my style.  Since I was stealth I invested heavily in stealth augmentations, but was wise in knowing that the boss fights would own me if I didn't upgrade my armor.

Some gripes are that while the graphics really do shine the facial animations on non-story specific characters can be pretty damn awful and ugly.  The enemy AI can be pretty dumb and the boss fights are bananas bad at times.

I'd say I put in just over 30 hrs into the campaign and that includes quite a few, but not all, sidequests.  For a fps in today's market that number is literally unheard of and I can happily say that the game didn't overstay it's welcome.

I also want to pat myself on the back for challenging myself to play the game without killing anyone and earning "The Pacifist" trophy.  You're only allowed to kill the bosses.  Everyone else has to be knocked out or left alone.  One death to any enemy or npc and it's all over.  Spreading that out over 30 hours on my first playthrough of the game on medium difficulty was a good challenge.  I didn't want to "learn" the game and then go back for it.  I wanted to get it on my first game and I did.  There is only 1 gun in the game that will 100% knock someone out without any chance of killing them and that's the stun gun.  The worst part was is that was the only ammo never for sale.  You only had what you picked up in the game off of enemies or out of lockers.  All in all I would easily bet I had less than 30 shots for that gun in the whole game and I ended the game with 19 in my inventory.  Patience and timing were everything.

Should you get and play DE?  Absofuckinglutely you should!  It's everything that great games are made up of and is a reminder of why games can be so amazing.  A game that bucks convention and goes old school and passes this reviewer's expectations with flying colors.

It's an amazing game that shouldn't be missed by anyone unless....you know....you just like CoD, New Super Mario and Madden.  Which in that case you should just go kill yourself.

Score: 9 out of 10