It goes without saying that Deus Ex: Human Revolution was one of 2011’s most highly-anticipated games. I feel the need to follow up such a cliched statement with the disclaimer that this was the first Deus Ex game I’ve played, though the hope is that this fact won’t color your opinion of the rest of my review.
Deus Ex: HR is noteworthy in that it is one of the more universally playable games I’ve encountered recently; the gameplay style is so versatile that one can use augmentations (the game’s name for character upgrades) to tailor the game specifically to his or her playstyle preferences. For instance, if you love the Metal Gear Solid series, you can choose a stealth route. Maybe you’re bad at sneaking but good at shooting? Go for the hack-n-slash method.
I personally chose the latter; the game was a challenge at certain points, but as I progressed through the necessity of using an all-out shooting method became much more apparent.
Story
Human Revolution is a prequel to the series, taking place 25 years before the events of the first game. It follows Adam Jensen, the head of security for Sarif Industries, a large corporation that produces cybernetic augmentations. At the start of the game, Sarif is attacked by a radical anti-augmentation group, leaving Jensen severely injured. In an Inspector Gadget-esque turn of events, the doctors find that the only way to save Jensen’s life is to augment him, something about which he had always been morally unsure.
The remainder of the game follow’s Jensen’s trials and tribulations as he attempts to find those responsible for the attack. Human Revolution has one main quest line, but tons of additional opportunities for players to navigate through side quests, for a chance to learn more about the backstory and also to gain more experience toward leveling up. Furthermore, even in the main story line, many interactions have a “choose your own adventure” feel, in that they include up to three ways for Jensen to respond to an NPC. And the best part is that these decisions actually have long-term ramifications; for instance, when questioning a certain Secretary Haas at an early point in the game, I used a subtle threat to gain leverage over him, whereas others with whom I spoke use gentle persuasion. I won’t include any spoilers, but I’ll just say that my choice came back to bite me in the ass later.
One aspect of the game I found surprising was the relative lack of religious symbolism. The choice of Adam for the main character’s given name is perhaps a subtle nod toward the biblical Adam’s burden, for which he did not ask, but accepted with grace and humility. But aside from that, I expected the anti-augmentation groups to have strong religious ties as explanation for their views, and I found it quite refreshing that Square decided to forgo this overused element.
Gameplay
I cannot stress how great the versatility of the gameplay in Human Revolution is. Categorized best as an action RPG, the game rewards players with experience points for actions like hacking a terminal or killing a guard. When an experience milestone is reached, the player receives a Praxis, which can be exchanged for augmentations. The abilities that can be added and upgraded are organized into categories, such as stealth, defense, hacking, and many others. Certain upgrades are more or less necessary to complete some parts of the game, but past that, it’s up to the player to find a combination of augs that creates an enjoyable playing atmosphere.
It is worth nothing, though, that the game seems to favor a stealth-based gameplay route over all others, though only to a certain point. It’s possible, though very difficult to get through the game without killing a single person (and doing so gets you an achievement), though I’m not sure that the reverse is true. An out-and-out bullet storm, leaving no survivors and not bothering to sneak around at all, would be nearly (if not entirely) impossible, due to a number of limiting factors: the finite number of bullets one would quickly run out of, not to mention the sheer number of guards to combat at certain points.
Audio
It’s difficult to criticize Human Revolution, but I really don’t want to lie to anyone: the voice acting was definitely the game’s weak point. Jensen’s voice had an almost painfully cartoonish grisliness, which was completely out-of-sync with the tone of the game. But in the end, when the only thing you can complain about is the audio, you know you’re dealing with an outstanding game.
Visuals
Deus Ex: Human Revolution very much followed the Final Fantasy model of having great in-game graphics interspersed with absolutely beautiful FMVs during the major cut scenes. Even after turning the settings down to boost performance, the graphics were better than many games I’ve played this year at maximum settings.
Overall
After all the hype settles down about the amazing gameplay, there are still a few more innovations that Eidos implemented that really put this latest installation in the Deus Ex series ahead of the curve. First, and since this is such a hot-button issue right now, there is NO always-on DRM. Now, this seems like information that could go without saying; and while I understand that always-on DRM protects companies against piracy, it also aggravates gamers on the go who don’t always have access to the internet. Second, Human Revolution includes not one but TWO auto-save slots, so that you can either load the latest auto-save, or load the previous one before that in case you realized you missed a sidequest or hidden item and wish to go back for it. Frankly, this is a feature that RPGs have been lacking for years, and I hope the trend catches on.
In the end, bad voice acting and all, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is probably the best game I’ve played this year.
Square Enix provided Pixelated Geek with a copy of Deus Ex: Human Revolution free of charge for review purposes.