Skip to content
Deus Ex Human Revolution is the latest in the series which, for me, has had rather a chequered past. The original was released in the year 2000 and, while it was an acclaimed videogame, I had many issues with it such as jerky animation, lacklustre sound and bizarre gameplay that seemingly left me with a dodgy left leg causing me to walk fine, but constantly settle down at an angle every time I stopped – something that was still there when I restarted the game. The sequel, 2004’s Deus Ex Invisible War did have a bit of an improvement in all of these aspects, but there was still a lot left to desired. Thankfully, this new release improves greatly all-round, although there are still areas for improvement.
In this release, the year is 2027 – which afficianados which realise makes it set 25 years before the first game – and you take the role of Adam Jensen, a man who will lead the SWAT team commissioned to oversee the defence on one of America’s most experimental Biotech firms. The basic premise is that a rogue Black Ops team breaks in and bumps off all the scientists you were meant to keep safe, leaving you as the only one to go after them. In other to keep up, you must become mechanically-augmented, something that is a controversial process because not everyone can afford it.
Your journey will take you across five cities including Detroit, Shanghai and Montreal and I’m pleased to report that despite the problems with the earlier titles, this one does have the right touch to it, graphically and sonically with flawless HD detail, making the scores for both of those aspects a fully-rounded 10/10 whether blasting away at the baddies or creeping about stealth-style.
One thing to be wary of, however, is that you have to be very careful how you proceed because it doesn’t take many bullets from the baddies to bump you off. You can also hack into security systems to open doors, or even attempting to disarm bombs, but this is a bizarrely difficult task and does feel very random as to whether you’ll succeed.
Some good things about this game:
- There are a lot of checkpoints, which makes things easier. It’s always annoying in any game when you cover a great deal of ground, only to get a bullet in the head and have to go back to square one.
- You can drag dead bodies to hide them so that other baddies won’t see their murdered colleague. This feels very much like the fun I had with Hitman. Just be sure to clear them out of the way before more undesirables turn up.
- Augmentations: These give you XP points along the way, such as if you complete a mission without being detected – something that is not easy!
- Upgrades on your augmentations, although in some cases, it’s a bit complicated the way that the game describes it. These include:
- Social Enhancer – Analyse people and persuade them (which sounds like a Jedi mind trick)
- Radar system – track eneies, security cameras and turrets with this on-screen radar.
- Sarif Series 8 Energy converter – Gives you extra energycells and speeds up your recovery.
- Hacking: Fortify – When used on a node (this will make sense when you play the game… sort-of), it will slow down the chance of being traced while you’re hacking into something. This is a particularly useful one.
- Social Enhancer – Analyse people and persuade them (which sounds like a Jedi mind trick)
Go to page 2 for more thoughts on the game.
Annoyances about the game:
- Unfortunately, you can’t change round the controls, as I’d like to swap ‘Take cover’ (Left Trigger) with your weapon’s targetting button (right joystick). As they stand, I got into a muddle with them early on and ended up brown bread. However, I did manage to get used to it, so stick with it. The option would’ve been nice, though.
- Loading in a saved position after you die takes a fair while.
- If you want to steal the ammo from a dead enemy’s gun, you have to walk over it and click X to ‘Take’. You can’t just walk over it like the average first-person shooter.
- Early on, there was no HUD (heads-up display) to show your ammo, health, etc. although this does come back later when the game starts proper. For health you have to go by how red the screen gets, although, as previously stated, it doesn’t take too long to kill you.
- Even when you do have someone in your sights, while hiding from a distance, it doesn’t prove effective all the time. Sometimes it feels like you’re just firing into thin air, as nothing seems to hit them. If you get a more close-up chance then it makes it easier.
- The ammo runs out VERY fast! And the second example gameplay footage I posted online shows a very weird, but amusing moment where I ran into a baddie who was firing at me and I was able to push him back whilst crouched down before escaping. I don’t know how I survived! You have to learn how to get quick head shots or a takedown with 2 bullets in order to conserve it.
- You can only pick up and throw and/or use certain objects, which makes it feel less of an interactive world than it should.
- You can try and discuss events and situations with a baddie to stop them from, for example, killing innocent civilians, but this tends to slow the game down when you just want to blast everything in sight.
Overall, with much-improved graphics and sound for this release and gameplay that improves the more you get into it – as it takes a little time to get used to its idiosyncracies, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is clearly head and shoulders above the previous games in the series, but could’ve done with more shoot-em-up action within.
There are four videos in this review and note that I’ve only provided some sample gameplay footage for this title because there’s no set beginning and end to the levels, as such: it just goes from A to B to C and so on.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution is available in three different versions.
The Limited Edition, which is the main one available for sale, includes:
- An entirely new extra mission
- Two weapons:
- Linebacker G-87 multi-shot grenade launcher
- M28 utility remote detonated explosives
- Linebacker G-87 multi-shot grenade launcher
- Auto-unlocking device
Augmented Edition:
- Exclusive bonus DVD featuring:
- 44-minute making of
- Game soundtrack
- Motion comic, adapted from DC’s official comic series
- E3 trailer and animated storyline
- 44-minute making of
- 40-page art book
- Additional in-game content:
- Exclusive mission
- Multi-shot grenade launcher
- Double-barrel shotgun
- Silenced sniper rifle
- Remote-detonated explosive device
- Automatic unlocking device
- 10,000 extra credits to buy or upgrade weapons
- Exclusive mission
Collector’s Edition:
- Collectible Adam Jenson figurine
- Exclusive box-design (numbered)
- Exclusive bonus DVD featuring:
- 44-minute making of
- Game soundtrack
- Motion comic, adapted from DC’s official comic series
- E3 trailer and animated storyline
- 44-minute making of
- 40-page art book
- Additional in-game content:
- Exclusive mission
- Multi-shot grenade launcher
- Double-barrel shotgun
- Silenced sniper rifle
- Remote-detonated explosive device
- Automatic unlocking device
- 10,000 extra credits to buy or upgrade weapons
- Exclusive mission
Visit my DVDfeverGames Youtube channel for many more gaming videos.
Important info:
- Publisher: Square Enix
- Price: £49.99 (Xbox 360, PS3); £34.99 (PC)
- Players: single player campaign
- HDTV options: 720p/1080i/1080p
- Dolby Digital 5.1 sound: Yes
|
GRAPHICS SOUND GAMEPLAY ENJOYMENT |
10 10 8 7 |
| OVERALL | 9 |
Limited Edition:
Augmented Edition:
Collector’s Edition:
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.
| 1 | 2 |