Often cited in polls as the greatest game ever made, the original Deus Ex is still referenced as a key release in paving the way for the sophisticated narrative potential of the medium, in which individual choices can affect the entire outcome of the experience for the gamer. Perhaps there was nothing entirely new in that concept in a game, except that Deus Ex was a big release with big ambitions (of the kind that frequently end in tears and lead straight to the bargain bins) originating from a stable, Eidos, which was mining gold at the time with classic titles like Tomb Raider and Thief: The Dark Project. Add to that striking element of narrative diversity the splicing together of an essentially first person shooter experience with an RPG-style approach to character customisation and decision-making, and the rest, as they say, is history. These days, of course, you can’t move for first person shooters with RPG elements, character customisation through verbal responses and action stories set in dystopian futures.
Then came the sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War. It shifted shed-loads at the time, all right, but its critical reception was far from positive by the time the dust of hope and hype settled. It reduced the RPG elements and augmentation options and, with a playing time shorter than its predecessors, disproved the adage that less is more. So what happened in between? Consoles, in a word; the sequel had been simplified to fit the platform. Which has been a common failing for many previously great games series ever since.
Well, almost a decade on and Deus Ex: Human Revolution arrives in a blaze of PR hype and gamer junkie expectation. Like any self-respecting addict, forgetting how disappointing the last fix was, you try to convince yourself that this time it will be better. Thankfully, for the most part, it damn well is.
Cleverly employing some of the best elements from the original and utilising many of the innovations added by the flood of games that followed in its wake, DE:HR recaptures much of the sense of free-roaming and geeky tinkering in that well-stocked customisation shed in the corner of bedrooms the world over that made the orig-inal so great. It is a prequel, set about 20 years before the events of Deus Ex, when bio-mechanical augmentation, sourced by a few big-balled companies, threatens to destabilise society. Added to that, Adam Jensen (as whom you play) given his own augmentations, gets the sort of mixed reception that the vampires enjoy in True Blood; which means you have to be careful out on the high street on a Friday night.
Tasked with tracking down those responsible for attacks on his company, security officer Jensen’s sneaking and shoot-’em-up perambulations make him as thick as thieves with those responsible for creating UNATCO, a global anti-terrorist organisation. We’ve seen and heard it all before, but criticising the Deus Ex series for being derivative is like suggesting that Seven Samurai is a rip off of The Magnificent Seven.
A title stands or falls on its gameplay, and the gameplay in DE:HR is for the most part outstanding. It’s not quite the nook-and-cranny exploration of yore, and, despite all the side missions you may come upon, the sense of free roaming is perhaps more perception than reality. Nevertheless, this game gives you choices. Lots of them – be they augmentations, approaches to a threat, tailoring the nature of Jensen’s character or wondering whether you can take out that grunt with the two bullets you have left in your pistol (and get hold of his, reload and kill his mates before they mow you down) or should just bottle out and make a crawl for it via another handy air vent. The third-person cover mode, again nothing new, makes perfect sense for a game in which stealth is a crucial element.
And you need it, because the enemy AI, for all your augmentations, can within seconds have you staring at the red screen of death. Jensen’s hand-to-hand combat moments kick into third-person slow-mo mode in which breaking bones and spraying blood take on a sick balletic beauty.
Whereas Splinter Cell was all grim-jawed and deadly serious, Deus Ex: Human Revolution shows us it’s just a mad, mad world in which maniacal inner-laughter at the Grand Guignol absurdity of the violence on display can go a long way to getting you through another dystopic day.
The side-quests offer generous value-added gameplay-wise, allowing you to be an agent of admirable altruism or a complete single-minded bastard - you decide, while your Big Brother employer looks on. The game was designed (aptly) on a re-engineered Crystal engine, which was used for the recent Tomb Raider: Anniversary and Underworld outings and while the visuals aren't breathtakingly colourful, the predominantly sepia-hued environments are in keeping with a shadowy nocturnal world of sneaky intrigue and neck-snapping takedowns. The boss battles belie the customisable options the game allows because you can only take bosses down by meeting extreme force with, well, extreme force. Given you have the option to deck Jensen with enhancements to survive big jumps that would otherwise kill him, or fine-tune stealth capabilities to such an extent that you become virtually invisible, some might find those moments when the immovable object of programming meets absolutely no alternative to force somewhat frustrating. This is primarily because these boss battles were contracted out to another design team. As gun-toting boss battles themselves there is nothing wrong with them and in the context of the whole they are a minor quibble when the game offers you so much to play with across its duration.
My main criticism of the game is its cutaways; they’re too long, too enamoured of themselves and too slow in delivery. The balance between delivering a cinematic experience while at the same time giving the gamer useful information for the purpose of a mission isn’t quite right, and remains as clunky a device as it ever was. Regardless of the acting chops on display, too much of it simply stops you from playing the game. However, the augmentation options are dizzying, the gunplay, the turning of household objects into killing implements, the hacking and the hoofing it through another reassuring global conspiracy in Blade Runner-like cities all make for a super-immersive experience. No six hours of set pieces followed by hundreds of hours of red-eye-repetition online, this.
Eidos Montreal, I salute you for reminding me, and hopefully many of your industry peers, just how great a game can be. And all of it executed on a bloody gamepad. Whatever next?
MORE REVIEWS
Bookmark this post with: