He never asked to be born a badass. It just happened.
Not feeling up to busting down the front door and gunning down everyone between you and the hostages? That's fine because there's an entrance on the rooftop that'll make it easy for you to get the drop on them. But maybe you're not feeling up to using your gun either? That's fine, too, because if you're real quiet, you can sneak around and crawl through some air vents to get to where the hostages are being held. Oh, but there are a few guys blocking your way and you're not so sure you can sneak around them. Well, there's always your tranquilizer rifle! Shoot one of them in the face, watch his buddies run to his aid, and then sneak around to the elevator.
Wham, bam, you're at the hostages... But maybe you don't feel like rescuing these hostages. Maybe that gas bomb they're stuck with is a little too close to hitting zero, and your hacking skills aren't as keen as you'd like them to be. Maybe you don't want to die, not on your first goddamn mission. So you run, you get your ass out of there and hear the hostages' screams go quiet. Maybe you feel guilty, or maybe you don't, but either way there will be no Mission Failed sign for you. But later on down the line, there will be some consequences that you'll inevitably have to deal with, or perhaps some people won't look at you the same anymore.
This is the case for most of the many, many missions in Deus Ex: HR, where sometimes ignoring someone will have consequences eventually. And this hostage situation was just the tutorial.
But anyway: Welcome to Detroit!
You'll be playing as Adam Jensen (a sort of near-future Clint Eastwood), the chief of security for a multi-billion dollar corporation that specializes in artificial limbs and implants. (Collectively called "augments".) In the opening moments of the game, the corporation, Sarif Industries, is attacked by heavily-augmented terrorists, leaving most of the science staff, along with Jensen's girlfriend, dead by way of unsubtle means. While attempting to save the staff, Jensen is mangled and left for dead, but his employer sees fit to save his life by turning him into something of a cross between The Six Million Dollar Man and Robocop - except with kickass sunglasses.
Jensen gets back to work - like a boss - with his heavily-augmented body and continues to solve Sarif Industries' problems. Along the way, murmurs of a corporate conspiracy start arising, so Jensen must begin to balance his own personal interests (player's choice) and the demands of his boss if he ever wants to figure out the exact circumstances of his girlfriend's death. And it will be one crazy ride to get there.
It's very hard for me to give you an exact impression of what you'll be facing in Deus Ex: Human Revolution because of just how much you won't see on your first playthrough. I was going all out, exploring everything that I could, every corner of Detroit and Shanghai. It surprised me to no end when I found out, by way of the achievements that didn't ding for me, how much of the game I had missed! To that end, DE:HR is probably more comparable to Obsidian Entertainment's past ventures: Fallout: New Vegas and Alpha Protocol, on account of the very dynamic storyline. Entire sections of the game will be lost to you depending on your choices. This is a game that all but demands multiple playthroughs.
Not to mention that the story itself is very well-written. There are twists and turns, with all of the quests being very derivative of its hard science fiction theme. It makes it a very immersive experience when your missions involve collecting a debt from someone who got themselves some black market augments, or breaking up an illegal neuropozine smuggling ring. There are also a lot of very good points of debate that are brought up. Would human augmentation be a perversion of our very humanity? Or a harmless way for us to rise above our natural hindrances? I dunno.
Now on to the gameplay. As I said before, there are multiple ways you can approach this game. You can be all combat, all stealth, or someplace snugly in between. You could even go all melee if you wanted to, and bring down everyone with lethal or non-lethal takedowns. As a game that allows you the option to play how you like, it's pretty good at everything. No, the stealth sections aren't as good as those from the Splinter Cell series, you won't be shooting out lights or keeping to the shadows, and the FPS combat isn't as refined as Battlefield: Bad Company 2. But its still fun. Fallout 3 and New Vegas didn't have to be those games either to be absolutely immersive and entertaining.
But the RPG elements, the augmentation and conversation systems, are absolutely refined. The augments allow you to play your way, and play them awesomely. If you like sneaking around enemies, place points (called "praxis kits" in the game) into making your footsteps silent or refining your hacking abilities, which allows you to open locked doors, shut down surveillance cameras, and even turn robots and turrets against your enemies. If you're more of a warmonger, you can increase your dermal armor, install the "Icarus Landing System" so that even jumping off a ledge will get someone killed, or make your augmented weapon, the "Typhoon", even more devastating.
And BioWare take note, DE:HR employs the use of a conversation system that I found wholly superior to those of the Mass Effect series and Dragon Age 2. Though there weren't as many options as I would've liked, nor did they pop up as frequently as I would've liked, knowing the intent of what you were going to have Jensen say, as well as knowing almost exactly what was going to be said, was very welcomed. This means that attempting to sigh doesn't turn into a death threat, as in Exhibit A.
This is a great game all around. The story, gameplay, visuals, characters, locations, RPG elements: all stellar. It's not a perfect game, though. There are a few things that keep it from absolute greatness in my mind.
The first are some technical hiccups. Let's keep in mind that DE:HR is the premier title for Eidos Montreal. The pressure could not have been any higher, as both a sequel to a beloved franchise and their first game ever. But I'm sure there were limitations, as the animations and lip-synching aren't really up to snuff for the most part. You'll see most of the women performing the same body movements, and when people speak, their lips are only just keeping up with what they're supposed to be saying. It's pretty noticeable at first, but eventually, depending on your interest in the story, you'll probably end up forgetting all about it.
The second, bigger, flaw that I personally took umbrage at was the boss fights. Yes, in a game that emphasizes player agency and freedom of choice, you are downright forced to fight your way through a series of bosses. You can't talk your way out of them or circumvent them in any way. Regardless of your spec - stealth, hacking, etc. - it's gonna be combat time. People with points in shielding and the typhoon weapon will have no problem, while everyone else will likely struggle a bit. In any case, they're an unwelcome element, especially since they're the least characterized NPCs in the game, which only adds insult to injury. The cliche monster is almost nowhere to be found in the rest of the game, but rears its ugly head here with a vengeance.
That being said, Deus Ex: Human Revolution still manages to rise above its flaws. I would personally call it a masterpiece of the genre: an RPG that actually gives meaning to the words (acronym?), though it's not as big of a sandbox as Fallout 3 or New Vegas, and it's not as pretty as Mass Effect, it sits in the vacuum left over by both series and should satisfy fans of both. Unlike Mass Effect, your choices really do matter, and unlike Fallout the story is much more prevalent. It's pretty much a happy medium between the two.
I hope it doesn't take another four years of development for Eidos Montreal to get a sequel out the door, but this game has more than enough content to keep us playing for some time. Not to mention that their next project, already in development, is Thief 4. Weeeee!
An acronym has to make another word.
ReplyDeleteI didn't read the rest.
;)
Yeah, well I think you're wrong on that one. Possibly even dead wrong. xD
ReplyDelete