Deus Ex: Human Revolution Review

We take a visit to a possible future where mankind's fate rests in the hands of one man Adam Jensen. Does this prequel live up the the tradition of the Deus Ex legend?

Welcome to the future, the year is 2027 and augmentation is a new frontier in human evolution. You play as ex-SWAT member Adam Jensen now head security officer at Sarif industries, one of the lead developers in augmented technology. The story begins with Sarif industries coming under attack and Adam while trying his best, is overcome by augmented mercenaries. Barely left alive Adam becomes augmented in hopes of saving his life. 6 months later he returns and a host of events begin to unravel that leads Adam to start investigating why Sarif industries was attacked in the first place. The story is one ripe with espionage and always has you guessing the moral dilemma of augmentation. The main theme of choice is heavy throughout the entire game, as the world is split into two factions those that endorse the added bonuses that augmentations allow and the rest that figure these said augmentations are an abomination to the natural order of things and should be outlawed.

Choice is also a main design element and foundation in Deus Ex’s gameplay. Adam is now augmented and with that you can choose what you want Adam to be proficient in. Praxis points are what are needed to upgrade your augmentations; these are earned from gaining experience points (XP) in the game. Experience points are gained by completing various tasks in the game and points vary depending on these tasks, you could earn points from a myriad of things from combat kills to successfully sneaking into an area, even hacking, the amount of XP you earn varies on what you accomplish. Once you earn the required XP you gain a praxis point with which to decide what augmentation to upgrade. Therefore if you want to approach things head on and guns blazing you go for augments such as armour, steady aim and arm strength which help keep your sights steady. Or you could take the stealth approach and indirectly get around foes upgrading stealth camouflage, silent footsteps and hacking abilities that allow you to turn off cameras or even turn enemy weaponry against them. You can mix and match according to your play style which is what makes Deus Ex such a rewarding experience the options in tackling a mission are enough to keep you coming back and replaying. Be aware though that once you commit to a choice that’s it, there is no going back and removing a praxis point to put somewhere else so think carefully and choose accordingly.

Weapons can also be upgraded in terms of getting a silencer, laser sighting, damage, ammo capacity, reload speed etc. Not all weapons get the same upgrades but again based on the style of gameplay you choose to employ it dictates what types of weapons you will carry with you. Speaking of carrying Adam has a limited number of items he can carry so you may end up having to make tough decisions on what weapons to carry or leave behind, or you could just augment his arm strength which allows him to carry more items, like I said before you have options. Navigation in the world is pretty straight forward Adam can crouch behind cover and peek out for shots as well as tactical roll from cover to cover. Cover is not only important in fire fights but also very handy in staying out of sight of enemies. Enemies come in various forms light, medium and heavies, they are categorized by their armour type and visually recognizable by size so if you see a fairly huge guy with a big ass gun/or a huge ass Mech, that’s a heavy and needs careful consideration in your approach. Deus Ex is a thinking man’s shooter so you’ll need your wits about you to succeed, each enemy has a weakness whether it is line of sight or an E.M.P. blast but what they make up with is their sheer numbers, as it’s easy to be flanked and overwhelmed by your opposing force.

Visually Deus Ex isn’t the prettiest one in the lineup; it has some not too attractive character models at times, and character animations can seem awkward given some conversations you’re having with characters at times. But what it does do successfully is introduce and immerse you in a realistic stylized Detroit City, the overall palette of the game rarely changes from the Oranges and yellows and blacks of this cyber punk setting, but it does keep you immersed and engaged. Even though Deus Ex isn’t drop dead gorgeous when you take into account the sheer scope of options the people you interact with the countries you visit you realize that all that takes a bit of CPU muscle so a bit of graphical give and take will occur. The Soundtrack was composed by Michael McCann and adds that extra layer of cyber tech immersion needed through his music alone. The weapon sounds in the game feel authentic and the reloading of weapons namely the combat rifle remind you of the futuristic lore of the campaign.

In closing I wholeheartedly recommend Deus Ex: Human Revolution to all shooter fans, RPG fans and fans of Action/Adventure. People who like to have options in how they tackle an obstacle and people who love to see how the choices they make affect and change your gameplay along this very exciting ride.