Deus Ex: Human Revolution

**Guynemer** · August 24, 2011, 20:03

So I've been playing this off an on for the past day, take my impressions with a grain of salt.

But, so far, much better than Invisible War.

WARNING--POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOLLOW HERE AND THERE, NOTHING MAJOR, BUT IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO THAT SORT OF THING, GROW A PAIR, YOU PANSY

The opening tutorial level ends with the appearance of--what appears to be--three main antagonists, all augmented. A giant, hulking brute with heavy weaponry installed in his arms; a lithe, punk-rock appearing chick who uses stealth to kill; and the apparent leader, a rather normal looking fellow with nondescript augs.

Naturally, all experienced Deus Ex players will have a good idea who these characters are, and where this is all going.

Spoiler:

Other original Deus Ex characters are, at least, name-checked. I've seen emails from Manderley, as well as at least one that I *think* is from the suspected-aforementioned relatively-normal looking augged-fellow. I also have a feeling that I may have seen some e-mails from Tracer Tong, but that has yet to be fully revealed.

If you set the difficulty to the max, even the tutorial level is difficult. This isn't an easy game.

The graphics are nothing special, but neither are they a negative. The art direction, on the other hand, is terrific.

The first city hub (Detroit! ) is, so far as I remember, significantly larger than those of both previous games (especially IW).

As far as Detroit goes, the "local flavor" is hit and miss; the exuberant celebration of Kenny Rogers following the 2006 ALDS defeat of the Yankees is name-checked, as well as several real Detroit locations. Some elements of the Detroit skyline are recognizable. However, several characters mention "Grand River Road". No. It's just "Grand River". Only tourists say "Grand River Road".

Enemy AI is standard, nothing spectacular, but good.

Some bad: just like the original, you need not kill anyone. UNTIL, the boss fights. **** boss fights. My character has been trending towards stealth and hacking, not combat, which is totally viable. But then, I'm stuck fighting a massive minigun toting mother****ing, armed with my stun gun and tranq darts, which do ****-all against that guy. I had to turn the difficulty down to get past that part.

It has also crashed a couple times, when trying to initiate a cutscene. Luckily, these are few and far between, and it invariably autosaves immediately prior to this.

Again, not nearly done yet; haven't even left Detroit. But so far, this is a solid 8 out of 10.

**DaShi** · August 25, 2011, 18:25

Basing a story in Detroit, ridiculous!

**Main_Brain** · August 30, 2011, 07:53

Weapons? Who needs weapons I -Q- everybody in my way

Opinions on the The Hacking Subgame? It seems very luckdependent, some require you to hack the first Nodes undetected else they get very, very hard, add my clumsy misclicking fingers to that and they are impossible (W/o consumables). Will probably need some Upgrades to make it easier.

Sometimes the AI behaviour is sometimes just silly:
Hack in the Middle of the Police Station- No one Cares
Hack the Door right next to an Jamaican Weaponstrader = He goes Neighbourhood Watch on you..

**CrONoS** · August 30, 2011, 22:59

I just arrived in Montreal (in Deus Ex). I don't know how far I am.

So far, it's one of the best games I played recently. But it just say how bad were the last game that I've played.

Like Main_Brain said, the A.I. has trouble behaving correctly when you're not on the same floor than him. He also have trouble with vent ; you can shoot someone, hide in a vent, wait a little, shoot someone else and hide again in a vent!

Otherwise, the story grow on me; I have trouble stop playing it. Graphics are not Crysis but the art direction is good and the atmosphere of the game is really good (you could believe that you're in Blade Runner). I'm playing the game on PC (1920 x 1080) Full FSAA, Anisotropic 8x and the average fps is at 45 on a ATI 5770, i5-650; which show that you can play this games on many kind of PC.

I would have like bigger city and more free roaming like in Fallout 3. It's true that you have many way to do a level, and you can explore some cities (like Detroit, China) but I miss bigger maps with more exploration.

I would give a 8.5/10 to this games.

**DaShi** · September 5, 2011, 11:25

I hear that this game is banned in China because Human sounds too close to Hunan.

**Main_Brain** · September 9, 2011, 04:33

I assume you all saw this?

**Main_Brain** · September 9, 2011, 16:16

Serious Question: How come the Graphics in the Cutscenes is worse than in the actual game?

Otherwise: Excellent Game, will now check the Internetz how much Stuff I missed

**onodera** · September 11, 2011, 12:14

Got a long way past the second boss fight (bosses =

), loving the game so far, except:
- too little time and too little to do in the city hubs. You get tired of crawling around people's backs in a while.
- the AI is bit clueless. *headshot* hey, there's a body in here! *headshot* hey, there's two bodies in here! *headshot* hey, there's three bodies in here! *headshot* hey, there's four bodies in here! *headshot, and the lone remaining brute gets some more sword in his body*. Done. It's a bit more complicated when you don't want to trigger an alarm, but if it's on already...
- Jensen is even more clueless. You can't act on what you've read or what you've heard the guards talking about. After doing Pritchard's sidequest in Detroit#2 I knew who the Big Bad is. When I met him 15 minutes later, there was a cutscene and I couldn't do anything. Now I've heard the guards drop his name in the open, why can't I let anyone know that?
- did I mention the boss fights? You have to blunder into them, there're no vents, no real places to hide, no time to prepare. I watched how to beat them on YouTube and I don't regret that at all.
UPD:
- and one more thing: social encounters are too simple. You just waft your underarm at everyone.

**CerberusIV** · September 14, 2011, 15:26

8/10. I've only reached Montreal. Solid game and feels more like the original than like DX2.

Likes: the range of weapons to choose from. Decent graphics. References to DX (just found an email from Everett who apparently worked at PICUS).

Dislikes: that the only way to tackle multiple enemies is to hide in an airvent or on a roof and pick them off - gets a bit repetitive after a while. Having to hack everything in sight (doors, computers, even alarm panels) for XP - again gets repetitive.

**Main_Brain** · September 14, 2011, 17:06

Now that you mention it, there truly are quite some Weapons.

Spoiler:

yet how many did you really use in the Campaign? Some Guns are really situationspecific ie. the Shotgun opens Doors which is great in the Beginning, later though..
Unlike the Mighty

which gets only better =)

**onodera** · September 15, 2011, 03:14

I used the pistol 90 percent of the time. Shotgun for bosses, stun gun for takedowns and bosses. I used the sniper rifle just once, when I visited Hengsha the second time and tried to save SPOILER.
The ending was quite short and sudden, though.

**Al B. Sure!** · October 15, 2011, 22:10

So did you guys save the hostages or did you BS in the office like me?

Funny how Pritchard mocks you later if you 'explore' the women's restroom.

**Guynemer** · October 15, 2011, 23:27

Saved him. I usually play it pretty straight on my first playthroughs of games; subsequent runs are when I try to be a dick.

**Al B. Sure!** · October 16, 2011, 00:07

Originally Posted by Guynemer

Saved him. I usually play it pretty straight on my first playthroughs of games; subsequent runs are when I try to be a dick.

Him? Nah I meant hostages in the beginning that Ezekiel Sanders takes. Did you kill Ezekiel, as well, or let him go? I ran into him later after letting him escape.

**N35t0r** · October 16, 2011, 10:41

Originally Posted by Al B. Sure!

So did you guys save the hostages or did you BS in the office like me?

Funny how Pritchard mocks you later if you 'explore' the women's restroom.

lol, yes. BS in the office, obviously.

**Al B. Sure!** · October 16, 2011, 21:22

You said this game is very hard, Guy. I'm playing on the hardest difficulty (Give me Deus Ex) and it's a breeze so far. The boss fight with Barrett took a few tries til I figured out I could stun gun him.

How are you playing, though? I approach it like Splinter Cell and I haven't killed anyone outside of the beginning before you're augmented (won't get the achievement now but doesn't matter). Unfortunately, the patrols are much too predictable and the AI doesn't really pursue when alarmed so it's not much of a challenge on a stealth front.

It seems like it would be tougher to stand up and fight given their numbers and how damage works in this game.

**N35t0r** · October 17, 2011, 08:41

I'm kind of obsessive and am trying to knockout everybody using the skill. I stun when it's too dificult, and long-range kill when I can't do that either.

I got all the way to the bottom of the funicular in Montreal, and a bit more, but left it there. Maybe I'll pick it up again after I'm done with exams.

**Al B. Sure!** · October 17, 2011, 12:24

I just sneak past pretty much everybody and use the abundant vents often. It's surprisingly easy. The police station probably would have been a bit more difficult but I talked to the cop at the desk and got in no sweat.

I tried the tranquilizer gun for the first time in China when it was the only way I could see to rescue the prostitute. That was a joke, though, because, in Far Cry 2 fashion, when one guy falls drugged, his buddies surround his body, crouching down to investigate, which lets me reload and pick them off from up the alley easily.

A little disappointed so far in the difficulty level. IGN just ran an article on how games have become too easy to appeal to more people and Deus Ex seems like such a game, if you approach it like you're playing Splinter Cell or Thief. Like I said, the patrols are too predictable and from point A to point B. They should have spiced them up more with waypoints to make it really challenging.

I'm only in China, though, so I may be eating my words later

**CerberusIV** · October 22, 2011, 08:43

I'm part way through the Missing Link and finding that quite a bit harder than the main game. Then again I play kill 'em all rather than the stealthy stuff - Keitner in ML has accused me of being too bloodthirsty for her liking so Adam isn't going to score there.

Boss fights are too easy - fully upgrade the Typhoon augmentation, get in close, three blasts and they die.