The great memories of this game with it's feel, gameplay, story and music will stick with you for years to come.
One of Square-Enix's most anticipated games of the year is finally in the sweaty hands of gamers ready to shine at it's best.
Yes, Deus Ex Human Revolution was worth the wait in 2011. I have tried and done everything in the game, found some Easter Eggs, enjoyed the game and now I'm ready for reviewing it fairly and objectively. I'm going to concentrate on one aspect at a time:
Story (9)
The story is very dark and moody, really fitting into the cyber-punk world that the developer was going for. I'll try not to give away any spoilers. The whole series of events is taking place in the year 2027 around the globe, mainly in Detroit (but you visit places such as an asian city downtown area, a Canadian city etc.). The world is at a turning point in the technology of human augmentation, meaning that it's hard to draw a line between moral and immoral augmentations and their use. The developer really did it's best to realisticaly predict the path which technology will take in the next 15 years, and it's a surprisingly possible future of humanity. The main character Adam Jensen is a well designed and developed protagonist. He is trying to make sense of the chaos that is going on around him as he fulfills the assignments that he receives from David Sarif, the CEO of Sarif Industries. The best part of the story is the prologue and the final chapter where you are given a world altering choice in a true Deus Ex way.
Gameplay (8.5)
This is the aspect of the game that makes the whole experience really interesting. You are given the possibility to deal with each situationas you see fit. You can either take the stealthy aproach and be a good guy which is the best way to earn experience, or you can be a hacker (combined with stealth is even better) making your job much easier in heavily surveillanced areas where you can shut down cameras, disable turrets and robots or even turn them against your enemies. The third way is the old school "guns blazing" way which is a lot of action but not that fun compared to the excitement of the previous two which are rare in a FPS-RPG hybrid. There are conversation skills that you can consider. They can make your play-through much faster and easier if you know how to use them. Exploration and traveling is rewarded just as doing sidequests. The responsiveness of the controls is decent, but the whole concept of controlling the character and navigation in the inventory and menus is not revolutionary. The cover controls could be improved if the developer took ideas from Splinter Cell Conviction. The sidequests can add an extra few hours to the 10-12 hour long main storyline.
Sound (8.5)
When you first hear the music, it catches you, sucks you in and never lets go. It one of the best soundtracks and ambient music I ever heard in games. The sound effects are nicely done. I have mixed fillings about the voice acting. The Jensen's voice strikes a remarkable resemblance to Christian Bale's in Dark Knight. All in all the sound of the game is great and makes the world of Deus Ex shine.
Graphics (8)
The graphical design of the game is in synergy with the theme and world it's presenting. The highlighting of objectives and POIs in Easy and Normal difficulty is a nice touch. I'm a little disappointed in the character models and the low polygon count of some random objects (for example paint cans and all the bottles on the shelves). The environments are well made and presented to the player. I didn't experience any glitches with textures or models so I'm satisfied. All things considered, the graphics are barely keeping up with the benchmark games of this year. Even so, the developer made sure that the design was just right. You can just feel the blood, sweat and tears that Eidos Montreal put into the game. The ambiance of the world of Deus Ex is faithfully shown.
Overall Score (8.5)
I can recommend this game to all fans of RPGs and stealth espionage games. The great memories of this game with it's feel, gameplay, story and music will stick with you for years to come. If you haven't played Deus Ex up until now, you owe it to yourself to give it a try and immerse yourself into the future revolution of humanity.