The least that can be said of Deus Ex: Human Revolution is that it's interesting. It's a refined, overhauled sequel to a revered game that avoids both the Mass Effect 2 trap of selling itself for increased returns and the Witcher 2 trap of being completely impenetrable to anyone who hasn't played the first one. It got rid of the things that made Deus Ex 1 less than perfect: The dreadful AI, the painful graphics, the broken stealth and shooting mechanics, and the sheer horror that was the voice acting.
It introduces a cover system that compliments, rather than replaces, the preexisting stealth and combat mechanics; it maintains and upgrades the biological augmentation system and all the goodies associated; and it's got the classical Shooter/RPG down pat. If all you want is the general atmosphere and mechanics of Deus Ex wedged into a new Rainbow Six coat of paint, then Human Revolution fits the bill to the letter.
Human Revolution takes place twenty-four years before the original Deus Ex (the year 2028, precisely), and revolves around security guard extraordinaire Adam Jensen. Adam is a throat-cancer afflicted man who works for Sarif industries, a cybernetic limb company headed by a man who may as well have "Scumbag" written on his forehead. A crew of cybernetic gangbangers show up and cause havoc at Sarif: wrecking the building laboratories, killing Adam's lady friend, and enacting pretty much all of "Brave Sir Robin" on Adam himself. However, being blessed with the sheer unkillable tenacity that invariably accompanies being the lead in any[non-Call of Duty] game, Adam gets his insides replaced by Sarif tech and is sent out to find out whodunnit and why, like a gritty reboot of The Six Million Dollar Man. This being a Deus Ex game, it naturally takes about ten seconds for a relatively innocuous police job to explode into a storm of conspiracy.
Adam, as a character, is about as close to Deus Ex 1 lead JC Denton as it is possible to be: he always wears a trench coat and tinted glasses; he only speaks in a cold, raspy monotone that makes it hilarious when he tries to emote; and has a four-syllable name drenched in biblical allusions. However, he manages to subtly inject an element of humanity into his situation that JC sorely lacked.
As far as the script goes, Human Revolution is above average. It has the problem of so many stories in that it spends 21 hours building up to something that doesn't actually happen; but in the interest of keeping spoilers to a minimum, I'll say no more. The story has a more personal angle than the first one: by focusing on Adam's personal quest for vengeance against the people who nearly killed him, Human Revolution is a more character-driven story, and as such avoids most of the world-shaking conspiracy that Cyborg Ninjesus shook down in the first game. As the disastrous Deus Ex: Invisible War demonstrated, that's a good move, because discovering the same earth-shattering secrets twice makes for a boring game.
It's also much simpler in nature: there are fewer mind-boggling plot twists and only one global conspiracy this time. The good guy is not the bad guy in disguise in disguise, the lead is not Jesus, the bad guy is not in fact the good guy in disguise and actually a metaphor for the holy trinity, the other bad guy is not a robot, so on and so forth. For the most part, everything is exactly what it seems.
However, the story fails in one crucial, nigh-irredeemable way: specifically, it lacks closure. The ending is underwhelming: Adam fights a boss, pushes a button, and is treated to about fifty seconds of philosophical babble. He never pursues the conspiracy he uncovered, content to let them keep on going as long as they're out of his hair; and while a hidden scene does hint at a critical aspect of Deus Ex 1, Adam simply drops out of the story. The game leaves his story unresolved: for all it tells you, he may as well have slipped on a banana peel and cracked his skull open.
In that respect, Human Revolution is a bit like a plexiglass window. You're on one side, playing through Adam's personal vendetta story; and on the other side is a big sprawling vibrant Illuminati DeBeers Cartel MJ12 Area 51 CIA VersaLife festival of conspiracy and intrigue, tantalizingly kept out of your reach because the game assumes you've played Deus Ex 1 and know where and how each plot ultimately resolves. So unless you have, in fact, analyzed every last bit of detail from the first game in order to appreciate how everything plays out, you're going to be left confused by the story going on in the corner of your eye.
Atmospherically, the game is loyal to its progenitor while making it very clear that it is, in fact, a prequel. The nanotechnology so common in the first game?or rather, its development?is one of the focal points of the game's complex story, and the bleak fascistic dystopia of Deus Ex 1 is still in its infancy. The world has a dirtier, darker feel, while avoiding the grey-and-brown hellholes so popular in modern gaming through clever application of primary colors. It's very possible to see the world that will eventually become the setting of Deus Ex 1 through the grime of the not-too-distant future.
Thematically, the writing takes after DE1 as well. Several of the key messages of Deus Ex the First?namely: the evils of corporate government, the importance of privacy and preserving personal independence, the value of free information, and the debatable morality of controlling crowd mentality?are there intact, and several form key points in the story. The often heavy-handed New Testament parallels are removed in favor of a subtler Biblical Creation Myth allusion sprinkled with the Icarus/Daedelus story, which is handled remarkably well by any standards. A newcomer to the pack of metaphors and allegories is the Augmentation Debate, which is to this game what racism subtext is to latter-day Bioware titles. You can barely take two steps without somebody explaining why Cybernetics (and the recurrent theme of godhood that's right there in the title) is either the best thing ever or the spawn of Satan. In the game's favor, it manages to present level-headed rational arguments for each side, which makes it a nice counterpoint to the simplistic black-and-white of Mass Effect, Dragon Age, inFAMOUS 2, or really any recent RPG that wasn't Alpha Protocol.
It introduces a cover system that compliments, rather than replaces, the preexisting stealth and combat mechanics; it maintains and upgrades the biological augmentation system and all the goodies associated; and it's got the classical Shooter/RPG down pat. If all you want is the general atmosphere and mechanics of Deus Ex wedged into a new Rainbow Six coat of paint, then Human Revolution fits the bill to the letter.
Human Revolution takes place twenty-four years before the original Deus Ex (the year 2028, precisely), and revolves around security guard extraordinaire Adam Jensen. Adam is a throat-cancer afflicted man who works for Sarif industries, a cybernetic limb company headed by a man who may as well have "Scumbag" written on his forehead. A crew of cybernetic gangbangers show up and cause havoc at Sarif: wrecking the building laboratories, killing Adam's lady friend, and enacting pretty much all of "Brave Sir Robin" on Adam himself. However, being blessed with the sheer unkillable tenacity that invariably accompanies being the lead in any[non-Call of Duty] game, Adam gets his insides replaced by Sarif tech and is sent out to find out whodunnit and why, like a gritty reboot of The Six Million Dollar Man. This being a Deus Ex game, it naturally takes about ten seconds for a relatively innocuous police job to explode into a storm of conspiracy.
Adam, as a character, is about as close to Deus Ex 1 lead JC Denton as it is possible to be: he always wears a trench coat and tinted glasses; he only speaks in a cold, raspy monotone that makes it hilarious when he tries to emote; and has a four-syllable name drenched in biblical allusions. However, he manages to subtly inject an element of humanity into his situation that JC sorely lacked.
As far as the script goes, Human Revolution is above average. It has the problem of so many stories in that it spends 21 hours building up to something that doesn't actually happen; but in the interest of keeping spoilers to a minimum, I'll say no more. The story has a more personal angle than the first one: by focusing on Adam's personal quest for vengeance against the people who nearly killed him, Human Revolution is a more character-driven story, and as such avoids most of the world-shaking conspiracy that Cyborg Ninjesus shook down in the first game. As the disastrous Deus Ex: Invisible War demonstrated, that's a good move, because discovering the same earth-shattering secrets twice makes for a boring game.
It's also much simpler in nature: there are fewer mind-boggling plot twists and only one global conspiracy this time. The good guy is not the bad guy in disguise in disguise, the lead is not Jesus, the bad guy is not in fact the good guy in disguise and actually a metaphor for the holy trinity, the other bad guy is not a robot, so on and so forth. For the most part, everything is exactly what it seems.
However, the story fails in one crucial, nigh-irredeemable way: specifically, it lacks closure. The ending is underwhelming: Adam fights a boss, pushes a button, and is treated to about fifty seconds of philosophical babble. He never pursues the conspiracy he uncovered, content to let them keep on going as long as they're out of his hair; and while a hidden scene does hint at a critical aspect of Deus Ex 1, Adam simply drops out of the story. The game leaves his story unresolved: for all it tells you, he may as well have slipped on a banana peel and cracked his skull open.
In that respect, Human Revolution is a bit like a plexiglass window. You're on one side, playing through Adam's personal vendetta story; and on the other side is a big sprawling vibrant Illuminati DeBeers Cartel MJ12 Area 51 CIA VersaLife festival of conspiracy and intrigue, tantalizingly kept out of your reach because the game assumes you've played Deus Ex 1 and know where and how each plot ultimately resolves. So unless you have, in fact, analyzed every last bit of detail from the first game in order to appreciate how everything plays out, you're going to be left confused by the story going on in the corner of your eye.
Atmospherically, the game is loyal to its progenitor while making it very clear that it is, in fact, a prequel. The nanotechnology so common in the first game?or rather, its development?is one of the focal points of the game's complex story, and the bleak fascistic dystopia of Deus Ex 1 is still in its infancy. The world has a dirtier, darker feel, while avoiding the grey-and-brown hellholes so popular in modern gaming through clever application of primary colors. It's very possible to see the world that will eventually become the setting of Deus Ex 1 through the grime of the not-too-distant future.
Thematically, the writing takes after DE1 as well. Several of the key messages of Deus Ex the First?namely: the evils of corporate government, the importance of privacy and preserving personal independence, the value of free information, and the debatable morality of controlling crowd mentality?are there intact, and several form key points in the story. The often heavy-handed New Testament parallels are removed in favor of a subtler Biblical Creation Myth allusion sprinkled with the Icarus/Daedelus story, which is handled remarkably well by any standards. A newcomer to the pack of metaphors and allegories is the Augmentation Debate, which is to this game what racism subtext is to latter-day Bioware titles. You can barely take two steps without somebody explaining why Cybernetics (and the recurrent theme of godhood that's right there in the title) is either the best thing ever or the spawn of Satan. In the game's favor, it manages to present level-headed rational arguments for each side, which makes it a nice counterpoint to the simplistic black-and-white of Mass Effect, Dragon Age, inFAMOUS 2, or really any recent RPG that wasn't Alpha Protocol.
[/center]
[center][b]Additional Message: Having weapons built into your arm is awesome.[/b]
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
As for the gameplay, Human Revolution takes after its daddy like a sleazy lawyer takes after an ambulance. Every single design decision is purposefully catered to remind you exactly what you're playing; and that's a good thing. Everything you remember is there in some form or another, and there are some extras on the side.
The complex nature of the world maps remains untouched. As in Deus Ex 1, each mission is a sprawling, multinonlinear playground of murder and intrigue, filled to the brim with goodies, backstory, world-building, and?best of all?oblivious squishy meatbags with brittle bones and poor eyesight. The dedication Human Revolution shows to freedom is admirable: each level allows for you to work through it using stealth, brute force, trickery, or a mixture of the three?the possibilities are myriad.
If, for example you have a room to cross, you can find a vantage point, take cover, and apply one of a dozen firearms to the squishy blood sacks in the way. If you'd prefer not to be heard, grab the pistol you fitted with a custom silencer and armor-piercing attachment. If you feel guilty about all the blood on your hands, grab a taser and tranquilizer rifle. If you'd rather not risk the attention, stick to the cover and shadows like Sam Fisher, or turn invisible between bouts of movement, or hop on the rafters, or crawl through the air vent, or hop along the rooftops. If you want everyone dead but don't have the ammo, just hack the nearby machine gun turret's controls and set it to recognize everyone but you as hostile.
Ostensibly there's also a conversation-oriented playstyle, but I don't recall ever seeing a scene where Adam convinces a room of armed psychos to not murder him. Of course, this being a Deus Ex game, that may very well be secreted away somewhere out of my chosen path of stealth and nonviolence.
[center][img src=http://www.play3.de/wp-content/gallery/deus-ex-3-human-revolution-19062010/deus-ex-human-revolution_1.jpg height="200"][/center]
[center][b]Contrary to popular belief, plan B [i]is[/i] automatically twice as much Batman as plan A.[/b][/center]
The stealth element is that of original Deus Ex by proxy of Splinter Cell: Conviction. Aside from being a mildly entertaining mental image, the crossover is the perfect infusion of what the former needed so badly. The stealth in Deus Ex 1 revolved entirely around the AI guards being so stupid and oblivious that you virtually had to throw a car at them to get you to notice you. The enemies in Human Revolution have received the obligatory intelligence boost that comes after ten years of advancement: the suicidal gun-waving charges that characterized the first game are gone, replaced by the suppressing/flanking/terrain-navigating/generally-being-a-pain-in-the-neck behaviors typical in this day and age.
To compensate for the legion of faceless goons being collectively smarter than a sack of potatoes, Human Revolution introduces a Rainbow 6 style cover system. The majority of the game (save a few of the more visually intensive effects...) is viewed through Adam's eyes, but when you slide into cover it changes to a third-person view. Since doing so is done by holding down a button instead of by toggle, it neatly avoids the awkwardness of being glued in place that frequently defined the combat in Mass Effect 2 or Gears of War. Moreover, the movement through said cover is extremely flexible and fluid, and is suited equally well for hunkering down like a turtle and stalking about like a cat.
The weapons Adam picks up throughout the game are generally straight ports of the selection from Deus Ex 1. All of the FPS classics are there: the handgun, the assault rifle, the shotgun, the sniper, the rocket launcher, the highly impractical death machine, and the bigger counterparts of each. Additionally, there's a variety of nonlethal tools, most prominent among them being a tranquilizer that actually does its job. Most of the weapons are only tangentially related to current military hardware, maintaining the functionality of guns from other games but sporting a futuristic and colorful cyberpunk aesthetic.
The shooter side of the game is tempered with the RPG mechanics you'd expect. There's a strong emphasis on customization: a variety of weapon upgrades can be found scattered around the world or acquired from NPC arms dealers. There's a set of generic upgrades affecting things like reload speed or damage, which can be applied to most any weapon; but there's also a unique mod for each that drastically alters the functionality. The special modifications range from exploding bullets to silencers, and can make a gun that was already amusing into a glee-inducing death machine. The mod system is complex and flexible, and actually improves on the standard of the original game.
The only thing that was lost in Human Revolution is the ability to use melee weapons; which means that the screaming lightsaber-wielding berserker playstyle is a thing of the past. Instead, Adam has the ability to engage in gloriously graphic CQC with any enemy unlucky to get close to him. His melee moves now instantly put an enemy down for the count, and can either stun or kill as you will. However, each one drains a considerable portion of your limited energy supply; and as such they're dangerous and fun without being game-breaking.
Another RPG mechanic that was built upon is the augmentation system. Because Adam is essentially a brain in a robot body, he has a wide variety of cybernetic augmentations at his disposal. His abilities change the game heavily, and come in a wide variety with something for everyone. They range from turning invisible to surviving any fall to punching through walls, and even include a device for manipulating the tide of conversations with NPC's. Like in Crysis 2, most of your powers are activated automatically and generally at no penalty; but moves like invisibility and x-ray vision have to be manually activated drain your bioelectric energy, which functions as a mana bar. Your energy is eaten up by some powers quicker than others, and you have a relatively small amount. As such, you have to scavenge food and other supplies from the world maps to keep yourself at peak efficiency. However, because your energy regenerates up to the nearest fifth, you don't need to mainline Charleston Chews just to keep yourself functioning if you play carefully.
Your augmentations are upgraded bit by bit as you gain "praxis points". Praxis points are unlocked by amassing experience points, which are awarded to you for killing enemies, hacking computers, or even exploring the environment. Certain actions are worth more experience points than others: for example, performing a nonlethal close-quarters takedown gives you more than simply shooting a guy; and finishing an entire mission without being seen or tripping an alarm grants you a sizable bonus. In general, stealth grants more points per action than combat; but since brute force sends more enemies your way, it tends to balance out.
Unlocking a new ability costs two praxis points, while upgrading an existing one merely costs one. Because it's only possible to obtain a set number of praxis points, you have to pick and choose your powers carefully?at least, in theory. If you play the game carefully, it's entirely possible to find yourself with 6 or 7 points that you have no use for, which effectively neuters the difficulty curve.
[center][img src=http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Technology/Pix/pictures/2011/8/22/1314020372667/Deus-Ex-Human-Revolution-007.jpg height="200"][/center]
[b]Bionic pimp hand. Drink it in. DRINK. IT. IN.[/b][/center]
There's a wide variety of sidequests in the game, most of which are helpfully pointed out for you at key points. Each one is interesting and clever, and make good use of the game's absolutely massive twin overworld maps. It's possible to spend over half a day just exploring the cities of Detroit and Hengsha, meeting the people there and seeing what they have for you to do. Even the characters who appear briefly are vibrant and lively, and the sidequests themselves are just as flexible as the main game. The sheer scale of things is sometimes stunning, especially given how small games today can be.
The worst parts of the game, as every other person on the internet has noticed, are the boss fights. There are 4 of them, but it's only the first three that deserve any ire. They're all tense and well put-together in theory, and like the rest of the game you can sneak or fight your way through them. However, they are either ridiculously hard or ridiculously easy. On one playthrough you might find yourself locked in an agonizing 20-minute game of cat-and-mouse with an enemy who can kill you in one shot; and in your next you might find that it takes you (literally!) less than a minute to defeat them. Adam also has a habit of killing them in cutscenes after the fight is over; and while they don't count against you in-game, it does run contrary to a game that can otherwise be played without killing a single person. If nothing else they're tense, although you're not likely to notice that because of how frustrated they'll make you.
[b]Bottom Line:[/b] Human Revolution is most definitely a Deus Ex game. It's extraordinarily well put together as a game, and the writing is decidedly magnificent--even more so given the standards of the medium. I enjoyed it, and so will you?even in light of those awful boss fights.
[b]Recommendation:[/b] Buy it as soon as you have the money and the opportunity. Fans of the original will absolutely flip for it, but then again they probably already own it. However, keep in mind that it will be murder on a PC that isn't at least Crysis-capable.
[i]If H.T. Black did not exist, it would be necessary to create him.
This review was based on the PC version of the game.[/i]
[center][b]Additional Message: Having weapons built into your arm is awesome.[/b]
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
As for the gameplay, Human Revolution takes after its daddy like a sleazy lawyer takes after an ambulance. Every single design decision is purposefully catered to remind you exactly what you're playing; and that's a good thing. Everything you remember is there in some form or another, and there are some extras on the side.
The complex nature of the world maps remains untouched. As in Deus Ex 1, each mission is a sprawling, multinonlinear playground of murder and intrigue, filled to the brim with goodies, backstory, world-building, and?best of all?oblivious squishy meatbags with brittle bones and poor eyesight. The dedication Human Revolution shows to freedom is admirable: each level allows for you to work through it using stealth, brute force, trickery, or a mixture of the three?the possibilities are myriad.
If, for example you have a room to cross, you can find a vantage point, take cover, and apply one of a dozen firearms to the squishy blood sacks in the way. If you'd prefer not to be heard, grab the pistol you fitted with a custom silencer and armor-piercing attachment. If you feel guilty about all the blood on your hands, grab a taser and tranquilizer rifle. If you'd rather not risk the attention, stick to the cover and shadows like Sam Fisher, or turn invisible between bouts of movement, or hop on the rafters, or crawl through the air vent, or hop along the rooftops. If you want everyone dead but don't have the ammo, just hack the nearby machine gun turret's controls and set it to recognize everyone but you as hostile.
Ostensibly there's also a conversation-oriented playstyle, but I don't recall ever seeing a scene where Adam convinces a room of armed psychos to not murder him. Of course, this being a Deus Ex game, that may very well be secreted away somewhere out of my chosen path of stealth and nonviolence.
[center][img src=http://www.play3.de/wp-content/gallery/deus-ex-3-human-revolution-19062010/deus-ex-human-revolution_1.jpg height="200"][/center]
[center][b]Contrary to popular belief, plan B [i]is[/i] automatically twice as much Batman as plan A.[/b][/center]
The stealth element is that of original Deus Ex by proxy of Splinter Cell: Conviction. Aside from being a mildly entertaining mental image, the crossover is the perfect infusion of what the former needed so badly. The stealth in Deus Ex 1 revolved entirely around the AI guards being so stupid and oblivious that you virtually had to throw a car at them to get you to notice you. The enemies in Human Revolution have received the obligatory intelligence boost that comes after ten years of advancement: the suicidal gun-waving charges that characterized the first game are gone, replaced by the suppressing/flanking/terrain-navigating/generally-being-a-pain-in-the-neck behaviors typical in this day and age.
To compensate for the legion of faceless goons being collectively smarter than a sack of potatoes, Human Revolution introduces a Rainbow 6 style cover system. The majority of the game (save a few of the more visually intensive effects...) is viewed through Adam's eyes, but when you slide into cover it changes to a third-person view. Since doing so is done by holding down a button instead of by toggle, it neatly avoids the awkwardness of being glued in place that frequently defined the combat in Mass Effect 2 or Gears of War. Moreover, the movement through said cover is extremely flexible and fluid, and is suited equally well for hunkering down like a turtle and stalking about like a cat.
The weapons Adam picks up throughout the game are generally straight ports of the selection from Deus Ex 1. All of the FPS classics are there: the handgun, the assault rifle, the shotgun, the sniper, the rocket launcher, the highly impractical death machine, and the bigger counterparts of each. Additionally, there's a variety of nonlethal tools, most prominent among them being a tranquilizer that actually does its job. Most of the weapons are only tangentially related to current military hardware, maintaining the functionality of guns from other games but sporting a futuristic and colorful cyberpunk aesthetic.
The shooter side of the game is tempered with the RPG mechanics you'd expect. There's a strong emphasis on customization: a variety of weapon upgrades can be found scattered around the world or acquired from NPC arms dealers. There's a set of generic upgrades affecting things like reload speed or damage, which can be applied to most any weapon; but there's also a unique mod for each that drastically alters the functionality. The special modifications range from exploding bullets to silencers, and can make a gun that was already amusing into a glee-inducing death machine. The mod system is complex and flexible, and actually improves on the standard of the original game.
The only thing that was lost in Human Revolution is the ability to use melee weapons; which means that the screaming lightsaber-wielding berserker playstyle is a thing of the past. Instead, Adam has the ability to engage in gloriously graphic CQC with any enemy unlucky to get close to him. His melee moves now instantly put an enemy down for the count, and can either stun or kill as you will. However, each one drains a considerable portion of your limited energy supply; and as such they're dangerous and fun without being game-breaking.
Another RPG mechanic that was built upon is the augmentation system. Because Adam is essentially a brain in a robot body, he has a wide variety of cybernetic augmentations at his disposal. His abilities change the game heavily, and come in a wide variety with something for everyone. They range from turning invisible to surviving any fall to punching through walls, and even include a device for manipulating the tide of conversations with NPC's. Like in Crysis 2, most of your powers are activated automatically and generally at no penalty; but moves like invisibility and x-ray vision have to be manually activated drain your bioelectric energy, which functions as a mana bar. Your energy is eaten up by some powers quicker than others, and you have a relatively small amount. As such, you have to scavenge food and other supplies from the world maps to keep yourself at peak efficiency. However, because your energy regenerates up to the nearest fifth, you don't need to mainline Charleston Chews just to keep yourself functioning if you play carefully.
Your augmentations are upgraded bit by bit as you gain "praxis points". Praxis points are unlocked by amassing experience points, which are awarded to you for killing enemies, hacking computers, or even exploring the environment. Certain actions are worth more experience points than others: for example, performing a nonlethal close-quarters takedown gives you more than simply shooting a guy; and finishing an entire mission without being seen or tripping an alarm grants you a sizable bonus. In general, stealth grants more points per action than combat; but since brute force sends more enemies your way, it tends to balance out.
Unlocking a new ability costs two praxis points, while upgrading an existing one merely costs one. Because it's only possible to obtain a set number of praxis points, you have to pick and choose your powers carefully?at least, in theory. If you play the game carefully, it's entirely possible to find yourself with 6 or 7 points that you have no use for, which effectively neuters the difficulty curve.
[center][img src=http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Technology/Pix/pictures/2011/8/22/1314020372667/Deus-Ex-Human-Revolution-007.jpg height="200"][/center]
[b]Bionic pimp hand. Drink it in. DRINK. IT. IN.[/b][/center]
There's a wide variety of sidequests in the game, most of which are helpfully pointed out for you at key points. Each one is interesting and clever, and make good use of the game's absolutely massive twin overworld maps. It's possible to spend over half a day just exploring the cities of Detroit and Hengsha, meeting the people there and seeing what they have for you to do. Even the characters who appear briefly are vibrant and lively, and the sidequests themselves are just as flexible as the main game. The sheer scale of things is sometimes stunning, especially given how small games today can be.
The worst parts of the game, as every other person on the internet has noticed, are the boss fights. There are 4 of them, but it's only the first three that deserve any ire. They're all tense and well put-together in theory, and like the rest of the game you can sneak or fight your way through them. However, they are either ridiculously hard or ridiculously easy. On one playthrough you might find yourself locked in an agonizing 20-minute game of cat-and-mouse with an enemy who can kill you in one shot; and in your next you might find that it takes you (literally!) less than a minute to defeat them. Adam also has a habit of killing them in cutscenes after the fight is over; and while they don't count against you in-game, it does run contrary to a game that can otherwise be played without killing a single person. If nothing else they're tense, although you're not likely to notice that because of how frustrated they'll make you.
[b]Bottom Line:[/b] Human Revolution is most definitely a Deus Ex game. It's extraordinarily well put together as a game, and the writing is decidedly magnificent--even more so given the standards of the medium. I enjoyed it, and so will you?even in light of those awful boss fights.
[b]Recommendation:[/b] Buy it as soon as you have the money and the opportunity. Fans of the original will absolutely flip for it, but then again they probably already own it. However, keep in mind that it will be murder on a PC that isn't at least Crysis-capable.
[i]If H.T. Black did not exist, it would be necessary to create him.
This review was based on the PC version of the game.[/i]
