Deus Ex: Human Revolution by Square Enix review
It's here at last... the year's best stealth shooter RPG prequel
Review date: 01 September, 2011. Review by: Darren Allan
Human Revolution is the third game in the Deus Ex franchise, but it's actually a prequel to the original. It's set in the year 2027, and explores the hopes and fears of humankind entering an age in which cybernetic prosthetics and brain implants are becoming a reality.
Titanium shoulders, knees and toes...
New hope is introduced for those who have lost limbs in accidents. A new pair of perfectly crafted titanium legs allow them to walk once more, and a new titanium hand ensures pickle jars will never again be a problem. On the downside, pub quiz cheats - who have stored the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica in their brain implant - are much harder to spot.
More seriously, the mechanically augmented (or "augs" as they're known) are feared as accidents waiting to happen when those chips malfunction - or even despised as abominations against the natural world.
The game's protagonist - Adam Jensen, head of security at Sarif Industries - becomes an aug through no fault of his own when his body is mangled during an attack on the biotech firm's research labs. Post-cybernetic enhancement, Jensen begins an investigation into the perpetrators, which leads to the revelation of government conspiracies and all sorts of intrigue that we won't spoil for you here.
Suffice it to say that the plot is very smartly crafted, as is the entire world of Human Revolution. The starting location - the futuristic city of Detroit - looks suitably gritty and cyberpunk; a combination of high-tech monorail trains and plate-glassed cybernetic boutiques juxtaposed with dilapidated gangland turf populated by hobos clustered around fires burning in rusted oil drums.
All in the details
The game's attention to detail is superb, with different news reports playing on the TV screens you walk past - even working newspaper vending machines from which you can purchase the latest rag to read up on the day's events. Enter your home apartment, and the security system's voice politely greets you as it automatically retracts the window shutters, revealing Detroit sprawling below.
The game is hugely immersive in so many respects, with the dialogue also benefiting from painstaking care and attention. While dialogue trees are kept fairly simple, the script is of a high quality, and lines delivered complete with emotive facial expressions. You can read much from a character's reactions - even more so if you install the social enhancer implant, which monitors and analyses personality traits. Moreover, it can also unleash bio-engineered pheromones to help influence discussions at crucial junctures.
The social enhancer is one of many cybernetic implants Adam can purchase using 'praxis points', which represent the character building RPG side of Deus Ex. Praxis points are gained via experience points and levels - although a limited supply can also be purchased as kits at cybernetic clinics for those with the wealth to speed up their advancement.
Have a hankering to carry more equipment in your inventory? Then you'll be wanting a cyber-arm, which can also dampen weapon recoil, and give Adam the ability to pick up and chuck very heavy objects at his enemies. Need to breathe toxic fumes or shrug off gas grenades as if they're nothing? Then sir might be tempted by a pair of cyber-lungs (which also let you smoke 60 a day with no ill effects...)
Read on for the full verdict.
Company: Square Enix
Website: http://deusex.com/
