The Long-Awaited Deus Ex: Human Revolution Review

Many eons ago in the far away land of BEFORE GOOGLE AND YOUTUBE TOOK OVER THE INTERNET, a little game by Eidos, the makers of Tomb Raider, was made named Deus Ex. The original Deus Ex was acclaimed for not only being an excellent first person shooter, but combining RPG elements and having a story revolving around the ultimate conspiracy theory: every conspiracy theory was true, yes even that one. A sequel to Deus Ex was made a few years later, Deus Ex: Invisible War. DE2 was not well received, but it was always noted in reviews that while the game did disappoint, it was not a bad game at all, better than most of the garbage out there. For many years, the name Deus Ex was relegated to internet memes and nostalgia as Eidos focused on reviving Tomb Raider to its former glory, making the ill advised Kane and Lynch games, making each Hitman game progressively worse, and publishing Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham Asylum.

When it appeared Eidos was going down the tubes, they were saved by the noble guiding hand of Square Enix, the famed Japanese company now looking to capture more of the Western market by having games intentionally designed for Westerners. At first there was concern Square Enix would treat Eidos the way it treated Enix employees, but all Square Enix did was rename Eidos's European locale to Square Enix Europe. All Eidos employees kept their jobs and now due to the success of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Square Enix will be doubling the size of Eidos, truly a sign that Square Enix are the saviors that Eidos needed.

With Square Enix's funding, Eidos was able to start 2 new projects that would appease everyone: a gritty Tomb Raider reboot aiming to compete with Uncharted and a new Deus Ex, taking place before the original game and much closer to our current period of time in a world that could very feasibly happen in 20 years.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is here and while it isn't as groundbreaking as the original game, it definitely erases any memory of the awful 2nd game and lays claim to being one of the best told, albeit cliche, stories in video games thus far this year.

Human Revolution tells the story of Adam Jensen, a security guard for the largest supplier of augmentation, a process that allows humans to voluntarily undergo amputation of body parts and replace them with robotic ones that function better than the ones they were born with. After a near fatal accident, Adam becomes an augmented human and discovers a deeper conspiracy against his employer that could change the world if revealed to the public.

Human Revolution's story is its strong point and it really drives home that fact by giving you tons of side quests and making you sneak through buildings with no progression in the story until reaching your goal! Human Revolution has a very strong story, but it keeps getting interrupted by unnecessarily long side quests that are either incredibly easy, but time consuming, or very difficult, but would normally only take a few minutes without dying.

The FPS gameplay is pretty solid and the integration of a cover system in 3rd person makes Human Revolution unlike any other FPS, especially with its inventory system that heavily borrows from both Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil Zero. The game's action elements don't even feel like a first person game, reminding of games like the Metroid Prime series and Mirror's Edge. While the sneaking elements aren't as refined as Metal Gear Solid 4, it's still fun, despite the unreal behavior of guards.

Story: 8/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Presentation: 9/10
Replay Value: 7/10

Average Score:      8/10

 

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is by no means a groundbreaking game, but it's still incredibly good. The game allows several options to complete any mission and various customization options, so playing the game a 2nd time doesn't gave to be the exact same experience. Although the story is good in theory, it's weighed down by how large the gaps are in storytelling and gameplay, resulting in storytelling similar to Dragon Ball. Make no mistake though, Human Revolution is not a rental. This is a game to own and should be a part of any gaming library.