Deux Ex: Human Revolution Review

[RichardsD]

Preamble: There will be spoilers.  This is due to the fact I need to address specific, ridiculous areas of the story that begin to occur towards the end of the game.  Also! HYPE: I'm going to do A GTX 970 review in the style of Regular Car Reviews later this week once my 970 arrives, and it will be a bloody great video!  Well or it will be garbage, I've never made a video before.  

 

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Genre: FPS with RPG Elements

Price: lol

Comes out: years ago

 

Deus Ex Human revolution is a game I felt so strong about, I had to write a review.  I played it for about 38 hours during my universities Winter break, but I did not complete it.  Now if this was a professional review, which it is not, I would finish the game and rate the game on those merits.  But part of this review is why I didn't finish the game, and not because it is terrible, quite the opposite.  

 

So, let's begin with the basic premise of the game.  You are one Adam Jensen, an ex police officer, and now the head of security for a Bio-tech company called Sarif Industries.  Essentially uses the same naming scheme as Linus Media Group, except last name and they make implants and prosthetics.  You were severely injured protecting one of the research labs at Sarif, and to save you doctors use revolutionary and mostly experimental technologies.  As such you become a bad ass, fearless, tench coat donning man who wears his implanted sunglasses indoors, because.. reasons.  This is quite a serious game, despite my satirical introduction, and as I see it there are two basic "issues" that the player encounters in the game.

 

First, the debate over "augmentation".  This is the process in which a persons body is implanted through surgical procedures with many different devices, to increase minor things such as coordination, to replacing limbs with artificial ones that are much stronger, faster, and so forth.  This in my mind is the principle debate of the game, as to whether augmentation is legally or morally justifiable.  Most of the opponents to augmentation are religious, or are opposed on ethical grounds.  The main debate is whether the UN should move forth regulations on artificial implants/augmentations.  What a great concept.  People in this world are removing their arms, legs, that work fine for "bling" versions which are commonly sported by gangsters.  Will this become the future of fashion?  What an interesting take on the future.

 

The second debate in this game, is in fact not a debate despite what the game wants you to believe.  The second non-debate is around whether you, Adam Jensen feel alright with these augmentations.  I am constantly being harassed by NPC's I know asking me if the implants went "too far".  What?  I became  a bad ass killing machine, and I am supposed to feel bad about it?  No way.  I'd feel grateful enough they saved my life, the knives that come from my arms are just a bonus at that point. 

 

Now, the environment.  Wow, the environment.  The game is a mix between open world base areas and specific levels.  The specific levels are nice, but the open world base areas are amazing.  There are two in the Game, Detroit and Lower Henghsa.  Detroit is an amazing atmosphere.  Not detached from reality too far, the brownstone buildings are tightly packed in tight streets, with overhead monorail, and massive skyscrapers.  Gas stations sit closed and abandoned; this is a world of electric cars, LED, and automated everything.  The cars leave something to be desired, but the game is a bit older now, so I'm not too worried about that.  Many missions in the early game take place here, and what a great area.  Large, filled with different paths and areas.  

 

The second is even better in my opinion.  Lower Hengsha (Shenghai).  This is one of the most interesting ideas in the game.  The city has become so populated that the rich have built their own massive city, over the old one.  What a disgusting display of opulence!  I love it.  The lower city is LED sign filled, dark all the time, and congested.  This is not a city for cars, roads are very tight, highrise buildings everywhere.  I would have loved to see the "upper city", but sadly only a single mission occurs there and you do not enter the city, just look at a photo of it from a distance.

 

Everywhere these environments are beautifully detailed, using the color gold to accent the shades of endless gray.  My only complaint is I WANT MORE!  I want a Deus Ex with larger, and more environments.  I want to go to the upper city, I want to go everywhere the game mentions! 

 

The real thing nailed here is the sense of scale.  Inside a Chinese Biotech factory in the lower city is mind blowing.  Giant cryo sterilization pools are serviced by massive gantry cranes, the true scale of these facilities is really seen and it is just glorious.  

 

So far, you are thinking, this game is awesome, why didn't you finish it then?  Well, let's go there.

 

Everything I have praised is grounded in reality.  It is an interesting, even probable future (well.. there are some sketchy reasons behind some of the American issues).  But I stopped playing, because the later levels become so... separated from reality that the game lost me.  

 

This is major spoiler time, I've already warned you, but I'll warn you again.

 

I'm going to highlight very specific cases which really lost me.

 

First, this game was made by Alex Jones.  Everything in this game is a conspiracy, the bloody maintenance man in your apartment building is probably a triple agent for 6 secret black ops teams, and yes that hole in his closet is most likely to an underground nuke silo.  No one in this game is to be taken at face value, everyone has a hidden X in their house, a nuke silo, secret terrorist hideout, whatever.

 

First.  You go to an old, abandoned Detroit suburb.  What do you find? Guess.  A nuke silo?  A bio facility? No, wrong.  A secret FEMA concentration camp.  And this was the first time the game lost me.  This is so insane and devoid of logic or reality, it really took me out.  From hacking all the computers, the reason is to imprison all treasonous people if parts of the US begin to secede.  I won't spoil further, but this is frankly ridiculous, and bizarre compared to the other grounded things occurring in the game.  

 

Second, you go to "Picus News", essentially the Fox news in all but name.  What do you find?  Guess.  A nuke silo?  A bio facility? No, wrong.  A secret, Illuminati (yes, really) underground news area where all stories are developed to benefit the illuminati.  Remember, nothing in this game is to be taken at face value.  Everything is a conspiracy.  But that isn't even the best part.  The white, blonde host on Picus is actually an AI.  Apparently they couldn't find a single white female to host the show who would willingly lie for money?

 

Third, and most insanely.. well let's explain this one.  For circumstances I won't explain, you end up on a PMC's base in the middle of the sea.  It turns out, besides being a deployment area for their forces, they are running a secret prison for detainees, which has the same ethical issues as Guantanamo bay, as they are "suspected" war criminals. That, I don't mind.  It seems plausible that a PMC fighting for a world government would need to take prisoners and like modern times, perhaps not get the right ones.  But it gets much, much weirder.  There are A LOT of females in the prison.  You are very suspicious of this, and observe the officer in charge of the prison enter a secret elevator (of course).  By entering the elevator you enter an underwater, secret bio laboratory.  What is going on in here?  Nukes? No.  They are.. you might not even believe me when I say this.  They are taking women, and making them human quantum computers.  Well kind of.  Essentially they built a series of very powerful quantum computers that require fleshy humans with brains to operate.  Essentially like a very, very illegal PCI-E.  So, to build the card edge connector this lab is taking kidnapped women, severing their spines, and essentially installing a PCI-E slot and an 8 pin power connector.  I kid you not.  Besides this being a frankly ridiculous idea, it only gets better.  The scientist in the lab is almost surprised when you enter.  She sees absolutely NO ISSUES with making human "computers" that die in under a year.  Lovely.  

 

But that isn't what gets me the most.  Besides this being absolutely illogical, and mostly grotesque, there is something off about this which loses me further.  Why just women?  This seems a little too JRPG for me, and the "human computers" wear oddly.. stylish suits, almost sexy, and I don't think it is "Sexy", but it feels like that is what they intended.  Almost something kind of sick about it, maybe I am reaching, but I don't think it fits.  It is just so ridiculous, completely gone from a world of implant debating and monorails.  

 

So that is where I stopped.  I looked up the endings, and to say the least it continues on a ridiculous path of silliness and illogicality.  

 

Then, I'll give my final thoughts.  For me, I won't finish the game.  If you are more into that really anime/tech robot thing, then the end might be for you.  But the beginning was well worth the money.  Wow.  What a great beginning.  For that alone, for Detroit alone, for the augmentation debates, the riot, that is what made the game great.  Personally, if they stuck to a more grounded story towards the end it would be amazing.  As it is, I still think it is a great game, but for me the ending is just not my cup of tea.

 

I'm not giving a number, I didn't even address the mechanics, etc.  This is just my opinion on the game as an experience, not the mechanics.

[thekeemo]

how long did this take...

[RichardsD]

how long did this take...

 

Maybe 20 minutes, or so.  I had 38 hours of "research", so it was fairly easy to display my thoughts.

[ShadowCaptain]

I actually really enjoyed the game, even the storyline, I guess I was not expecting the "realism" you were

 

I mean did you play deus ex 1? that game was literally completely insane too, but one of the best games ever (IMO)

[CostcoSamples]

I loved the story!  the idea of conspiracies among a cabal of elitists pulling strings to gain power and wealth is not ridiculous at all.  it happens all the time.  the game takes it to an extreme to explore where it could lead.  I thought it was very nicely done.

 

Are secret FEMA prison camps real?  I don't know, but why dismiss it as ridiculous?  the developers explored an important part of life that most people dismiss as fantasy.  There are predators among us, and some of them rise to political or financial power.

[RichardsD]

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Cheers for the responses!

 

I don't want you to take the wrong message, I didn't dislike the game at all, but rather I found it just wasn't my "cup of tea" if you will.

 

As for your post, I actually agree, the idea of corporate wealth, privatization of public services, etc.  That is actually a decent theme, but in my opinion I feel that goes too far.  I'd say this is a result of the political atmosphere in the United States, maybe depending on the government of the day could elicit different scenarios for a situation such as that.

[NinjaStyle013]

I loved Deus Ex, I thought the storyline was relevant to the theme didn't really strike me as silly or illogical...

[ShadowCaptain]

SNIP

 

did you play the first Deus Ex?

 

I pretty much treat games like this as an alternate time line and try not to think about how it relates to real places, and goverments but more a parody of modern day

 

That said, I am not American so maybe people from outside the US do not got the links as much and can appreciate the game more for its game mechanics and story

[RichardsD]

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Hey:

 

No, unfortunately I didn't so I honestly had no idea what to expect.  Maybe you are right to treat the game within the universe, but for me the universe had some perhaps more realistic elements in comparison with others.  That could be a mistake to extend such views onto the game.

[ShadowCaptain]

Hey:

 

No, unfortunately I didn't so I honestly had no idea what to expect.  Maybe you are right to treat the game within the universe, but for me the universe had some perhaps more realistic elements in comparison with others.  That could be a mistake to extend such views onto the game.

 

Yeah I dont think the game is really intending to represent the real world

 

but Deus Ex 1 is amazing, should play it