Deus Ex Human Revolution

[Gargantou]

Doesn't IGN classify as 74 and below as average?

 

[Bad^Hat]

Not quite, but basically as good as.

http://games.ign.com/ratings.html

6.0 to 6.9 (Passable)
Games in this range have more faults than strengths, but still might be worth a look if you're into genres of its type.

Not even 2/3rds down their scale, and the game is already more flawed than not? Dang.

I especially love that they follow up this with:

5.1 to 5.9 (Mediocre)
Sure, it's a cliché, but we have to say it: only diehard fans of the particular genre will get any enjoyment out of middling games like these.

Yeah, it's a cliche because you just used it. Also, because anyone who's a "diehard fan" probably already knows whether or not they want the game, rendering your shitty review even more pointless.

It's hilarious to me that everything below this is basically just a rewording of "don't bother, it bad." As if it wasn't already telling enough that every score above 7 gets a description every half point, and everything below is just full points (and might as well not even be there).

 

[StarBob]

I think we should just all rely on Metacritic's user scores where you either give a 10 or a 0 and it averages it out somewhere in there. It's basically "10 - THIS IS BEST GAME FOREVER" or "0 - THIS GAME BAD"

Go look at any really popular or notoriously bad game and you'll see that it's basically a ratio of 10s to 0s that makes the difference with a handful of legitimate scores and reviews thrown in. It's often funny to read 0s and the reasoning behind them. Here's one for SC2 - "Game will melt down your PC will also cause intrusive DRM ttat will require you to log in to play the game. Match making system is flawed. You always get matched with inexperienced players if you are inexperienced like me. Various features removed from blizzard. "

Apparently sucking and playing with people that suck is worth giving a 0. This other one is even better - "This is a horrible successor to the first game. The balancing is way off, and even at the lowest settings more than 30 on-screen enemies brings my computer to an absolute crawl. What a waste."

Basically - "It won't run on my computer good. 0."

 

[MJ12]

http://www.ugo.com/games/deux-ex-human-revolution-preview

When we last spoke with Warren Spector, director on the original Deus Ex, about what he hoped to see from Deus Ex: Human Revolution (the prequel he has nothing to do with), he said he wanted Eidos Montreal to retain the element of gameplay choice that fans loved so much about the original. After having seen a demo of Human Revolution at Gamescom today, we're eager to inform Warren that his hope has been met -- Human Revolution looks as if it may even surpass the original in terms of its depth and gameplay choices.

The demo we saw was actually shown to us three different times -- it's the same exact scenario, just played through with entirely different approaches. Here's the setup: about 90 minutes into the game, you're given the task of infiltrating the morgue at a police headquarters to retrieve a chip embedded in a dead terrorist's head. This terrorist is part of a group against transhumanism (people augmented with cybernetics, which is the product Sarif Industries, your in-game employer). But here's the catch: the terrorist himself has cybernetic implants. So he must be some sort of plant within the terrorist organization -- but a plant by who? The government? You're on a mission to find out, which is why it's imperative you get access to the morgue and get that chip.

You have a few different ways to reacquire the chip. The first we see is probably what many gamers will instinctively do -- blast their way inside. That's exactly what our demoer does; he basically runs in, guns blazing, and shows off some of the cool tactics at your disposal. As he makes his way through one of the police offices, he picks up a copy machine and throws it forward to use as cover. Once behind it, he's able to position himself to blindfire at cops (who are using their own desks as cover). We also see how you can use your X-ray vision augmentation, which highlights exactly where enemies are within the environment (we could see several waiting behind some cube walls).

After that, we get a demo of some weapon choices, like enhancing the pistol with explosive bullets (each weapon has multiple possible upgrades). Another cool example of this is the mine template -- a schematic that lets you combine a mine with any sort of grenade you have in your inventory. And if you were wondering, yes, there are also weapons that just stun your opponents instead of killing them. Anyway, our demoer makes his way through the station, unfortunately taking out plenty of cops along the way. He uses mines to disable sensors and eventually makes it to the morgue, gets the chip, and escapes out a lower exit into the sewers.

The level is then restarted. The next goal is to use communication skills to, essentially, charm your way inside. The neat thing about taking this route is that you talk to a lot of guards and learn a lot of the backstories between you and them. In one part, you have to convince an old cop friend to stick his neck out for you -- you have to remind him of your history together. It's still possible to "lose" this part -- if you're not convincing enough you'll have to resort to other means (see tactic 1) -- but in our case, the friend gives in and gives us the access we need. And though we don't spend time doing it, you can use your time in the station to find out all sorts of extra information (by digging through peoples' email at unmanned workstations). Anyway, it's relatively painless from then on to make it to the morgue, grab the chip, and walk out the front door. Without an army of policemen in the way, we're able to avoid the sewers altogether.

The third and final demo is all about stealth. Our demoer shows how you can walk to the back of the station, use a strength augmentation, then pick up a dumpster and place it next to the security fence to climb safely over. Not that you have to use a Strength Augmentation -- you can simply climb to the top of the roof and make your way in from there. But then you'd have to make your way through multiple floors before getting to the morgue, which seems a lot more difficult. Anyway, once inside, your Cloaking Augmentation makes you entirely invisible to the guards (in fact, if you're careful, you can even steal things off of their desks). However, at one point there's the need to bypass a security door to progress further, which requires you to hack into it. Normally, it would be impossible to break the code, but by using a Cranium Augmentation, your mental skills increase and you're able to break the code with a minigame of sorts (though I should stress it's more of a mind teaser than a time-button-pressing game -- it keeps you in the experience).

It's neat to see that, even with all of the Augmentations you have available, you can still assign augmentation points to specific skills. And each skill has its own tree, meaning there's going to be a lot of room to progress your character just the way you like. Another nifty demonstration in this stealth scenario involves a sequence in which a guard passes safely through a section with infrared lasers (because they're tuned to recognize him, turn off, and let him by unharmed ). By stunning and then carrying him, you can make it through this section without setting off any alarms as well. Also cool is the ability to disable cameras and infrared sensors using EMP grenades. With those tactics our demoer eventually makes it to the morgue, gets the chip, and then sneaks out through the sewers (to avoid backtracking all the way through the upper floors again).

So those are three disparate ways of obtaining the chip from the police station -- but as you can probably discern, each strategy can be deviated from at any time. Getting spotted while attempting stealth is likely to result in a firefight, as will getting into a heated face-off with one of the guards while attempting Persuasion. Just this small window into the choices and paths available in Human Revolution is enough to have me really excited about the gameplay possibilities in the full version. And that's without even discussing the incredible atmosphere and audio design that wowed us during this and the E3 preview. Few games have me excited as Deus Ex Human Revolution.

 

[ríomhaire]

Dare I say, that sounds good. :O

I take it that they're not bringing back skills and exp but instead having augmentation-based skill trees, yeah? I'd like to see some specifics of that if there are any available, eg the UI for upgrading. Sure sounds better than IW's three-slot system.

 

[Paulaner]

I don't compare this game to its illustrious predecessor. It's a new, different beast. With this premise, I really like what I'm reading/seeing.

 

[morgs]

Would be good if the HUD stays that minimal.

 

[VictimOfScience]

Hmm, this does sound pretty damn good. I have to admit I am really looking forward to this now! (Cautiously, of course.)

 

[MJ12]

From the DXHR forum from someone who witnessed the demo. Pretty important information for those who want to know details of gameplay-

Did you see the inventory? If so, please describe.

Did you see the hacking minigame? If so, please describe!

Did you see any kind of aug upgrade menu?

Yes, yes, yes. Well the inventory, that probably wasn't final, was just the picture of Adam on the left and cubes on the right with the items stacked. As you hover on the different items, say upgrades, it would focus on Adam, on different locations of his body (head, arms, back, ect...).
The hacking game seemed really cool and innovative, you have to catch something without behind caught by the firewall. Didn't get it but it far better than anything in Mass Effect 2.

Hacking seemed pretty long actually, but was it because they explained it at the same time? There are 4-5 small bars on the top left hand corner, very discreet. You seem to be recharging your augmentation power by absorbing "nutritient bars". Not sure about that one though.

1. What's the UI like, in general?
2. To continue Ashpolt's inventory question, can we see weapon stats in the inventory?
3. Is the yellow/gold tint as dense as the content we've seen so far, is it everywhere, or are the colors more "balanced" indoors?

Thanks in advance.

Discreet UI but charged with many informations. When you receive a message (Sarif) his head appears on the top right hand corner with the text under it.

Didn't notice weapons stats, didn't really pay attention tbh.

It wasn't too much yellow/gold, even outside, actually inside it was green/blue/grey. Very nice.

were there any signs (or any visual elements) that would suggest that we could read books and/or newspapers like in Deus Ex 1 and 2?

mhh didnt pay attention but the level was pretty stuffed with computers, newspapers, boards on walls, books, ect...

Oh and I'm pretty sure I heard the coroner refer to Manderley.

This. Especially as it concerns the enemies. How did they handle you? Was there any flanking, or grenade use on their part?

I don't remember them using grenades. Combat wasn't particularly fixed yet, I talked about it with EM as it didn't look very engaging or dynamic. They are well aware of that.

Just seen it. Completely blown away by how awesome it was. Some quick things before i return to writingt my (dutch, sorry guys) preview of it.

• It was mentionned that the game entered beta. So all elements are in place
• I noticed a pailkiller item on a desk
• The time required for health to restore is really low, so it looked hard to play just gun blazing
• HUD(not final) currently consists of health/enery bar at left top, communication info at right top, weapon info at right bottom with selected augs above it.. cant remember what was at the left bottom
• Inventory seems like first game, with only difference that you can rotate items now
• I counted 21 augs, all with their own upgrade tree
• Character from Deus Ex was mentioned:
  Spoiler

  Manderley
• Switch from first to third person is really smooth
• There was an non lethal weapon showed, but the game crashed (happens sometimes with alpha builds) before i could see it
• Hour of cutscenes, all at chokepoints in the game so you cant have them differ
• Graphics looked just slightly as if they where painted, looked nice
• Hacking looked complex
• Saw no newspapers, though they confirmed emails as readable

I am a little more open to this being a prequel. I didn't know the double decker city was Shanghai, I guess that makes it a little more reasonable. Also the mechs appear to be complex heavy quadrupeds, which would make sense because in the original they are simplistic bipedal machines with more compact weaponry. The augmentations of Human Revolution would have preceded the augmentations in Deus Ex; If I recall you could materialize a drone with your own mind using nanobots.



Sidenote; I think the music will be pretty good, but I would have preferred more Vangelis-esque stuff like in the original.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qo00UTfkZE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzsX5DblNHs

 

[Krynn72]

Man, this game keeps jumping up and down on my excitement meter. All that sounds really good. So happy to hear the inventory is a full fledged inventory. 21 augs with upgrade trees sounds fantastic. An hour of cutscenes in just that demonstration though? Jeez

 

[MJ12]

I'm down with lengthy cutscenes.

 

[Stigmata]

It was mentionned that the game entered beta. So all elements are in place

Oh, so it was in alpha. That... actually explains a lot. This game is starting to sound pretty good now, especially since this is the first time in years I've seen a developer reference alpha or beta in a non-hype way.

 

[comradesean]

Almost nobody played SS2 when it came out. And for that, you should be thankful, because otherwise we'd be getting System Shock 3 from Activision.

Don't you mean we'd be getting bioshock? oh wait.

 

[13LACKBISHOP]

Indeed the more I hear about this game the better it seems to be. Hey at least it will be better than invisible war anyway.

 

[comradesean]

Why do idiots seem to think anything below a 90 is average?





Also, the "consoles are the problem herp derp" card has run out. People need to find a valid argument.

No, consoles STILL are a huge problem. The truly great games are the ones that were designed from the ground up and redesigned throughout development with the goal of making everything a player interacts with react as smoothly and comfortably as possible. When you add on an additional platform with additional controls then you make sacrifices on one end or the other (which is most often the PC) and end up with a gutted and mediocre experience compared to what it could have been had it been designed with only one platform in mind. It doesn't even matter if there are two separate teams working on the same game. They both work from the same design and asset pool.
The worst part about this is you have no idea what "it could have been" either since this is the expected norm in the industry now and there are plenty of people willing to fund these "alright" games.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Man, this game keeps jumping up and down on my excitement meter. All that sounds really good. So happy to hear the inventory is a full fledged inventory. 21 augs with upgrade trees sounds fantastic. An hour of cutscenes in just that demonstration though? Jeez

Same here. It's strange, like everything I see of the game has me extremely skeptical, but everything I hear about it from the developers or people who've observed it is really encouraging. Then again, I've witnessed the same thing with other games (namely MMOs pre-launch), and a lot of it seems to tie into hype and marketing. I'll wait to see something more final before I start getting excited...

Oh, also -

The time required for health to restore is really low, so it looked hard to play just gun blazing

Huh? How would a quick health recharge make combat hard? Typo maybe?

 

[MJ12]

Huh? How would a quick health recharge make combat hard? Typo maybe?

Probably meant "slow"

 

[Krynn72]

Thats what I assumed he meant.

 

[Gargantou]

I am still kinda on the border as to whether to pre-order this or not.

 

[Matorbogl]

What the hell is that thing on top of the sky scrapers in the beginning of the trailer? The game looks meh, especially in comparison with other things coming out in 2011 like Brink, GW2 and Portal 2.

 

[love_nutz2]

I'm down with lengthy cutscenes.

I hope it not as long as mgs cutscenes, I could make myself dinner before a cutscene ended.

 

[Mirage]

I hope we are able to skip the cutscenes, especially if they are as lengthy as was stated. Also, if they are touting replayability (aren't they?), no-skip cutscenes are going to hamper that aspect for me. I'm excited for this, although I still have to finish the first Deus Ex. Well, HR is a prequel, but I still feel obligated.

 

[Wanted Bob]

Goddamn, this game is probably the most hyped game on my radar. Too bad it was pushed back to 2011, but if they need the extra time, so be it.

 

[Asknoone]

SO BE IT.

 

[Gargantou]

What the hell is that thing on top of the sky scrapers in the beginning of the trailer? The game looks meh, especially in comparison with other things coming out in 2011 like Brink, GW2 and Portal 2.

You mean the city ontop of a city?

Yeah, apparently by the 2020s Shanghai has had an entire new city built on top of it.

 

[Shift]

I think it looks pretty good, although I haven't played the first and only touched the second so I'm not interested in the fact that its nothing like the previous games

 

[Gargantou]

Shift, you're really missing out, the first game is fantastic.

Can't really say the same for the second though.

 

[Shift]

Yeah I've heard by many that the first is amazing, I will give it a try at some point.

 

[Gargantou]

Do it now!

 

[Wanted Bob]

Mhmm, you really should give it a try. If its age makes it hard to go back to, there are plenty of mods that update it to look a bit nicer.

That said, it never really bothered me on my first playthrough.

 

[Matorbogl]

You mean the city ontop of a city?

Yeah, apparently by the 2020s Shanghai has had an entire new city built on top of it.

I'm not even sure what to say, that makes no sense, it would collapse under it's own weight, and even if it didn't the piles it rests on would have to be driven thousands of feet into the ground in order to stop it from swaying back and forth.

Not to mention the issue of logistics, how the hell would something like that even be constructed, and even if you suspend disbelief the costs would astronomical. A project of that scale and magnitude would require tens of thousands of people.

Also why is everything yellow? I hate this game.

 

[StarBob]

I'm not even sure what to say, that makes no sense, it would collapse under it's own weight, and even if it didn't the piles it rests on would have to be driven thousands of feet into the ground in order to stop it from swaying back and forth.

Not to mention the issue of logistics, how the hell would something like that even be constructed, and even if you suspend disbelief the costs would astronomical. A project of that scale and magnitude would require tens of thousands of people.

Also why is everything yellow? I hate this game.

*mentions some atmopsheric aesthetics about a game that isn't out yet*
"I hate this game."

I guess that's how things work. I don't pass judgment on things that don't really exist yet. I dunno why everyone's so determined that the Deus Ex world is THIS world and everything has to fall within the boundaries of our timeline and where we stand today. I mean it's just a story... the original game, like many games, expected more from the future than could have been achieved in the amount of time. In order for this to be a prequel they had to set it before the original in the timeline (obviously) and that didn't leave them a whole lot of room if you're going to think everything is plausible in reality.

 

[Absinthe]

I just find it difficult to believe that all mechanical locks are going to be replaced with hackable electronic ones in the next few decades, then by 2050 we'll reintroduce them again because we're idiots.

I understand that making a prequel in the series does puts constraints on them, but the setting and style still strike me as ridiculous. They should have just gone the Bioshock route and called it "Payus Threx: The Spiritual Successor" or some bullshit if they wanted to simply channel a facet of the DX formula without riling up longtime fans.

Not that any developer or publisher has ever given a shit about longtime fans, but whatever.

 

[Polaris]

A project of that scale and magnitude would require tens of thousands of people.

It's in bloody China! Everything is possible in China.

New screens:

 

[StarBob]

I just find it difficult to believe that all mechanical locks are going to be replaced with hackable electronic ones in the next few decades, then by 2050 we'll reintroduce them again because we're idiots.

I understand that making a prequel in the series does puts constraints on them, but the setting and style still strike me as ridiculous. They should have just gone the Bioshock route and called it "Payus Threx: The Spiritual Successor" or some bullshit if they wanted to simply channel a facet of the DX formula without riling up longtime fans.

Not that any developer or publisher has ever given a shit about longtime fans, but whatever.

So they should take it out of the story world just because of some "historical innacuracies" in a make-believe universe? I guess they really dont' care about longtime fans. I mean if I had to please everyone expecting perfection, I wouldn't care either... lol

I'm just saying... people get way too riled up about nothing before a game is realeased. Imagine how little it will matter if the story is well written and the gameplay is excellent?

 

[Barnz]

I like that butt.

 

[Absinthe]

It's been said time and time again by both fans the original developers that Invisible War suffered from its change in setting and style since they removed a lot of grounding in the experience. While HR hasn't tipped over to that point yet, I do think EM risks doing the same. The double-decker city is balls no matter how many pretty pictures of modern day Shanghai you show me. The decision to remove mechanical locks is doubly stupid because it seems almost solely justified by the developer's bright idea of removing all lockpicks and multitools, instead replacing them with a hacking minigame. The renaissance clothing and style will apparently surge for a few decades and then get wiped out without a trace... blah. These "historical inaccuracies" don't seem like the result of careful, measured thought with respect to what worked in the first game, but the collateral damage of some guy who makes dumb console shooters (Dugas) and a goatee'd twat (Belletetetetete) who thinks he's clever for having a gold color palette and pilfering the ****ing overused Icarus mythos. It's not so much that the changes to setting are horrid, but that they seem symptomatic of a design mentality I'm really not digging behind this game.

Deus Ex's story and setting are important to me because they were ultimately what propelled me through to the end of the game, and I've really come to dislike this casual attitude of "So what, the story doesn't matter, it will get made up for". I'd prefer any running narratives between games to be consistent. To me, Deus Ex was more than a cyberpunk game with multipath solutions. Its greatness came from lots of different elements, even if they didn't always intersect in the cleanest of ways. This has nothing to do with expecting perfection. What I want to see is an evolution of the first game's formula. So far it looks to me like EM is trying to make a kind of DX game, but not a true successor. They've taken some bits they've liked, but they've also jettisoned a lot of others and replaced them with components lifted from other titles. I had hoped for DX Squared, but instead it just looks like Deus Ex with half the shit done differently.

It might be a good game. But it's not the sequel I've been waiting for. If they wanted to avoid flak, then I repeat: Should have made a different game. That's clearly what they seem to want to do any way.

 

[MJ12]

It's been said time and time again by both fans the original developers that Invisible War suffered from its change in setting and style since they removed a lot of grounding in the experience. While HR hasn't tipped over to that point yet, I do think EM risks doing the same. The double-decker city is balls no matter how many pretty pictures of modern day Shanghai you show me. The decision to remove mechanical locks is doubly stupid because it seems almost solely justified by the developer's bright idea of removing all lockpicks and multitools, instead replacing them with a hacking minigame. The renaissance clothing and style will apparently surge for a few decades and then get wiped out without a trace... blah. These "historical inaccuracies" don't seem like the result of careful, measured thought with respect to what worked in the first game, but the collateral damage of some guy who makes dumb console shooters (Dugas) and a goatee'd twat (Belletetetetete) who thinks he's clever for having a gold color palette and pilfering the ****ing overused Icarus mythos. It's not so much that the changes to setting are horrid, but that they seem symptomatic of a design mentality I'm really not digging behind this game.

Deus Ex's story and setting are important to me because they were ultimately what propelled me through to the end of the game, and I've really come to dislike this casual attitude of "So what, the story doesn't matter, it will get made up for". I'd prefer any running narratives between games to be consistent. To me, Deus Ex was more than a cyberpunk game with multipath solutions. Its greatness came from lots of different elements, even if they didn't always intersect in the cleanest of ways. This has nothing to do with expecting perfection. What I want to see is an evolution of the first game's formula. So far it looks to me like EM is trying to make a kind of DX game, but not a true successor. They've taken some bits they've liked, but they've also jettisoned a lot of others and replaced them with components lifted from other titles. I had hoped for DX Squared, but instead it just looks like Deus Ex with half the shit done differently.

It might be a good game. But it's not the sequel I've been waiting for. If they wanted to avoid flak, then I repeat: Should have made a different game. That's clearly what they seem to want to do any way.

I can agree on some of this. I do have a big problem with things like the removal of mechanical locks. -It's inconsistent and takes more than a stretch of the imagination, it takes lying to yourself.

However the renaissance clothing doesn't bother me. It seems reasonable that it may be popular in the 2020's or the 2030's and die out pretty quickly in the following two decades. "Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months" -Oscar Wilde. I mean, look at all the overt styles in the 80's and how quickly we were to discard that shit in the next decade.
And if we're talking about fashion, apparently tramp-stamps make a huge comeback in the 2050's because every goddamn female has one in the original.

 

[Absinthe]

Well, it is also seen in a fair bit of architecture so far. I mean, there's clearly been some bankrolling of this shit when you look at the society they're depicting. Now, the devs have said that it's mostly relegated to the upper crust of society. So... shitty, downtrodden Detroit will still look as such. I think I'm mostly just tired of hearing about the Renaissance style since that seemed to be the only thing EM or any gaming rag ever talked about for the longest time.

It's hard to believe that Hexagons have died out, isn't it? I mean, it's 2052 and I don't think I saw a single Hexagon today, period. Everyone's so worried about terrorism, the insurgency in Texas, and the plague to even remember the halcyon days of the Hexagon Fandom. Isn't that a goddamn tragedy? I mean, look, don't get me wrong. I like featureless squares as much as the next guy, and those new buildings they do, with the escher-like floorplans where the inside can't possibly contain the outside? That's awesome too. But every night I always go to bed thinking of the 2020's and the marvelous hexagons we used to have.

I got into the hobby in 2027, and Gosh what a great year for Hexagons that was. The BEST year, Hands-Down. I remember my parents took me to Hive, to see the Hexagons? They looked AMAZING under the deconstructivist lighting. I knew from that moment on: I was a hex-fan for LIFE. Within a few months I had every Hexagon I could beg, borrow or steal, in every color under the sun. Brown, Yellow, and every color inbetween. Even gold and amber! In retrospect it's pretty obvious that that was the golden age for Hexagon Collectors, but I guess I thought the good times would go on forever.

Part of me's glad that Hexagons were just a passing fad. Us true devotees will always have our collections (unless our parents or wives make us sell 'em off!) and honestly? If they tried to make a new Hexagon today? Some big corporate manufacturer like VersaLife would be bankrolling it and it'd just look like another featureless cube with more sides. Uch! No thanks!

Got a kick out of that from the HR board. I don't mean to hate on the art since I'm usually all for people trying out different things. It's just always struck me as a significant departure in this case.

 

[MJ12]

I actually don't know what hexagons he's referring to except the one on Jensen's head