Review: Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Xbox 360) (From Your Local Guardian)

Review: Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Xbox 360)

2:45pm Tuesday 4th October 2011 in Video Games By Adam Pettifer

Yes, I know – it’s been out for weeks. This review is more than a bit late. But there’s a reason for this – despite the 10 or 20 other games I’ve reviewed in the meantime, I’ve been too busy playing and re-playing this... It’s a triumph.

I’ve never played any of the Deus Ex games before – but their reputation precedes them. Gamers speak in awed tones of the original PS2 game and its almost-as-good sequel. I wasn’t originally sure how this game would work out, with Eidos Montreal taking on the development duties on behalf of Square Enix. I even waited a little after release for the price to drop slightly, before sceptically paying for my copy. I should have been queuing up on launch day...

DX:HR is the most fantastic, sci-fi action RPG noir I have ever played. The storyline is solid and gripping – the year is 2027 and society is obsessed by the issue of 'augmentation' – enhancing the human body with cybernetic implants. It is all the media bleats about, the population of earth is split clean down the middle on whether it is moral or not and the UN hovers in the background – threatening to regulate and restrain the whole industry.

The locations are stunning, dark vistas of the crumbling society in the near future. You travel from Detroit, to Shanghai, Montreal etc. Neon lit skyscrapers tower above the punks and hobos below. Augmentation addicts queue up outside pristine clinics for their next upgrade fix, in filthy streets. It is the future of Blade Runner, in game form.

Your character is an ex-SWAT officer called Adam Jensen – now working as the Security Manager for Sarif Industries – the leading company in the human augmentation field. Within minutes of starting the game, Sarif industries is brutally attacked, its building near destroyed and Jensen left for dead. The game’s opening cinematic shows the series of gruesome operations and augmentations he goes through in order to save his life. So in a flash – your character has the moral choice of either loving or hating the myriad upgrades fitted to his body and brain.

This moral ambiguity is at the centre of the game’s appeal. On your travels, you will meet many characters, all with their own views on the morality of augmentation. It is possible to sympathise either way – by claiming “I never asked for this” – the oft-repeated line from the game, or declaring how having a set of swanky new upgrades isn’t so bad.

It isn’t just an RPG though. Exploration is key – this game really rewards “archaeologists” – the kind of players who have to search every drawer of every desk in the Fallout games. Many hidden items, weapons and paths can be found (particularly air ducts that you can crawl through) etc. The action is intuitive and satisfying. The cover system is the best I’ve yet tried – far easier to use than games such as Gears of War that major on it. You are free to upgrade your body and the weapons you collect to your exact style. I personally stuck with the basic pistol you find at the start of the game – but with a laser sight, a silencer and some damage upgrades – it became my stealth weapon of choice.

And here is another key – the way you play is up to you. You can barge your way through every level like a juggernaut, slaughtering every foe you encounter, or you can hide, take cover and sneak your way around virtually every threat. There is a particularly rewarding achievement to be unlocked by completing the game without killing anyone except the game’s bosses. It’s another example of how the game invites multiple replays – to try out every upgrade path, every moral choice path, every style of play.

So, I’m sorry this review is late – but I’ve literally been too busy playing the damn thing to write about it! I know we are now in silly season – Battlefield, MW3 etc etc are about to be released – but I have to say, this is my game of the year. For me, it even edges out Portal 2 – it’s that good. Now where did I put my Blade Runner DVD...?

10/10

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is out now for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC and Onlive. Xbox 360 version tested.