Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Rating: 3 out of 3 Stars (why only 3 possible stars?)
Genre: First person cover shooter; Sub-genre: Stealth/RPG
ESRB: M (shooting, drinking, and profanity)
Estimated hours of gameplay (thorough play/quick play): 40/16
Developer: Eidos Montreal
Wiki page

I tinted the picture (slightly) more yellow so that it lined up with my memory.

I prefer to call this Deus Ex 3 (although it's actually Deus Ex Zero) because it's easier. Also, while I'm being upfront, I played this game when it first came out. The thing is, I try to do a complete playthrough of an entire game before I review it. Right now I'm working on Space Marine and there's a multiplayer section I want to give additional time. And I had class on the day I normally write these. So whatever, man. I don't get paid to do this. Deadlines! Bah!

I picked this game because I have a lot of respect for it. I don't think it's better than the original, but it certainly is miles ahead of the previous sequel. And this is a franchise that was resurrected by a completely different developer. It also updates the game to modern standards while keeping bits of its original quirkiness. That's pretty slick.

I should also point out that this game tends to feel like a weaker three-star rating. Most of its strengths come from things that appeal directly to me, so that makes it harder to recommend. And it's a shooter with no multiplayer, which some people frown upon. It also has a "lot of talking" which to this day remains something of a controversy in design choices. But hey, the main character (Adam Jensen) talks like Clint Eastwood. You could listen to him all day! I know because everyone either loves Clint or they fearfully submit to him.

If I was committing a crime and Clint showed up, I'd call that "unlucky".

So how does a game that was originally a PC shooter that uses the entire keyboard work on a modern console? Pretty damn well, apparently. Instead of relying on a dozen F keys to use powers, there are simply fewer of them. And typing on a pop-up keyboard is fine since there really isn't any need to type at 40+ words a minute to quickly enter a password. The controls are rather funky and cannot be changed, but they work. They're not as bad as the controls for Killzone, don't worry.  Killzone also reminds me of another thing: the addition of "cover based" controls in a first person shooter. Fortunately, Deus Ex is again smarter than Killzone by switching to third person when cover is used. This works incredibly well, especially as it assists in playing the game stealthily.

This franchise sucks, in case I didn't make that clear.

Something I'm a little bitter about is the watering down of the RPG elements. Adam does have a talent tree that offers advantages to different play styles (mostly either stealth or action hero), but he automatically is a master of all guns. Further problems come from the ability to upgrade your weapons. While making a super weapon out of your favorite gun is always nice, it makes it so that finding a new weapon is pointless as it can't possibly compare to whatever you've spent the whole game refining. Upgrades are limited in supply so you can't just throw them around willy nilly. I carried a sniper rifle with me for most of the game and fired it maybe twice. And the armor piercing mod for the pistol is stupidly god-like.

In all fairness, having a god-pistol could be considered tradition.

The game does retain a lot of important elements: big levels with a lot of exploration, sneaking through air ducts, hacking computers, wearing sunglasses at night, etc. To me, I did feel like these new developers did a sufficient job making this new game feel like the original from 11 years prior. All the modernizations don't really get in the way, and they also allow me to play the game on a console. Most importantly, the story lines up! While there are problems here and there (the ending is very abrupt and laid out in a silly way) it does seem Eidos has done some of their homework here. The timeline is sound enough, and there are mentions of events that lead into the original. All the conspiracies and cyber-punk setting keep the game's tone and theme at appropriate places.

Wearing sunglasses at night = cool.

I did find the game to be a bit easy. While becoming super powerful through upgrades is definitely part of the game (and the original as well), it seemed like I was a bit too capable all throughout my play time. This may be because I play RPG games very thoroughly. This will always lead to a stronger character in these types of games, but this one seems to have had a heavy mindset of letting less thorough players be able to complete it. While I understand this mentality as it is becoming more prevalent in modern games, I probably should have turned up the difficulty. If you are like me, I absolutely recommend you do the same.

Conclusion:
For anyone looking for an RPG/stealth/shooter with some open-ended levels to explore and sneak around, hacking everything you find in order to solve problems (or to just rob people) this really is the best place to look! Just watch out: all the yellow tinting might hurt your eyes.

At least it doesn't look like Mad World (this is an actual video game, not a Rorschach test).