Gamingheap Review - Deus-Ex: Human Revolution (PS3)

I had been interested in this game for quite some time before I bought it in December last year. Now I've actually been playing it I can talk about my views on what it is like.

The game is set in 2027, 25 years before the first title of the series, at a time when cutthroat multinationals have developed their operations beyond the control of national governments. The game follows Adam Jensen, the newly hired director of in-house security for an up-and-coming biotechnology firm specialising in human cybernetic enhancement, Sarif Industries. After a brutal act of industrial terrorist sabotage at Sarif's Detroit-based headquarters, the mortally wounded Jensen is forced to undergo radical life-saving surgeries that replace large areas of his body with advanced cybernetic enhancements. Upon returning to work, he becomes embroiled in the global politics of the human enhancement movement in the search for those responsible for the attack.

The first thing that hit me was the story. It's awesome how deep it goes. It's so much better than the crap the writers come up with for games like Call of Duty. I'm about 10 hours into the game and it hasn't got boring once! There are quite a few characters such as the pilot, the techy and of course the boss of Sarif Industries. Sure, they're pretty fleshed out and they are effected by the story just as much as Jensen is, however the problem lies with the diversity and quantity of these characters. The people on the streets of Detroit have nothing interesting to say and a lot of them say the same things. Heck, a lot of them look exactly the same but with different clothes. This is especially funny when they are standing next to each other. 


Occasionally you'll be walking along and a couple of people will be having a conversation about something they saw or an object they dropped. Usually, if you listened carefully, you can find the place they were talking about and get some extra ammo or a health item. Things like this make the game a bit more realistic and lively rather than a straightforward missions-to-mission FPS. Of course there are dozens of side-missions which are actually surprisingly lengthy. These missions reward you with bonus weapon mods or more ammo etc. as well as a trophy/achievement!


The visuals aren't too shabby and everything fits to the semi-futuristic feel of the games era. My only problem is with the look-alike NPCs which seem to crop up regularly. There's quite a large attention to detail too. For example if you are in an elevator there's a sign that states the maximum weight or if you are in someone's office there will be post-it notes which if you look closely, you can actually read.

Deus-Ex: Human Revolution is primarily an FPS game with a large side-serving of stealth. There are many situations where there are guards on patrol and if you are seen they will fire at you. On these frequent occasions there are different ways of getting around. You can pick them off one-by-one with a silenced weapon. Find an air-vent, sneak through it and hope that it ends up behind the patrols. Or you can of course grab a combat rifle and let all hell lose on them! Jensen's augmentations come in handy here too. They can be upgraded using 'Praxis Points' earned by progressing through missions or by buying Praxis Kits. You can many augmentations. Some will allow Jensen to take more damage. Another will allow Jensen to fall further without taking as much damage. There are even upgrades which allow you to see enemies through walls or throw heavier objects such as refrigerators!

The combat itself is fun. You can carry as many weapons as your inventory can fit and there are a lot of different weapons from what I've seen. I've used sniper rifles, combat rifles, pistols, revolvers and even RPGs! If you search hard enough there is always ammo to be found. The cover system is excellent allowing you to hide behind walls and peek out quickly to get that tricky head-shot. You can also do forward-rolls between cover which looks really cool. One highlight of the game is the hacking system. There are 5 hacking levels - 1 being easy and 5 being the hardest - and you must upgrade Jensen's hacking perks to be able to hack higher levels. The hacking is a sort of mini-game where you have to take control of nodes and quickly reach the exit node before you are detected by the security system. If you succeed you can access hidden areas or read secret info on computers. 

In conclusion, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a fairly unique game, mixing together stealth, FPS and a small amount of free-roaming aspects to create a fun and enjoyable game with a deep story that fits very nicely. The lack of variance in some NPCs and what they say can numb the experience and there are some boring and tedious sections where you seem to just be walking from one area to the next and talking to people which comes as a small disappointment against the frequent encounters with enemies and the fun; creative strategies that can be formed to get around them.

My Rating: 7/10