The core gameplay allows for multiple approaches to a situation. It's possible to go through the entire game without killing a single person (bosses aside). In some ways, it’s my dream game. It’s a perfect blend of free exploration a la Skyrim, the cover-based stealth mechanics of Splinter Cell, and the branching narrative of Mass Effect. It's like somebody took all the best ideas of Western game design and distilled it into one game.
A large part of this has to do with the impeccable map design. The levels are made with pockets of sneaking space, ventilation shafts, flowing cover, and different elevations to take advantage of Adam Jensen's unique traversal abilities. He can super jump, fall from great heights, punch through walls, and see through them. By that same token, locked doors can be blown up, hacked, or bypassed with codes lifted from Pocket Secretaries.
The game is all about stealth and punishes you appropriately for not moving around with finesse. Getting caught isn’t a death sentence, but unless you’re properly equipped, it might as well be. Even if you elect to go Rambo with your arsenal, you’ll still be utilizing cover a lot.
Whether it’s eliminating enemies with takedowns and headshots or bypassing security systems with vent-crawling and hacking, you are rewarded with XP. After gaining enough XP, you level up, granting “Praxis” points, the games upgrade currency. You use these points to upgrade augmentations that allow Jenson to move more effectively, hack more effectively, and kill more effectively. They’re a limited resource and force players into distinct play styles based on what kind of upgrades they acquire.
Now this could’ve been the greatest game of all time if it wasn’t for one little thing: the boss fights. The boss fights force an awkward style of gameplay incongruent with rest of the game’s design. If you’re going for a stealth-only run, encountering a boss fight is the moment you are screwed. They become frustrating roadblocks in an otherwise stellar experience.
Deus Ex fills out the definition of “cyberpunk” nicely, checking off the box for “hackers,” “corporations,” and “civil unrest” over the issue of human augmentation. The plot takes a backseat to the setting. Neo-Detroit and the fictional Chinese city of Hengsha are appropriately dark, seedy, and technologically-infused in its realization. Hacking computers to read emails and picking up ebooks flesh out more of the world’s backstory.
The game does suffer from drawbacks. Certain augments are completely useless and the hacking minigame gets tiresome quickly. Just like in Mass Effect and Bioshock, an interesting time diversion increasingly becomes a distraction to the core gameplay. Developers should realize that at the highest levels of hacking, the final upgrade should simply automate the process. I would certainly max out my hacking skills just to skip the minigame.
Unfortunately, the game ends with a bitter taste. The conclusion pays no heed to your choices throughout and essentially gives you an opportunity to view four slightly different cutscenes.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a fantastic experience marred by a couple boneheaded design decisions. If it weren’t for those missteps, I would have no trouble calling Deus Ex: Human Revolution a true masterpiece. As it is, it’s a pretty damn good game and among the best for 2011.
