Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Let the augmenting begin!

     Many times in the gaming world, a game is hyped up and ends up being a let down. This was why I was a little nervous with Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Eidos Studios-Montreal had been working on and promoting this game a lot. From the videos and articles, the game looked good. However, you can only tell so much from a video clip. I had faith in the game so I picked it up on day one. Here's what I think.

     First let me say that the hype for this game was worth it. I was very impressed with this game overall. If you love a good sci-fi, action, suspenseful feel to your games this is right up your alley. I kept getting a "Blade Runner" feel while playing the game and that is not a bad thing at all. The story of Deus Ex: Human Revolution is pretty straight forward. You play as Adam Jensen. You are almost killed at the beginning, but are brought back to life using state of the art augmented technology. You are now more machine than human and you don't particularly care for that. You soon unravel a conspiracy that may change the face of humanity for ever.

     Throughout the story's main missions you will get the option to pick up side missions. The side missions are actually fun and add more depth to the overall story. I actually found myself excited when the chance to complete a side mission popped up. As you complete these missions you will level up. With each level you gain a praxis point that allows you to enhance one of your many augmentations. This is where the whole choice factor of the games comes into play. You can enhance abilities such as hacking skills, armor enhance, see through walls, become invisible, and much more. Some people complained that there was almost too much to choose from and they felt that the game punished them for choosing something different. I never had this feeling and I think it just makes the game that much better.

     Along with choosing your augmentation enhancements, you can choose the style in which you play the game. You can play the entire game very stealthy and sneak your way around. Or you can go guns blazing and mow everyone down with different weapons and some pretty cool melee attacks. However, I found that playing the game with a more stealthy approach made things much easier and will save you a headache or two. There were times where I did have to resort to shootouts, but mostly I tried to be sneaky.

     Graphically the game looks good. You'll complete missions in futuristic looking cities that are full of lights, and life. There are NPCs walking all over and it just makes the cities feel more real. The different weapons you collect all look different and have a futuristic look to them. The detail in the different augmented limbs on your character and others is very cool. The only complaint that I have with the graphics is that at times, some of the facial expressions on characters don't look quite up to par. They aren't terrible, but not as good as some other games.

     With all of the different augment choices, different styles of gameplay, you will want to replay the game once you are done. Depending on how much you hack terminals in search for secrets, the game can take you well over 25 hours to complete. If you stick to just the main missions it will be a fairly shorter game. If you do that, you are really screwing yourself out of a great game though. In the end Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a solid game and a great addition to the long existing series. The story draws you in and you'll find yourself involved and interested in the conspiracy as it unravels. Now go and get your augment on!

Final Verdict: 10/10

Written by: Alter Ego 83