Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Xbox 360 I PS3 I PC
DEVELOPER: Eidos Montreal
PUBLISHER: Square Enix
RELEASE DATE: August 23, 2011

The Deus Ex franchise has been a favorite of gamers everywhere since the first title arrived in the year 2000. Its sequel, Invisible War, wasn’t quite as well–received as the original, but an impact was surely made with the two games. So, as you might have imagined, when a third game in the series was announced fans were elated.

The new game, titled Deus Ex: Human Revolution, is the first since 2003 and is a prequel set in 2027, 25 years before the events of the original game occurred. It follows Adam Jensen, the head of security for Sarif Industries headquarters in Detroit. The company specializes in the booming human augmentation field, replacing lost or damaged human limbs and organs with powerful new robotic replacements.

The game opens with a couple of cinematic sequences before picking up with Jensen and his ex–girlfriend, Dr. Megan Reed, who are preparing to set off on a trip to Washington D.C. to show off their research. The two take a scenic walk through Sarif Industries””including a peek at the exciting new weapon, the Typhoon””before splitting up. Jensen heads up to see David Sarif, the founder and CEO of the company, when something goes wrong. Sarif sends Jensen to check it out and make sure everything is okay, but little do they know, things are very much not okay.

When he gets down to the floor where the disturbance is, Jensen finds a gruesome scene. Bodies are everywhere and alarms are going off left and right, so he sets off to find Megan. At one point, a giant augmented man appears from a wall and guns down one of the employees. Jensen eventually discovers that the giant man is one of three augmented people leading the attack on the building, but by the time he realizes this he’s already being attacked by the apparent leader of the trio, who quickly hurts him badly before putting a bullet in his head.

In true RoboCop fashion, Jensen is then fixed up with multiple augmentations to repair the near–fatal damage he received in the attack. When he returns to work things are unsurprisingly much different, and Jensen begins his quest to find out who did this and why.

When playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution, approach it with much patience. The great thing about the game is you can play it however you want””run and gun like an action movie star, stealthy like a master spy, or a combination of the two””but it’s a lot to take in at first, especially when you get into the augments and upgrades. Augment upgrades are what you purchase to accommodate the type of game you’re playing. If you want to play stealthy, there’s augments for silence and invisibility and hacking computers, doors, and other things that will help you through quests. Or, if you’d rather become a superhero, you can augment yourself to be better with weapons and enable yourself to jump higher, run faster and quieter, or fall safely from any height.

But once you get a significant chunk into the game and you’ve learned all of the ropes, it’s a tremendous amount of fun. Personally, I like to dabble in everything, and so I wait for particular situations to arise that cause me problems, and then I’ll acquire the augments that I need to get through that situation. It’s a good way to try everything the game has to offer out, and then when you replay the game, you can go at it the way you liked best.

And speaking of replayability, there’s plenty of value there as well. The game offers many side quests””which are all fresh and interesting, not repetitive at all””and a great deal of conversations that will require you to choose what dialogue to use, which can swing a situation one way or another depending on your choices. These things, plus the multiple gameplay options, means you can start a new game and go a completely different way with it””something everyone can appreciate.

One of my favorite things about Deus Ex: Human Revolution also falls under the lines of replayability, and that’s the outcomes to the choices you make. A lot of popular RPGs have you make huge decisions that have monumental impacts on where the story goes, but many of these decisions are obviously important and can feel a little staged. In Deus Ex, however, there were multiple instances where something huge will happen and it feels so natural, as if it were going to happen no matter what. But then, going back and replaying that part, you’ll discover that it could most definitely go another way.

If you have the hard drive space on your system of choice, it has to be said that you should absolutely install the game before playing. Playing on the Xbox, I had never installed a game before (never really had the space to do so) and don’t recall a time where I needed to. But with this game, the load times were unbelievably long. To a point where it was almost a deal–breaker early on. But after installing it, everything moved much faster and smoothly, enhancing the overall experience.

When I began playing this game, I really wasn’t sure if it would be my thing””especially considering the fact that I’ve never played a Deus Ex game before this. Hell, even a few hours in I was beginning to think I wouldn’t like it (especially with the load time issues mentioned above). But once things started to click and come together, I quickly realized something: I love Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

I love the story, I love the gameplay, its many options, and the amount of detail put into the world. I love the Blade Runner feel to it and the soft ambient music that sets such a perfect tone to your experience. I love everything about it, and the game has become one of my favorites of the last few years.

Human Revolution is a must–play for you gamers who truly appreciate a beautiful and well–crafted game with a lot of customization and gameplay options, and take my word: most of you would be missing out to pass it by.

Trailer