Revolution 2.0?
In Deus Ex: Human Revolution, You play as Adam Jensen, an ex-SWAT specialist who’s been handpicked to oversee the defensive needs of one of America’s most experimental biotechnology firms. Your job is to safeguard company secrets, but when a black ops team breaks in and kills the very scientists you were hired to protect, everything you thought you knew about your job changes. The plot has some expected and unexpected twists and turns, but it’s an engaging story that is so good that you’ll go through the game multiple times to see the alternative endings you can get.
The Director’s Cut version was originally meant only for the Wii U, but the PS3/360 versions include the same new features apart from Gamepad support obviously. The new features include improved AI, visuals and improvements to the game’s biggest issue…boss battles. The problems still persist, but they aren’t nearly as cumbersome as before. Besides that and coming with the Missing Link DLC included and optional commentary, there isn’t a whole lot new to the package. Having said that, it does have its own separate trophy list for those who want a second platinum!
Deus Ex is a combination of gameplay types including third-person shooter, FPS, Stealth and RPG elements. There is also quite a bit of hacking that needs doing to access files to complete objectives. Adam will get side-quests and story missions to gain XP to upgrade his augments which will improve his abilities with weapons, stealth and hacking. You’ll also get to make a number of choices which will change the story, like in Mass Effect.
The game is handled very well and the AI is improved in the Director’s Cut. Some might be put off by the difficulty as just a few shots can put you down, so stealth is usually the safest option…but it can be tricky to sneak at times and the controls for sneaking can work against you during a critical moment. If there’s one thing about the game that bugs me is that you need to replay it a few times to get your augments to the maximum level and try and go through it without being detected through an entire playthrough.
Hacking is my big pet peeve about Deus Ex. It’s not fun and it can be downright annoying to do, especially when you have a few seconds between failure and success. You can use nuke bombs to stop being detected, but you can only use a few of them in the network and they are rare. I like that you can tackle the game in any way you see fit, but trying to go guns blazing is usually a bad idea that results in death.
Besides hiding behind cover, you’ll have to hide the bodies of your enemies to avoid them going on alert. There are also plenty of vent shafts for you to sneak through Solid Snake-style, but enemies are smart and very accurate with their aim. You’ll need to be as good as Sam Fisher if you want to sneak past undetected, although if you are spotted and manage to get away the alert phase will die out after a period of time.
Visually, Deus Ex is a nice looking game. Adam is a bit of a Neo look-alike and has the voice to match it, so he’s pretty cool. The characters are a mixed bag though and some have clichéd stories and dialogue. The game itself looks great, but the facial animations aren’t the best out there, which is a shame.
The Verdict
Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Director’s Cut improves things from the original 2011 game, but the new features aren’t enough to warrant a second purchase for anything other than another platinum trophy. However if you missed out on it the first time, it’s a worthy addition to your collection.
