Video Game Review: "Deus Ex: Human Revolution"

Let me preface this by saying, I am reviewing this from the point-of-view of someone watching this video game. I have not played the game; I have watched it, so I cannot personally comment on the game controls, the perceived level of difficulty, or the ease of movement/menu selection. I’m going to focus on what it’s like to watch this game like one would a movie. Here goes…

Deus Ex: Human Revolution takes place in a futuristic world where the forced evolution of man through genetic enhancements is the most current issue. The game follows, Adam Jensen, our main character, who begins the story as security for a company bound on changing the world through genetic enhancements (augments). After an attack on the facility leaves our protagonist near death, he is reconstructed using the very enhancements that the company is designing. The rest of the game follows Jensen’s struggle to find a woman with whom he may or may not have a romantic relationship and who was taken from the facility the night of the attack. Along the way, Jensen makes some serious discoveries about the people he’s working for, the people he’s working against, and interestingly enough… himself.

So now that you know the basic plot (without me spoiling it this time), let me say this:

The graphics are good quality, the movement seems fluid, life-like, the world is realisitic and interesting (many different locations around the world!), and the shooting isn’t the point.

For a an adventure game that looks more like a third-person shooter, this game really focuses on getting through the missions with a specific purpose. There’s no random fighting, and our protagonist is (from what we can tell), a level-headed, keeper of the peace. Now the interesting part is that you can choose to make him more of a rebel depending on the choices in your dialogue and your actions (ie: killing someone instead of capturing them). The plot is quite interesting and complex (which is saying a lot for some video games now-a-days), and I love that you have choices as far as dialogue: that you can get more or less information from someone and that you can make choices that change the game. I’ll give it a HUGE A+ for the player being able to SAVE the game whenever they’d like too! And… the characters are pretty relatable- even if the main character is sporting that stupid Keanu Reeves voice impression.

But….

They allow you to choose augments (enhancements) that will help you through the game without telling you what you will need when you meet the next boss- which is sometimes very frustrating because without something very specific, you can spend hours trying to get some crazy bitch to electrocute herself. 

The game has some replay value, but if you can’t take the character that you’ve worked so hard to create into your next game, then why play it over? At the same time, I’ll say- you can definitely do the game differently the next time, but you’ll also have the knowledge of what augments you need for the bosses… (does that make it less fun or maybe it’s just kinda cheating?).

Overall, I think the pros definitely out-weigh the cons here, and if I can watch this and be interested in it, I definitely think people will enjoy playing it. 

I’m giving this one a:

Bright ****

"It's not the end of the world, but you can see it from here."