Deus Ex: Human Revolution Reviews

We have another small batch of reviews for Eidos Montreal’s Deus Ex: Human Revolution, in line with the positive treatment the cyberpunk prequel received from the press so far.

USA Today, 3.5/4.

While the story (and dialogue) might sometimes seem over the top, all your missions and actions feel relevant to the tale and not a weak excuse just to shoot people. The side-missions, which vary depending on whom you talk with, are also invariably linked to the plot.

Helping out the gratifying, customizable gameplay and intriguing story and characters is an imaginatively designed world complemented by cinematic cut-scenes and a Hollywood-style soundtrack. Too bad the suspension of disbelief is sometimes broken with frequent and long load screens and pop-up messages about the game itself. As an example of the latter, early on in the game, during a helicopter ride, a message appeared thanking me for preordering the game and as a result I’ve got bonus weapons and levels to play with. Sigh. Why spend so much time building a believable, immersive world if there are reminders you’re only playing a game?

Overall, however, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is an exceptionally fun single-player game that lives up to the coveted series.

Las Vegas Review-Journal, scoreless.

Everything is nearly flawlessly executed, quite entertaining and addictive in its game play.

It’s so huge, there are whole downtowns to explore, plus hotels, nightclubs and factories. There are so many characters and plots, the game holds more than 200,000 spoken words of dialogue (some of which is confusing dialogue, as are some instructions, but whatever). It’s a tough game to beat.

The other day, a friend theorized iPhone games will kill Xbox 360 and PS 3. He’s crazy. iPhone games seem like cave drawings compared to masterworks such as “Human Revolution.” This is simply gaming at its most impressive.

Botchweed, 4.0/5.

It’s best asset is by far it’s setting; the dirty, grimy streets and back-alleys perfectly compliment the dark, futile mood, and if your visit to ‘˜Heng Sha’ in Future-China doesn’t win you over to the aesthetic majesty of Human Revolution, you might as well poke out your own eyes.

I do feel like there are several missed opportunities within the mythology of the game; such as the passing comments regarding an addiction to Neuropozene (an anti-rejection drug augmented humans need to take) which I’d have liked to have seen delved into a little more, along with Adam Jensen’s sketchy past and subsequent dismissal from SWAT that remains largely tertiary in the grand scheme of things.

Saying that though, by the time the credits rolled I was more than satisfied with what Human Revolution gave me for my money, and It’s the only game I’ve ever played where I found myself planning out a second playthrough before I had even finished my first. If you can look past a multitude of sometimes-exasperating issues, Deus Ex is one hell of an experience and I really think you should grab a cup of tea, sit down and soak up everything it has to offer.