Deus Ex: Human Revolutions Previews

A new round of Deus Ex: Human Revolution previews have hit the Internet. The previews are apparently based on a hands-off demo showcasing a FEMA facility Adam Jensen is infiltrating about 6-10 hours into the game. GameFront.

Through most of the demo, Jensen chooses a non-lethal, stealth approach, although in Deus Ex, the player has full reign to approach every situation however he or she chooses. Unlike other more open, non-linear games like Fallout 3, for example, I’m told Human Revolution’s options for approaching a situation are more about access players can sneak into off-limits areas and hack their way through doors, as long as they aren’t seen. That sort of world gives the player a lot of options but it also requires strategy and tactics. The more you do, the more rewards you receive for Jensen, like the ability to add further augmentations to his body and make him stronger, or items to use to upgrade weapons.

As Jensen sneaks into the warehouse by carefully combining an aug that allows him to use active camouflage and basically become invisible for a short period, and the game’s cover system. Staying behind cover (which switches the player out of the default first-person view mode into a third-person camera setup) and breaking lines of sight is key to staying hidden when using stealth; Jensen waits for enemies to turn their backs as he moves around the outside of the compound, diving from spot to spot and turning invisible when the gaps are too big between trucks and concrete walls. He also uses an aug called (mark and track) that allows him to paint different enemies with a tracking marker, which he can see on his heads-up display through walls, and which displays the enemy’s distance from Jensen.

Strategy Informer.

Hacking, in this game, is more than the quaint sideshow that you see in other franchises, like Mass Effect (although to be fair Mass Effect 2’s hacking was a least challenging). Hacking in Deus Ex involves real-world computing dynamics, and it’s all about taking over servers to reach the end before the main security programs find you and kick you out. Whilst we’ve only seen one form of hacking so far, we understand that there’s several different types of hacking, depending on what you’re doing. Taking down cameras, opening doors, disabling security systems… it’s a very real, very in-depth part of the gameplay, and it can be improved through augmentations and skills.

Official Xbox Magazine.

Opening fire from behind the safety of a metal crate, we watch as the tagged enemies fall off the visual radar one by one – bullets gently curving downwards into the skulls of unseen enemies. It’s hard to tell just how useful this ability will be until we’re able to get our hands on it, but the trajectory curve seems restrictive enough to ensure it doesn’t feel too overpowered.

After mistakenly chugging a bottle of vodka instead of chucking an EMP grenade to deactivate the stairwell surveillance, we see Adam deciding to face the final challenge we saw head-on; squaring up to a deadly-looking ‘Box Guard’ with a nearby rocket launcher. Handily transforming from their easily transportable cube shape, Box Guards unfold transformers-style into dangerous robotic bastards that don’t seem fazed by bullets. Nearby cover doesn’t last long against whatever heat the Box Guard is packing, but provides just enough time for Adam to blast a few rockets into its chunky chassis.

Eurogamer.

There’s something about the width of the courtyard, the lighting and the unhurried pace of Jensen’s exploration that screams Deus Ex. There’s even something wonderful and familiar in the way that Jensen is framed while his gruff bass tones are intercut with the people he questions.

I truly and honestly don’t mean this as an insult, but the conversation Jensen has with an African American gun salesman near the landing site is a little stilted in a fashion that’s endearingly Deus Ex-y.

PS3 Trophies.

Tired of creeping around, it’s time to put that upgraded combat rifle to use, and having marked up his targets, crosshairs on the marked troops indicate that Jensen’s good to go with his homing flechettes that can curve over and around obstacles to reach their destination. Entrenched behind cover, Jensen fires away taking out the guards with relatively little effort, leaving only the heavily armoured mech on a rampage. Again, as luck would have it, Jensen manages to get his hands on a rocket launcher that’s been left lying around (those careless henchmen!) and after a few well-aimed projectiles and some quick moving between cover, the robotic menace is reduced to scrap. That’s where the demo ends, but this is merely a single way in which this section could be completed. Other methods could incorporate the use of a tranquiliser sniper, which enables Jensen to quietly and non-fatally dispatch foes without a fuss or use the EMP gun to render electronic equipment useless.

Being comprised of electronic components himself, it’s risky for Jensen to use EMP weaponry, and indeed enemies will use EMP tech against you to disable your augmentations. As such, you’ll also use specially formulated edible energy bars to replenish your batteries, allowing you to keep on using your augmentations. You can’t use them willy-nilly though, so rationing your bars and battery life will be integral. Startlingly, all of this is based upon real research into artificial limbs and augmentations, so there’s a certain level of grounding in reality as far as Human Revolution’s technology is concerned. Less realistic, but no less excellent is the grid-based inventory system, which will delight Resident Evil fans, as it allows you to obsessively arrange your items and weapons neatly and in order. Who doesn’t enjoy that?