Deus Ex Xbox

To say the 2000 release of Deus Ex changed the face of gaming might sound hyperbolic if it weren’t true. Warren Spector’s cyberpunk effort followed in the footsteps of his equally worthy System Shock series, smoothly melding the visceral feel of the first person shooter with the character progression and customization elements of role-playing games. At the time, these genres were oil and water, and this successful hybridization set the stage for games like Bioshock and even Modern Warfare. Deus Ex: Human Revolution clearly has a lot to live up to. Fortunately, Eidos Montreal has delivered on all fronts.

Above: El Dorado
Unlike 2003’s unfortunate DX: Invisible War, DX:HR is as unapologetically cerebral as the original, and immediately throws the player into a world in conflict. You play as Adam Jensen head of security at Sarif Industries, a corporation that sells human augmentations (robotic arms, x-ray eyes, and the like). They're on the verge of an incredible breakthrough, when the lab is attacked by mercenaries who kill the company’s leading scientists and leave Adam for dead. Left with no choice, Sarif’s CEO authorizes the use of extensive augmentations to save Adam's life, bringing him back to find out who was responsible for the attacks.

Above: Human Revolution is just as filled with conspiracies as the original
Make no mistake, DX:HR relies heavily on its story to compel players forward. It's well written, expertly voice-acted, and presents two sides to every story, letting the player make up their own mind. If you're the kind of player that enjoys reading all of the lore and flavor text (found primarily in emails and e-books scattered around the world), you'll love the level of detail that DX:HR has lavished on everything. That said, players who habitually skip every cutscene and prefer to spend their time fragging noobs will probably find DX:HR to be an excessively wordy slog.

Above: The less subtle approach
DX:HR's gunplay is good, bolstered by fairly intelligent AI that puts pressure on you, but knows when to turtle and flush you out with grenades. If you haven't upgraded any of your combat augmentations though, even the lowliest soldiers will make short work of Adam, especially towards the beginning. Every weapon can be upgraded with faster reload speeds, increased damage and additional ammo capacity though there are rarer weapon-specific upgrades that dramatically increase your firepower. While DX:HR’s boss fights are entirely combat-based, the game does a nice job of providing options for non-combat players, and there's generally a large cache of weapons in the room if you're the type that typically only packs a stun gun.

Above: How much liquid can Bounty paper Towels really absorb?
The game is also structured much like the original, punctuating the more objective-driven levels with city hub maps. These city hubs are large areas where the player can explore, investigate, buy items and upgrades, and complete side missions. The side missions deserve special mention as they exhibit the same exceptionally high level of polish as the rest of the game. The writing, voice-acting and subplots in these are rewarding and always worth completing. They also serve a dual purpose of giving you a motivation to explore the expansive cities, it's fun to see hidden back alleys and secret rooftop entrances you never knew existed, but it’s even better when the game rewards you XP and items for wandering.

Above: It's yellow, but it's pretty
While Internet wags have made light of DX:HR's heavy use of yellow/gold lighting, not since Bioshock has a game's visual style been so arresting. Mixing the clean ultramodern look of Mirror's Edge with the grungy cyberpunk future of Blade Runner, the game throws in a little touch of the Baroque period as well. You'll definitely notice the way paisley patterns and rococo furniture contrast with the Apple-styled LIMB clinics. It's a subtle touch, but it reinforces the game’s ideas perfectly, old vs. new, organic vs. inorganic, man vs machine. The synth-heavy, minimalist soundtrack also reeks of the game's high production values.