In a quite dystopian future, a Globodyne-like company named Serif Industries is hard at work trying to unlock the full human potential. It’s this society, people replace their existing limbs or organs with enhanced robotic ones called augmentations. However, not everyone sees these “upgrades” in the same light as Serif does, and they stand firm by acting against the human evolution. You step into the role of Adam Jensen, head of security for Serif Industries that mildly looks like Neo from the Matrix—he even has the same manner of speech. On top of it all, Jensen’s love interest, Megan Reed, was in the process of making a huge scientific breakthrough when the “purists” made an attack on the building, taking out your beloved and nearly killing you in the process. Jensen wakes up six months later to find himself armed with Augmented body parts that make him a force to be reckoned with, as he tries to figure out the real motives behind these attacks.
The big deal about Human Revolution is the fact that it touts itself to let you play how you want. Do you want to go the Metal Gear Solid route and sneak your way into facilities without alerting the guards, or go Call of Duty and unleash a hail of bullets? Unfortunately for fans of the latter, the game lends itself to be played using stealth, and the biggest reason is the AI. It seems to react (or not react if you don’t get caught) more naturally to you when you try sneaking in, rather than when you’re running and gunning your way in. Even something as trivial as a door will confuse them and will leave them just aiming at it, rather than opening it and trying to take you out. On the flipside, the stealth gameplay feels so fleshed out, that I don’t understand why the game doesn’t opt to use it when fighting bosses. Even MGS let you use a tranquilizer gun to deal with bosses, but here you’re forced to rely on pure gunpower.
A cover system which is usually not prevalent in First Person Shooters is not only available in DX:HR, it’s almost a requirement. A quick hold of the Left Trigger will make Jensen hug a near object or wall that you can move along. It’s a necessary tool both in stealth and gunplay. When sneaking, it allows you to move unseen and generally as long as you have the trigger held down, you can rest assured enemies won’t detect you. In gunplay it’s an effective way to ensure Jensen’s survival from a hail of bullets, but it also enables you to move from cover to cover quickly to get better vantage points.
Making choices on how to tackle your enemies isn’t the only thing Deus Ex presents players with. Facilities usually have multiple ways of getting in, whether it’s from a roof ventilation shaft or a side door. Locked rooms can either be hacked into or codes can be found to gain access without the alerting suspicion. Even side-quests can be tackled in various ways. Do you try to win back the favor of an old friend who holds you in disdain to gain access to the police station, or do you say f*ck it and climb your way in through the sewers enter through the police station’s underground prison. It’s these underlying choices that make Human Revolution a joy to play through, not only the first time, but again, if only to figure out yet another way you can accomplish the same goal.
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