Deus Ex: Human Revolution Catch-All

Ya, I mean it's not horrible by any means, but it almost feels like it lacks an identity. Maybe it's design decisions just don't coincide with what I am looking for. My last few RPG type games have been Dark Souls, Skyrim, and FFXIII-2, and although they were all over the map, they all were pretty clear on what their identity was.

There are plenty of easter eggs and things you can find if you explore the hub worlds. There is also an amazing amount of (decently) voiced dialogue that changes as you complete missions or reflects how you approach people.

This is a game with old school sensibilities. The hub worlds are very much designed like the original Deus Ex. They are meant to evoke a feeling of place. I can speak from experience that the Detroit level is a really good representation of downtown Detroit, not that I've ever see Detroit featured in a game before so I don't have much else to go by.

I think the games you guys are comparing them to are not entirely fair. I don't know about FF but in Dark Souls and Skyrim the character is simply a vehicle for the player to experience the game. They don't have much character of their own.

In Deus Ex you ARE JC Denton. The character is not simply an empty ragdoll that your gameplay inhabits. You are taking on the characters role, not vice-versa.

Deus Ex is not about a sprawling, free-form world that you can explore at your leisure. It is much smaller and condensed. Much more is going on in a confined area and there are times when the game forces you to play at a pace you may not be comfortable with. For instance when the game tells you that you have to hurry it usually means it. Dawdling on the objective to loot trash cans will have real consequence.

DE:HR is not a perfect game nor does it perfectly capture the original but it does a helluva job. It is a very different experience than a typical shooter though and I can see how some of the old school sensibilities can seem off in a day and age where we are used to having entire islands to explore at our leisure.

I think DE:HR practically brims with identity. Hell, I'd say that is one of the main drawing points of the game is the fidelity of the world that they created.

DE:HR is my Farcry 2.

In referring to identity, I was definitely not talking about the world and setting, I think that is spectacular, I was more referring to the gameplay. I am not that far into it yet so I might just be "doing it wrong"

Well I'm really enjoying this at the moment. I like the interaction between Pritchard and Jensen. Very nicely done.

I've made it to the second hub and it's all very interesting so far. I may have to put it aside for the moment so I can finish my Mass Effect 2 playthrough... but it's so hard to put down.

Happytime Harry wrote:

In referring to identity, I was definitely not talking about the world and setting, I think that is spectacular, I was more referring to the gameplay. I am not that far into it yet so I might just be "doing it wrong"

Yeah, I can see that. The gameplay is a bit of a mish-mash and they don't always do a very good job of explaining the options you have at your disposal. For instance, you can bash an enemy into a pancake with a dumpster if you take the strength boost but nowhere does it actually explain to you that a dumpster is a pretty wicked weapon. Now I think that bashing someone with a dumpster has a lot of personality but most people aren't going to think to do it until they accidentally chuck a dumpster down the street and kill a dozen civilians.

In the missions that I have played there are definitely many ways to go about accomplishing your goals but the way they present the missions to you it makes you feel like your only options are playing hidey Metal Gear style or cover based pew pew Mass Effect style. There is more variety available in the engine but it isn't readily apparent.

I suggest killing people with dumpsters, it's the way of the future warrior.

I've jumped onboard now thanks to it selling for pennies. Not feeling the game yet but it's early days I think I will get into it but it may go on hold for ME3.

TheArtOfScience wrote:
Happytime Harry wrote:

In referring to identity, I was definitely not talking about the world and setting, I think that is spectacular, I was more referring to the gameplay. I am not that far into it yet so I might just be "doing it wrong"

Yeah, I can see that. The gameplay is a bit of a mish-mash and they don't always do a very good job of explaining the options you have at your disposal. For instance, you can bash an enemy into a pancake with a dumpster if you take the strength boost but nowhere does it actually explain to you that a dumpster is a pretty wicked weapon. Now I think that bashing someone with a dumpster has a lot of personality but most people aren't going to think to do it until they accidentally chuck a dumpster down the street and kill a dozen civilians.

In the missions that I have played there are definitely many ways to go about accomplishing your goals but the way they present the missions to you it makes you feel like your only options are playing hidey Metal Gear style or cover based pew pew Mass Effect style. There is more variety available in the engine but it isn't readily apparent.

I suggest killing people with dumpsters, it's the way of the future warrior.

That's something about Crysis as well. For all they hype up the nanosuit/augs it still comes down mostly to a game of guns. I'd love to see a game with really weak peashooters as a backup, but the environment as your main 'weapon'. I'm thinking Mirror's Edge taking a different path.

I agree Scratched!

I think it is time we get a kickstarter going for a game that has:

A) The destructible environments/physics of Red Faction: Guerilla

B) The tight action controls of Kingdoms of Amalur

C) NO GUNS

D) The Hulk

E) Rated M for Mashing enemies into paste with the first large object in the environment you can get your hands on. I want blood splatters and limbs flying a la' Dead Space.

The Hulk games were fun but the environments were bland, the story was crap, and the action lacked "umph".

F) I vote for CODENAME: DUMPSTERPASTE as our name.

BadMojo wrote:

DE:HR is my Farcry 2.

Same for me. I think the world was pretty cool. I even bought the soundtrack.

TAoS I am almost 100% with your list there, but complaining about lack of story in your Hulk games is just going too far!!

Okay, finally put some serious time into this. I'm still early on, having just started in China, but two things...

1.) So far, the plot hasn't exactly "grabbed" me. Or even "nudged" me.

2.) Adam Jensen is the blandest, lamest protagonist i've seen in such a long time. He's the culmination of years of lazy, boring character design. "Gruff, sandy-voiced 30-something white guy with 5 o'clock shadow" needs to have a moratorium on it for like a decade.

But i'm really liking the Gameplay itself.

Prederick wrote:

Okay, finally put some serious time into this. I'm still early on, having just started in China, but two things...

1.) So far, the plot hasn't exactly "grabbed" me. Or even "nudged" me.

2.) Adam Jensen is the blandest, lamest protagonist i've seen in such a long time. He's the culmination of years of lazy, boring character design. "Gruff, sandy-voiced 30-something white guy with 5 o'clock shadow" needs to have a moratorium on it for like a decade.

But i'm really liking the Gameplay itself.

Agree on both parts. The protagonist and plot were definite weaknesses of the game. Wasted potential with the awesome premise they had (especially if you watched the trailers, especially the early ones).

Thief 4 seems like the logical next step, since that's gonna be more about mechanics than a protagonist or plot.

DEHR really did seem like they paid more attention to be the world and what happens with augmentations than to the main plot. It did sound like a fair amount was cut, which kind of fits with my feeling that the better games are those that have a strong direction and identity, which I'm not sure DEHR had trying to fit into DE's shoes, and it's a fear I have for Thief4. I want to see what they do if they ever get to do a wholly new game.

Also, don't knock the plot in Thief games, although they sometimes take a while to get going in the first few missions while they go through introducing the world and setting things up, there's usually quite a lot going on and lots of story stuff to find.

Prederick wrote:

2.) Adam Jensen is the blandest, lamest protagonist i've seen in such a long time. He's the culmination of years of lazy, boring character design. "Gruff, sandy-voiced 30-something white guy with 5 o'clock shadow" needs to have a moratorium on it for like a decade.

Adam Jensen is just sick of everyone giving him sh*t.

I dug the character. But, I brought character with me.

The ending to that video really makes it.

This game is really not great to come back to after a long break away from it. I started it a long time ago and got distracted with other things, and now I really don't remember anything about it. I wasn't very far to be honest.

I just had to

Spoiler:

go back to the signal tower in Derelict row to get an extraction, but wandered around for a good long while trying to figure out how to get back up there. Got shot a good amount as well.

I'm amused that I'm going for a pacifist playthrough and I currently have a minigun in my inventory. It's pretty much for my next boss battle, but amusing none the less.

I've made it out of the second hub and things are getting interesting. Still like the hacking game and only just found out that you can actually hack the enemy hub. Finding that a much more efficient approach.

I used a bunch of praxis points to upgrade so many things and now have pretty much everything that I want upgraded. Just fleshing out the other ones now, like more batteries etc.

Picked this up on XBL download for $30.00

Why didn't anyone tell me how good this game is?? Wow. I'm having a blast with my pacifist playstyle. It reminds me of all the best parts of the otherwise flawed Alpha Protocol and it has all the stealth gameplay that I've missed from the latest splinter cell.

The style and the world are gorgeous and the cities are believable and detailed.

I even like the hacking minigame! I usually tolerate them at best.

Just entered China. Stoked.

Speedhuntr wrote:

Picked this up on XBL download for $30.00

Why didn't anyone tell me how good this game is?? Wow. I'm having a blast with my pacifist playstyle. It reminds me of all the best parts of the otherwise flawed Alpha Protocol and it has all the stealth gameplay that I've missed from the latest splinter cell.

The style and the world are gorgeous and the cities are believable and detailed.

I even like the hacking minigame! I usually tolerate them at best.

Just entered China. Stoked.

Make sure you get the DLC after finishing the game. It's nice to see how much they learned in between developing the main game and the DLC.

Luggage wrote:
Speedhuntr wrote:

Picked this up on XBL download for $30.00

Why didn't anyone tell me how good this game is?? Wow. I'm having a blast with my pacifist playstyle. It reminds me of all the best parts of the otherwise flawed Alpha Protocol and it has all the stealth gameplay that I've missed from the latest splinter cell.

The style and the world are gorgeous and the cities are believable and detailed.

I even like the hacking minigame! I usually tolerate them at best.

Just entered China. Stoked.

Make sure you get the DLC after finishing the game. It's nice to see how much they learned in between developing the main game and the DLC.

I wasn't even aware of DLC. I should get it after, not during, my run?

Speedhuntr wrote:
Luggage wrote:
Speedhuntr wrote:

Picked this up on XBL download for $30.00

Why didn't anyone tell me how good this game is?? Wow. I'm having a blast with my pacifist playstyle. It reminds me of all the best parts of the otherwise flawed Alpha Protocol and it has all the stealth gameplay that I've missed from the latest splinter cell.

The style and the world are gorgeous and the cities are believable and detailed.

I even like the hacking minigame! I usually tolerate them at best.

Just entered China. Stoked.

Make sure you get the DLC after finishing the game. It's nice to see how much they learned in between developing the main game and the DLC.

I wasn't even aware of DLC. I should get it after, not during, my run?

While it ties in story-wise, you start with a clean slate character and none of your progress carries over into the main game. So you can easily buy and play it after finishing the main game.

Finished. 31.4 hours and every single achievement. All 49 of them

Overall I really enjoyed the game. Was a lot of fun being sneaky, but if that achievement wasn't there, I would have loved to shoot some people sometime. Hardest thing was having all those weapons and not using them. Also, what's with the candy bars? Really? I spend all these praxis points on getting battery upgrades and only the first one recharges? I need to eat a candy bar to get more energy? Ugh. That's gotta be my biggest complaint.

But apart from that, that was a lot of fun and now I must go and do the missing link DLC... or be Batman... hmmm...

BlackSabre wrote:

Finished. 31.4 hours and every single achievement. All 49 of them :)

Would have managed that too... if I knew those darn emails were on my work computer! Grrr...

So I just got into this game about three weeks ago and have been playing it non-stop during all my allowable gaming time. I've got to say, this game absolutely nails the cyberpunk theme and atmosphere. The first moment I walked into Adam's apartment was an absolute revelation. I've been playing it very much stealth and have yet to kill anyone and at this point I'm avoiding knocking anyone out as well. I just got past the ambush at Picus. Love the game, I just feel bad about neglecting Tribes for it, but such is life. I truly do feel like they really put together an amazing world with so much attention to detail.

The twelve endings of DE:HR. The video description has time links to each variation, so I didn't embed it.

I've turned around on this game big time. I'd stopped playing because I wasn't feeling it. I didn't like the control set up (I hate the 'let's put all the functions on buttons no one else puts them on' school of layout design,) the stealth and combat seemed weak and Jensen's massive shoulders were freaking me out.

Picking the game up and playing some more, the positives started coming through and the negatives receded into the background. I like a lot of the characters and voice work. I'm enjoying my usual style of stealthy combat, I'm into the upgrades, etc and punching dudes out Bourne style is a thing of beauty.

Spoiler:

The doorman at the start of the China area was classic. He told me to pay 1000 to get into the club or get a membership card. I told him I'd think about it and went to look for another way in. Seeing no other entrances after a cursory glance I went back to the doorman and floored him with one punch to the face. As I stepped over his body and walked into the club I collected his membership card.

The one thing that is pissing me off is the proximity mines. There I'll be, behind a crate, tittering into my hand, as two guards approach one of my mines. The mine will trigger. There will be an explosion but, as the smoke clears, the two guards will be standing there hail and hearty. Considering this is the future DE's mines are really crappy.

I think explosions in most games take a few liberties.

Scratched wrote:

I think explosions in most games take a few liberties.

Generally though, in most games, if I was expecting guys to get blown up they get blown up. Also, proximity mines should be kinda fool proof. The enemy by default should be in proximity to the explosion.

Possibly the mines aren't bad. Maybe the sensors are too good.

I'm actually planning on going back and doing an all guns blazing playthrough. I have all the achievements so it would be about whatever I felt like doing at the time. One of these days anyway