Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Xbox 360)

The future is a bitterly divided place, and in the world of Deux Ex the latest battlefront is the field of Human Augmentation. Companies have worked out how to splice advanced synthetic devices into the human body, from replacing limbs with biomechanical equivalents to chips that allow the owner to read and influence people’s emotions.

Resistance to this is strong, reaching all the way to the highest echelons of power; a point illustrated when Sarif Industries are attacked by an unknown force on the eve of a critical presentation to Washington, resulting in the capture of their top scientists, the destruction of their research and the near death of their head of security Adam Jensen.

Fortunately – perhaps – Sarif are able to counter Jensen’s injuries and replace large amounts of his body with their most advanced and experimental equipment. After 6 months of recovery, Jensen is tasked with finding out what happened on that night…

The original Deus Ex was released back in 2000 and is still considered one of the greatest PC games of all time, although a sequel released shortly afterwards was disappointing. It merged the gameplay of a first person shooter with the character management of an RPG, and allowed players to choose how to progress through the game based on conversations and tactical decisions. Why bother trying to destroy that dangerous cyborg when a little investigation and persuasion will uncover a ‘kill switch’ word that will shut him down harmlessly? Why alert your enemies by walking through a lobby with all guns blazing when you can sneak in through the roof and remain undetected?

DX: Human Revolution retains the same game mechanics, but places far more emphasis on stealth as a reasonable option. Jensen starts with a huge number of augmentations in place but most are deactivated – the game explains that this is because they’re experimental and his system needs time to recover after the accident before they’re brought online. Gaining experience unlocks Praxis points, which are used to bring new enhancements online or improve existing ones.

You’ll pick up experience with every main or side mission you complete, but also based on how you do it. Remaining undetected by enemies throughout a whole mission grants a ‘ghost’ bonus, and additional XP can be gained by taking enemies down non-lethally, opening a new shortcut, travelling through secret routes, shooting accurately from the hip etc.

How you spend your Praxis points will determine the routes open to you throughout the game. A particularly risky room traversal may become avoidable if you’re increased the strength of your bionic arms, and can drag a heavy vending machine to reveal an air duct underneath. Unlocking the ability to sprint explosively and fall long distances without damage allow different attack strategies. Unfortunately It’s hard to know at first which options will be useful, so you may find you’ve put your points in a less than optimal place. The environments are designed such that you can always work around issues like this, but it still grates occasionally.

Regardless of which route you take, the characters you’ll meet and the scripting behind them is superb. Jensen himself often comes across as needlessly dour, but that’s to be expected under the circumstances. Your support team have distinct personalities (especially Pritchard, the useful but unlikeable tech) and the story is threaded with uncertainty and dark hints that more is happening behind the scenes. There are odd times when information is revealed through hacked computers and found PDAs that should have Jensen kicking down doors, but for some reason this is left to the player to consider and not mentioned again.

Apart from that, the only other niggles I can see are that the pathfinding for some of the objectives on your map can sometimes feel a bit flaky and unclear, and even with a fully augmented body your character doesn’t feel as fast, dangerous or dynamic as the game trailers promised.

Niggles aside, DX:HR works on pretty much every level. Not only is the gameplay slick but the visuals and atmosphere are top notch, using an unusual but extremely attractive black and gold palette for environments. The locations are suitably gritty and realistic, and packed with a level of detail that can be overwhelming until you learn to spot what’s important. The single player campaign is substantial and will offer a good few evenings of game time as long as the player is prepared to explore the game world to the full... which you‘ll have to, as the game doesn‘t patronise you by placing flashing ‘THIS WAY!' signs above interesting or useful discoveries.

While it’s not the most adrenalin filled experience out there, it has depth, flexibility and isn’t afraid to reward the player for thinking outside the box. Maybe not an essential purchase for hardcore FPS fans, but worth a look for everyone else.

9/10