When Square Enix swooped in and bought up Eidos last year, many were curious just what this would mean for Eidos and their future games. In steps Deus Ex: Human Revolution, a prequel to the original game that released 10 years ago for the PS2. PSLS got a closed door showing of the game at this years E3 and were completely blown away, check out our full impressions below.
Upon the starting of the demo one thing was immediately noticeable and that was that Deus Ex looks amazing. Great detail to not only the environment around you but also to the people populating the world. Everything feels very vibrant and alive, really immersing the player into the world. The game itself takes place in Shanghai around 2027, 25 years before the original game and puts players in the role of Adam Jensen, a private security officer with a company that specializes in Augmentations.
Deus Ex will provide every player with 4 augmentations that they will use during the game: Stealth, Combat, Social and Technology. What this essentially does it make the game one that merges plenty of different gameplay styles. Luckily from what we were shown all of these have been given a lot of attention in the development of the game and looked great. The game feels very much like Metal Gear Solid, with the player having the option to go stealth through the game or just blow the heck out of everything you see. There is no right or wrong way in the game, every situation you encounter in the game will have multiple different ways to complete it. You will also find a mixture of First and Third-Person gameplay, with the majority of the time spent in First. The game will shift to third person over the should when you take cover and fire from that cover. The game switches between the two very well.
I spoke earlier about the environment and one of the things to that are the NPC’s walking around, making Shanghai feel very much alive. Each NPC has something new to say and each one will react differently to the approach you have towards them. At one point in the demo Adam approached a civilian with his gun pulled, leaving the civilian to put his hands up and start to panic. The player will also be given options when talking to many story NPC’s, letting you choose whether to bust your way through a situation or try and talk your way in. There are tons of options during your dialogue sequences, really giving the player a wealth of options at their disposal.
After we were shown the social aspect, the demo crew then proceeded to show us a more action oriented stage. Set in a warehouse, this is where things got even more kick ass in the game as it features a very solid combat system. This is where we were also shown the 2nd of your two outfits in the game, the Commando (Urban was the other). Another reference to Metal Gear Solid was given as you have the ability to hide underneath boxes and stealth your way around. The game features plenty of amazing weapons to be used, including a crossbow type gun and heat-seeking rocket launcher. You use cover in the game just as you would in almost every shooter now and it looked to work very well with Adam easily moving from cover to cover.
Augmentations are a huge part of the Deus Ex game and you can use these to raise your strength, awareness and gain access to different areas in the game. You will also find the ability to Hack doors, turrets and cameras to work in your advantage and if you do find yourself in close quarters, there is an awesome take down system. These take downs can be done anywhere in the game, meaning that each take down will be a bit different than the last, giving for a lot of fun times sneaking up on guards. We were also told that the game will feature fully customizable weapons and possibly the coolest thing through the demo was busting through weak walls to choke out enemies.
We left the closed door showing with not only great swag but a new game on our top 10 list of games to look out for in 2011. Everything during the demo looked amazing and I had a hard time even writing anything down because I didn’t want to miss a single thing happening on the TV. If you are looking for a Stealth Action game, then this is one that you should be keeping an eye out for when it releases March, 2011.
