Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Deus Ex: Human Revolution Available for PS3, XBox and PC

Rating:

9 1/2 Out of 10

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is the re-imagining of a game series that has had a huge fan following for almost 10 years. It is a first person shooter, but I don't stop there. It also has a bit of an RPG feel to it in the use of the story line and how the story is executed.

The year is 2027, 25 Years before the first Deus Ex takes place. You are Adam Jensen, head of security for the worlds largest technology company.
After a mishap during a raid on the building, Adam is forced to undergo emergency surgery, equipping him with certain special abilities called "Augmentations". Think of them as souping up your own body.

Being a HUGE fan of the first two games, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this. And I must say, I have NOT been disappointed.
The game focuses on several aspects: Combat, Stealth, Hacking and Social Interaction. All 4 roles play an important part in how the game is played. This also gives the player a chance to sort of tailor the game to his or her liking and/or play style.
Throughout the game, as you're completing quests, you gain Experience points (XP). These experience points earn you the ability to upgrade and learn new augmentations (Done through Praxis Points). This gives the player an opportunity to REALLY customize their character to match their play style. I, for instance, LOVE hacking. I hack everything I come across. It's easy money and Easy XP. So of course, my first Praxis points went STRAIGHT into Capture Augmentations. Others may prefer a more...beefy approach and get combat upgrades.
The stealth aspect of the game is pretty awesome and the cut scenes when you take out an enemy by surprise never get old.

Pros:
The game does not stray far from the original in overall ambiance and feel. The city-scapes are INCREDIBLE and really give you a feeling of being in a dark, dirty and gritty city. There are a few spots where you're riding an elevator up into a tall tower. If you turn and look out the elevator you can watch as you rise above the city and it's BREATHTAKING.
The controls are smooth and have some customization. They're pretty typical for FPS (At least on the PS3) where as your R1 is your trigger. Having L1 as your "Hide against the wall" button is handy. R3 brings up your ADS (Aim Down the Sites) mode, which is fairly accurate. There are times when I'd rather "Shoot from the hip" due to how large the sites are, but I don't blame design on this.
The Augmentation system is very nicely done. LOTS of ways you can customize, and so far it doesn't seem there's anything you HAVE to have in order to progress, however things will be REALLY rough without certain items.
The Social aspect of the game is very interesting. You have the opportunity sometimes to choose to react to people a certain way. How you react and respond decides whether they help you, hinder you or just plain try to kill you. This makes for the possibility of a different style of play through making replayability a definite possibility.
Hacking computers is a BLAST in my opinion. You capture nodes, use viruses to help you slow the master kernel down, and earn nifty rewards for capturing DataStores and Kernels.

Cons:
I have to admit, I didn't find much wrong with this game. I think the only real nuisance I've had thus far is the special augmentations that require activation. Once you learn them, there's no prompt telling you what button activates them. There is an On-Screen indicator that shows their position on the D-Pad, but it took me a while to figure out what it was and reading the "info" on them in the Aug menu doesn't tell you how to activate them.

Summary:
Overall, I've been having a BLAST playing this game. I find myself sitting down to play for an hour or two, and before I know it my wife's asking me how I can stand to play a game for 6 hours straight. The storyline is strong, the character acting is really good and the overall feel of the game really tries to immerse you into the world. So far it's not an overly short game either. I'm about 2/3 through it, and have been playing for a solid week already.
All in all, this gets a 9 1/2 out of 10 from me.