Following the recent murmuring about a new Deus Ex game and possibly a Deus Ex movie (murmuring in the form of some not-so-subtle trademarking), and following the news that a Wii-U port was being released in May, I thought this to be ample reason to take a look back at the third instalment in the venerable Deus Ex series. Given the option, would you be prepared to upgrade and improve your body with mechanical implants that render you an all-purpose super-human with super-strength, capable of jumping off of tall buildings and turning invisible? Of course would. Yes, you would, I would, Steve would; everybody would. Apparently, by 2027 the average IQ has plummeted below that of the average kidney bean.

So as I’ve already made clear, the year is 2027. ‘Augmentations’ as they are called, which can improve on practically any aspect of the human body and mind, are common parlance by this stage in Earth’s history, and several huge corporations have risen in the wake of such a universal invention. You fit snug into the boots of ‘Adam Jensen’ (which is assonant with J.C. Denton, coincidentally enough), the head of security at Sarif Industries. His girlfriend, Dr. Megan Reed, who is to biotech science what Jimi Hendrix was to guitar, is murdered in an aggressive attack on Sarif Headquarters that leaves Adam broken and dying. His company then augment him heavily to save his life and so he can use his newly found knack for espionage to track down the aggressors and avenge his lovely girlfriend.

I found the plot to Deus Ex: Human Revolution to be thoroughly engrossing and engaging and I have fond memories of eagerly power-walking home from whatever it is I do all day to dim the lights and re-join Adam Jensen. The story is coherent and strangely relatable, as Jensen finds himself in a position where he can tip the balance of a conflict of interests between people and corporations much more powerful than him, but which he is at the centre of. I’ve heard people yell that one of the key weaknesses of Deus Ex: Human Revolution is the ending. Without revealing anything, it’s true that the actual form the ending takes is unexpected and nothing is really resolved, but that is fitting with the nature of the game as a whole. Jensen believes he is in control and significant, but he is just a lapdog being passed around and kicked. The only way Jensen can affect the world is through immense effort, self-sacrifice and self-realisation, and then he has to overlook the fact that one man should not decide Humanity’s future. Deus Ex: Human Revolution was one of those rare games that left an imprint on me once it had finished. I put down the controller and I thought about what had happened and whether or not I had made the right decision (for people who have played it, I picked the final option). I can’t say that I felt the same way after finishing most triple-A games: ‘Should I have shot the armed soldier with the assault rifle or the pistol? Oh, the burden of choice!’

We are led to believe that as a result of being turned into a smoothie by the armed mercenaries who attack at the beginning, Adam Jensen required more augmentations than anybody else at that point in human history, but he still looks smooth and fleshy as one of us squishy ordinary humans. I grew attached to Adam Jensen, as effort is made to flesh out his character, particularly with the side-quests considering Adam’s parentage and one heart-breaking senile old woman. It is a huge credit in the games favour that I felt so much for someone who wears sunglasses indoors, which is the tell-tale sign of a moron (although to be fair, the sunglasses are embedded permanently into his skull).

The game doesn’t just have a solid plot though. On occasion, the game enters into L.A. Noire-style interrogations which I found highly enjoyable and satisfying. Deus Ex games have always been known for their unique accessibility, i.e. if you need to get inside a building and steal a file from a computer, you can either snake your way through ventilation shafts, taking out guards with the stun gun and tranquilizer rifle if you’re like me and love your fellow man (that is until you run out of ammo, which is constantly); you can do the same as above, but execute each guard like a psychotic assassin, or you can kick down the front door with an assault rifle in each hand and yell that you’ll repurpose the vital organs of every man and woman in the building as a huge, garish hat. It’s rare to see a game that caters so well to a wide spectrum of gamers.

Anyone who has read anything about this game will know about the boss-fights. The normal issue people tend to raise about the boss-fights is that no matter how you attempt to play the game, you are forced to use heavy weapons. Although this isn’t in-keeping with the whole open-ended philosophy of the Deus Ex series, the fact that I had to use Assault Rifles or Shotguns didn’t annoy me off too much. It added a hint of variation to a play-through that would otherwise just be knocking guards on the noggin and hiding their unconscious bodies. What did annoy me about the boss fights was the lack of connectivity they had to the plot. Each and every boss, bar the last and considerably worst one, is some random member of the mercenary team that attacked Adam in the first mission. They are not-characterised at all and therefore the fights lose all context and meaning and just become a chore that you have to complete systematically in-between missions before you can continue with the story. It’s like the game was worried that people were getting bored, so they felt they had to throw in the odd one-on-one fight to the death; but the thing is, I wasn’t getting bored, so there was no need! If they had to put in boss fights of this nature, at least make them people I can be bothered getting angry over.

Despite the out-of-place boss fights which make playing the game feel like trying to solve a rubix cube that periodically morphs into a football, the game is still fantastic in so many aspects that I’d still credit it as one of my favourite games. Open-ended, enjoyable gameplay mixed seamlessly with a brilliantly written story and in-depth characters, and now all that’s left to do is what for the year 2027 so we can all get robot arms. Take my advice and enhance your Wii-U game collection with a copy, when the time comes.

© 2013 – 2014, zero1gaming.com. All rights reserved. On republishing this article your must provide a link to this original post