Square-Enix Deus Ex Human Revolution review

Gunplay was often frantic, so we found ourselves gravitating towards the stealth approach as it was less likely to get us killed; even on normal difficulty, it only takes a few hits to put you down. Health now regenerates after several seconds, which might anger Deus Ex purists, but you still feel vulnerable when facing multiple enemies. This is less of an issue further into the game, once you’ve sufficiently upgraded your augmentations to help you survive in combat. Being able to turn invisible, punch through walls and throw half-ton crates gives you a huge advantage over your foes, but you’ll need to earn Praxis points to buy each upgrade.

Graphically, Human Revolution is impressive in places, but less so in others. Jenson himself looks fantastic, with fluid animations and very crisp textures, but NPCs and enemies lack the same visual detail. Even with DirectX 11, the overall fidelity of the game engine doesn’t look significantly better than current-generation console titles, but this doesn’t detract too much from the overall atmosphere. This is mainly due to the fantastic soundtrack, which is filled with a mixture of minimal electronic beats and haunting orchestral pieces that are oddly reminiscent of the recent Tron film sequel; they create a techno-noir atmosphere that perfectly suits the tone of the plot.

We were worried that Human Revolution wouldn’t match the dizzy heights of the original Deus Ex, but our fears were unfounded. Not only is it a fantastic game, it actually surpasses the original. A deeply involving storyline, incredibly varied gameplay and a huge replay potential easily make this one of the best games we’ve played all year.