Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Director's Cut (Wii U) Review

Unlike 2052, when the events of Deus Ex took place, in 2027 human augmentation isn't exactly widely accepted. The bio-tech companies that promote it have to deal with criticism, protests, and even violent riots against this bond of flesh and machine, almost on a daily basis. Enter Sarif Industries, the Detroit-based, American version of this new technology, and the workplace of Adam Jensen, whose life turned upside-down from a terrorist attack that resulted in his ex-girlfriend's death. Very close to dying himself, he is saved by a couple of new augmentations, which aid him in his quest for vengeance.

Thus starts an epic cyberpunk crime thriller, where Blade Runner meets Ghost in the Shell, and with global domination conspiracies, corporate machinations, and all kind of megalomaniacs hiding in every crack and crevice. The plot is deep and complex - especially for a modern title - feels like an important part of the series' saga, and even better, it's very immersive. The conversations between the many minor NPCs, the radio and TV broadcasts, and the overabundance of lore found in emails and e-books, all contribute to bringing this world to life. Finally, the audio-visuals, although far from being the best of their time, portray an atmospheric, almost dystopian, but also very realistic, future.

Despite the room for improvement, the extremely serious subject of artificial human evolution, undoubtedly the centrepiece of the show, is handled exceptionally good here, avoiding a biased and clichéd black-or-white approach, by presenting both the good and bad things that could stem from transhumanism. The characters that support this wonderful storyline, although never exploited to their full potential, are very good, and offer a great deal of well-written and interesting dialogue sequences. Adam, especially, although initially very similar to the I-have-no-personality JC of Deus Ex, becomes easier and easier to get emotionally invested in for players, watching his struggles as the story goes on.

Naturally, augmentations are an essential part of the gameplay, too, and with them it's possible to turn the main hero into a walking, hi-tech Swiss knife, enabling him to jump, run, aim, or hack better, lift heavy objects, become invisible, or even crush walls, amongst others. However, despite this giving people the freedom to choose their preferable playing style, it's easy to max almost all available skills in a single play-through, unlike the original whose charm was the ability create some truly unique characters. Furthermore, augmentations are somewhat unbalanced, with some (like hacking) being very important, some (like invisibility) very helpful, and others (like UI enhancements) almost useless.

The third pillar of the franchise, besides the plot and the augmentations, is its open-ended nature. When not on a mission there aren't many things to do in the hub-like levels, but when a task is at hand, things change for the better since it's possible to choose amongst various ways to accomplish it. For example, how should the hero enter a structure? It's possible to talk his way in, find the lock's passcode by hacking into a terminal, find a secondary path, enter like a stealthy detective, or even let his inner Terminator have a bit of fun.

When compared to the first game, though, something feels missing. The discovery of an alternative route or way to reach a goal doesn't really create the same strong feeling of achievement as it used to, something that has a lot to do with the lazy level design, which throws everything in plain sight, and that uses the same three-to-four "entry points" over and over again. A defence robot-disabling terminal here, a "hidden" air duct there, a surveillance camera, a couple of locked doors, and so on. That isn't to say that every single step in this adventure is like this, but when it does it makes everything very repetitive.

While it's possible to enter 'Rambo Mode', it's a bad idea to do so without using the - well-implemented - cover system, since it's easy to go down with just a couple of bullets. Take boss bottles, for example: they have been criticised as this title's worst aspect, yet they are pretty darn good, as long as the player doesn't expect Doom-like action. The real flaw is actually the fact that there aren't enough of those tough and adrenaline-pumping 20-against-one confrontations, which are 10 times better than any boss fight, especially from the totally lame and anti-climactic last one. Make no mistake, though, most of the time it's all about reconnaissance and stealth.

In conclusion, the worst sin here is the overall inconsistency. The non-linear gameplay is awesome, but the level design's frequent simplicity is a bit of a let-down. The action can be super fun, like when it challenges both the player's aim and thinking, and then turn into a repetitive shoot-cover-shoot chore. Finally, the plot has its high points, like in some extremely well-written - and rare - "interrogation" sequences, but it also has its low points, where the storyline is either takes a backseat or is somewhat generic and obvious. In the end, though, when Human Revolution does something good, it does it really, really good, something that certainly makes it an experience worth living.