There’s a joke about the original “Deus Ex” that any time a fan hears the game mentioned, he has no choice but to run home, reinstall the game on his computer and play it all over again. That this is only the slightest of exaggerations is a testament to how influential the 2000 original was, and how compelling it remains today. You know the narrative choice and character customization you enjoy so much in modern first-person shooters? “Deus Ex” added that to the FPS formula before it was cool; heck, it was what made it cool. Your first choice in that game — between a rocket launcher and a tranquilizer crossbow — underscored all those to come: lethal or nonlethal, stealthy or brazen, virtuous or craven.
After a misstep in 2003’s “The Invisible War,” the latest entry in the series arrives in the spirit of the original to again redefine storytelling in video games. I don’t mean through some kind of new dialogue system; instead, “Human Revolution,” a prequel set in the near future, has a secret weapon that’s much older: plausibility.
The game takes place in a world where biotechnology has crossed the blurry line from healing people to expanding the limits of human potential. Grounded in technology that already exists, “Human Revolution” draws a convincing line from prosthetic limbs to robotic arms; from Lasik to “smart” vision; from electrodes planted in the brains of Parkinson’s patients to chips helping with rote tasks like math. Like the best science fiction, the game presents something we both long for and fear, and the war — of words, at the least — between those who wish to use emerging technologies to expand our species’ horizons, and those who fear something will be lost as we become big iPhones, seems inevitable in our own reality.
| ‘Deus Ex: Human Revolution’ |
| » Systems: PS3, Xbox 360, PC |
| » Price: $59.99, $49.99 (PC) |
| » Rating: 4 out of 5 stars |
“Human Revolution” even predicts the future of art, previewing a movement dubbed Cyber Renaissance. The game’s look is a mix of sleek, industrial black with timeless gold, and at times the game looks almost two-tone for its emphasis on this palette.
Unfortunately, the ambition that marks the game’s presentation does not extend to its gameplay. Don’t get me wrong, reading other people’s emails and sneaking through ductwork delivers the same sense of getting away with something that it did years ago, and hacking is especially fun now that it turns on an elegant minigame.
But the meat and potatoes of stealth gameplay — which, let’s face it, is the meat and potatoes of “Deus Ex” — feels dated. You crouch into a room being patrolled by guards, memorize their routes, wait until one is isolated, take him down, drag his body into the shadows, rinse and repeat. Remind you of anything? Like, say, all the stealth games you’ve played since “Metal Gear Solid”? “Human Revolution” almost does itself a disservice by being so thoughtful about certain things, as questions of plausibility that would be written off in other games – hey, it’s just a game – stand in stark relief against the rest of the game. Why don’t the other guards in the room notice when their friend suddenly disappears? Why do they only notice if their friend’s body is on the floor, but ignore the fact that his gun is lying there? Why, when guards notice you, don’t they silently cue each other rather than call out “I think I saw something”?
A “Deus Ex” game is an occasion to do things better than everyone else, to rewrite some of the rules. As a piece of science fiction, it succeeds like no other game. As a game, it half-succeeds like all the rest.
