Deus Ex: Human Revolution Previews

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Written by BuckGB on March 25th, 2011

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Deus Ex 3's cover system is as suited to stealth as it is to combat - lurching from one hidden spot to another, and easily negotiating corners. The instinct to take pot-shots is cramped by a lack of aiming assist and a serious lack of ammo. If you want to shoot people, you're going to need to take a couple of seconds to think up a plan.

So, how do the 'four pillars' of combat, stealth, technology and social translate into the game? Most importantly, they give you options: you can scramble your eggs, for sure - but you might prefer to hack, smooth-talk or simply avoid your eggs altogether. All four options won't always be open, obviously, but you'll never be given just one.

However you choose to go through the level, you'll be rewarded roughly equally - find a ventilation pipe that circumvents a security turret, and you'll be awarded XP points as an explorer. Deactivate it with hacking skills, and you'll earn the same XP as a hacker. Only the lethal, Modern Warfare approach seems to be punished - a non-lethal take down awards you a "Mercy" XP bonus that you'll only earn as a killer if you score a clean headshot.

Beyond that, the NPC interactions and chatter add another layer of depth to an already immersive game. Dialogue options sound natural and it wouldn't seem out of place to stop and eavesdrop on a couple of guards talking while on their lunch break. In fact, this can even lead to gaining knowledge of another path to take towards your goal (or a new goal entirely).

Everything about the game's structure is about immersion into the world of Deus Ex. While Jensen has all of his augmentations inserted into his body at the beginning of the game, he must create and strengthen the neural pathways to each of them before he is able to utilize their effects. The HUD used for the first-person perspective is actually an exact representation of what Jensen himself is seeing. Enemies react realistically to sounds and movement, but the AI failed a bit during the demonstration when a guard looked almost directly at Jensen hiding behind a cupboard but failed to raise an alarm.

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