Deus Ex: Human Revolution Previews

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Written by BuckGB on April 28th, 2011

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Jean Jacques-Belletête is infiltrating a warehouse. Jean is Human Revolution's art director, and his version of Adam Jensen is augmented up to the synthetic eyeballs. Augmentations give skills from x-ray vision to the ability to punch clean through a wall and snap a man's neck in one fluid motion and they're gained through '˜praxis' points. Jean's Adam has more praxis than he's supposed to at this point in the game, letting him take a two pronged approach to the mission.

There's a trio of gang members relaxing in front of the warehouse. They're augmented too, but their exposed gold-and-chrome robo-arms lack the style of Adam's matte black guns. Jean should punch them for their gaudy fashion sense and he could. But he doesn't. Instead, he talks to their leader, securing a weapon modification for his tranquiliser rifle. Purchasing the mod doesn't automatically weld it to your rifle. To do that, Jean needs to dip into his inventory. It's a comforting sight for Deus Ex devotees: it uses the same grid system the first game did, where each item takes up blocks of space depending on its physical size. Jean selects the weapon mod, clicks '˜combine', and attaches it to his rifle. He pauses on the screen for a moment, resisting the urge to spend five minutes arranging his toys into neat little corners.

In the not-too-distant future of 2027, cybernetic augmentation is a topic steeped in controversy--religious, political, and otherwise. Where some see only sin, others see evolution. The ongoing debate has already produced disastrous results, most recent of which is the attack on Sarif Industries. After an extensive investigation, Jensen finally has a chance to strike back at those who inadvertently made him what he is today: augmented. After touching down a few blocks from our destination--an unsuspecting lot of warehouses--our character decided it was best to stock up on supplies before attempting the mission. A chatty arm's dealer was nearby, and after some small talk, he was more than eager to tell us all about the heavily armed people he'd recently seen moving in and out of the area. Despite its appearance, we now knew we were on the right trail.

The merchant also supplied us with a target-leading system for Jensen's tranquilizer rifle; it was an upgrade that would prove immensely useful once he infiltrated the enemy compound. For now, the upgrade was stored in our inventory, which was displayed on a large grid similar to the system used in Resident Evil 4. Each item takes up a certain number of slots on the grid, with larger items, such as weapons and upgrades, taking up more space than a CD, for instance. However, you won't be able to carry everything you come across. Once our character made his purchases, he moved onto the target area. Here, our character was faced with his first challenge: infiltration. Guards were stationed all around the building itself, and while there weren't a lot of them, Thisdale (the demo's pilot) decided it was best to use the element of surprise and attempt sneaking inside.

We watch as Adam slowly wanders around the factory, making its way to the bowels to find out why the hacker's brain-chip sent you to the area. His X-ray vision highlights the silhouettes of enemies, computers and security cameras, giving you the space to plan your next move - whether it's to perform take-downs on security or to find the fastest route to a hackable terminal where you can receive new software by capturing networks.

Similarly he can mark up to seven targets - something which becomes necessary for successful stealthing - allowing you to spot enemies through walls along with their distance from you without using the standard X-ray augmentation. Using augmentations slowly eats through your energy - visible on screen in bar form - which encourages you to only use them when necessary or alongside a steady supply of actual energy cereal bars which help you regain your power.

Tired of creeping around, it's time to put that upgraded combat rifle to use, and having marked up his targets, crosshairs on the marked troops indicate that Jensen's good to go with his homing flechettes that can curve over and around obstacles to reach their destination. Entrenched behind cover, Jensen fires away taking out the guards with relatively little effort, leaving only the heavily armoured mech on a rampage. Again, as luck would have it, Jensen manages to get his hands on a rocket launcher that's been left lying around (those careless henchmen!) and after a few well-aimed projectiles and some quick moving between cover, the robotic menace is reduced to scrap. That's where the demo ends, but this is merely a single way in which this section could be completed. Other methods could incorporate the use of a tranquiliser sniper, which enables Jensen to quietly and non-fatally dispatch foes without a fuss or use the EMP gun to render electronic equipment useless.

Being comprised of electronic components himself, it's risky for Jensen to use EMP weaponry, and indeed enemies will use EMP tech against you to disable your augmentations. As such, you'll also use specially formulated edible energy bars to replenish your batteries, allowing you to keep on using your augmentations. You can't use them willy-nilly though, so rationing your bars and battery life will be integral. Startlingly, all of this is based upon real research into artificial limbs and augmentations, so there's a certain level of grounding in reality as far as Human Revolution's technology is concerned. Less realistic, but no less excellent is the grid-based inventory system, which will delight Resident Evil fans, as it allows you to obsessively arrange your items and weapons neatly and in order. Who doesn't enjoy that?

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