Don’t Hate the Player
Last week I played through Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Steam had some sweet holiday deals; DX: HR’s DLCs were $13, Portal 2 was $15 and Mass Effect 2 is going for $10. Some short reviews follow:
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Holy cow I’ve got to release Abstract Messiah ASAP. Lotta similar themes going on.
I thought the combat worked well, at least on my PC. I was really, really frustrated with Mass Effect’s 3rd person/waist high walls system. I adored the ability to swap between an FPS and a 3rd person cover shooter when I felt like it. The boss fights were anti-climactic, but that’s typical for the other DX games. KBlack from Cyberpunk Community forums called it, my favourite weapon was the revolver upgraded w/ explosive rounds.
I really like the fact that the lead characters have hobbies; Jensen has his clock-making, Sarif has his baseball, Pritchard has his performance bike, etc. None of the hobbies have anything to do with the plot - Pritchard doesn’t ride in on his bike at the last moment - but they serve well to look into the psychology of each man. It’s telling that many of these works are left ‘unfinished’ by the end of the game.
None of the endings sat 100% with me. In my giving the Illuminati the middle finger, my first choice, I became a Luddite. In terms of game mechanics, I was disappointed that it’s really you face with 4 buttons to press. It feels a bit of a letdown that I didn’t have to embrace a different style of game play to get a different ending - e.g. if I killed way more cybogs that humans, I would have received the anti-cyborg ending. Almost a deal breaker is Megan Reed: after she flies off Jensen never hears from her again, or mentions her at all? WTF??? The WHOLE point of the game, to me, was getting revenge for the conspiracy killing my girlfriend. Getting turned into a cyborg monster... I got over with pretty quick. Narrative-ly the point where you learn she might still be alive works to add tension to the plot. By that point in the story you’re knee deep in a Wolverine rampage, but learning that Megan was alive ‘brought me back’. For her to just fly off felt... bleh (typical woman lol). I would have liked a better goodbye, or hell make the ‘last transmission’ Jensen makes be directed at her, rather than the political campaign montage we see.
Deus Ex: Missing Link
Coming off the main campaign I wasn't all that impressed. At best it felt like it combined a few homages to DX 1 - boat level, undersea base level, escape from MJ12 base 'naked' level - and mashed them together. Other than the 'factory zero' aspect, there aren't any new gameplay elements and no standout moments. Biggest disappointment is that there isn't much story to be found, just an exfiltration mission. There's nothing bad, per se, but when I pay for more Deus Ex, don't give me less Deus Ex. This isn't going to warrant many play-throughs.
Portal 2
It’s a wholly different experience to DX:HR, but still great. Valve’s great both in the micro AND macro; the set designs are huge and epic, yet a robotic character like Wheatley has truly expressive animations. The single player campaign is a great ride, though similar to Yahtzee’s review, I have doubts as to how replayable it is after I go through the developer commentary version. Haven’t tried the co-op yet.
Story wise there’s not a whole lot going on, there game’s more atmosphere + humour. I was waiting for Wheatley ‘343 Guilty Spark’ moment and I was pleasantly surprised that there was no grand conspiracy; rather, his ineptitude coupled with ultimate power was the real threat.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Holy cow I’ve got to release Abstract Messiah ASAP. Lotta similar themes going on.
I thought the combat worked well, at least on my PC. I was really, really frustrated with Mass Effect’s 3rd person/waist high walls system. I adored the ability to swap between an FPS and a 3rd person cover shooter when I felt like it. The boss fights were anti-climactic, but that’s typical for the other DX games. KBlack from Cyberpunk Community forums called it, my favourite weapon was the revolver upgraded w/ explosive rounds.
I really like the fact that the lead characters have hobbies; Jensen has his clock-making, Sarif has his baseball, Pritchard has his performance bike, etc. None of the hobbies have anything to do with the plot - Pritchard doesn’t ride in on his bike at the last moment - but they serve well to look into the psychology of each man. It’s telling that many of these works are left ‘unfinished’ by the end of the game.
None of the endings sat 100% with me. In my giving the Illuminati the middle finger, my first choice, I became a Luddite. In terms of game mechanics, I was disappointed that it’s really you face with 4 buttons to press. It feels a bit of a letdown that I didn’t have to embrace a different style of game play to get a different ending - e.g. if I killed way more cybogs that humans, I would have received the anti-cyborg ending. Almost a deal breaker is Megan Reed: after she flies off Jensen never hears from her again, or mentions her at all? WTF??? The WHOLE point of the game, to me, was getting revenge for the conspiracy killing my girlfriend. Getting turned into a cyborg monster... I got over with pretty quick. Narrative-ly the point where you learn she might still be alive works to add tension to the plot. By that point in the story you’re knee deep in a Wolverine rampage, but learning that Megan was alive ‘brought me back’. For her to just fly off felt... bleh (typical woman lol). I would have liked a better goodbye, or hell make the ‘last transmission’ Jensen makes be directed at her, rather than the political campaign montage we see.
Deus Ex: Missing Link
Coming off the main campaign I wasn't all that impressed. At best it felt like it combined a few homages to DX 1 - boat level, undersea base level, escape from MJ12 base 'naked' level - and mashed them together. Other than the 'factory zero' aspect, there aren't any new gameplay elements and no standout moments. Biggest disappointment is that there isn't much story to be found, just an exfiltration mission. There's nothing bad, per se, but when I pay for more Deus Ex, don't give me less Deus Ex. This isn't going to warrant many play-throughs.
Portal 2
It’s a wholly different experience to DX:HR, but still great. Valve’s great both in the micro AND macro; the set designs are huge and epic, yet a robotic character like Wheatley has truly expressive animations. The single player campaign is a great ride, though similar to Yahtzee’s review, I have doubts as to how replayable it is after I go through the developer commentary version. Haven’t tried the co-op yet.
Story wise there’s not a whole lot going on, there game’s more atmosphere + humour. I was waiting for Wheatley ‘343 Guilty Spark’ moment and I was pleasantly surprised that there was no grand conspiracy; rather, his ineptitude coupled with ultimate power was the real threat.