BLOG UPDATE:
Due to putting in some late night sessions, I've managed to explore the world of tomorrow (thats actually a prequel to the original world of tomorrow...) that is #DXHR/#DeusEx #HumanRevolution. I've been very impressed at the fine balance it's struck between modern day video game conventions (i.e locking to cover on chest high walls, having regenerating health, one-button insta-kills that play out a snazzy cut scene) whilst still being able paying homage the old school and the original Deus Ex (nobody mentions Deus Ex: Invisible War, even the people who liked it, of which there are none). The Black/Gold art style gives the game a distinct look, and Adam Jensen (despite getting voice coaching at the "Gravelly Voice School for Men") manages to be a reasonably interesting lead (even if he; "...never asked for any of this")
Talking of striking a fine balance between "new" video-game conventions and the "old-school" upon first booting up the game, and getting past the tutorial level, where you're brutally attacked and left for dead, only to be saved, brought back from the brink of death and cybernetically augmented by David Sariff to exact some revenge, or as I currently suspect; to be used more as a Lab Rat to see just how much augmentation Adam Jensen can take without needing Nuropozine (Anti-Rejection Drug everyone who is augmented must take)
Upon playing, I was initially overwhelmed with the amount of options that I had presented to me;
Do you deploy lethal or non-lethal take-downs and tactics?
Do you play stealth, with the ability to turn invisible and move silently thanks to augmented legs to slipping past potential attackers?
Do you want to hack computers and read everyone's emails to gain information about vital passwords that may help you turn automated defences against your enemies or the patrolling guards?
Do you want to activate your bullet-proof skin and go in ruthlessly all gunning down all your foes?
...and this doesn't even take into account the multiple routes through the levels, or even through individual rooms that could get you around or into trouble. It's fair to say that when I was finally dumped into a "real" mission in the main game world, I was initially paralysed by choice. After putting in some time and picking some AUGS however, my brain finally managed to retrieve some old data and recall some learned muscle memory from the original #DeusEx, and I soon settled in to some sort of playing style (though not quite like I did with JC Denton due to there only being Cybernetic Arm Blades and a low number of Gas Grenades available).
I'm around one third of the way through the game. Having finished my first visit to Detriot, I'm currently running around the dual levelled Hengshea Island. By this point I've managed to settle into a "role" for my Adam Jensen, who is primarily a Stealth Infiltrator who can hack, and carries with him a Stun Gun, and a Silenced Pistol and Assault Rifle with laser-sights that are used when the Non-Lethal option is no longer a valid option (besides, the laser-sights look cool!) By now I'm at least comfortable enough to feel that I'm part of the game-world and what I'm doing has some wieght and consequence to it. But it's at this point last night, where I suddenly became uncomfortable with my Adam Jensen. When I suddenly realised, that despite my initial protests of illegal behaviour (like when I warned my boss David Sariff that breaking into a Police Station to steal evidence might be a "bit iffy"), that in the past 10-20hours or so, I'd managed to become a Mass Murdering, Kleptomaniac!
At first I had relied on pure stealth, but now that I had the tools, modified weapons and had my newly unlocked augmentations at my disposal, I'd been using stealth only to get onto position and get the upper hand on my enemies before taking them out. Worse, whilst in the City Hub Worlds, I'd taken to breaking into every appartment I could find, and had been stealing anything that wasn't nailed down-not exactly stella behaviour for an Ex-Cop!
I think that having this epiphany shows how good the game is, however I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about it. Maybe my Adam Jensen is about to change his ways, and realise that despite nearly dying, being hacked to pieces and augmented with military grade kit that its really no excuse to run around stealing anything that isn't nailed down - even if he does need those delicious cyberboost bars to power his augmentations....
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