Deus Ex: Human Revolution - News Roundup

Another handful of non-review items for Deus Ex:HR.
Tom's Hardware has a Performance Analysis for the tech heads.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun discusses Lethal vs Non-Lethal Approaches (mild spoilers):

It seems reasonable to argue that the finest achievement of the Deus Ex games is to offer some choice about how you handle combat situations. They are combat games, really, but since they are based around infiltration, rather than direct confrontation, there’s considerable scope for activities other than shooting men to death. Getting them to lie down and have a nap, via a range of persuasive implements, also becomes an option. The role-playing ramifications of that are pretty profound, especially when set against the backdrop of most of the games we play. You get to be the guy who doesn’t murder hapless goons (thus neatly sidestepping the “think of the Goon’s family” guilt-joke from Austin Powers) and instead drags their unconscious forms into airducts, traumatising them forever. We like that. It’s ethically okay and it’s gameologically refreshing. It’s also an interestingly different challenge.
DXHR pulls it off so well that John almost exploded when the non-murderous approach was forcible over-written by the bosses. Only the quick thinking of a nearby PC games journalist with a fire-extinguisher stopped the indignant Mr Walker from detonating into a crater where his desk should have been, and instead he was able to walk away, calm down, and vent his frustrations by attacking exploitative game distribution practices. I digress. The point is that DXHR, from the outset, is keen to offer a choice. You can take the tools of non-violent man-defeating into the game pretty much from the outset, and that remains mostly consistent throughout what is a huge, sprawling game.

Edge chats with Lead game designer Frank Lapikas about "making tough choices and getting players to stick to them":

How do you prevent players from wanting to restart when they make an error, or get spotted when playing stealthily? Did you encourage players to live with their decisions?
Well, the whole game was designed so that you had multiple choices at any one time. Even if you decide to go combat, through your choice of weapons and augs, there’s always a way for you to get out of dodge. You are never truly cornered without any means to get through the obstacle in front of you. That’s true for hacking, that’s true for stealth and social too. I’m not aware that we designed any system per se that would prevent players getting blocked - it’s built into the basic mechanics. The only exception would be the social boss-fights - if you lose one of those, it’s essentially over for you; you won’t be able to get what the character was offering.

IGN has 5 Easter Eggs you don't want to miss.
More information.

I spent an hour or so with this last night but didn't get far, I mostly just poked around and chatted to people, did a little eaves dropping in the ladies' toilets, etc.

So far so good, it looks beautiful and runs well, turned off tessellation though coz it was making faces look weird.

The cover system looked very slick but I don't like them in general, popping in and out of 3rd person doesn't do it for me, so I remapped the right mouse click to iron sights and will see how I go without it.

Should be a good test of whether I can really play the game my way but perhaps it's a core mechanic - any other rebels out there? Is it working for you?

It's not often that I get play a pure stealth and sneak approach in an FPS/whatever. So I plan on continuing to use the cover mechanic. Haven't taken a single shot yet. Nice for a change.

I love stealth characters, so I'll be using the cover system. It's the best I've used (not that I've played many "cover shooters" and much better than the auto-sticky systems. Wonderful game so far.

I am playing on "normal" difficulty, and it's quick tricky to take them some of them out silently and non-lethaly even on the first mission. Not much margin in timing your take outs.

Originally Posted by Thrasher
I am playing on "normal" difficulty, and it's quick tricky to take them some of them out silently and non-lethaly even on the first mission. Not much margin in timing your take outs.

Yep.. I started over on "normal" after originally reaching the 3rd mission on "Deus Ex" difficulty. I just reached the same point again, and it feels about right for a first-time playthrough.

I have to agree with Dhruin, it is indeed a wonderful game. So far I'm having at least as much fun as I had with The Witcher 2.

Playing stealth/non-lethal as well.

Although, I also found a rocket launch, which take about half of my inventory space. I hope to put it to good use in the future.

Sounds like a true deus-ex (original) game

Originally Posted by ikbenrichard
Sounds like a true deus-ex (original) game

I've only spent a relatively short amount of time with it so far, but I can already tell you with 100% certainty that DX:HR is head and shoulders above Invisible War, and might even be equal to Deus Ex.

Let me add to the consensus, DX:HR is hella fun. I'm another sneaky bastage, though before augmentation I used lethal force. I'm not sure if you can sneak through the tutorial, did anyone? There are some significant choices, right from the beginning. If you dawdle before taking your first mission, that mission plays out one way. If you hurry up and tackle the mission, it plays out differently. I've only done the tutorial and the first mission, but I can't wait to play more. I'm a methodical player and ended up with 3 augs after the first mission. The game highly rewards full exploration. I must have gotten 500 xp just from exploration, not counting the goodies you find stashed away (weapon mods, etc.)

I can already see what is going to kill me with this game. I always want to eke out the most from every locale. Just posting that I used lethal force in the tutorial has made me decide to restart. I know that I missed a few passwords here and there and I want to replay to see what I missed. This'll be my 3rd restart since I installed the game Wednesday night.

Originally Posted by crpgnut
Let me add to the consensus, DX:HR is hella fun. I'm another sneaky bastage, though before augmentation I used lethal force. I'm not sure if you can sneak through the tutorial, did anyone? There are some significant choices, right from the beginning. If you dawdle before taking your first mission, that mission plays out one way. If you hurry up and tackle the mission, it plays out differently. I've only done the tutorial and the first mission, but I can't wait to play more. I'm a methodical player and ended up with 3 augs after the first mission. The game highly rewards full exploration. I must have gotten 500 xp just from exploration, not counting the goodies you find stashed away (weapon mods, etc.)

Sounds like DX 1 !
cant wait to play !

Originally Posted by crpgnut
The game highly rewards full exploration. I must have gotten 500 xp just from exploration, not counting the goodies you find stashed away (weapon mods, etc.)

I can already see what is going to kill me with this game. I always want to eke out the most from every locale. Just posting that I used lethal force in the tutorial has made me decide to restart. I know that I missed a few passwords here and there and I want to replay to see what I missed. This'll be my 3rd restart since I installed the game Wednesday night.

I am the same. I go over everything with a fine tooth comb. I just finished the first mission and I am embarrassed to admit how much time I spent on it.

I do like that the game lets you go back through after the mission is done and you can backtrack even all the way back to the beginning. I did and there was definitely some goodies that would have been very difficult to reach in heavily guarded areas while the enemies were still there.

I neutralized all enemies, for max xp. It's fun knocking them all out Hard to do though. Some areas are a nightmare.

Originally Posted by crpgnut
I'm not sure if you can sneak through the tutorial, did anyone?

Yep I did. I didn't kill anyone in prelude. But… I did get noticed at the very end, but it didn't seem to matter since it switched to the cutscene. Would I have gotten more XP if I had killed them all?

I'm not sure we get xp for kills, just for progress. I'll try to pay more attention to it this weekend. I'm curious too.

I stayed up a bit last night as the game unlocked at midnight. And I really like it. The challenges, the story, the music, the mood… The intro, when walking and talking with Reed reminds me of the Half Life intro which is still one of my favourites. Although I wish she'd stop nagging me when I just wanted to explore her office.

BTW: For once the x-rays are OK (although i still miss the lateral chest image). But I wonder why they still use x-ray film in 2027. All hospitals in Norway went digital during the first couple of years of the new milennium.

Originally Posted by crpgnut
If you dawdle before taking your first mission, that mission plays out one way. If you hurry up and tackle the mission, it plays out differently.

Eh?

Don't tell me I could have saved those hostages…

Originally Posted by JDR13
Eh?

Don't tell me I could have saved those hostages…

Okay, I won't tell you that you could have saved those hostages.

Must…resist…temptation… to…restart…again..

Well…



And in semi-related news, Gamestop is giving everyone who got Deus Ex from them $50 gift cards.

http://kotaku.com/5834879/gamestop-a…-50-gift-cards

I hate to sound entitled but I'm annoyed. First I miss out on the DLC with an exclusive mission (I don't care about weapons and junk but actual game content I *do* care about) and now they basically get a free game.