Human Revolution’s giant hole

 Critique, Immersive Shooters, Role Playing Games  1 Response »
Oct 052011
 
Human Revolution's giant hole

Criticism of Deus Ex: Human Revolution tends to be mostly directed towards its boss battles. That’s fair, because they don’t fit the game very well, but the overwhelming focus on these moments seems to have distracted people from an equally significant problem, namely that the game seems to fall apart in its final level. The traversal of Panchaea that ends the game pits the player against strange enemies and a weak antagonist, unleashing dull revelations on the way to an abrupt and uninspiring final choice. In terms of both plot and mechanics, Human Revolution goes out with a whimper, even [Read more...]

Adam Jensen, DMPD

 Active Characterization, Critique, Immersive Shooters, Role Playing Games  No Responses »
Oct 032011
 

Unlike previous entries in the Deus Ex franchise, Human Revolution has a clearly characterized protagonist. Except for his extremely dry sense of humor, J.C. Denton was essentially a blank slate for the player, and Alex Denton had even fewer set characteristics. Adam Jensen, on the other hand, comes into his game with a long, involved backstory and several pre-existing relationships. While J.C. gets a reminder in his first mission that UNATCO operatives are police, not soldiers, Jensen has a past that defines him as a policeman, including a refusal to use deadly force against a teenaged boy. Human Revolution goes [Read more...]

Weekly Roundup

 Current Events  4 Responses »
Aug 202011
 

From Dust‘s PC port has always-online DRM, is crap: Really, who didn’t see this coming? Ubisoft has a richly-deserved reputation for hating on the PC, and From Dust‘s DRM and terrible port can hardly be a surprise in light of the company’s past actions. Ubisoft’s upcoming Driver: San Francisco will probably also have this asinine DRM — Ubisoft claims it will not, but a similar claim was made for From Dust. As the man said: “Fool me once, shame on… shame on you. Fool me… won’t get fooled again”. Fortunately, a cracked version is already available, so you can still [Read more...]

Weekly Roundup

 Current Events  3 Responses »
Aug 122011
 

Rage to require 22 GB install on XBox 360: The game is also shipping on three discs: two for the main game +1 for multiplayer. My understanding is that Rage will still be playable from disc, albeit with a notable performance hit. It’s a little silly to be outraged by this (no pun intended), despite Microsoft’s ludicrous price-gouging on hard drives. The existence of the hard drives always made this sort of requirement a temptation, and PS3 owners have already “enjoyed” mandatory installs for some games. The next generation of consoles will all have hard drives, because we’re reaching an [Read more...]