How Robot Arms Got Even More Awesome: First Impressions of Deus Ex: Human Revolution

         It's a massive understatement to say that Deus Ex: Human Revolution as a lot to live up to. After all, the game is a reboot of one of the most beloved franchises in PC gaming history. Whether or not DE: HR lives up to its legacy will have to wait for my upcoming review,but take a look at my impressions of the game after completing the first mission.





       First off, a lot of noise has been made by Eidos about how they didn't just port a console game over to PC, and so far, this has held true. Eidos even hired a separate company, Nixxes, to ensure that the PC version was as great as possible. They succeeded, in spades. I haven't found any evidence of aim assist or any other console holdovers, and, what's this?! Fully customizable graphics?! It really is sad that this should come as a surprise, but for a multi platform game, it is. The only area that bears the symptoms of console portitis is the cinematics. They definitely show a little artifacting at times, but it's not a deal breaker for me.
 

Cover is easy to snap into....

      Mechanically, the game is a dream. The cover system is intuitive and extremely useful, and it's saved my ass on more than one occasion, whether I was stealthing, shooting, or somewhere in between. Again, here is where so many devs drop the ball when it comes to a port. Never once did I feel like the controls were getting in my way, and it truly feels like this is the way the game should be played.

..and fire from.

 The world that I've seen so far is truly astonishing. At first, I thought that I would be constrained only to mission-critical areas, but I quickly found that I was free (at times) to wander around future Detroit. The city is a Blade Runner-esque marvel of dark dirtiness, and i love it. One gets the feeling that there is a lot more going on in the city, and that exploration will yield so much more. I can't wait.

          There's not much more to say now, since I'm only a few hours into the game. Once I finish, I'll spill all the delicious, robotic beans. For now, I'm just dying to get back into the cyborg-sleuthing action.

       Rock wishes that badass robo-arms were affordable......
...and, you know, existed....