Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Ongoing Impressions Part 10

Upstairs are cubicles and the wonderfully decorated offices of Tai Yong’s head honchos. The offices have very modern, IKEA-styled furniture, adorned with wood laminate floors and stone masonry on the walls for good measure. I spend most of this time hacking computers and perusing e-mails, eventually working my way to the final elevator that leads directly to the penthouse and VP of the company.

I’m struck. Not by a bullet, but by the view. It’s a modern palace up here. Blade Runner inspirations abound, as a a soft warm light radiates through the windows and onto large polygonal statues. As beautiful as the place is, I have a sinking feeling; there’s no way that there’s a big open space with conveniently placed hiding spots unless a fight is coming. It’s got to be a boss fight. I walk slowly, prepared for an ambush. I hack a couple of computers, head through the top door and… cutscene.

It’s Zhao, Tai Yong’s VP. Jensen gets a hold of her and shoves one of the fancy retractable blades out of his elbow and onto her neck. He makes a critical mistake, choosing to let her live. She starts yapping and caressing his chest. Jensen, having completely forgotten about Meghan and his entire motivation for the game, is completely and utterly manipulated. Listen, if any strange girl starts to come on to you after you threaten her life, she’s manipulating you. Poor Jensen is played the fool and she escapes, setting off every alarm in the building.

Time for a firefight

The guards come running through the previously serene grand hallway. I toss a few grenades – a flashbang, a couple of gas grenades – to the center. Anyone left standing gets picked off one by one. I’ve come to use cover more and more, mostly because I don’t get shot when I’m holding down that cover button. If I just hide behind a banister, occasional shots graze me, and I can only take about three before I’m dead. So, I hide. When they stop firing, I toast them. I use my combat rifle, and when I’m out of ammo, I pick them off with the pistol. The sniper rifle is almost useless. There’s no way to silence it. What? (Oh, unless you’ve purchased a specific edition of the game. Screw that.) So, every time I fire, I attract too much attention. I’m still carrying it, though, hoping I can sell it for a cool 1500 credits later.

After turning the hallway to a bloody mess, it’s time to get to the hangar and get the hell out. If I make it to the hangar, Malik can pick me up in her shiny helicopter. I go to the hangar preparing to get the hell out of Tai Yong, but it’s never that easy. There are two bigass robots in there and the hangar doors refuse to open until the robots are disabled. These things look like giant caterpillar bots, both the in the sense of the earth mover Caterpillars and the the shimmying movements of the caterpillars that wander the earth.

I start sneaking to the left. I see a stairway on the right, but I don’t think I can make it without becoming botfood. With liberal use of cover, I eventually make it to some stacked crates. First thoughts: Stack them correctly and I can get to the top. Second thoughts: stacking sucks. I give up on my grand stacking idea and instead dash to the other side of the room. Really, in a way, the sneaking can be kind of boring. There’s a lot of waiting. Wait until Robot 1 can’t see you. Ok, wait until Robot 2 can’t see you. Damn, now Robot 1 is back. Ok, GO! Sprint for five seconds and then do it all again.

Sprinting is done by holding down the shift key, a la every game since (and maybe before?) Half-Life. I reach the other side, then crouch and sneak up the stairways. This is security room two, but it won’t let me override the bots. I dash to security room one on the other side, do a little security hacking and disable the big caterpillars. Back to room one to open then hangars, and now it’s time get the hell out of China.