Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Ongoing Impressions Part 2

I’ve gotten lost in the game. No, not that I couldn’t find my away around. No, it’s not that I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. Instead, it’s a feeling created by looking at a clock and thinking, “Damn, I was playing that long?” A very good thing. I’ve mentioned it before, but this game is very similar to the first Deus Ex in that there’s a lot of reading, a lot to peruse, a lot of conversing, and a lot of smelling the roses.

Last night, I continue to bumble through the apartments of Detroit, looking into whatever rooms that I stumbled upon. Often times I’d find myself up against a lock. The solution? Hack it. And another. Hack it, too. And another. Now that I think about it, there’s a lot of hacking in this game. Gone are multi-tools and lockpicks. Instead, we have hacking, hacking, and more hacking. If you’re into that aspect of the game, there are plenty of aug upgrades for hacking use. I think I’m up to a level three hacker at this point. Lethal hacker – that’s me in a nutshell. At least when I’m playing Jensen in the world of Human Revolution.

In a few of the apartments, there are some hoodlums setting up shop, keeping a guard outside the door of their haven. I finally put my stealth to use, by somehow walking past the guard as he naps against the wall with his eyes closed. Complete accident, but I’d do it about four or five times until he’d finally caught on. Rule number one for breaking and entering is to never return to the scene of the crime. Unaware of these ways, I do it repeatedly and am spotted. So, I have to put the guy down. I’m out of ammo for the trusty stungun that I found somewhere, so I opt to use a quick non-lethal takedown.

Now, the takedowns were (are?) a big point of contention before the game was released. You press Q and Jensen performs a non-lethal takedown. Hold down Q and he slaughters the victim in front of him. The view goes third-person for a second as we see Jensen punch, maim, or stab whoever’s in front of him. It’s about the same as sneaking up behind a guy and hitting the mouse button. I do think the takedowns are a bit more violent than I’d like do them. I mean, after all, I’m a non-lethal guy. (Well, at least when I’m not using guns…) Going third person doesn’t destroy the game, but it doesn’t really add much to it for me either. I think I like the takedowns, but I’m not sure I want to snap my target’s arm or put a retractable blade through the elbows of my shirt just to murder a bloke. On the weird side, I can fire off a round at a Detroit cop and an army of cops show up to kick my ass. However, If I use a takedown, it’s like nothing happened. Hmm…

After I finish taking some guys down, it’s time to hit the court and take them down in a game of basketball. Well, maybe not quite, but in another scene reminiscent of the original Deus Ex, we’ve got basketball court with a ball begging to find it’s way through the hoop. So, I grab the ball. Damn, that’s hard to hold. Must be these augmented hands. Then, I shoot and score. No, wait, that didn’t happen. I miss. Again. And again. And every time for next ten to twenty attempts. It’s sad, so I finally stack some barrels, cousins of the crate, and stand on them, dropping the ball in the goal. Security was a better choice than a basketball career anyway.

Tiring of the apartment scene, I make my way to the police station. Inside, I speak to one guy, but he seems to be a bit of a jackass, so I head over to see desk clerk, one Mr. Wayne Haas. We start conversing and I feel like I’m Beowulf sparring with Unferth. It’s a verbal battle, not one of arms. I want to get into the morgue. He doesn’t want to let me. As Haas reacts to our conversation, I get options such as Absolve, Plead, and my favorite: Crush. Pick correctly and he’ll eventually fold, giving access to secure areas of the Police Station. Play it wrong and… well, maybe I’ll do that next time.

I talk my way in and proceed to hack the crap out of the station. That is, until I get cocky and whip it out in front of a cop (I’m talking about my hacking skills). Bad move. I’m dead. Ok, learned my lesson and now it’s time to not get caught hacking the crap out of everything. Luckily for me, there’s a ton of passwords laying around. The IT admin must be proud. But, even better, there are human-sized airducts. In the future, it’s good to be in the HVAC business. Even the offices have fans in them. Oh, and one cop who’s out of the office is an R Deckard. Probably working on those Nexus 6s.

Down to the morgue, where it’s time to call it a night.