Home Games Mandatory Gaming: Deus Ex Human Revolution
Mandatory Gaming: Deus Ex Human Revolution

Mandatory Gaming: Deus Ex Human Revolution

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Do you like cyberpunk? Do you like strong human stories backed up by trans-humanistic themes? Do you like games with airtight level and mechanic design? Do you like just existing in a gorgeous world, exploring to unearth every last scrap of detail? If your answer to any of the above questions is yes, you need to play Human Revolution yesterday.

This is Mandatory Gaming, where the Arcade staff and readers pick their favourite games and explain in 500 words or less why you should play it!

The story concerns Adam Jensen, a security officer for the Sarif Industries biotechnology firm, a leading company in the race for human augmentations. After an attack on Sarif HQ, Adam has to be rebuilt using mechanical augmentations, and is tasked to track down a group of missing scientists – including his former girlfriend – and find out the secret behind the attack.

The game blends genres expertly, integrating the level-up systems, character progression mechanics and multi-choice conversations common to the RPG genre with the shooting of a first-person shooter and sneaky oh-bugger-they’ve-seen-me-RUN gameplay of stealth games like Metal Gear Solid. In addition to all that, you can hack computers to open new paths through a level, turn security systems off and even reprogram turrets and robots to turn against their owners. There’s a wealth of options available to the player in every single level, from sneaking through air vents (a tactic I found always worked extremely well and have thus integrated into my everyday life), to lugging around a hacked turret so it can slaughter everything in your path (a tactic I thankfully don’t carry into the real world), to simply running around punching everyone to the ground with your robot arms (a tactic I bloody wish I could carry over into real life). The levels are designed very well to support these different play-styles, with tons of alternate routes to accomplishing your objective, which means that the game really rewards multiple playthroughs.
Throughout the game you earn experience which is converted into Praxis points upon collecting enough – this game’s version of a level up. Praxis points can then be spent on unlocking new augmentations or upgrading existing ones. Augmentations range from passive buffs like recoil and damage reduction to cool stuff like cloaking, punching through walls and making microcharges burst from your body like the cyborg version of a Claymore mine. In addition to this, individual weapons can be upgraded and have attachments like silencers added, making the whole experience very customisable.

Few other games can claim such a fantastic mix of genres, such a beautiful art style, such an intriguing world and such an engaging storyline – suffice to say you’ll want to experience this game as a blank slate, so no spoilers here! If you want a game that proves the viability of games as a literary and visual art form, while also still succeeding as a great game in its own right, it’s mandatory that you pick this one up.

[Words, Ross Brennan]

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Got a game you think everyone should be playing? Let us know about it below or e-mail us on info@the-arcade.ie and you could be telling the world all about your very own favourite game and earn some goodies for doing so!

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