NEW Gameplay trailer (18th November 2010)
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Original Teaser:
Reveal Trailer:
Full-Length 'They Can't Stop The Future' E3 2010 Trailer:
'They Can't Stop The Future' Trailer Deconstruction:
First Gameplay Trailer:
Developer Interview - Part 1 (GDC 2010)
Developer Interview - Part 2 (GDC 2010)
TGS 2010 Trailer:
Interview with Art director Jonathan Jacques-Belletete, and external games writer James Swallow:
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SYNOPSIS:
Deus Ex: Human Revolution tells the story of Adam Jensen, a man cybernetically augmented against his will, and who will find himself in the middle of a global conspiracy to which only he holds the key. Deus Ex: Human Revolution challenges the foundations of gaming and provides an immersive experience where every choice the player makes will have a lasting consequence.
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Flexible, Deep Gameplay
Deus Ex: Invisible War, whilst generally regarded as a very good shooter in most respects, failed to match the complexities of the role-playing experience gamers were introduced to in the original Deus Ex.
Combat has been given a complete overhaul, making main character, Adam Jensen, into as versatile a character as you please. These improved technical combat aspects include a new cover system that shifts the viewpoint to third-person for a better sense of surroundings, as well as dodge-rolls into cover and the ability to drag bodies out of plain view – the latter highlights how critical it will be to use logic to avoid detection.
Love stealth? It's possible to play through the whole game without killing a single enemy - just like the original.
Eavesdropping for hints now plays a larger part in determining the path you take through an area. Solutions are less overt than your typical shooter from what we've seen; you actually need to exercise some investigatory skills if you want to gain the most insight into a given situation. Sometimes simply listening to a conversation between two characters can net you passwords or drop hints about secret areas that you'd otherwise not have known about.
The conversation tree is just as flexible; it's akin to Mass Effect's radial dialogue system, where certain options are more aggressive than others – and depending on your tone, the path of the discourse will change dramatically. Again, if you're flippant and don't read into the other character's subtle body language, you'll end up offending them or missing out on key information completely. Of course, if you push a little harder and press for information, you may just intimidate some key facts out of them, rather than simply getting shut down. It's a risk versus reward system applied to conversations and we love it.
Gritty Grandeur
As a reference point, people mention 'Blade Runner' as a direct comparison when discussing Deus Ex: Human Revolution's design ethic. However, despite taking place in over-developed civic centres like Shanghai and Detroit, the actual game's environments seems far more utilitarian and clinical; lived in, but not necessarily dirty and worn.
In fact, there are two sides to the way the megacities of Deus Ex: Human Revolution are portrayed. On one hand, the alleyways of future Shanghai are littered with trash; neon lights wash the cement with hues of green and orange. On the other, we also viewed ornate and minimalist office designs and sterile lobbies. By combining a muted palate with moments of saturated colour, Human Revolution looks fittingly futuristic and – in the same stroke – oddly classical.
The art direction takes cues from many sources, blending far-flung grit with ornate details and minimalism.
Venturing into The Hive, a bar that features early in the story, we also get a glimpse of the persistent hexagonal iconography that seems to appear throughout not just the bar itself, but the wider city. Obviously playing off the latticework wax honeycomb of a beehive, it also makes a subtle and interesting commentary on how drone-like the future society has become; humans are becoming worker bees, 'falling in line with the hive' as it were.
A.I. That Is
Creating realistic artificial intelligence is hard – really hard. A big part of creating realistic AI routines comes from logical responses to the players' actions; in a sports game, that might mean proper defensive manoeuvres or aggressive tactics. In a role-playing shooter like Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the same logic must be applied to human bystanders and enemy aggressors.
We were impressed with smaller touches from the outset that, while not new, are often overlooked. Characters don't like having guns pointed at them; aim a pistol at a bystander and they'll cower or back away. Reactive AI like this instantly adds realism. Likewise, if you're approaching a restricted area, don't expect AI to ignore you if you happen to fall outside of their cone of vision. Sound still plays a big part in this game. Enemy tactics are now much more reliant on their rank within an organization or squad. If you target the squad leader, you can severely hinder your enemy's ability to counteract your attack.
Expect big leaps in enemy squad tactics and A.I. in Human Revolution.
Logic also defines how characters react to the way you treat them during discussions. If you're aggressive towards a potentially dangerous character, don't expect them not to react appropriately.
Mechanical Augmentations
The idea of 'transhumanity' has always played a large part in shaping the future of the human body in sci-fi writ. Deus Ex: Human Revolution deals with the earliest steps towards the augmentation of the human form – before the nanotechnological futurism of the original and subsequent sequel. After the main character, Adam Jensen, is critically wounded at the start of the game, we're shown the extent of his mechanical augmentations: new limbs, enhanced physical traits and the ability to swap out an upgrade these as the story progresses.
As in the first two games, these abilities open up all sorts of gameplay possibilities – something developers love to call 'emergent gameplay options' – and we tend to agree. Because you can never max out all of your augmentations across the board, you'll ultimately have to decide if you're going to favour overt, in-your-face combat upgrades (such as the chain-gun arm we were shown) or tend towards covert manoeuvres like hacking, invisibility and stealth combat. While it should be possible to take elements from both extremes, you'll never be a master of either if you don't eventually specialize – and likewise, you'll ultimately limit yourself to seeing only certain areas of the game using either approach to gain access.
At this stage, we've only seen a hint of the kinds of augmentations on the way. However, we're looking forward to a ton of interesting elements that we can tool around with – perhaps even some augmentations that free up your movement, giving you the ability to fly over obstacles and potentially radically alter the feel of the game.
http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/110/1105375p1.html
Source: IGN (July 2010)
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Fan / Developer Q&A:
http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/107/1077019p1.html
Source: IGN (March 2010)
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Those of you that played the original Deus Ex know it was a genuine classic, and it is still spoken of in awed and revered tones to this day. The sci-fi RPG was a role playing game in the truest sense of the term. It gave you real decisions to make and numerous customisation options - the developers of Deus Ex: Human Revolution have made it clear their intentions in raising the bar and pushing those decisions and options even further than ever before.
Ten years on and Deus Ex still shines brightly. Deus Ex: Invisible War, the sequel, was released in 2003 and was maybe less ambitious than its predecessor (possibly to make it more appealing to the console userbase), but it was still a way above average action role-player though, and personally speaking, it was one of the absolute highlights during my time with the original Xbox console.
Seven years on and the wait for a new Deus Ex is nearly over.
So...thoughts?
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OFFICIAL WEBSITE: http://www.deusex3.com
As for the game, I never played Deus Ex but I know about all the fappery surrounding it (Best game ever made, etc.) But at the time I got round to it, it was far too outdated for me to get into it - I know people say that games like that are timeless, but usually only if you played them at the time and can see them with nostalgia glasses on, imo. So if it stays true to the original but has all of the elements we expect from up to date games nowadays, that'll be great.
Was waiting in anticipation for release either this month or next month! Hopefully it should be worth the wait though. Never played any before this one so will be a new experience for me.