Preview Deus Ex: Human Revolution Talking up the possibilities

[Botticelli]

One thing that modern devs will never do is to spend time improving non-marketable elements from the previous games in the series. If feature X is the same as in Deus Ex, the fans "can't complain".

Yes and no. Improving on a non-marketable element could be interpreted as making an element of a previous version more how it was intended or perhaps fixing a feature that was broken in the previous version. Improvements are improvements. Every game studio is trying to make the game that will advance their legacy in the world of gaming. Time and time again scaling back features has proven to be a step in the wrong direction when trying to maintain support of the end users. Just look what happened with Far Cry 2.

We really don't yet know how Eidos Montreal will handle this. We do know that Eidos attempted to heavily streamline Invisible War over Deus Ex Classic and efficiency measures were interpreted by most fans of the series as axed features. I personally agree features were removed, but Invisible war was so well written, atmospheric, feature rich, and versatile the game inevitably still turned out amazing. Although, I would like to see some elements reinstated, like the incremental weapons modifications and higher degree of weapons customizability. Also more devices like they had in the first game. And separate ammo.

If Deus Ex is considered such a great game by the mainstream, then how come no big magazine can find a reviewer who's played DX at least more than once?

The success of Deus Ex can't exactly be credited as "considered such a great game by the mainstream." It's success is more attributable to a truly cult-like base of fans who have been so vocal they've managed to create enough hype about the game that droves of non-initial buyers turned to the game with secondary and subsequent waves of positive feedback that elevated the series to legendary status. Deus Ex certainly isn't the first game that happened with and certainly won't be the last. There's really no mystery there.

If the big mags want a reviewer like your talking about they just need to look beyond those Kane and Lynch touting high society bib wearers they keep getting to do their reviews. Seriously, with some of the reviews that come out you can tell they never played more than one level into the game. I played Deus Ex Classic through when it came out, then I played Invisible War on release. Then when Human Revolution first came out I played both of them again back to back. I even went on a spree with 3rd party mods and missions for Deus Ex Classic. I wish they would come to someone like me to do their reviews.

 

[Botticelli]

Correction. I said:

Then when Human Revolution first came out I played both of them again back to back.

I meant when Human Revolution was first announced I played through both Deus Ex Classic and Invisible War again back to back.

Someone was bound to jump on here and shout at me, "Human Revolution isn't out yet, Dumbass!" So I wanted to beat them to it. I can just as easily feel like a dumbass without being called one.