Finished deus ex ghost in the shell on the hardest difficulty.
It is a terrible dues ex game and a mediocre cover shooter/stealth game.It is slightly above invisible war.
Deus ex games are about a fusion of fps,stealth,exploration and rpg systems.
-Exploration
You take invisible war and make it larger and add chest high walls everywhere. It doesn't work.
Every single level is manually made for stealth.From the vents to the patrols to the walls,everything is designed around stealth.This shit ain't deus ex where the hubs were mostly neutral in play style.
Lockpiks/multitools are gone and replaced by hacking.Every single thing can be hacked by a minigame. It gets annoying very quickly.
The game also is full of several sollutions being right next door to each other,exactly like invisible war.
Oh a turret,i wonder where the computer to shut it down is? Oh,right next to it.
Gee i see a breakable wall,i wonder wher that leads? Oh,right to the location i accessed by going around a couple of feet.This shit is infuriating.Every single locations is a small condensed zone of multiple solution right next to each other.
And everything else is just a generic location copy pasted a million times.Everything looks and feels the same.
It doesn't help that most levels are full of offices.Hell the montreal level is just offices copy pasted.
The bigger size is also annoying because of side quests that require you to backtrack a lot.
There is also a severe lack of environmental hazards in this game.
Also,there is only two major hubs.The original was a globe trotting adventure and this shit is just china and Detroit with plenty of offices.
-Fps
It is a competent cover shooter.That is the problem.
Jensen dies like a wet paper bag even with full armor upgrade and there is no real way to play this like doom or the originals deus ex fps parts.You can try and prep the arenas but that is just busywork for a style the game wasn't made for.
Mass effect does it better.Charging in with your powers with a shotgun feels awesome compared to this shit.
Weapon kinematics are make weapons feel good to use and that is important.
The weapon variety isn't bad.You even get a laser.But,it is still the missing unique weapon's concept from invisible war.
Weapon mods being back to more then two is certainly a improvement.
The ai is a complete retarded. Imitate a fight and watch them circle around your wall like idiots with the biggest idiot charging you for a easy kill.Sometimes you have salutation where 5+ people are circling your position and shooting at the wall.Their attempts at flanking are legendarily laughable.
Sigh.
Stealth
It is a bare bones cover stealth game.
Vents and chest high walls are the all in one solution to everything stealth related.
The only criteria is line of sight.So nice to see that years after the original you still get the same simplistic stealth system.Blacklist is much better in this regard.
The cover is also annoying because it has a lot more stealth frames then if you are just moving in first person.
Add to this random hacks like the radar that gives you enemy positions and is on by default and it gets worse.
Plenty of hacks to upgrade for even more easy gameplay. Tracking,wall hacks,the entire popamoloe stealth package is here.
Dishonored is to easy but does fp stealth miles better.
-Rpg systems
So,what happens when you fuse multiple systems under one experience system?You get gamificiation because you need to ramp up the xp amount significantly in order to compensate. That people haven't figured out why this doesn't work for deus ex is is amazing.
Every single thing in this game gives you xp.It is gamey and broken because specif stuff like hacking and stealth give you a lot more xp.
You will go through vents and hack shit because it is easy and gives you exp.It hinders every singl elements of this game.
Exploration becomes a checklist.
Combat becomes non lethal/stealth oriented.
You don't have to,but the moment you start giving away xp for any meaningless thing,why wouldn't you take that offer.
Weapon skill being removed is stupid.You can use any weapon(minus the heavy rifle) effectively.
This entire skill system lead to a jack of all trades approach while in the original you had builds. Wasn't perfect,but certainly better then this.
-Augs
Complete fuckup.
Ever wonder why there i only 4 active aug slots? Consoles.Gone are the day when you were juggling multiple augs to create your terminator.
Most of the augs are passive or contexual. It is fucking boring.
Takedowns are another wonderful new popamole addition.Why have melee weapons and aiming said weapons when you can just press a awesome button.
Ugh,i despise takedowns.
Also augs weren't binary in the original .You could still take damage unless you upgraded the aug enough.
Here,it is either 0 or a 100 except for armor.
And again dishonored did it better.Much more focus on ACTIVE powers.At the end of this game i just felt like tutorial Jensen with a lil bit more umph and explosive arms.
Edit:
Forgot to mention about strength.It is the only aug they somewhat got right.The ability to move turret sis actually quite brilliant.
There is a great line Spectre said about deus ex before it shipped:
"If people compare our shooting to unreal ,our stealth to thief,and our rpg systems to whatever was popular at the moment,we are screwed."
Back then even if these individual elements weren't at their best they still combined gameplay elements from a era of great games.
Human revolution is combining mass effect,modern splinter cell and modern "rpg" elements.Not something worthy of praising.
Final verdict:
Edit2:
Anybody interested in replaying the game could try this mod:
https://www.nexusmods.com/deusexhumanrevolution/mods/9
It looks somewhat interesting.
I suggest returning to Gran Soren Castle and speaking with Duke Edmun.
