Fallen+Keeper on 18/4/2015 at 17:36

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HR has two gameplay problems in my personal opinion: first, once you're geared for the "shooting game" it's easier than the "stealthy game". I played the game about 10 times already, and I had only 1 walkthrough with guns blazing. I enjoyed stealth much more (and a mix of gameplays even more) but I rarely felt like stealth was a better solution for surviving a level.

Second, there are way to many, conveniently placed, air vents. For every map there is a maze of vents that solves all your problems, as long as you like playing "hamster in a maze".

I solved those problems with two auto-restricting rules: first I don't use cover. This removes my ability to lean but you can still peak around the corners if you're careful, plus Smart Vision really comes handy along with the radar. Having a 3rd person view while in cover was an overkill in my opinion, and playing rambo without cover is a thrilling experience. I was amazed how playable the game was, almost as if that cover system was an afterthought. It sure made the game easier for the masses.

My second rule regards the vents. I wanted some kind of requirement for using those and I decided I had to be in possession of something finite, like ammo. I settled for the stun gun which emits an electrical discharge. I use it everytime I want to get into a shaft, as if I needed to disable a working vent or something before getting inside. Doesn't make much sense, but having buildings with a man-size ventilation tunnels everywhere makes it even less and at least that way my game's more interesting.

icemann on 19/4/2015 at 08:35

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I suspect that will come into play with this one.

Jason Moyer on 20/4/2015 at 02:32

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I didn't realize that was in question.

Edit: I also wasn't paying attention what catbarf/icemann were talking about apparently.

heywood on 22/4/2015 at 14:16

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The Deus Ex plot was a product of 1990s pop sci-fi, more specifically a product of the X-Files. All of my friends and my girlfriend loved the X-Files and I hated it, especially the main story line of aliens and black goo and that deep throat character. For that reason alone I ignored Deus Ex until PC Gamer awarded it game of the year. To my surprise, Deus Ex actually made all of that conspiracy stuff come together in a way that helped suck me in rather than put me off.

But I am glad that Human Revolution didn't try to mine all of the pop culture conspiracy theories again, in part because Deus Ex already did that, and in part because it's hard to pull off without turning it into an eye-rolling dime novel plot.

As it stands, the plot in Human Revolution isn't all that cohesive. In the early parts of the game, it's pretty strong but then it weakens and unravels at the end. At one point, I thought for sure they were going to make Hyron the main villain, resurrecting one of the story ideas from Deux Ex where Helios is on the space station with nukes, except in this case the Hyron AI is capable of destroying the world via geo-engineering. But instead, Hyron ends up being nothing more than a setup for a really lame final boss battle with Zhao of all people as the antagonist. And Hugh Darrow the genius philanthropist who invents aug tech and builds this massive geo-engineering project to save the world, then goes nuts and triggers a world-wide mass slaughter to eliminate augmentation mainly because he's jealous of not being augmented? It's pretty weak sauce. Frankly, it would have worked better if they had just ripped off I, Robot with Hyron as VIKI, Darrow as Lanning, and Jensen as spooner. It would have been derivative as hell, but would have made more sense.

Dev_Anj on 22/4/2015 at 14:56

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They don't need to rely on real life conspiracy theories. They can make new conspiracies which would make sense and not be obvious or too far fetched.

What they should focus on though is capturing the feel that you're uncovering something sinister, very powerful and can do drastic things, and yet it's hidden away cleverly from most people.