Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Impressions and stuff! [Official Review too!]

[Caine]

just had a bug with the second bass fight.  the enemy just stopped in their tracks and I was able to kill it with the pistol.

am I going back and replaying it to do it fairly?

FUCK NO.

I.would consider out a throwback to the first DE where I killed simmons before he could talk to me.

[hepcat]

Was loving the game...until I hit the friggin' second boss battle.  Now I have to stop playing because I'm so frustrated that I'm not enjoying myself any more.  I went stealth and that means I'm so gimped that I simply cannot defeat her. The first boss battle was annoying enough, but at least you could spam him with explosives.

Penny Arcade was right.  You need to choose your augs according to the boss battles or you're screwed.  This means you literally have to read walkthroughs to figure out what you need, thereby defeating the purpose of having a story in the first place.

My rating went from A- to C due to this stupid gameplay choice.   

[Arkon]

Ironically I found the second boss to be the easiest of all bosses to defeat.  The first boss was the most difficult in the game for me.

[Asharak]

Was loving the game...until I hit the friggin' second boss battle.  Now I have to stop playing because I'm so frustrated that I'm not enjoying myself any more.  I went stealth and that means I'm so gimped that I simply cannot defeat her. The first boss battle was annoying enough, but at least you could spam him with explosives.

Penny Arcade was right.  You need to choose your augs according to the boss battles or you're screwed.  This means you literally have to read walkthroughs to figure out what you need, thereby defeating the purpose of having a story in the first place.

You can spam the second boss with explosives, as well. Just dodge the first rush and start flinging grenades on the spot where she stops. That tactic worked for all three bosses for me, in fact.

- Ash

[Wargus]

Also, the pistol with the armor piercing mod is useful. The armor piercing mod bypasses all armor including augs. Use that headshots and the bosses go down. In fact, I used a silenced pistol with the laser sight and armor piercing upgrades almost exclusively.

[Arclight]

For me games like this is about much more than boss fights. When I get frustrated it's off to the menu and drop down the difficulty. Works great. I have zero problem doing this, especially when the developers played silly buggers with the boss fights. The game remains fun. End of.

[Vidiot]

Was loving the game...until I hit the friggin' second boss battle.  Now I have to stop playing because I'm so frustrated that I'm not enjoying myself any more.  I went stealth and that means I'm so gimped that I simply cannot defeat her. The first boss battle was annoying enough, but at least you could spam him with explosives.

Penny Arcade was right.  You need to choose your augs according to the boss battles or you're screwed.  This means you literally have to read walkthroughs to figure out what you need, thereby defeating the purpose of having a story in the first place.

My rating went from A- to C due to this stupid gameplay choice.   

There is one critical thing that makes it super easy.

Spoiler for Hiden:

If you get the dermal plating mod that makes electricity not hurt you the fight gets super simple.  Just run around hitting the power supplies when she goes near them.  Once she is stunned unload with the heavy rifle (or whatever else you have).  I had to do it 3 times (out of 4 power supplies) before she died.

[CeeKay]

Was loving the game...until I hit the friggin' second boss battle.  Now I have to stop playing because I'm so frustrated that I'm not enjoying myself any more.  I went stealth and that means I'm so gimped that I simply cannot defeat her. The first boss battle was annoying enough, but at least you could spam him with explosives.

Penny Arcade was right.  You need to choose your augs according to the boss battles or you're screwed.  This means you literally have to read walkthroughs to figure out what you need, thereby defeating the purpose of having a story in the first place.

My rating went from A- to C due to this stupid gameplay choice.   

There is one critical thing that makes it super easy.

Spoiler for Hiden:

If you get the dermal plating mod that makes electricity not hurt you the fight gets super simple.  Just run around hitting the power supplies when she goes near them.  Once she is stunned unload with the heavy rifle (or whatever else you have).  I had to do it 3 times (out of 4 power supplies) before she died.

really?

Spoiler for Hiden:

the description from it doesn't say anything about it stopping you from taking damage, all it says is 'Prevents augmentation deactivation and energy loss from EMP grenades and electricity'.

thanks for pointing that out, I was just going to skip it 

[TiLT]

Finished the game yesterday on regular difficulty as a stealth/hacker character. The boss fights have been tremendously hyped up as much worse than they really are. Here's how I dealt with them:

Boss 1:

Spoiler for Hiden:

The easiest of them all. I just threw gas canisters at him while staying out of sight. When he started tossing his grenades I just hid in one of the "garages". Didn't have to use a single bit of ammo or any other expendable, and it took all of 30 seconds or so. No augmentations needed, as I didn't use any of mine. Didn't have any extra armor until the end of the game either.

Boss 2:

Spoiler for Hiden:

A bit tricky at first until I figured it out. This one depends on your choices with augmentations, but any combination should be viable in different ways. The way I did it was to cloak and toss an EMP grenade at her feet. While she was stunned, I unloaded a full magazine into her head from my machine pistol. I then ran away, recloaked, and repeated the process once. That was all it took to kill her, and I took no damage in the process.

Boss 3:

Spoiler for Hiden:

As long as you're not dumb and "upgrade" at L.I.M.B., this isn't so bad, though it was the toughest boss fight in the game for me. A couple of EMP grenades and a bit of shooting with my machine pistol took him out (on my first attempt actually), though he did severely damage me. Don't stand still too long shooting at him, as he will throw EMP grenades back at you very quickly.

Boss 4:

Spoiler for Hiden:

This one was confusing, and I'm not actually sure what I had to do and what was too much. Essentially, it seems like this is the only boss fight that can be done with stealth beyond just cloaking, though cloaking made a big difference. My approach was to hack all three computers along the edges. Since they are exposed, I had to remain cloaked while hacking them, which meant I had to act quickly. After that, I think all I had to do was shoot each of the three women in the middle, then sit behind cover and wait for a minute or so until the boss was exposed. 3 shots with a sniper rifle, and it was all over. Did this on my first attempt as well.

[Maggot]

So finished this game. I loved witcher 2 but I think this might take the cake for my favorite game this year, even with the bad AI and at times atrocious voice acting.

[Razgon]

Out of curiosity - What voice acting did you find bad?

Personally, I loved some of the voicework in this game - Hugh Darrow, Sarif, Haas, all were pretty damn brilliantly portrayed.

I'd agree on Jensens voice being somewhat..weird - I'd be spooked if anyone talked to me like that in real world :-D

[Maggot]

Well most of the main voice acting was good, even liked Jensen. But something like

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7LGjXQlWoo

Was just resident evil 1 bad. Not only is the acting bad but it also sounds like a dude. 

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Well most of the main voice acting was good, even liked Jensen. But something like

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7LGjXQlWoo

Was just resident evil 1 bad. Not only is the acting bad but it also sounds like a dude. 

Your reward for saving her husband is better voice acting. 

[Soulchilde]

First boss

Spoiler for Hiden:

hide and seek

second boss:

Spoiler for Hiden:

stun dart & typhoon

third boss:

Spoiler for Hiden:

see boss fight two

fourth fight:

Spoiler for Hiden:

pulse rifle + typhoon

[CeeKay]

you know, I have 13 Typhoon ammo pods taking up space in my inventory-  perhaps I should buy that upgrade 

[edit] 3 Hubs left out? (spoilers)

[metallicorphan]

About Boss 1

Spoiler for Hiden:

I was having a hell of a time with him as he kept kicking my ass,and about the 10th attempt he didn't move at all,so i just got out my (i think)machine pistol and aimed at his head and he went down in about 10 seconds...not sure if it was a glitch or Eidos giving me a hand after doing so badly with him

the second boss

Spoiler for Hiden:

i think i used either an EMP or Gas Grenade and then Typhoon,she fell amazingly quickly and i think she was the easiest boss of the game

the third boss

Spoiler for Hiden:

I already knew not to upgrade by accidentally reading it on a site somewhere,he was very easy as well as i just used the grenade launcher,although it was a better cat and mouse game in the mini maze,i used my 'see through walls' Aug to keep tabs on him....lots of ammo scattered about in the drawers under the 'statues' as well

The fourth Boss

Spoiler for Hiden:

had a lot of problems with this as well for awhile,one of my attempts saw me throw an EMP grenade at one of the turrets to bring it down,but when trying to do it again on the other turrets or on another attempt after reloading i couldn't bring them down no matter what...so after hacking the 3 computers around the edge(save game),i then used up pretty much everything i had taking down the Turrets,and then i took out the women(save game)and then used an auto hacking machine on the small keypad,which i don't think did anything(not sure)...then i got electrified as i wasn't listening to the announcement(there were no subtitles for that part),so reloaded and had to jump on the small walls to avoid the electric,took care of the robots that came out with the EMPs that i didn't use on the Turrets..and then i think i used the Grenade Launcher on the glass and Boss

ending

Spoiler for Hiden:

did all 4 endings.....i think IIRC the ending i want as Canon would be the Sarif ending,blame Humanity Frontier for the time being,LOL

[Destructor]

How did I beat the bosses...:

Boss 1:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Rocket launcher to the face as soon as the fight opened up, then twoish boxes of Combat Rifle ammo to the head/body.

Boss 2:

Spoiler for Hiden:

See 1.

Boss 3:

Spoiler for Hiden:

See 1. Again.

Boss 4:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Rocket launcher all 3 turrets, run in and push the buttons, then another rocket launcher shot to the boss to finish it (after clearing out the not-zombies).

Before you ask - I actually stealth-killed most things in my way (silenced pistol headshot = some bees must've offed him according to the guards), and took pride in getting the 'never set off the full alarm' bonus on nearly every mission. I was glad I found the rocket launcher in the first city area tucked away, and made sure to always have it on me at all times.

[metallicorphan]

Before you ask - I actually stealth-killed most things in my way (silenced pistol headshot = some bees must've offed him according to the guards), and took pride in getting the 'never set off the full alarm' bonus on nearly every mission. I was glad I found the rocket launcher in the first city area tucked away, and made sure to always have it on me at all times.

that must of been a bitch because i really struggled with space in my inventory,so had to update it as soon as i could,but there still wasn't enough space

[TiLT]

LOL, that didn't take long. The latest Dungeons of Dredmor patch features a Deus Ex: Human Revolution reference as an achievement. The achievement's picture is of the main character in Dungeons of Dredmor with a pointy beard, sunglasses and a trenchcoat.

I Didn't Ask For This
Equip two Clockwork Power Limbs, Two Clockwork Chain Axes, and a Clockwork Bolt Thrower.

[Jaymeson]

This game has got me really looking forward to Thief 4

[ibdoomed]

I just finished it at 110 hours according to Steam.

Awesome.

Time to start over.

There's absolutely no way you spent 110 hours playing the game on your first playthrough, unless you fired the game up and walked away from it at hours at a time. I beat it at 38ish hours, but that was with hacking every terminal, shooting every guard, stealing everything that wasn't bolted down, reading every e-mail, and had like two dozen upgrade points that I just willy-nilly picked because I had the points to blow.

I am curious though - what did you spend that time on?

I'm OCD and replay the same areas over and over until I see everything and get it perfect. Then since they made the awesome choice of not being a hand holding rpg with the stupid ! over all quest givers heads (which I hate), I talk to all npc's in a hub again after I complete a quest, that takes time. We do need to factor in idle time with bathroom and food breaks, I didn't sit there 18 hours straight on my free days, so subtract probably 20 hours for that. If I played it the way a normal person does, 40ish sounds about right.

[Rob_Merritt]

I almost quit the game over the first boss. I walked in, no mater what I did I was dead within 10 seconds. I ended up going back a few saves and respecing.

[Shinjin]

I almost quit the game over the first boss. I walked in, no mater what I did I was dead within 10 seconds.

Similar.  Fortunately I had stumbled across some grenade-based hints before buying the game and so had been hoarding the ones that I could find.

[TiLT]

I almost quit the game over the first boss. I walked in, no mater what I did I was dead within 10 seconds. I ended up going back a few saves and respecing.

I just don't get this. You don't need a single augmentation to win that fight, and it's not even hard! What were you trying to do, attack him head-on with your weapons? If you're not specced for that kind of approach, why did you do it anyway?

Just look at what the game places in the vicinity. Toss cannisters at him. It's easy, and it can be done by ANY build. He doesn't even need to get line of sight to you for the entire battle if you don't want him to.

[Vidiot]

I almost quit the game over the first boss. I walked in, no mater what I did I was dead within 10 seconds. I ended up going back a few saves and respecing.

I just don't get this. You don't need a single augmentation to win that fight, and it's not even hard! What were you trying to do, attack him head-on with your weapons? If you're not specced for that kind of approach, why did you do it anyway?

Just look at what the game places in the vicinity. Toss cannisters at him. It's easy, and it can be done by ANY build. He doesn't even need to get line of sight to you for the entire battle if you don't want him to.

If you don't notice the stun effect of the gas canisters it can be a pain.  It took me a few tries to get that.

[CeeKay]

I almost quit the game over the first boss. I walked in, no mater what I did I was dead within 10 seconds. I ended up going back a few saves and respecing.

I just don't get this. You don't need a single augmentation to win that fight, and it's not even hard! What were you trying to do, attack him head-on with your weapons? If you're not specced for that kind of approach, why did you do it anyway?

Just look at what the game places in the vicinity. Toss cannisters at him. It's easy, and it can be done by ANY build. He doesn't even need to get line of sight to you for the entire battle if you don't want him to.

my big problem with the fight was the cover system-  I had to fight with it over and over.  I'd go into cover, and have to move quickly to avoid a grenade (that guy loved his grenades) only to realize I was in a crouch and I'd take some decent damage as I switched out of crouching to move quicker. once I switched it so I actually had to hold down a key to stay in cover and avoided low lying cover I won by pumping most of my combat rifle ammo into him.  I do think part of the disconnect people are having with the boss fights is that there appears to be no reason a headshot or two shouldn't take them down (unless they reveal later on that they have had their skeletons coated in adamantium), and none of the other enemies except robots are bullet sponges.

the first boss fight was what prompted me to invest fully in the dermal plating.

[Rob_Merritt]

I almost quit the game over the first boss. I walked in, no mater what I did I was dead within 10 seconds. I ended up going back a few saves and respecing.

I just don't get this. You don't need a single augmentation to win that fight, and it's not even hard! What were you trying to do, attack him head-on with your weapons? If you're not specced for that kind of approach, why did you do it anyway?

Just look at what the game places in the vicinity. Toss cannisters at him. It's easy, and it can be done by ANY build. He doesn't even need to get line of sight to you for the entire battle if you don't want him to.

Maybe the game played differently for me than you. Basically if I was any distance from him he would spam frag grenades. If I was close to him, even hiding behind a wall it would cut the the animation of him grabbing me and punching me. If I sprinted to a corner and grabbed a canister I would be dead before I could throw one. I ended up beating him by going back a few saves, investing in the typhoon aug, and hit him twice when he got near me. No battle with the first boss lasted more that 10 seconds.

[Razgon]

I almost quit the game over the first boss. I walked in, no mater what I did I was dead within 10 seconds. I ended up going back a few saves and respecing.

I just don't get this. You don't need a single augmentation to win that fight, and it's not even hard! What were you trying to do, attack him head-on with your weapons? If you're not specced for that kind of approach, why did you do it anyway?

Just look at what the game places in the vicinity. Toss cannisters at him. It's easy, and it can be done by ANY build. He doesn't even need to get line of sight to you for the entire battle if you don't want him to.

Not everyone are gaming gods like you, Tilt ;-)

I had to try 5-6 times as well, and I've been playing games for a pretty long period of time, meaning I should have at least SOME skills in this business.

Its just not very well done - But then again, seeing that the boss'es were done by GRIP and not EIDOS Montreal is probably a big reason why.

[Glycerine]

Even on normal trying to run and gun the bosses without the right augs is very frustrating.  Grenades, mines, and the typhoon are for stealth/hacking builds, so make sure to stock up if that's how you intend to play.  If not, be prepared for frustration.

Here's how I managed on hard as a pacifist:

Boss 1

Spoiler for Hiden:

For the first boss I immediately grab cover behind the boxes as soon as the fight starts.  While he is shooting and walking forward I tossed out four frag mines, then ran up and hit him with the typhoon.  Even on hard that was enough to kill him.  You could probably substitute grenades or the explosive canisters.

Boss 2

Spoiler for Hiden:

The second boss fight is a breeze if you have dermal armor and EMP shielding.  Again, mines and grenades work wonders.  The stun gun will also stop her for a few seconds if you can get close enough.

Boss 3

Spoiler for Hiden:

The third boss is basically a repeat of the first:  grab cover, toss out mines and grenades until he's dead.  Or if you have the typhoon, stun him first then run up and let loose.  I think he is EMP shielded, so not sure if those work.

Final

Spoiler for Hiden:

I managed to talk the shut down code out of Darrow, so when the fight started I immediately ran to the center and disabled all the security.  After that I just opened up with my upgraded assault rifle, which was really the only time I used it.

[CeeKay]

wow, boss fight 3 was insanely easy:

Spoiler for Hiden:

2 fully upgraded Typhoons and the bastich went down like Snooki trying to get free drinks from a bartender.

[CeeKay]

I keep on forgetting to mention- I love the nod to Sneakers they have in the game.  not sure if it's intentional or not though.

[CeeKay]

and done.  final play time according to Steam was 35 hours.

final boss:

Spoiler for Hiden:

this was a WTF one.  made it through on the first try and I had no real clue what I did.  I hit the buttons, then found a panel and hacked it to shut down some life support.  ended up holing up in a corner because I wasn't sure what to do next, and eventually the Zhao's security glass exploded and I pumped a bunch of heavy assault rounds into her.

kinda disappointed in the ease of seeing all the endings- 

Spoiler for Hiden:

at least the first game made you work somewhat to see all of them.

all in all it was pretty great.  I ended with 10 unspent praxis points, never touched the cloak aug or any of the stealth augs.

[ibdoomed]

and done.  final play time according to Steam was 35 hours.

final boss:

Spoiler for Hiden:

this was a WTF one.  made it through on the first try and I had no real clue what I did.  I hit the buttons, then found a panel and hacked it to shut down some life support.  ended up holing up in a corner because I wasn't sure what to do next, and eventually the Zhao's security glass exploded and I pumped a bunch of heavy assault rounds into her.

kinda disappointed in the ease of seeing all the endings- 

Spoiler for Hiden:

at least the first game made you work somewhat to see all of them.

all in all it was pretty great.  I ended with 10 unspent praxis points, never touched the cloak aug or any of the stealth augs.

Kudos for rushing through it so you can start playing dead island with us.

[Grimwar]

Finally finished this and my final verdict is "meh".  I normally don't trash games, but this game really pissed me off with the seemingly complete disregard to telling a good story.  Some brief thoughts.....

The gameplay was fun, up until the final level.  It made so little sense to me.....

Spoiler for Hiden:

Not the way things went down in the story, but here I am, some fully augmented super human and I can just walk right through all of the mad men without firing a shot or incapacitating anyone.  They just ignored me, or ran to me then stopped and yelled at me. Shouldn't they have set up the level to test me more than previous parts had?

The story was horrid in my opinion.  It started out with a ton of promise and I was all into finding out what was going on.  Then, it just falls apart.

Spoiler for Hiden:

The motives were just dumb and I did not get any sense of some grand conspiracy like I hoped there would be, other than the brief mentions of the Illuminati wanting to control people.  It was just a few dudes with their own interests at heart using each other.  The ending was just terrible too.  I wonder if they even cared about telling a good story because the ending was about as anti-climatic as you can get.  Jensen giving a philosophy lesson isn't an ending.  **Edit** Adding another point that irked me.  All this crap about Megan and her history with Adam, Adam hellbent on saving her and what happens when he finds her?  Nothing.  She just acts like it's no big deal, fixes his augs and takes off.

Finally, the last boss fight was so stupidly easy I stood there thinking something else just had to happen, and it never did...

Spoiler for Hiden:

All I did was grab my laser rifle and shoot Zhao Yun Ru.  She died in less than 5 seconds and i never took a hit.

I did enjoy the game for it's combat and stealth though.  I thought it was well done and gave the game a sense of danger I liked.  However, I love good stories and want my games to get me sucked in to the plot.  Deus Ex: HR left me not caring at all about any of the characters or the plot.  

[CeeKay]

one other thing the game is missing is melee weapons, and I cannot think of a single reason why they couldn't be in the game.

[Victoria Raverna]

one other thing the game is missing is melee weapons, and I cannot think of a single reason why they couldn't be in the game.

Because that'll be bringing a knife to a gunfight?

[CeeKay]

one other thing the game is missing is melee weapons, and I cannot think of a single reason why they couldn't be in the game.

Because that'll be bringing a knife to a gunfight?

one of my favorite weapons in DX1 was the Dragon Tooth.  it would have come in handy a bunch of places.

[Vidiot]

one other thing the game is missing is melee weapons, and I cannot think of a single reason why they couldn't be in the game.

Because that'll be bringing a knife to a gunfight?

Or because you can already kill everyone with a single button?  I guess if you wanted to take on a giant robot with a baton... 

[CeeKay]

one other thing the game is missing is melee weapons, and I cannot think of a single reason why they couldn't be in the game.

Because that'll be bringing a knife to a gunfight?

Or because you can already kill everyone with a single button?  I guess if you wanted to take on a giant robot with a baton... 

that's what kind of gets me-  that you need to use energy for subduing moves when you could have had a baton or a sword.

[TiLT]

The gameplay was fun, up until the final level.  It made so little sense to me.....

Spoiler for Hiden:

Not the way things went down in the story, but here I am, some fully augmented super human and I can just walk right through all of the mad men without firing a shot or incapacitating anyone.  They just ignored me, or ran to me then stopped and yelled at me. Shouldn't they have set up the level to test me more than previous parts had?

Sounds like you ran into a bug.

Spoiler for Hiden:

They are definitely supposed to attack. I found this part challenging because for once your enemies aren't spread out, which makes both attacking and sneaking past harder than usual.

Finally, the last boss fight was so stupidly easy I stood there thinking something else just had to happen, and it never did...

Spoiler for Hiden:

All I did was grab my laser rifle and shoot Zhao Yun Ru.  She died in less than 5 seconds and i never took a hit.

Also sounds like a bug, though I admittedly never really figured out that fight. The bad guy was protected against my attacks until I went through a series of actions around the room, at which point that protection went away. You should never have been able to deal damage from the start.