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I've heard and read quite a bit about the original Deus Ex, but I never actually played it, so I went into Deus Ex - Human Revolution with no real expectations, just a hope that it could live up to it's extremely cool announcement trailer. Thankfully, it did that and more.
Human Revolution does what a lot of RPGs set out to do, but few actually accomplish, and that's have a legitimately meaningful story. It's not just a dramatic tale of government corruption, warring international corporations and the resulting social strife and insurrection. It IS all those things, but more importantly it tackles the issue of Transhumanism in a very serious way.
All of the plot points and dialogue in the game center around the benefits and dangers of human augmentation and how that technology would change the world in very sudden and drastic ways. This game is less a character study (which is what a lot of RPGs are) and more a showcase for potent themes, intriguing ideas and difficult questions (which is what great art does.)
The gameplay has a bit of a learning curve, but ultimately it's a mix of sneaking around, shooting action, hacking (twitch puzzles) and exploration. I was very pleased to see that there was almost always more than one way to accomplish the game's objectives. The game will punish you for trying to strong-arm your way through everything and reward you for patience, careful observation and being a "ghost" (accomplishing goals through stealth.) Should your patience run out, or you simply prefer conflict, fighting is always an option and you can develop your abilities in that direction instead.
The graphics are nice, if a little dated for 2011. The soundtrack is a techno/synth mix reminiscent of Blade Runner; a perfect accompaniment to the game's setting. Together they produce the tense atmosphere of a world on the brink of total chaos. It's apparent from the start that human civilization is at a cyberpunk crossroads.
This is the first western RPG to truly impress me in a long time. There have been a slew of good rpg-lite shooters (Bioshock, Fallout 3, etc) but none of them have the narrative weight of Deus Ex - Human Revolution.
9/10
