Thursday, December 8, 2011

On the subject of Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Despite the fact that it's the worst time of first semester, I'm in a good mood. I blame this on several things. In an attempt to finish the game before the beginning of winter break (so I can play Skyrim), I have taken the initiative to stay well ahead of the curve on my school work, finishing my final projects, photography assignments and prepping my finals with enough time to come home and play some Deus Ex every night. It's a steamy affair if I may say so myself.. Although, it also doesn't hurt that I've been in the Christmas spirit lately, and I should also mention, that a Pinkberry frozen yogurt spot just recently opened up a town over, so consequently that may have something to do with it as well..

Never the less, this game is really great. To be honest it took me awhile to get into it. And to be fair, any game that lets me rearrange my weapons in a suitcase has a habit of grabbing my OCD by the hairs and never letting go. I would be lying if I said I didn't spend the first several hours thumbing back and forth throughout the menu screens for this reason alone:


Blips in the road aside, the imagery is fantastic. I'm a huge fan of the sci-fi futuristic era. For those of you unfamiliar with Deus Ex, Human Revolution comes as a prequel to the original, released on PC in 2000 and is the third game to be released as part of the series by Eidos.

In the game you play as Adam Jensen; the year, 2027. Politics involving human cybernetic enhancement drive a storyline that twists and turns depending on the interactions you have with those around you. Adam, is new to the world of augmentation himself, after a terrorist attack on Sarif Industries, a firm specializing in the biotechnology of humans, leaves him mortally wounded. Reborn with the cybernetic upgrades that saved his life, the game allows ample specializations and focuses that Jensen can choose from, and your choice to either use lethal force, or be a sneaky son of a B will also have an affect on the way the story plays out.

I wouldn't want to give away too much yet, seeing as I still have about 20% remaining in the story to complete. However, I will say that I am particularly pleased that I decided to complete a lot of the side missions and stories, so for those of you who haven't played it yet, and are thinking about it, I would indeed advise you to take your time. One of the great things about this game is that you can play it any way you want; freedom of choice is everything, but the backstories add context, and personally for me, I have found that they have enriched the overall experience.

[SPOILER ALERT]

During a previous side mission, I had the opportunity to help out Sarif helicopter pilot, Faridah Malik, clean up a sticky situation involving the murder of her best friend in Shanghai This added quite a bit of depth to the relationship between the two characters, and so later on, against all odds, I couldn't see the justification in letting her die upon returning to Heng Sha, when the aircraft gets shot down by Belltower, despite the massive ambush. Tyler, who also just recently played the game, wasn't aware that this was an option.

This conversation alone had me in stitches for a good 10 minutes. ^__^ The LOLs are still palpable. BAH, I'm rambling, I think it's time I returned to the digital lab and got some printing done so I can play s'more..

Speaking of which, my photography work is coming along nicely this semester. With our final critique of this term coming up quickly, despite the massive pile of negatives that I need to scan today, I should have quite a bit of photos up on my Flickr account within the next month or so. /dance

This reminds me, with Alice: Madness Returns under my belt, I couldn't help but change up my iPhone lockscreen and homescreens recently. Perhaps you will appreciate it as much as I did:

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