Released on 26-Aug-2011

• New Deus Ex promises lengthy campaign

  New Deus Ex promises lengthy campaign

  PC Gamer has the scoop on the cyberpunk game that everyone's talking about, with a big feature on Square-Enix's long-awaited Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Thanks to CVG, there's one thing we're already excited about: the latest game in the moody sci-fi series promises a lot of action, clocking in with over 25 hours of play.

  That's not bad at all, thank you Square-Enix. The news comes from a credible source, too, a developer at Eidos Montreal where the game is being made.

  "So far with them playing about six hours every day, most of them don't complete the game," said producer David Anfossi, presumably talking about play testers. "The ones that are more casual gamers, who are used to more 'corridor, cut-scene, corridor, cut-scene' type of gameplay - they play it that way for a while. Then suddenly, there's this new world that opens to them, and they start getting a bit more creative."

  The third game in the ground-breaking RPG series, Human Revolution thrusts you into a grim and frightening future where man and machine have become too closely entangled. What this means is a meaty story, plenty of action, and unique gadgets to get you through the day.

  It's all still sounding a bit mysterious at the moment, to be honest, but we can't wait for the game to hit shelves later this year, bound for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC.

• Deus Ex 3 dated

  Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the latest game in Square Enix's brilliant Deus Ex series, has been given a street date. The ambitious futuristic RPG will be hitting shelves in the UK on 26th August. We're excited, and you should be too.

  The game, which will be available for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360, is a prequel to the very first Deus Ex, and deals with mankind's first forays into the world of augmentation. For the story, this means plenty of pondering over the morality of sacrificing your humanity for an arm that turns into a sword. For the action, it means that you get an arm that turns into a sword!

  Eidos Montreal is working hard on the game, and you can expect plenty of ways to shape and augment your character's abilities as you head through the adventure. Play it like a standard shooter, and you won't last very long. The key, instead, lies with using the environment and your expanding arsenal of augmentation gadgets to try out new kinds of attacks, with everything from mines that pop out of your body to the ability to punch straight through walls to take into account.

  So if you like your action RPGs, and are looking for something to really get stuck into, this is the game for you.

• Half Life 2 and Deus Ex devs team up for Dishonored

  Designers behind two of the most critically acclaimed first-person action games are working on a new project for Bethesda, the publisher behind the Fallout and Elder Scrolls RPG series.

  Dishonored is a first-person stealth game which will apparently offer unrivalled player choice as you plot your way through gloomy scenarios. Revealed in the latest issue of US magazine Game Informer, wee promised game about morality and player choice where the world you create is based on your actions, not navigating conversation trees

  t a game about assassination where you don't have to kill anyone teases the mag. t's a game about infiltration where you can set up traps and slaughter the entire garrison of an aristocrat's mansion rather than sneak in. It's a game about brutal violence where you can slip in and out of a fortified barracks with nobody ever knowing you were there./p>

  The game co-creative director, Harvey Smith, is a veteran of the similarly flexible Deus Ex series, while Viktor Antonov, designer of Half Life 2 memorable City 17 sequence, also contributes.

  Dishonored will be released for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC in 2012.

• Deus Ex: Human Revolution Preview

  Tomorrow's Clever Lies
  

  The future is rarely pleasant. In 2027 the world is, as ever, on the brink of something nasty. Conflict is brewing between the mechanically augmented rich and powerful - who sport everything from metal limbs to cyber-eyes - and the impoverished under-classes who have grown to resent them.
  

  Adam Jensen, our hero, begins the game as a security officer at human augmentation specialists Sarif Industries yet he's severely wounded in a terrorist attack during the game epic opening. To save him, the company must rebuild him.

  When the gravel-voiced Jensen returns to work he begins to unravel the conspiracy behind the attack a mission that first sees him treading the streets of a neon-tinged Detroit, and later takes him to the remarkable dual-layered island city of Shanghai Heng Sha.
  

  What more, with Jensen newly mechanised body, as the game progresses you can utilise his powers and abilities in some devastatingly impressive ways. Ever plummeted into a room full of bad guys, slammed into the ground and set off a ball-bearing-stuffed claymore youe attached to your spine? If not, you haven got long to waitbr />

  Jensen Baton
  

  Human Revolution may be a prequel to the original Deus Ex, but it has been built from the ground up with the core tenets of the 2001 classic in mind. Any mission objective can be completed in a myriad of different ways. Say youe trying to get into the Detroit police station to take a chip from the brain of a dead hacker that theye keeping in the morgue. Depending on how youe built your character, you can either sweet-talk the policeman on the front desk, stealth your way in through the building multiple entrances and creep through the vents, or simply take on the philosophy of a Terminator by barging through the front door and unleashing hell.
  
  
  Add Human Revolution remarkable hacking mini-game, the ability to break into people offices and read through their emails and the AI talent for making sure that every mission plays through differently, and youe got a deep and engaging sandbox to mooch around in.
  

  Action in Human Revolution is from the first-person, but it seamlessly flicks to a behind-the-sunglasses view whenever our hero's behind cover or does something that particularly cool. Like, say, pull off a take-down manoeuvre a spectacular event.

  Depending on his upgrades Jensen can smash through walls and break necks, grabheads, or spin an enemy's wrist until you hear a satisfying snap. Or you can simply go for some more traditional stabs through the chest. At certain points you may prefer a non-lethal approach and there are softer options as well - a full range of knock-outs, along with tranquillisers designed to forcibly drift enemies off to sleep before they can trigger an alarm.
  

  Cyberfunk
  

  But it's the world of Deus Ex: Human Revolution that's shaping up to be the star of the show. Not only is it packed to the gills with secret areas to discover and apartments to rummage through, it also brilliantly imagined. The legacy of Blade Runner is everywhere from the packed, smoky streets of Heng Sha and its towering oriental video-ads, to the simple way that every shelf and desk is covered in cyberpunk clutter.
  

  The game vision of the future truly is astounding. Developers Eidos Montreal have even taken futuro-fashion into account the rich and powerful characters are all adorned with crazy nu-Renaissance clothing. Meanwhile the logos of countless fictitious in-game brands and corporations adorn every crate, every object and every augmentation.
  

  The thinking behind Deus Ex: Human Revolution runs deep, and from what wee played it been expertly crafted to cater for both fans of the original game and those to whom words like UNATCO, FEMA, Walton Simons and Tracer Tong mean precious little.
  

  This new Deus Ex game could well prove to be one of the classics of 2011 - that the studio next project is a return to the cherished Thief franchise is cause for some intense nerd excitement. For now, get ready to experience our terrifying augmented future. We think youl love every minute of it/strong>

  
  

• Deus Ex: Human Revolution on PC is 'the version you should play'

  The developer responsible for the PC version of upcoming Eidos sci-fi-role-playing-shooter-stealth mashup Deus Ex: Human Revolution has been explaining why this won't be another series to abandon its computer roots to chase the console market.

  Talking to GameSpy, Jurjen Katsman from Nixxes, the studio in question, said: e are obviously a little biased, but for us here at Nixxes, the PC version really is the version you should play. The extra depth you get from 3D or EyeFinity, and the extra crispness of the enhanced resolution, effects, and frame-rate, really give you superior visuals. And the speed and accuracy that you get from playing with mouse and keyboard compared with a gamepad, at least for me personally, makes it a pretty easy choice./p>

  Using their own DirectX 11 renderer, the studio boasts that PC players will benefit from such intimidating features as real-time tessellation, improved Screen Space Ambient Occlusion as well as improved blurs and depth of field. The game also supports multiple monitors using AMD's Eyefinity as well as 3DHD. The jargon-free version: it's going to look sexy.

  Deus Ex: Human Revolution launches on August 26th for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

• Hitman Absolution will be 'the Hitman game we wanted to make' - IO Interactive

  Square Enix may not have had an official booth at Gamescom this week, but there were still some of their games on show thanks to European distributor Koch Media. One such game was the upcoming Deus Ex: Human Revolution, but some lucky souls also got to learn a little about Hitman Absolution, the long awaited revival of the cult assassination simulation series, dormant since Blood Money in 2006.

  Top games blog VG247 managed to get some face time with developer IO Interactive's Tore Blystad, who spilled some tasty beans on the return of Agent 47. As well as revealing that the game will feature Glacier 2, an entirely new game engine designed especially for Hitman, he admitted that the studio has been given free rein to develop the game they dreamed of making.

  What will this mean for us players? More gameplay choice, in a nutshell, which will help the game appeal to the hardcore fan as well as newcomers who just want to enjoy the story.

  ne of the things that was difficult with the old games was that there was a lot of freedom, but you really had to dig it out, it wasn really presented to you at all Tore confessed. o you could start a level and there was ten doors open to you and was like, ell, where the hell am I supposed to go? I don know, Il just have to try the first door, oh I got killed, now Il try the second one.

  Hitman Absolution creeps into action on PS3, PC and Xbox 360 next year.

• Deus Ex: Human Revolution

  Future Imperfect

  Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Xbox 360, PS3, PC) is a global conspiracy thriller set in a near future world where replacing human body parts with high-tech prosthetics is a violently controversial new trend. A first-person shooter role-playing game that lets you approach objectives as you please, its key theme is that human advancement will widen the gap between haves and have-nots.

  The year is 2027 and you play as Adam Jensen, security chief at Sarif Industries, a biotech firm that specialises in the field of human augmentation. Just hours before researchers plan to announce a breakthrough which would allow access to augmentation technology for everyone and not just the super-rich, a shadowy organisation attacks Sarif, killing the majority of its researchers and leaving Jensen broken and dying. However, he soon rebuilt with military-grade augmentation technology and sets off on a mission to track down those responsible for the attack.

  Stretching across two open world playgrounds, the world of Deus Ex is undoubtedly one of its many high points. Detroit is a seedy, crumbling industrial city subject to violent protests against augmentation, while Heng Sha, an island off the coast of Shanghai, is a smog and neon-infused Chinese metropolis which sees the poor live in the shadow of the powerful who have built another city on top of ground level. They might not be the largest free roaming locations, but Human Revolution environments are fantastically realised. Theye beautifully drawn, peopled by colourful characters and richly layered with things to do and find.

  Sneak or shoot

  Human Revolution is all about player choice, allowing you to approach your objectives in the way that suits you. If you want to play stealthily without killing opponents to achieve your objectives, you can. If you prefer going in all guns blazing, that option's open too, and either way you'll acquire a range of new augmentations that boost your abilities. If you opt to stick to the shadows, you might want to install a cloaking system, unlock the ability to look through walls or dampen the sound of footsteps to sneak around like a ghost. You'll look for vents to travel through rather than doors, disable cameras, send guards to sleep with tranquiliser darts, and hack terminals to discover computer logins and door codes.

  Take a more hands-on approach and the game becomes a great cover-based shooter. You can blind-fire or peer out for an accurate shot and each fully upgradeable weapon packs a satisfying punch. You can turn the odds in your favour by augmenting your combat abilities and armour, by planting mines and turrets, or by boosting your melee ability to take down two enemies at a time. As powerful as you are though, you never feel totally safe because augmentations can only be used for a short period each time.

  Filled with branching paths, every mission features a multitude of ways to complete your goals, giving the game great replay value. You could probably blast through the primary objectives in 15 hours or so, but exploring the world and engaging in the dozen or so optional side-missions will double your play time.

  2011 finest?

  Unfortunately, despite there being an achievement for completing the game without killing anyone, you are actually forced to eliminate four bosses. These unavoidable combat sections feel a little out of place in a title so rich with freedom, especially if you're taking a stealth approach to the wider game, although those who choose to play with a focus on action won mind one bit. Similarly, some lengthy loading times jar a little, and the hacking mini-game, while inspired, can be a little fiddly to execute.

  The game's not perfect, then, but it is mighty close. Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a great stealth title, a fantastic shooter, and both combine to create a superb role-playing experience that without doubt a Game of the Year contender.

  GAME's verdict

  Good:
  + Gameplay freedom of choice.
  + Wonderfully realised world.
  + Deep, immersive story.

  Bad:
  - Longish loading times.
  - Boss battles won be to everyone taste.
  - Hacking mini-game can be fiddly.

   

  Review by: Tom 'All Man' Ivan
  Version Tested: X360
  Review Published: 24.08.11

  Published: 25/08/2011

• Deus Ex: Human Revolution Review

  Evolve, don't revolve

  In the world of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the future isn't that bright - the whole game seems to be set at midnight on the darkest night of the year - but it certainly is orange. This first-person action role-playing game is heavily influenced by classic Ridley Scott film Blade Runner and so every scene is shot through with bloody auburn rays of mood lighting.

  A lot of them land on main character Adam Jensen, security chief at Sarif Industries, a company that specialises in biological augmentations. Augmentations are implants and prosthetic limbs and enhancements that increase the speed, reactions and mental capabilities of the people they are grafted onto, and in the year 2027 they are hotly debated. Should humans be allowed to upgrade themselves? What if it's their only chance of a normal life? Do we need regulation?

  New model armsies

  Jensen is at the heart of the debate because right at the start of the game Sarif is attacked and he is badly injured. In order to get him back on his feet, Sarif uses augmentations - new arms, neural implants and all sorts of other abilities - which Jensen can't use immediately but can activate later on as he recovers and investigates who it was who attacked.

  But while this is a game about Adam Jensen in a story sense, it's really about how you choose to play it. A bit like the Dragon Age and Mass Effect series from BioWare, this is a game where you can impact the world by saying certain things in conversation or by your use of violence or restraint. But unlike those games, it really wants you to experiment and have fun.

  For example, in the first main mission you need to infiltrate a Sarif factory that has been occupied by terrorists. Your goal is to retrieve some sensitive files related to a new augmentation Sarif is designing for the US government, and you can go about this however you like.

  Machina a mess

  You can use lethal force - sneaking up behind enemies and slicing them with your retractable arm swords, or shooting them in the back of the head, or ripping them to shreds with your combat rifle. When you reach the terrorist leader, you can shoot him before he can take out his hostage. Alternatively, you can bypass all the guards by sticking to rooftops and air vents, hiding behind crates, using non-lethal means like a tranquiliser rifle or stun gun to subdue enemies you can't easily evade. And when you reach their leader, you can let him go, or find a means to arrest him without losing the civilian he's pointing a gun at.

  Everywhere you go you can find out more about what's happening by exploring and using your hacking skills to break into computer terminals and side rooms. You're caught up in a global conspiracy, so information is power, and there's a lot of it lying around if you know where to look.

  Jensen Buttons

  Your augmentation abilities help. At certain intervals you get Praxis Points, which you can spend on new ones that allow you to jump higher, hack faster, see enemies' cones of vision on your mini-map, become temporarily invisible, run without making a sound, and so on. There are nearly 80 to collect and you can't get them all on a single playthrough, which - along with the multiple routes through every level - feeds into a real sense of making your mark on the world rather than just ticking boxes on your way through it.

  All the other key elements fit brilliantly around this core - the stealth system is almost perfect, allowing you to take cover elegantly and easily understand where you will be visible from, while the combat is close to Metal Gear Solid in the way it mixes close-quarters takedowns with high-powered futuristic weaponry. There are also side missions that tell you more about Jensen's past and it's all cleverly organised in a slick and efficient menu system that lets you get to what you want quickly and with a minimum of fuss.

  The only black marks against the game really are some annoying boss encounters, which force you to get into gunfights, and some bad loading times on console. The boss fights are actually pretty simple, but they are upsetting because the rest of the game is built around letting you choose your own approach and the boss fights give you no option but to fight.

  The only future is the one we make for ourselves...

  But they are easily forgivable. This is a huge game - 25 hours long, and you'll want to play it multiple times - and it looks and plays fantastically throughout. The story is gripping, the augmentations and level design give you an amazing range of choices, and it's as polished as anything else in the genre. If you like the idea of choosing how to save the world rather than just saving it, this is the game for you.

  

  HOT:
  + Brilliant level design
  + Cool abailities that you choose
  + Hack into people's email!!

  NOT:
  - Rubbish boss fights
  - Annoying load times
  - That's it!!!!

• Deus Ex stays ahead of Driver in charts

  Deus Ex: Human Revolution has managed to extend its lead in the UK all-formats chart for a second week, despite a strong debut for Driver: San Francisco.

  Square Enix's acclaimed sci-fi shooter for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC has maintained its place in the official GfK-ChartTrack rankings a week after its long-awaited debut.

  Driver: San Francisco had to settle for second place in its first week on release, but it was a good performance nevertheless for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii title, which is the first new entry in the popular series for four years.

  Following behind the new Driver was former chart leader Zumba Fitness and sports game Rugby World Cup 2011, while Lego Pirates of the Caribbean came fifth.

  Meanwhile, EA's latest American football title Madden NFL 12 made its debut in sixth place.

  Next week's chart will see the debut of a number of high-profile titles, including zombie action game Dead Island on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, as well as Star Fox 64 3D on Nintendo 3DS.

  Published: 05/09/2011

• Deus Ex: Human Revolution DLC coming this month

  Deus Ex: Human Revolution DLC coming this month

  Eidos Montreal has confirmed that the new downloadable chapter for Deus Ex: Human Revolution will be out within the next week.

  The Missing Link DLC pack will hit Xbox 360 and PC on October 18th, with the PlayStation 3 version arriving a day later.

  It will fill in a gap in the main game's storyline in which hero Adam Jensen goes missing for three days, allowing players to experience an intense side-story in which he is captured, tortured and must then escape from a mysterious freighter.

  Stripped of his cybernetic augmentations, Jensen will need to rely on his basic capabilities as he encounters new foes, makes new allies and reveals unseen layers to the game's labyrinthine conspiracy plot.

  Deus Ex: Human Revolution was released in August and has proven to be one of the year's most acclaimed titles, winning praise for its shooter mechanics and choice-based gameplay.

  It has also proven a commercial success, topping the UK all-formats chart for two weeks.

  Published: 14/10/2011

• Square Enix London launches Sleeping Dogs

  Game development studio Square Enix London has announced plans to launch Sleeping Dogs, an open-world action game set in Hong Kong.

  The title will be made available on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC, with Square Enix working in conjunction with United Front Games to develop the game.

  Players will take on the role of undercover cop Wei Shen as he attempts to take down the notorious Hong Kong Triads from the inside and copes with the pressures of leading a double life, questioning his own motives and who he can trust.

  Stephen Van Der Mescht, executive producer at United Front Games, said the game is going to offer an "intense and immersive experience".

  "The extensive experience both our studios have in creating compelling openworld gameplay and rich and rewarding combat makes for a perfect partnership," added Mr Van Der Mescht.

  Square Enix Europe, the parent company of Square Enix London, is responsible for a number of famous titles such as Deus Ex 3: Human Revolution and Final Fantasy XIV.

  Published: 09/02/2012

• God of War, Deus Ex also heading to the big screen

  This week brought the news that acclaimed actor Michael Fassbender will be producing and starring in the Assassin's Creed movie, but that may just be the first trickle of what could be a flood of new video game spin-off films.

  Today brings news that Universal has hired two new writers to work on its long-gestating God of War movie. Hollywood Reporter says that Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, veterans of the Saw series, will write the script. A previous draft had been submitted by David Self, writer of The Wolfman and Road to Perdition. Melton and Dunstan may have cut their teeth on the last four Saw movies, but their next project is Guillermo Del Toro's Pacific Rim, a 2013 blockbuster about giant mechs battling Godzilla-style monsters.

  Meanwhile, film industry bible Variety reports that Square Enix has teamed up with CBS Films to adapt last year's stealthy cyberpunk smash Deus Ex: Human Revolution into a movie. No word on stars or director but Phil Rogers, Square Enix Europe boss man, promised a movie that would both honour and explore the "stimulating, engaging and relevant" universe the Deus Ex games provide.

  And before those make their way into production, we've still got the fifth Resident Evil movie due later this year, followed by a 3D sequel to the 2006 Silent Hill movie.

  What do you think? Are there any more games you'd like to see on the silver screen?
  

• Deus Ex becomes the latest game to get the movie treatment

  Ever since Bob Hoskins squeezed himself into Mario's overalls back in 1993, the video game movie has been a controversial beast. Most have been savaged by movie critics, while few have left fans of the original games satisfied.

  Could that be changing? Deus Ex: Human Revolution is the latest high profile game to be snapped up by Hollywood, with Scott Derrickson lined up to direct the sci-fi thriller. He's best known for recent horror hit Sinister, and also directed The Exorcism of Emily Rose and the Keanu Reeves remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still. Derrickson will co-write the movie with C. Robert Cargill.

  "Deus Ex is a phenomenal cyberpunk game with soul and intelligence," Derrickson said in the studio announcement. "By combining amazing action and tension with big, philosophical ideas, Deus Ex is smart, ballsy, and will make one hell of a movie. Cargill and I can't wait to bring it to the big screen."

  Deus Ex joins many other big name games in the rush to the big screen over the next few years. Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul will star in a movie version of Need for Speed, Michael Fassbender is set to headline the Assassin's Creed movie while Tom Hardy will be slipping into Sam Fisher's goggles for a Splinter Cell flick.
  

  Published: 19/11/2012