Something attempting to be useful, mostly failing.

I loved Deus Ex 1. I hated Deus Ex 2. I love Deus Ex Human Revolution thus far. Here’s why.

The action feels solid, stealth is handled brilliantly (with augs that add even more to it!), you feel like a complete badass finding alternate paths to flank a group of enemies, the close quarter takedowns are a welcome addition (albeit pulled from Splinter Cell) and the guns feel right (Iron sights aren’t super accurate laser sights, guns have waver and variance, bullets have drop to them). The open-ended situation handling remains from Deus Ex 1 – if you see a group of enemies, you can engage them directly, you could sneak and stealth around them entirely or use that as a tactical advantage to suppress the group, you could find a security system terminal and hack it to turn the security bots against the group, or you can divert completely around them using the environment. This allows you to play the game your way and you can complete it without firing a shot (or by using non-lethal tactics).

The spoken dialogue is amazing and well written with excellent voice actors rounding it out. Even though the Eidos team seems to have unabashedly lifted the conversation system from Mass Effect 2, they add to that side of the game with an augmentation that gives you a polygraph and a few other gizmos to help determine which conversation flows would work best for your situation. The contextual conversation choices are more cut-and-dry than just “Save the orphans” or “Murder the orphans” like in Mass Effect. It says the point you’re going to make, but there’s ambiguity behind if it’s a “good” response or an “evil” response… or there may not be a morality swing either way with a conversation. It’s fluid, realistic and believable. The first time you really use this mechanic will sell you on its use through the game, and swayed my first aug purchase away from a stealth or accuracy mod to the polygraph mods.

I’m on the fence about the augmentation system. I really liked how it was handled in Deus Ex 1. You had to go to a medibot to get a new aug installed, and based on what augmentation canister you get determines what you could actually install. Having everything open right from the get-go makes your first few choices agonizing and being able to upgrade an aug or get a new one right in the middle of a firefight really removes me from the meaning behind the augs themselves. In the story, augmentation is treated as an extremely heavy decision but the mechanic in the game is a mouse click away whenever you want to get better at something. I would have liked to see a bit more gravity behind the system, but I suppose they had to make some kind of concession for the more casual out there. Having to trudge through with the means to turn yourself into an augmented monster of destruction but not the ability to do so would have been maddening for some players I’m sure, and the converse of this argument would be all over the internets.

The hacking minigame is a welcome change of pace and is just hard enough to make you think about diving in, but there’s usually enough reason (XP or creds) to give it a shot.

The visual cues and style are incredible. Blacks and golds everywhere, with a Victorian edge and flair to everything inside of a Blade Runner styled city. Extremely interesting and it makes you wander around and really look at your environments when you’re not busy shooting/not shooting/sneaking/diverting/hacking your way around set pieces.

Overall, I’m extremely pleased with the game, and I can’t wait to dive into the world more.

If Bodycount has one thing going for it, it would be that it’s safe. From what I’ve seen from this demo, there’s nothing that makes this game stand out.

Guns? Check. They sound good have have enough punch to them. Nothing to write home about though – you’ve got your AR bullet hose and a shotgun. Ta-da.
Auto health regen? Yup. Can’t have a console game now without that wonder of modern medical science.
Iron Sights? In all of its remarkable uselessness. I’ve seen Iron Sights done well (Red Orchestra). This ain’t it.
Leaning? Yes. I do really like how they do this – half pull the right trigger and you go to Iron Sights with movement, full pull and you get Iron Sights and your right stick will lean you instead of move. Ropeadope marksmanship?

I’ve been trying to determine what makes Bodycount different than every other game out there. When you kill enemies, icons drop on the ground that you can pick up to replenish different skill bars. Interesting mechanic, but it really pulls you out of the game. The game assumes you’re going to die, so respawns are quick and painless… I like that.

Essentially they take the class-based systems from…well… everything now-a-days, then they grab the combo and skill shot system from Bulletstorm, and then pray that the gaming masses haven’t played a FPS since 2003.

Controls are floaty and slow, the world is not compelling, the set pieces are bland and predictable, it does nothing to warrant money from your pocket. Pass.

Regardless of my better judgement, I downloaded the Madden 12 demo, just to see where things got with the series. My opinions on the game seems to remain the same from last year. Weird AI calls (Punting on 3rd and 4?!) and logic problem still pervade the game, but the biggest sin is that the presentation is still just so uneven. For every filler shot they have (Hey! It’s the coach! Let’s watch the coach yell while the clock runs down!), it looks amazing, but there’s always SOMETHING weird going on. 5 fans in the background standing next to each other look like clones and are moving at the exact same time, for instance. During the team intros, you’ve got guys carrying team flags and banners, which is a really awesome touch, up until the cloth physics on the flags go batshit crazy and you’ve got a 30 foot flag stretched out and flapping wildly.

The controls still feel sharp on the run, but if I were to have one major complaint against the game’s control scheme, it would be this: Please, please, please PLEASE just pick a kicking method. This year’s PAT/Punt/kickoff mechanic was different than last year’s, which was different than the year prior, which was different than the year prior. Any one of those methods would be fine – just pick one.Out of all the things that need revised, that’s not it. No one cares about HOW they kick, so long as the ball goes in the air.

Madden will always sell. They don’t even have to try. EA puts in enough new stuff to make the series grow JUST ENOUGH to warrant that next purchase from the football fan. Me? Yeah, I’ll pass this time around. Maybe next year.