The new Deus Ex game is great. What makes it so great? It's great because it has the balls to do something that most games these days don't: stick to its roots. Sure, there are minor changes here and there, but Deus Ex is a game that recognizes it came from somewhere. The developers didn't act like they were geniuses from heaven here to bestow upon us their vision. No, they knew that there were already a lot of Deus Ex fans so they did everything with the fans in mind. Eidos Montreal (and their owners, Square Enix) could have easily given us yet another Bioshock wannabe and slapped the Deus Ex name on it.
But no. They actually did their homework and made a very good game.
Why does this game give hope to gamers everywhere? Four reasons:
1) Deus Ex HR shows that some developers actually CAN do a franchise reboot properly. This same team is handling the upcoming Thief 4, and after seeing how gracefully they dealt with the Deus Ex IP, I can't wait to see what they do with the Thief franchise. Heck, it even gives me a glimmer of hope that other upcoming franchise reboots like Tomb Raider and X-COM might actually....be decent
2) Deus Ex shows that a new studio can do incredible things. We are so used to sequels made by the same handful of game developers. The industry is always abuzz about Bethesda's new game, Bioware's new game, Activision's new game, Insomniac's new game, etc. etc. But here, we see a completely new and unproven developer step up and tango with the big boys.
3) Deus Ex shows that things from the past are just as good today. It shows that when you make a first-person shooter, you don't have to go the Call of Duty route just to make a game worth it. It shows that there are good ideas from past eras of gaming that we've forgotten, and maybe it's time to explore them again and reevaluate how fun they are.
4) It shows that there's a glimmer of hope for Square-Enix. Yeah, they're piddling away their Final Fantasy franchise, but at least they're willing to support intellegent developers like Eidos Montreal. Bravo, Square-Enix. If you do this well with Thief 4 and the new Tomb Raider, then you will have won back a bit of my trust.
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Agreed
HR is a great reboot and sure as hell a GOTY contender this year....
Frankly, I was a bit scared that this reboot was gonna destroy all those memories with Deus Ex, but I had no idea this would be such an awesome reboot....Square Enix is getting back on track now...at least...I hope they are
"and their owners, Square Enix"
I disagree with this. This game was clearly in development way before they got bought. If it was up to SE it would become another cod.
"Deus Ex HR shows that some developers actually CAN do a franchise reboot properly."
I don't consider HR as a reboot of the franchise. It's a prequel, and it changes a few things, but it's still a DeusEx game.
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What pleased me so much about DeusEx was that it was a proper DeusEx game. It felt like a game made by the same team that made the original.
When I first played DeusEx, Thief and SystemShock2, I was expecting them to be the future of the FPS genre. Choices and freedom... yet for some odd reason FPS games have degenerated back to their linear corridor-shooting roots.
Eidos has been on a roll lately. They had a hand in ArkhamAsylum, JustCause2 was awesome, and now HumanRevolution.
I'm not to keen on the new Hitman game, but I have faith that they're smart enough to know what they're doing. Their only problem is that they've made some pretty atrocious games as well (such as Kane&Lynch2)
As someone missing turn based combat and surrealism, something other than first person perspective, Deus Ex does not show hope for me. Just to opposite in fact.
I don't know about you guys, but I am totally pumped for the new thief game!
Although if they change the view to 3rd person I will cry.