Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Review - Cyberpunk? More Like Cyberflunk | COG

COG writes - Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, the cyberpunk adventure that many fans have been waiting for, is a glitchy and outright buggy disappointment.

[dead_pixels]

Ouch. Shame to hear it suffers from those kinds of performance issues. Hopefully they roll out a substantial day one patch.

[Digital_Anomaly]

I'm seeing all these amazing review scores roll in and that's what I wanted to see too. I LOVE Deus Ex, I honestly do but to deal with the glitches I saw, I can't in good conscience recommend this until it's fixed.

The one question that is bothering me is if other reviewers didn't see or experience the same bugs I did? I'm usually a soft reviewer and fully expected people to slaughter these glitches. I'd hate to think I was just extremely unlucky in what I came across.

[starrman1985]

Perhaps the PC version doesn't suffer from so many of the glitches?

[Digital_Anomaly]

@starrman: Yeah man, this review was on PS4 and after the 1.02 patch was installed too. I'd even be willing to revisit my overall review if the glaring bugs were fixed but in my eyes, it's still shameful to see this many bugs released to a public who has to fork over top dollar to play a game.

[Unspoken]

Luckily it's just bugs and glitches that can be fixed, instead of core game play and story, which can't. Human Revolution was a great play through on PC, hoping the for the same here.

[Bansai]

I've been playing for 10 hours since yesterday and literally no bug, glitch or even a heavy framerate drop.

[CorndogBurglar]

You have to understand that it is incredibly suspect that you are the only one claiming any of these things.

I understand that some reviewers have been paid off or may not give truthful reviews for various reasons, but when literally every review is much higher than this and none make any mentions of glitches, it makes you look like the one that needs to be questioned.

[Kingthrash360]

I've had it for 2 days now ..played it extinsively...haven't ran into any glitches ...this is a bs article imo.
I'll admit Im a fan of the game but I'm the type of fan who would be pissed if it were put together badly.....like how I'm a nba2k fan and I refuse to play it because of glitches and bad animations. I've seen nothing like that In this game.

[FamilyGuy]

Maybe you should uninstall the game and the patch an reinstall them fresh. Maybe something happened that caused it to act up for you. I know it's time consuming but I would really look into this because you definitely seem to be in the minority when it comes to this game having tons of bugs and glitches.

[ChiefQueef]

first of all, being a reviewer that is active on n4g is unprofessional. it would also hurt the credibility of the employer but since its clearly a hobby website.. whatever. I read the article for fun and its alright i guess except for the part about the clerks not attacking you if you steal their stuff, its not a glitch, it was like that in the last game. The sneak options is probably an option that didnt make it to the final version but the visual was already done, or maybe its because you now know that if you need to flee, there is always an exit through the store's back. so its either something cut in the AI or something you didnt get. It wasnt worth an entire paragraph really.

Check if your system is overheating or reinstall. people did not have so many issues even before the patch. If you dont like the game, make your point and be decisive about it you beautiful smooth reviewer.

also people who claim publishers pay websites for good reviews are full of crap, There are bigger things in play. Its ad placement and good relationship (free trips for previews and such) for the bigger ones and for the smaller ones like COG its getting a copy of the game for free. it doesnt buy them a 80% or 90% score. it just gives them a 68% instead of a 50% out of politeness.Its just courtesy aaaand politics. mostly politics. It doesnt matter much really because kids will spit on whatever is below 80 anyway without even playing it. theyll even spend hours here pissing on games they never played.

[InMyOpinion]

Haven't they already announced a 4gb day 1 patch? Probably fixes most issues.

[corroios]

How come is getting so good reviews with so many glitch?

[Digital_Anomaly]

Great question! I fully document the glitches I came across in the review too. That's why I'm left wondering if the glitches were given a pass or if I just had bad luck. If there's one thing I'm sure of it's that quite often there's a media hive mind and review scores are made almost before the game is released but the 9 and 10 scores genuinely surprised me.

[chris235]

people get paid money for high review scores in spite of the product being buggy - with the intention to sell a few more copies. does this really come as asurprise to anyone? the alarm bells rang already when a few days ago the first review with a 9.5 was to be found. for me a sign that it's not better than a 6/10.

[Notellin]

I've played for roughly 5-7 hours on Xbox one. Didn't experience anything you mentioned. Almost all the ps4 reviews I've came across praised it for not launching with technical issues which has been the standard lately. I can't read what you experienced (at work) but sounds like you are in the minority so far anyways.

[starchild]

Sensitivity and perceptiveness varies greatly from individual to individual.

For example, the frame pacing stutters in Bloodborne were blatantly obvious to me and seriously detracted from the game, but others didn't seem to notice or care that much and plenty of high scores were handed out despite that glaring issue.

[Kingthrash360]

I have it, no glitches...I'll broadcast it right now and show you that this is a click baited article.....things like this is why i don't trust gaming media.

[rainslacker]

So you're the only reviewer out there who is ethical enough to not take bribes to not mention the glitches in their review? Or are you just the only one who is not being offered any of this bribe money?

Hive mind or not, the media isn't so consolidated in their hive mind to go out of their way to ignore bugs or glitches, so you are making quite the accusation, all while trying to convince others that you are trust worthy.

So what's more likely? All the reviews out there are paid off, and all the people playing it seem to be mostly issue free? Or that you are just making stuff up while trying to seem credible and reliable and ethical? The term Occam's Razor comes to mind.

Personally, been playing the game a bit today, and can say that I haven't witnessed anything near what you mention. Most of the bugs and glitches I've noticed were things that only game testers would spot, and likely got ignored because they weren't that serious. Game is seriously well made overall.

[Dark_Knightmare2]

Really now aren't you the white knight in shining armor who happens to be above all this supposed injustice in reviewing games thank god gamers have you to look out for them smh.

[lunatic0001]

It think they were playing the PC version and the console launch patch hasn't come out yet..that's my guess

[moegooner88]

*Cough* AC Unity

[starchild]

AC Unity was buggy at release, but they ironed it out with patches and it actually ended up being a really enjoyable game for me.

I do wish developers would take more care to assure a relatively bug-free experience at launch.

[Gardenia]

Seems like a bullshit review. No other reviewers ever mentioned bugs or glitches. The level design and the different ways to play the objectives were the pros of this game. Clickbait article again

[ITPython]

Perhaps the reviews with higher scores are actually reviewing the game (story, gameplay, characters, fun factor etc), not the technical aspect of the game.

[Kratos0289]

*groan*...Knee slapper of a title there...

[lunatic0001]

What blasphemy is this!!!!!!....I'm a little worried about this as I'm getting it on console...does that mean that the good reviews its been getting have been for the pc version???

[Notellin]

No there are several reviews stating they played on PS4 and had none of these issues.

[Kingthrash360]

Including me I have no issues....(ps4)

[lunatic0001]

What about the Xbox version though..I usually get the multiplats on ps4 but my bro wants to borrow this after me and he only has an xb1 so I'm getting it on xb1...any news on how that version holds up?

[rainslacker]

I've yet to experience an issue. Game is solid overall. Certainly nothing to turn one away, or down rate a game so heavily.

[lunatic0001]

I'm not turning away from it at all...I know it will be great

[Dark_Knightmare2]

Dude there's more reviews posted for the ps4 version on metacritic than there are for the pc version

[BrianOBlivion]

Lamest headline I've read in a while.

[LTwriting]

That's what happens when nobody websites like this make it to the front page. Aside from the handful of people who may actually trust this random blog, why on earth would anybody trust or give validity to some random dude on the net. Happens all the time, sadly.

My review of the website:

Cogconnected: Game reviews? More like some dude's spew. 2/8 - Webpage has some loading glitches with Chrome/uBlock

[yeahokwhatever]

awwwwwww did you do the AI programming for this game? lol

[Majister-Ludi]

Yea I don't trust it at all. No other reviews have mentioned such a glitchy experience. I need to hear this from a credible source before I believe sorry. Your headline is cringe worthy as well so good job.

[2pacalypsenow]

This website also gave a Quantum Break a 90 and Assassins Creed Unity an 88 even thought both games also had technical issues?

[Christopher]

Quantum Break only had issues on PC as far as I know. My play through it didn't have any notable issues on Xbox One.

[Hoffmann]

You don't buy games at launch anymore.

[FlameWater]

^^^

[leahcim]

Deus Ex, Hype = 0% metacritic = 85
NMS, Hype = 1000% metacritic = 71

just saying..

[KwietStorm_BLM]

So hype plays a role in review scores. That's what you're saying.

[KyRo]

It kind of does. You hype a game to much and you can be left with sour taste in your mouth when it's finally released and it's not how you expected. (MGSV was perfect example of this for me). Reviewers and gamers alike were let down with NMS empty promises.

[Majister-Ludi]

I'm really hoping you weren't trying to suggest that nms comes near deus ex. Nms is a very hallow shallow game with no depth to it. Deus ex is a tried and true franchise with complexity that couldn't be rivaled by nms even if someone was dumb enough to visit all 18 quintillion planets.

[Gwiz]

That tells me you havent played NMS.It definitely has some depth to it.Not something that comes easy though.

[Chaos_Order]

In my personal experience, expectations and hype tends to have very little impact on my actual experience with the game. I've been hyped to the maximum for games, and had my expectations surpassed. I've played games I had no expectations for, and thought they were atrocious. And vice versa, games have been the complete opposite of my expectations.

This idea that being hyped will lead to disappointment needs to die. True masterpieces will always be incredible, no matter how awesome you expect them to be, and mediocre garbage will always suck, no matter how low the initial expectation.

[agame914]

nobody likes games anymore all people do is bitch and complain

[beerzombie]

Alot of this generation started with the media getting paid to complain about x1.Now that there is less to complain about this they have jumped on any game.

[Rude-ro]

Why would Microsoft pay their media shills to complain about them? Unless you are talking about the small blog like sites from fanboys.
MSNBC, cnet, gizmodo, eurogamer, etc etc all have financial ties to Microsoft so your argument is pretty uneducated.

[CorndogBurglar]

Microsoft gave everyone plenty of reason to complain without anyone having to be paid to do it.

They lied about Kinect being required for the console to work, then less than a year later they released a Xbone with no Kinect and lowered the price. The whole always online, 24 hour check-in requirement or your console would be a brick plan. Only being able to play your copy of a game on your console. Their PR person basically saying "Oh well to people that don't have online" and saying they can still play the 360.

I mean come on. You can't be serious when you say that the media being paid to complain is what hurt them. Not when they had all of these horribly anti-gamer plans in place.

[Nathan_Hale53]

Games have been critiqued since the beginning. Complaining is completely valid when you are a consumer of the product.

[Digital_Anomaly]

There's literally a screenshot that documents two of the mentioned bugs yet if people want them not to be true they just ignore them and shit on the site/reviewer.

Basically the equivalent of putting your fingers in your ears and screaming 'LA LA LA LA, CAN'T HEAR YOU!'

[Majister-Ludi]

Sorry they have given out a litany of questionable scores so I literally don't take a word of that review serious. Maybe don't go to backwater planets for reviews just a tip. If your into uneducated reviews though I could have my niece write one, she's reading at a fifth grade level so it should meet your standards.

[rainslacker]

So a missing computer object, and lack of AI recognition, merits reducing the score down 3.5 points? Hell, if I had come across that in a game, I probably wouldn't have even noticed the computer unless I was actually working as a game tester, and not sure the context of the shot, so is he supposed to react to you being there?

For me, I'm not doubting there may be bugs or glitches in the game...because I can't think of a single AAA game which couldn't have a slew of bugs or glitches nowadays...but I doubt your worth as a game reviewer to actually score the game appropriately, and no which things are important to score, and which are just things to let go because they're kind of common occurrences nowadays.

You never really stipulate why it ruins the experience...which you seem to think is not that compelling to begin with.

Pro tip....from a layman who doesn't do reviews.

Stop trying to defend your review. Write the review, then leave it at that. Reviewers that go into the comment sections and try to defend their review, tend to only fail in doing so, and for you, tend to make yourself look very unprofessional. Some of your comments in your actual review, and some on here, seem to show a very unprofessional attitude, and if you can't remain detached from the community in terms of your actual review, and if your reviews can't stand on their own without others being able to come in and say why you're right to defend you against the blind people with fingers in their ears, then you are just not doing reviews right, and should either quit trying, or learn how to make a quality review, because there was a lot more wrong with your review than just pointing out bugs or glitches, and that is that you failed to really express why all those things detracted from the overall experience in a way that was meaningful for the reader.

This review was about you, not the game....and that's just poor reviewing.

[Valkron1]

Hope the day 1 patch addresses these

[Hugodastrevas]

Why is "too much hacking" a negative? Isn't the hacking satisfying? Doesn't the hacking work?

Hacking is an integral part of the Deux Ex games and my favourite one.

[Graey]

not that the hacking itself is bad, but that you would think if you are say hacking a terminal in front of the police then they would say something to you. He also asks why sneak when you can walk in the front door and just go to the back room and steal what you want. They do have elements that allow for sneaking but that it breaks immersion when you don't get in trouble for doing it. I think he says it is not the whole game but enough to notice it.

[Takwin]

Won't even give them the benefit of clicking it. I've seen enough to know this is an 8 or above game and anything below is predisposed to score it low for a variety of reasons.

[sullynathan]

So everyone that doesn't think this game is great just wants to score it low?

[SuperRaccoon]

I mean, I'm not agreeing with Takwin here, but that title doesn't really help. I can tell you I don't want to give them the click just because of that.

[Graey]

I clicked for you. He brings out valid reasons and even goes on to say once those reasons are fixed, which more than likely a patch will fix most of them then it should be good, but that he can't on good conscience recommend this game to you in it's current state. He also states to just give it a few patches then buy it. Hope that helps.

[CeresIchika]

Click bait - That desperate for views? While, sure there are issues, it is no where near as bad as you claim it to be.

[MoveTheGlow]

Wow. I appreciate the transparency in this review - he mentions the patch he installed alongside the glitches he encountered, so we're not left asking a bunch of questions about that. It looks like this will be a great game once/if that stuff is fixed, but I'd say the same about Fallout 4 and that thing never ever ran well on PS4. Here's hoping Eidos has an easier time fixing it.

[Digital_Anomaly]

And I appreciate you noticing! Trust me, it's never fun to pan a game and even less so when you're a fan of the series.

It can be frustrating when you're accused of being a liar or a shill (which one usually depends on which side of the scale you're on) but as a journalist you get used to it.

At the end of the day I'm just a lucky guy who has the honor of covering video games. It's pretty cool, no doubt about that, and I try to review from the eyes of a hard working guy who shells out good money for a game. Hate all you want but I can promise I've always written with integrity and honesty. I wouldn't feel good about myself if I did it any other way.

[Adrian_v01]

Sorry, wanted to give you a disagree. If you felt so good about your review you wouldn't feel the need to defend it all over the place.

If it's that hard for you to take some criticism maybe you should consider changing your job.

[korea09]

I wonder if the other reviewers who gave it a 8 or 9 didnt care about the glitches or this person ended up seeing every one of them in the game

[Dark_Knightmare2]

This review is ridiculous regardless of the glitches he encountered especially since almost every other review had nowhere near a problem with them. None broke the game or stopped progress so to give this low of a score because of them when in reality not one game in this day and age releases without problems is just crazy. So I expect every game from now on thats released with bugs or glitches to get a score around this one from this site.

[Crakface]

“Level design is smart in that it provides both stealth and assault options that are far better than anything Human Revolution brought to the table.”

“A strong narrative and stellar cast are the only things that hold together an experience that is absolutely rife with bugs and downright questionable design choices.“ - See more at: http://cogconnected.com/rev...

Human Revolution scores an 88 on this website

Mankind Divided a 65

This reviewer is a clown.

[Gwiz]

Wait,this is the PS4 version?. (edit: it is? smh) I think it's weird that many have given this game a 9
and never mentioned anything about bugs and glitches (although i'm fully aware of why that happened lol).

[jznrpg]

Its really short , that is the biggest problem i have. Bugs will be fixed but the length will stay the same. 10-12hrs at most if you do everything and dont kill a single person .

[Dark_Knightmare2]

What are you talking about that is just to blitz the main storyline. Ign,polygon,Playstation lifestyle,push square,pc gamer and plenty of others have started anywhere between 20 to 30 hours to doing everything plus exploring with the figure hitting closer to 30 than 20 so no need to be worried.

[joab777]

This is kinda like a bi-polar review. Shoulda opened with, "Coulda and might be the the game we all wanted, if not for serious bug and glitch issues. If these are fixed, and can be, a proper review will be possible."

Instead it starts out as if it is a regression from Human Revolution, and not at all the gane we woukd exoect...but only because of bugs. Personally, IMHO, these will most likely be ironed out. Then it says that a great narrative and acting, coupled with great design hold this game together. But, its also the design that may be terrible...or again it may be bugs.

It may be bugs, its bugs. This game has bugs...is kinda what I got.

[Gwiz]

It actually says " poor design " choices.

[cfc83]

I blame reviewers who are too impatient to wait for a patch, or anticipate what a game could be once the patch is installed.

[The_Kills]

Has anyone not seen the last DE, why did anyone expect it to be good, whats wrong with some of you? This is 2016, things rarely get better after being so bad. Wake up please people, for your own and wallets sake.

[VerdicLinwe]

So tired of hearing readers accuse people of taking bribes for reviews. Burden of proof kids, not just your paranoid CIA conspiracy senses.