First Thoughts on Deus Ex: HR

So, me's grabbed Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
I don't know if it will be worth the buy yet, and I'm not far into the game.

However, I already have some thoughts about the game I'd like to share. Maybe some of you can comment on them to hopefully assure me it'll get better later on.

My first time playing involved dear Alkaid, who'll work with me on a Game-related Project. We're preparing stuff currently, thinks are extremely confusing since neither of us has been working on a team project like that before, and especially the presentation needs to be done well.
More on that soon enough. Important point is I'm directly talking about the game while playing, streaming via skype.

View the Full Post to read my list of thoughts.

1) No Window Mode support. Fuck 3D.
I really don't know why Eidos feels like they should integrate 3D stuff but no Window Mode features. Eyefinity and co are on the go, Multi-Monitor-Setups are spreading all around, yet there is no Window Mode support in the game.
Now compare the ones that would like to run their games windowed with those actually wanting to utilize 3D features or even have the equipment at this point.
Streaming won't be easy like that, and I am afraid that the performance will suck during action scenes.

2) Unskippable 30 seconds of ads of Publisher, Devs, Technology etc every time you start the game.
Thankfully, I was able to use a patched file to remove these ads, which is bliss.
Now I am not tempted to spit on my screen anymore whenever I see the Square Enix logo.

3) Mouse controls feel really sluggish.
Even after adjusting the sensitivity (which comes without numerical indicators but only filled/unfilled bars and has to be adjusted for both X and Y axes separately) this did not change.
While I'd have liked to use Mouse and Keyboard for this game, I decided that it wasn't worth the hastle and switched over to my beloved DualShock 2 Gamepad.

3.5) No General Gamepad Support
Even when using a X360 emulator, it needs tweaking to even work. Granted, the tweak is easy to do, but it shouldn't be necessary. In fact, the X360 only restriction shouldn't be existant in the first place, but what am I complaining about, that's how developers work these days, especially with multi-platform titles and ports...

4) Ass-Long Loading Times
I've been waiting multiple minutes until my savegame loaded. I can accept these times at the start of a new chapter, but not for loading a savegame bringing me back a minute before I screwed up.
This is said to have been tremendously improved via patches, but as I've not gotten mine to work yet (not the correct version number), I cannot say that this is a pre- or post-patch issue yet.
UPDATE: I successfully patched it just now and the loading time til I got to my savegame was actually really fine. Let's hope it stays that way, so I won't regret having the 30 second ads back...

5) "Gaming" on Rails
While I accept and appreciate a good introduction, I can't help but feel disappointed about the freedom you actually have during the prologue. I've spent more time "on rails", with only a pause menu (not the real menu) available and the option of turning my head in a ~45° range. While it was nice seeing a quite detailed and cleanly animated, alive setting and the rails weren't feeling artificial, it annoyed me, who sat back with his gamepad and wanted to do something myself.
However, this mostly got irrelevant after I got to finally play, crouch, take cover and shoot on my own - disregarding the video tutorials...

6) Video Tutorials spoil the upcoming events
Really, this. When I first got to freely move, I got shown a tutorial video, rather than a coaching while playing. This video isn't as annoyingly long as the one in BRINK, but instead you get quite a lot of them. And they show exactly how ruined the facility is before Adam Jensen, your character, gets to see it himself. While informative, it is a design choice I regret.

7) Cover
Honestly, I felt it was just fine. Taking boxes with you to hide behind felt a bit weird, but in the end it was kinda interesting. The switching of positions felt nice, although it needs some getting used to, and that "looking over" your cover had different grades of exposing yourself/taking aim was really cool.
The Cover system in general makes you already feel sorry for Square Enix's own title The 3rd Birthday, which pretty much failed to make Cover and the clunky Barriers all around the maps feel natural.
At the end of the day I like the Cover system, but can't help but feel like it might really get annoying later in the game.

8)The "actual" Opening sequence
Yeah, thats right. Minutes of Intro, rails and video tutorials were succeeded by a short gameplay experience, followed by getting your character beaten up badly and as a result reconstructed with the very augments the facility you've been told to secure.
The scene was in all honesty quite a sight, I'd be tempted to call it awesome, even.
Somehow I got a slight Ghost in the Shell vibe (Making of a Cyborg), which is generally a good thing.

9) Actual NPCs with spoken dialogue that is actually interesting
I am so glad Eidos can actually do this stuff, where Square Enix lost it long ago.
You even get some choices to make. Informing people peacefully or tackling the topic head-on, more aggressively? The dialogue itself was well written, really builds up an atmosphere. Maybe its too quiet at times, though.

10) First Mission Choices
Getting shortly briefed for your first mission after recovery felt exciting, especially considering you're left to choose your overall course of action. Storming the party or taking the stealhy turn? Long Range or Close Combat? Your choices affect your initial loadout, which was nice.
Meeting a SWAT team at your target to question about the situation inside was nice, especially since again the dialogues felt natural. How much info on what would you like? Your choice.
Taking a more stealthy course or going straight through the door? Again, your choice.

Of course, I failed to stay silent due to getting confused with the buttons, throwing remote detonating stuff all around giving my position away and making even more noise to attract the other guards by blowing up the bombs, but hey, such is life!


Other positive things I wasn't able to experience yet but were hinted are the Augmentic Improvements that act as a skill tree, and that all the mails you may read on your playthrough by searching through terminals and PCs will get globally saved in your database.
The HUD felt logical as well, due to the augments.
Also, there are quite a few settings to make, from Antialiasing to 3D stuff. The lack of window mode hurts, though.

Overall, while Alkaid didn't understand or quite frankly even remotely liked the way I went into the mission after ruining my stealthy attempt, gunning down all foes from cover, I kinda liked it.
Even though I am not going to simply spend 50-60€ on this game which benefit Square Enix, I'm already considering picking it up once it gets available at a 50% discount.
As it's a Steamworks game, it can simply be a retail copy as well.
If only it was Eidos only, without Square Enix being involved at all, and I didn't have 4 games up my plate only for September, I might go for Deus Ex: Human Revolution at its preorder price.