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Played some Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.

Blogs > BEARDiaguz
Post a Reply
BEARDiaguz
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
Australia2362 Posts
August 30 2016 04:24 GMT
#1
I wonder if anyone in Eidos Montreal is secretly a bit happy with the rise of ISIS’s international franchises in the last couple years. Why yes I would like to elaborate upon this rather tasteless conjecture. Mankind Divided, the latest Deus Ex game and the second of the prequels, takes place not long after an incredibly violent episode where all the augmented people of the world go on a rampant murder fest a la the villain’s plan in that Kingsmen movie. Feeling understandably weirded out by all this, the unaugmented Naturals decide to discriminate the crap out of the augmented by stuffing them into grottos and treating them like subhumans even though it’s not really their fault. It feels allegorical to how Muslims in western nations would eventually be treated in the wake of a few more 9/11’s and that puts me in the right sort of somber mood to match the tone the game is going for, all gritty and real and relevant cybernoir. And no matter how many machine gun toting dudes I punch in the face I’m left in this mindset. Thing is, ISIS only started putting “kill westerners (it’ll work wonders, trust me)” on the agenda well after this game would have been written, so I feel that being able to draw this comparison now is just simple coincidence. Or is it? Maybe a shadowy cabal of businessmen is secretly directly and manipulating these violent insurgencies in the hope of generating more sales for their game. We’ll never know!

So once again we inhabit the cyberboots of Adam Jensen, a man perpetually damned to wear sunglasses indoors and have everyone think he’s an enormous twat, as he continues his quest to get to the bottom of conspiracies by skulking through hallways wearing a stylish trench coat. Two years after Human Revolution he lives in Prague as part of an anti-terrorism taskforce and some terrorists are nice enough to start conducting terrorism in his neighbourhood so the plot can get kicked off. It’s up to him, and us the player, to sneak, punch, shoot, hack, and ventilation shaft our way through a series of futuristic complexes and uncover the truth behind the lies behind the truth.

Let’s get all the praise out of the way first and believe me there’s quite a fair bit of that. It’s extremely gorgeous even I thought I run it on low settings because I have a shitty motherboard that overheats when trying to run Freecell. The audio design is lovely, particularly the soundtrack which consists mostly of slow moving ambient tracks that blend in seamlessly. The stealthing feels delightfully tense and the cover based shootery basically adequate. Jensen’s body may give off the impression he’s part Robocop but against gunfire he displays a resilience similar to papier mache so get used to lurking around crates and favouring the silent put downs. The levels are thickly detailed, not just in terms of visuals but with the whole multiple pathways thing that gamers can thank the original Deus Ex for inventing. Sometimes I wonder if in the bloated world of triple A development they have someone who spends a few years making a series of hallways and rooms that are basically alright and then they hire someone else to go through and fervently scatter random debris, empty bottles, bits of cardboard and papers and other assorted detritus under the logic that more things on screen = better graphics, but whatever, it’s fine.

It all blends together to create a wonderful sense of immersion that sucked me in and kept me hooked like the game was a Mothership constantly dropping Vortexes. I found myself roleplaying my decisions, carefully considering my way through the occasional dilemma and dialogue puzzle and adjusting my lethality protocol depending on the situation. State Police and sympathetic Augmented guards I went to some efforts to keep breathing (ruined at one point when a Policeman jumped onto a grenade he’d thrown but a moment ago, but hey not my fault he was a dumbarse. Probably woulda suffocated himself trying to put vegetables into a supermarket plastic bag the thick prick). For the Terrorist and Mafia types I decided to go all John McClane crossed with the Punisher which was wonderful cathartic release. Not just for me but for my inventory which I’d been dutifully filling with hundreds of bullets, guns and grenades I’d been scooping up all game and hardly using. It’s always a good sign when one starts trying to take the game seriously and although Deus Ex requires a fair bit of input and patience from the player it’s definitely worth it.

It was gratifying to see an important plot character hail from good ol’ Straya but then he started referencing an event called the Australian Civil War. What abject malarkey! How the dickens does Australian society collapse into civil war anyway? Did State of Origin get a bit out of hand that year? Did they stop brewing Victoria Bitter? Did Pauline Hanson get elected Prime Minister? Did they ban Tim-tams and sausage rolls? What!? And to make matters even more ridiculous the two sides of the conflict are the Northern Territory and the South Australian Federation. Eidos, you do know those two states are the most desolate regions of the entire fucking continent right? I mean I’m looking forward to the day we take those bloody Melbourners down a peg or two but I’m not putting the fucking Northern Territory in charge, that’s bloody outrageous. Later it’s revealed Captain Boomerang has a long running loving relationship with another bloke and it’s never made clear whether they are married or not, which accurately reflects current Australian policy regarding gay marriage: that if our great nation strays from traditional marital and family unions then a furious Mecha Jesus shall descend from above and none shall be spared His purging wrath. So at least Eidos Montreal got one thing right about my culture; passive bigotry. Thanks French Canada! You cunts!

I’m trying to avoid going on at length in a dry and boring manner about how so many of the things in the game are the product of expert craftsmen under adroit creative direction or that it’s got more polish than an 1800’s bootblack’s guild. All you need to know is that Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, really, very good. But, and this is a But of such girth so imposing even Sir Mixalot would be given pause for thought, it’s not great. It is the very essence of 8/10, B+, solid video game.

The issues don’t lie in stupid nitpicks, like how the race for photo realism leaves any imperfection glaringly obvious in contrast. Jensen’s hair clipping through the back of his collar the entire fucking game, for example. Or how loudly punching someone in the face several times is somehow considered a silent takedown. Or how Jensen can smash his way through a brick wall and nobody seems to notice. Or how ventilation shafts in the future are built to accommodate six foot tall humanoids. Or how when Jensen’s crouched just beside a corner and the barrel of his weapon sticks out around the side like an awkwardly timed erection.

No, the real issue is that it’s a Deus Ex game and due to that it has crippling plot issues. There’s two plotlines going on in Mankind Divided: Jensen investigates a terrorist strike and an overarching sideplot regarding the Illuminati conspirators that secretly run and manipulate things. The first plot simply isn’t engrossing enough to carry a game of this magnitude and the latter is tensionless because it features characters and an organisation that will remain intact up until Deus Ex 1 sorts them out. The game ends after defeating what feels like a secondary villain, one that would normally be killed off 70% of the way through a regular video game and I honestly can’t remember the last time an ending left me this angry. The sequence itself and the sections leading up to it are actually quite spectacular, very well done level and mission design people, but when I’ve got plot threads dangling like skinned poultry from a Chinese foodstall, the words “You’ve unlocked New Game+” should not be appearing on screen. We’ve got some fucking critical structural problems don’t we?

The aforementioned themes of racism and societal response to fear are well handled but it’s mostly just wallpaper for the one and only real Deus Ex plot: Rich Shadowy Cunts ruin everything. My qualm isn’t that it’s unrealistic, I can totally buy into Rich Shadowy Cunts stoking fear of the outsider to manipulate and control society (Oh hi Rupert Murdoch, how’s Brexit working out? Great? Yeah? Hurry up and fucking die you creepy old shitstain). My point is that ever since Deus Ex 1 did it, the cat’s out of the conspiracy bag. Deus Ex 1 handled it perfectly, you start the game as an unassuming cyberagent preying upon poor defenceless terrorists and the layers of conspiracy and greater plot are gradually piled on to form a delicious narrative parfait. But now Deus Ex has this reputation it’s impossible to surprise us anymore. The more you focus on ‘the Illuminati did it’ the more you devalue them and the more they come off like a Captain Planet villain or something. That pesky Bob Page is up to no good again!

In these uncertain modern times entertainment companies like to bank on the marketability of recognisable brands and franchises. That’s fine, I understand an investment has to be protected, but if we’re stuck making games called Deus Ex then perhaps do what Ubisoft does with the Far Cry games and make each one a self contained universe and story that exists for that game and that game only. Or do what Arkane Studios are doing with Prey, ie a reboot that has absolutely nothing to do with the original but we’re calling it that because some of you have heard of it. The first Deus Ex game was perfect in this regard, it required neither of the quels, pre or otherwise. Human Revolution wisely steered clear of trying to link itself to the original and stayed more focused on Jensen’s personal journey, which kind of worked, but that story has been told now. We don’t need him or his conspicuous beard scar anymore. I’d still recommend Mankind Divided for the high quality of the aesthetics and gameplay, just don’t expect to get all that much out of it is me point.








Oh yeah and if the games set roughly 25 years before the original Deus Ex, why's everything look so much more futuristic?

****
ProgamerAustralian alcohol user follow @iaguzSC2
y0su
Profile Blog Joined September 2011
Finland7871 Posts
August 30 2016 04:43 GMT
#2
Kingsmen reference. 5/5
iLovePartinG
Profile Joined December 2015
20 Posts
August 30 2016 06:42 GMT
#3
always a cool read cheers
The tournament will see the 32 best StarCraft II players in the world compete
Bodzilla
Profile Joined March 2011
Australia472 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-08-30 12:40:18
August 30 2016 12:37 GMT
#4
Top read, and top australian banter.

To put the northern territory in charge would indeed be a crime. They're not even a fucking state.

But how did you get past the game constantly crashing? where you just one of the lucky few that didn't have problems?

As soon as my raging cock sync's to the cybernoir and i get pulled into a lofty dark world, i'm instantly ejaculated with no warnings to my fucking desktop and doomed to a life of flaccid disappointment. Jesus christ.

I run a 5930k and 2x 760's in SLI for christs sake, i'm hardly shit tier on the hardware so why is this such a fucking lemon to run?
when life gives you lemons, make banelings
BEARDiaguz
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
Australia2362 Posts
August 30 2016 13:28 GMT
#5
I dunno, I'm not tech support, you need to talk to someone more capable than I.
ProgamerAustralian alcohol user follow @iaguzSC2
Bodzilla
Profile Joined March 2011
Australia472 Posts
August 30 2016 17:12 GMT
#6
Windows 10 or windows 7,8?
when life gives you lemons, make banelings
Nakajin
Profile Blog Joined September 2014
Canada8989 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-08-31 01:31:59
August 31 2016 01:31 GMT
#7
I would love to have a pc good enough to play it, looooved the last one.

Is there any Montreal or Quebec level? The olympic stadium level in human revolution was the most awesome and stupid level ever as someone who live in Montreal.
Writerhttp://i.imgur.com/9p6ufcB.jpg
Qwyn
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States2779 Posts
August 31 2016 22:57 GMT
#8
Great read.

I love Deus Ex (its aesthetic is, IMO, one of the greatest in all of video game history) and was sad to hear how brief and rushed MD's story is. I'll still be buying it, and I'll probably get the DLC too.

I still think there's so much more that can be done in the same cyberpunk genre space, but it might take more creative brainpower than Eidos Montreal has stored in their collective noggins to bring it out.

I wonder how much of MD's plot is due to the game being rushed out the studio doors by a tyrannical publisher T_T.
"Think of the hysteria following the realization that they consciously consume babies and raise the dead people from their graves" - N0
BEARDiaguz
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
Australia2362 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-09-01 06:56:18
September 01 2016 06:55 GMT
#9
An interesting question, one we'll never know about cuz AAA likes to keep their shit secret. If I had to speculate...

Games frequently go through a number of iterations before the designers settle on what they're gonna use. I imagine MD had quite a lot of issues with trying to get their mechanical apartheid plot working (if I had to guess a lot of it came down to trying to get he player to feel like a member of a downtrodden social caste which isn't a good fit for video games generally and really doesn't work when you're a dude who has blades for arms).

The thing about MD is that while it's main plot is shit it's actually got a lot of side quests going on, a lot more than normal for DX I believe (my memories of the previous ones are a bit fuzzy cuz I never got round to replaying them) and some of the side quest storylines are kinda neat. I can't tell if that was their goal all along or if they just took bits and pieces from earlier iterations and just stitched them all together. The end main plotline does feel rushed, which isn't something you should feel about a game that's been in development for like 5 years or whatever, but overall there's still shitloads of content in MD overall. It's fine value for money in that respect.
ProgamerAustralian alcohol user follow @iaguzSC2
Erinyes
Profile Joined November 2011
Germany104 Posts
September 01 2016 14:59 GMT
#10
Great writeup. To explainthe plot problems a little bit:

Last year in an interview done by GameStar, I've read in their magazine that originally Eidos did not plan to make a sequel to Human Revolution. Ending Jensen's story right there and then. They obviously went back on that decision. The question is when and how much time the writers had spare to craft a new story for him.

The issue I see with this is, that they had to come up with something that wasn't originally intended to be happening in this game world. I for one was quite surprised by the when the ending hit and was left with a bit of a sour taste because it was teasing a sequel and/or DLC. It felt like a TV show which had its season finale and is wanting to keep your attention until next year, making you guess and excited. The issue is, the next game will not be next year or "soon" and that's what I really don't like about it -it will leave us hanging for a while unfortunately.
FeyFey
Profile Joined September 2010
Germany10114 Posts
September 01 2016 16:43 GMT
#11
mankind divided is also a divided game. 2 more parts to come . But I don't mind too much, they couldn't have made that level of detail otherwise for just 60 dollar. Would prefer though if they made the sidestuff more like in the first game.

Still impressed that the game managed to survive its preorder campaign and the micro transactions. Luckily singleplayer gameplay seems to not be balanced for micro transactions, so they are more like buyable cheats. Just have to hope they don't balance the micro transactions later on. They already grayed it out for the reviewer version, so it wouldn't pop up in reviews.
Miragee
Profile Joined December 2009
8493 Posts
September 01 2016 19:41 GMT
#12
On September 02 2016 01:43 FeyFey wrote:
mankind divided is also a divided game. 2 more parts to come . But I don't mind too much, they couldn't have made that level of detail otherwise for just 60 dollar. Would prefer though if they made the sidestuff more like in the first game.

Still impressed that the game managed to survive its preorder campaign and the micro transactions. Luckily singleplayer gameplay seems to not be balanced for micro transactions, so they are more like buyable cheats. Just have to hope they don't balance the micro transactions later on. They already grayed it out for the reviewer version, so it wouldn't pop up in reviews.


They did what?
Jett.Jack.Alvir
Profile Blog Joined August 2011
Canada2250 Posts
September 02 2016 05:37 GMT
#13
How can a single player game offer micro transactions? The option to replay the game as Alf? Instead of blade-arms you have golf club arms?

Micro transactions usually serves to cater to those aesthetically inclined. I really don't see that working in a game you aim to play once, and maybe boot up again several years later.
Miragee
Profile Joined December 2009
8493 Posts
September 02 2016 05:39 GMT
#14
On September 02 2016 14:37 Jett.Jack.Alvir wrote:
How can a single player game offer micro transactions? The option to replay the game as Alf? Instead of blade-arms you have golf club arms?

Micro transactions usually serves to cater to those aesthetically inclined. I really don't see that working in a game you aim to play once, and maybe boot up again several years later.


To buy ammunition, hue.
Erinyes
Profile Joined November 2011
Germany104 Posts
September 02 2016 08:45 GMT
#15
On September 02 2016 04:41 Miragee wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 02 2016 01:43 FeyFey wrote:
mankind divided is also a divided game. 2 more parts to come . But I don't mind too much, they couldn't have made that level of detail otherwise for just 60 dollar. Would prefer though if they made the sidestuff more like in the first game.

Still impressed that the game managed to survive its preorder campaign and the micro transactions. Luckily singleplayer gameplay seems to not be balanced for micro transactions, so they are more like buyable cheats. Just have to hope they don't balance the micro transactions later on. They already grayed it out for the reviewer version, so it wouldn't pop up in reviews.


They did what?


In the review version the "Shop" button was grayed out thusly reviewers could not access or assess the amount of microtransactions present in the game.
Jett.Jack.Alvir
Profile Blog Joined August 2011
Canada2250 Posts
September 02 2016 16:55 GMT
#16
Haha re-read your blog, and you sir mix a lot of references that sometimes slips past my literary cognizance. 6/5!
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