GOTY 2011 Action Adventure Runner-Up – Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Action adventure games are a weird bunch. It can be hard to choose a winner for this Game of the Year category given the big differences between individual titles but, regardless of definitions, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is clearly one of the best developed action adventure game to be launched this year.

The title, created by Eidos Montreal and published by Square Enix, manages to stay very close to the concepts that powered the original while also making sure that all mechanics are as close as possible to modern day standards.

The game is played from an over the should perspective and uses a cover based system for shooting, moving seamlessly between perspectives and making it easy for players to feel both like an augmented killer and as a stealth operative that needs to take care to avoid detection while completing his objective.

The new Deus Ex offers a lot of freedom when it comes to both the way objectives are tackled and to the flow of the story while at the same time placing a heavier than usual emphasis on consequences, something that modern games have failed to do.

The world locations are detailed and the missions make good use of the game world without making players feel like they are pushed down simple corridors, although a little more variety when it comes to the atmosphere would have been nice.

Adam Jensen is a very versatile protagonist and his bag of skills can be evolved in a number of very different directions, which means that the same mission can be complete using very different techniques, from hacking the hell out of infrastructure to moving silently through man sized air vents.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is not a perfect game and makes it much easier than the original to close off some possibilities early on but it’s still a superb way of spending 40 hours exploring a world and devising clever ways of progressing.