This happens to be a very timely article - I've been going through a replay of this game recently. I bought it right after it was released, but only played it once (and very quickly). I'm a huge fan of the original Deus Ex.
i found this game to be very aesthetically pleasing - as well as having an emotive and thought-provoking story. it's good to see a game that pushes the creative boundaries of rendering, rather than focus on what seems to be a slow drudge toward photo-realism. not wishing to suggest that HR was somehow deficient in terms of "realistic" qualities, however!
HR was one of the few games I replayed multiple times and the level of design and atmosphere was one of the main reasons for going back, just to spend some more time in it's moody world. Can't wait for the next one either! Looks very impressive from the small peaks they have given: <a href="https://community.eidosmontreal.com/blog/dawn-engine" rel="nofollow">https://community.eidosmontreal.com/blog/dawn-engine</a><p>I'm hoping that they address one of the main letdowns of Human Revolution, that the hub environments were a bit sparse and lacking more NPCs to make them feel like real locations. I listened to the game commentary and apparently that was simple a limitation of the engine they used.
Great technical outlook on a fantastic game (whose ending totally, unforgivingly sucked in so many ways. First you give me levels of perfect urban cyberpunk adventure and then in the end just <i></i><i></i><i></i>* and <i></i><i></i><i></i>*.)
I had a nice time playing the original Deus Ex, explicitely because of its A.I.<p>But then IIRC I think I read somewhere that the A.I. was just scripted, and I probably lost some interest in it.<p>But does anyone know a bit more on that? Is it really just a scripted I.A. ?
1. Evolution seen in ‘synthetic DNA’ (2012) - <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-17769529" rel="nofollow">http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-17769529</a><p>2. Deus Ex: Human Revolution titles - <a href="http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/deus-ex-human-revolution/" rel="nofollow">http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/deus-ex-human-revolution/</a>
> Aesthetically pleasing<p>The wardrobes were great in Deus Ex 3. But overall Deus Ex 3 was a huge let down for many who played Deus Ex 1 back in 2000.<p>Deus Ex 1:<p>Many things that made Deus Ex 1 so special and made it an all time classic, a game that is one of the best five games ever made. The awesome story plot, the many different walk-trough paths (thousands), the inventor, the health system, the hacking, the interactive environment (breaking things, moving things ...all saved to the save file), the music, the huge levels (for 2000), ... the game is just superb (just the Unreal 1 graphics hasn't aged that well).<p>Random gameplay video: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41GmwHq6sGY" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41GmwHq6sGY</a><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_Ex" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_Ex</a><p>90 of 100 on metacritic: <a href="http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/deus-ex" rel="nofollow">http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/deus-ex</a><p>Deus Ex 2 was already a let down as it was geared towards the XBox1 which meant incredible small levels (there was a loading screen between every other room) and the whole roleplaying system was extremely simplified - e.g. there was only one ammunition for all weapons. Beside that it was a good game with great physics system for 2004.<p><a href="http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/deus-ex-invisible-war" rel="nofollow">http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/deus-ex-invisible-war</a> (80 of 100)<p>Deus Ex Clan Wars (renamed to "Project Snowblind" at release) was an off-spin with a different story but similar game play (a bit more action oriented but still with augmentations and stealth). <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Snowblind" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Snowblind</a><p>Deus Ex 3 had tiny levels (Detroid was like two blocks with multiple loading screens), there were only two hub-cities and a lot of fake background to make the tiny levels look like it played in a city (Part 1 had larger levels 11 years before), the graphics was already dated on release date, the graphics were very orange in the original edition later the turned down the shader effect in the directors cut edition, the story was boring and simple in comparison to Part 1, boss fights that were implemented by an outsourcing company and felt very weird, sudden camera changes to third-person-view with one button stealth-kills and other weird design decisions that some console gamers may have liked.<p><a href="http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/deus-ex-human-revolution" rel="nofollow">http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/deus-ex-human-revolution</a> (90 of 100, but apparently many never heard or played the first two games to have a real comparison, the game with another name attached isn't bad for itself at all)<p>Deus Ex 4 that was first released only for Wii and later also for PC was just bad (metacritic score 45 of 100): <a href="http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/deus-ex-the-fall" rel="nofollow">http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/deus-ex-the-fall</a><p>For the upcoming Deus Ex 5 I hope that Warren Spector from Deus Ex 1 comes back and shares his game design vision with the team. He is literally a game design god and fame and he is currently a professor at a game design university: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Spector" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Spector</a><p>Warren Spector recently did an AMA on Reddit: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/34fdjb/hi_i_am_warren_spector_a_game_developer_from/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/34fdjb/hi_i_am_warren...</a><p>Warren Spector discusses a post mortem of Deus Ex 1 and 2 in video: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTWvsGA77T4" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTWvsGA77T4</a> (Part of Warren Spector's Master Class at the University of Texas)<p>Deus Ex 1 used the Unreal 1 (Unreal Tournament) engine, Deus Ex 2 used Unreal 2 engine, Deus Ex Clan Wars used the Crystal engine (based on Tomb Raider Legends), Deus Ex 3 used the Crystal engine (based on Tomb Raider Underworld), Deus Ex 4 used Unity and Deus Ex 5 will use an improved Glacier engine (based on Hitman Absolution): <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_Ex:_Mankind_Divided" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_Ex:_Mankind_Divided</a>
Computers are so amazing. This incredibly complex and mathematically intensive process we just read about? It happens 30-144 times every second. And this is just the logic to render the scene - there's the additional input logic, game simulation logic, sound logic, and I'm sure dozens of other things that happen once a frame to make a game run smoothly.