PC GameSource Blog

Image by Undertow851 via Flickr

As I entered the Sarif HQ 6 months after my surgery in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, I was told I needed to see the technician and then hurry to the helicopter. Yeah, yeah; it’s a game–the pilot can wait. It’s time to explore!

So I started talking to the receptionist. She was a nice lady, and even though I’m sure I knew her before, it was almost like we were speaking for the first time. She was the one that told me of the amazing view overlooking the lobby from my third-floor office. After looking up to where I thought it must be, I decided I needed to go see it.

Long story short, I talked to everybody in the building, visited the lady’s bathroom to hear the gossip in the stalls (and was scolded for it), and eventually found my office. The view really was great, let me tell you.

Would have been a nice story, but what I didn’t bother to mention was that the entire time I was exploring, people were yelling into my earpiece telling me to hurry my ass up because the situation was getting dire. I didn’t think one damn thing of it until I got to the chopper and was informed that all of the hostages were dead because I took so long getting there.

I played on anyway, and eventually found the room full of dead hostages. The bomb had gone off long ago while I was back at headquarters admiring the view of people walking back and forth in the lobby. I felt kind of bad. I later read online about saving the hostages… all I would have had to do is get to the chopper sooner.

It shocks me when a game tells you to “get moving or else!” and actually enforces unforeseen consequences for not doing it. It shouldn’t shock me–games shouldn’t make empty threats, but so often they do. Next time someone tells me to hurry up in a game, I’m going to think twice before ignoring it in favor of continued exploration.

Right from the start and through every level I’ve played so far, Deus Ex: Human Revolution continues to surprise me with how they got most things right on. It’s never going to surpass the original Deus Ex, but it certainly surpassed all of my expectations for what Eidos Montreal could do with a Deus Ex prequel. It’s much too early to tell where it stands, but it’s certainly turning out to at least be one of my favorite games in recent years.

To wait for so long and not be let down–it’s a good time to be a gamer.

Related articles

• Deux Ex: The Eyeborg Documentary is a preview of our augmented future (gamesradar.com)
• DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION Arrives to RAVE REVIEWS (geektyrant.com)
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution (go.theregister.com)
• OnLive passes its first test as a cloud-based Deus Ex: Human Revolution shines (review) (venturebeat.com)
• Fight Human Augmentation – Purity First With Deus Ex: Human Revolution (godisageek.com)

Just when I started winding down from the recent onslaught of daily Steam deals, Valve caught me offguard with their latest sale, entitled Perils of Summer. You can find a veritable pant-load of games and even entire publisher collections on sale… many of them even 50-75% off of their regular prices.

Check out just a tiny selection of the deals to be had:

• Got $5? Why not get the entire Overlord Complete Pack–that’s a lot of bang for a few bucks!
• Still haven’t checked out Bioshock 2? It would be a shame not to for $15.
• Find the indie fantasy platforming gem Trine for only $4–you can’t go wrong here.
• DiRT 2, my new favorite racing game on the PC alongside Burnout: Paraside, is only $10. Yes, $10!
• The newly-updated Counter-Strike: Source is going for only $6.80, practically a steal.
• Get (almost) every Unreal game for a total of $13.60 with the Unreal Deal Pack. Yes, this even includes Unreal Tournament III Black Edition!
• Get all of the Call of Duty games up through World At War for $29.99
• Better yet, why not get every 2K game released on Steam (except Civ V) for $89–a 75% discount.
• THQ is also offering their entire collection for only $50, half off an already amazing deal.

This is barely a fraction of the games available in this sale, and many of these are only on sale today (June 24th) other than the publishers collections, which will be available for the duration of the sale.

Don’t miss out, but don’t spend all your hard-earned money today–check back tomorrow to see if Valve has anything else in store during this truly outstanding sale.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Valve announces Perils of Summer sale on Steam (vg247.com)
• So long, disposable income: Epic Steam sale (destructoid.com)
• Steam Summer Sale Begins (cinemablend.com)
• Counter Strike: Source Hits Mac, On Sale [Mac] (kotaku.com)
• Counter-Strike: Source strikes the Mac, receives update (joystiq.com)
• Counter Strike: Source Now Available to Buy on Steam and Play on a Mac (crenk.com)
• Counter-Strike: Source now available for Mac (!) (crunchgear.com)

Before the night is out I must pay my respects to one of my all-time favorite games and one which to this day simply has no equal. It’s been 10 years and I still enjoy going back and playing the game almost every time anyone mentions it.

Deus Ex has been on every hard drive I have owned since the year 2000 (and that’s a lot of drives, FYI). As far as I can remember, I’ve never even seen the uninstaller.

PC Gamer recently gave it the title of Best Game Ever (though I may not be remembering the title word for word), and I whole-heartedly agree. Deus Ex: Human Revolution just might be the shining ray of hope for a proper successor we’ve been wishing for ever since the somewhat-disappointing Deus Ex: Invisible War.

I look forward to remembering it just as fondly in another 10 years. I am starting my zillionth playthrough tonight in honor of this day, and I hope many others are doing the same.

By the way, if you don’t know what I’m talking about, never purchased the game, or simply want it on Steam, don’t forget to pick it up now for 75% off. That’s less than $3 for one of, if not the best game ever. In fact, why not pick up both Deus Ex games for 75% off instead?

Either way, game on!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Deus Ex turns ten, goes on sale for Steam (destructoid.com)
• Get Both Deus Ex Titles for $2.49 Each on Steam! (techie-buzz.com)
• Happy Deus Ex Day! (rockpapershotgun.com)
• Deus Ex: HR, Illicit E3 WobbleCam (rockpapershotgun.com)
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution Plays Best Behind Shades [E3] (kotaku.com)
• Preview: Deus Ex: Human Revolution (joystiq.com)
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution preview (brighthub.com)
• Deus Ex and that other game on sale now via Steam (destructoid.com)
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution – first in-game shots get out (vg247.com)
• PCG Looks At Deus Ex’s Rear End (rockpapershotgun.com)
• Get both Deus Ex games for $5 on Steam (joystiq.com)

The new self-titled shooter in the Wolfenstein franchise, developed cooperatively between Raven Software (single player) and Endrant Studios (multiplayer), has been received fairly well by the press. Many enjoy its sounds, animations, and presentation, while criticizing other aspects. This First Look will focus on my impressions of the game and my thoughts on these aspects.

First and foremost, any and all issues aside, I am truly enjoying the single-player game–it brings up many fond memories of the first Soldier of Fortune game (also by Raven), and it has almost everything I truly enjoy in an action shooter–good pacing, gripping action, great-sounding weapons, excellent gore, a weapon upgrade system.

The pacing was spot-on–the missions are almost non-stop action and/or suspense, depending on your objective. You never really feel lost or frustrated, and the adrenaline usually doesn’t stop until the mission is over. In-between missions you have as much time as you need to explore the city of Eisenstadt, interact with the members of the safehouses, deal in black market weapon upgrades, and more.

This brings me to further discussion about the hub city of Eisenstadt. You are not always just thrust from one mission to the next–often you first return to the city of Eisenstadt, which is essentially a very basic open world where you can choose your next objective, you can choose how to get where you’re going, and you encounter random battles that vary depending on how far into the game you are. Strangely, this is one of the most highly-criticized elements of the game. I, however, find this to be one of the most appealing parts of the game–it keeps the action fresh by giving you a chance to breathe and prepare before each mission, changing your weapon upgrades, speaking to others about your mission, and more.

The presentation of the game is also top-notch. I find myself pushing further forward if for no other reason than to run into the next firefight and satisfyingly slaughter the next group of Nazis (‘et al). The animation and artwork is great, and again really reminds me of the classic SoF violence. You can blow off limbs, causing enemies to hop around on one leg or writhe in pain or any number of other interesting animations. Eisenstadt and your missions all seem authentic enough for this style of game (how much time do you really spend admiring the scenery in a game like this?). My main gripe in this area is that the cutscenes seem somewhat low-quality, especially when playing the game in high resolution on a widescreen monitor–the game looks far better than the cutscenes on my rig. But that’s better than having it the other way around, so I can’t complain too much.

While this is only a partial review based on my initial impressions, PC GameSource should have the full scoop as soon as I finish the game, experience more of the multiplayer, and collect my opinions.

As always, feel free to post your own comments and opinions about the game here, and let me know what your experiences were, or if this First Look helped you.