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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.

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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.

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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!

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Although the style of game differs greatly, certainly the spy setting and overall feel are in many ways similar. One way in which they are similar is that when you are seen, if you do not kill that person immediately, or if you do and are seen or his body is discovered, then you will almost inevitably trip an alarm that causes everyone in the area to react differently.

Where the difference comes in between the two in the system is the way in which the enemies react. The mechanic works well in Splinter Cell–when you’re seen, the enemies in the direct vicinity will begin to search for you. If you stay hidden for some time, they will eventually start to patrol again and not really pursue you. This is realistic–they won’t know where you are as long as you’ve moved since the last time they’ve seen you. This is aided by the fact that you always see a ghost of where the enemies last saw you. This system lends itself well to this style of gameplay, and it works great.

Alpha Protocol handles alarms differently. If you are seen, then the enemies in the direct vicinity of whoever spotted you will immediately rush you and attempt to sound an alarm if he is near one. If you kill him first, then like Splinter Cell you may have gotten away clean unless someone else saw him die or finds his body. Once the alarm sounds, however, the system gets clunky. Every enemy on your map seems to rush your exact location and directly hunt you down as if they have psychic powers of some kind. This lasts until you turn off the alarm or, almost always, until you clear all of the enemies out, since there’s a somewhat slim chance of finishing a hack without getting shot by one of the many enemies who knows where you are.

Once you turn off the alarm, you can suddenly hide again. It’s this mechanic I feel is broken in Alpha Protocol. You should be able to hide out an alarm… if you’re hidden, you’re hidden, whether or not something–or someone–has triggered an alarm. Yes, everyone should be much more alert, and expect you to be around every corner, but they should not know where you are at all times whenever the alarm is triggered.

Anyway, that has really been bothering me lately, and when I was playing Splinter Cell: Conviction this evening again, I realized I was quite impressed with the way they handled it.

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