Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
To say that Deus Ex: Mankind Divided doesn't accurately portray real world crises would be something of an understatement. The opening moments of the game ring a very familiar tune of terrorism, fear, social and political unrest, racial stereotyping and a general lack of light at the end of the tunnel, all of this seems to be a very good and practised move by Eidos Montreal to remind us of the bleak state of the world. But perhaps there is a light at the end of the tunnel for both the real and virtual worlds. The beginning of mankind divided gives you the option to watch a 12 minute refresher video on the events of the previous game, Human Revolution, during it you start to get a sense of just how bad things are by the time mankind divided starts. As the tension in the video builds it finally climaxes with an augmented human rampage, which is the basis of mankind divided. Many of the characters in the game call it the Aug incident and since the "incident" humanity has done what it does best, separated themselves from those who are different.
Mankind Divided
Perhaps before I go on I should give some context to some of the events and terms being used here. Aug stands for augmented, humans who have been augmented with mechanical limbs or organs to continue living. The Aug incident saw augs, who had been implanted with a certain chip, enter into a killing frenzy completely against their will. This, naturally, caused a rift to form between regular humans, dubbed naturals and augmented people. In fact things became so bad that eventually the two sides were separated, creating more fear of augmented individuals and causing mechanical apartheid. In the back ground of all of this is a shadowy organisation orchestrating these events to play out in their favour. The group, the Illuminati.
By the time Mankind Divided begins the world is teetering on the brink of augmented human extinction and that is where our protagonist, Adam Jensen, enters the fray. Adam Jensen himself is augmented and by all accounts is the most heavily augmented person on the planet, with about 50% of him being augmented. After the events of the last game Jensen has been drafted into Interpol's, Task Force 29 to serve as an agent. Much to the chagrin of many NPC's who find having a "hanzer" (augmented slur) on their team a liability. The game begins with Jensen flying off to take care of a weapons deal in Dubai along with others from TF29 and its at this moment that the game starts letting you define who Jensen is to you. This comes in the form of two choices Lethal or Non Lethal. Based on those choices you can make Jensen out to be a devastatingly powerful aug who could go on a killing spree when ever he feels like it or you can choose to treat your enemies with respect and deal with them in a way that doesn't require you to rearrange their spine. In the end the choice isn't as large as you might think but I'll get to that.
"Sometimes you just have to let go...."
So obviously things aren't going great in the world, fear and segregation are in full force by the time that you reach the hub of the game, Prague. When you first enter Prague you get to see first hand just how bad things are, with signs and borders indicating where naturals and augmented people should wait. Police decked out in right armour and carrying machine guns approach to authenticate your papers to make sure that another "clank" doesn't cause a problem. Even though your moving through a train station there is still a feeling of tension, an air of discontent, that people are just wanting to lash out against their oppressors and as luck would have it at the moment when you've cleared all the checkpoints bombs go off and all hell breaks loose.
This tension can be felt in nearly all aspects of the game, from communication with your own team members in TF29 too complete strangers on the streets, who always have a word or two to say about Jensen. Perhaps the biggest cause for concern is the fact that there are police patrolling the streets of Prague nearly 24/7 offering similar words of consternation whenever you get too close to them, clearly this isn't helping the situation of another Aug incident since everyone will feel threatened by this show of force. The thing that interested me from a story standpoint was that nobody, aside from a few characters, seemed to have any sympathy for Aug's. No human was willing to step up and defend them, no civilian saw what was happening and wanted to help. It seems that even if mankind was divided that at least some people would want to stop things from deteriorating. It seems like the world has just decided to blame everything that goes wrong on Aug's.
So what does Adam Jensen represent? Which side does he see? Does he sympathise with the Augmented? Does he think that humans are right to be afraid? As the main character you have a unique perspective that very few people have in the world as Adam is forced to deal with both sides. The human side in the form of TF29 and the Augmented side in the form of the Juggernaut Collective. This is the defining point of the game as it is very difficult to walk a line in between those two groups and often the game will force you to make a choice between trusting humanity to do the right thing or to fight for the freedom of the augmented. Many times during the story you are asked where your loyalties truly lie and I am going to be honest ninety percent of the time I didn't even know. Its that uncertainty that made the game interesting to me, other players may blindly follow one side but I wanted to know where the middle path might lead. That makes for a very different play experience and in the end different outcomes.
"And embrace what you've become"
Mankind Divided has some great core gameplay. The cover mechanics are sound and the abilities available to you make engaging enemies a different experience each time you try it. The game doesn't slap you on the wrist for the way you chose to approach a situation, in fact it actively encourages you to explore multiple and different ways of dealing with a situation wether you talk your way out of it with the C.A.S.I.E system or go in guns blazing throwing up titan armour and nano-blades like your some 22nd century berserker. The good and refreshing thing is that you don't get questioned (at least not often) about the moral choice of either sparring a life or taking it as some games like to do nowadays. I mean come on, sometimes you have to cut loose.
The plethora of augmentations available to Jensen means that you have multiple ways to play the game and though you are limited in your choice at first you can expand Jensen's armoury to make him more formidable as the game goes on. Certain augments are geared towards stealth, while others are built for engagement. Again we see the flexibility of the game allowing you to chose your own path both in terms of augments and in story path. Another thing about the game is that there are at least three different ways you can approach a situation each one varying in approach and difficulty. This means that you won't ever be stuck for ways to deal with certain situations.
The good thing about the augments is that there isn't just one silver bullet augment, one that is so broken that the game is just trivialised by your use of it, there are always ways for the enemy to counter the augments you use no matter what they are. Having said that the A.I in the game is actually fairly challenging. More than once I found myself moving back into cover because I had been spotted, enemies will check areas to make sure that the threat is gone and sometimes you can use this to your advantage. Distract a group of enemies by dropping one of them and while his friend investigates you sneak on past. Its these situations, these ways of manipulating the situation that makes the game good.
Shadows Linger
My experience with Deus Ex is minimal. I haven't played the first game Human Revolution and because of the 12 minute introduction I didn't feel entirely bad about skipping to the next one. Overall I enjoyed my time with Mankind Divided the intrigue of the game, the mystery, second guessing every characters alignment. These aspects of the game were fun and exciting, the various twists and the ways that you can approach NPC's meant that no two situations would be the same. Augmentations were fun to play around with and it helped me define what play style would fit me. The backstory of Deus Ex is interesting to, if you have the patience for it, piecing together every small detail of the various NPC's you encounter and working out the agenda through emails and phone calls is what makes the game large.
For all that though the game took me about seven days to complete, side quest's included. I felt that despite finishing it in the best way possible, no npc's killed, mostly positive outcome, that something was missing. For all its finery and a definite step forward in terms of graphics and gameplay Mankind Divided felt rushed as if all the best parts of the story were something that I had missed, when in actuality they weren't there at all. The story is half done and by the end of the game you feel dissatisfied with the ending. There are plot points that aren't resolved, characters who have little motivation and honestly a rather cliche villain. It felt as if they game could have more to it. Its a shame really, because so much of the game feels final, as if things have reached a fever pitch and all the answers will be laid bare. Unfortunately that isn't quite the case and whatever ending there is to find, also unfortunately, will likely as not be found in paid DLC. Still Mankind Divided is a fun and engaging experience and I would definitely recommend the game for any avid first person shooter/ rpg fans.
So obviously things aren't going great in the world, fear and segregation are in full force by the time that you reach the hub of the game, Prague. When you first enter Prague you get to see first hand just how bad things are, with signs and borders indicating where naturals and augmented people should wait. Police decked out in right armour and carrying machine guns approach to authenticate your papers to make sure that another "clank" doesn't cause a problem. Even though your moving through a train station there is still a feeling of tension, an air of discontent, that people are just wanting to lash out against their oppressors and as luck would have it at the moment when you've cleared all the checkpoints bombs go off and all hell breaks loose.
This tension can be felt in nearly all aspects of the game, from communication with your own team members in TF29 too complete strangers on the streets, who always have a word or two to say about Jensen. Perhaps the biggest cause for concern is the fact that there are police patrolling the streets of Prague nearly 24/7 offering similar words of consternation whenever you get too close to them, clearly this isn't helping the situation of another Aug incident since everyone will feel threatened by this show of force. The thing that interested me from a story standpoint was that nobody, aside from a few characters, seemed to have any sympathy for Aug's. No human was willing to step up and defend them, no civilian saw what was happening and wanted to help. It seems that even if mankind was divided that at least some people would want to stop things from deteriorating. It seems like the world has just decided to blame everything that goes wrong on Aug's.
So what does Adam Jensen represent? Which side does he see? Does he sympathise with the Augmented? Does he think that humans are right to be afraid? As the main character you have a unique perspective that very few people have in the world as Adam is forced to deal with both sides. The human side in the form of TF29 and the Augmented side in the form of the Juggernaut Collective. This is the defining point of the game as it is very difficult to walk a line in between those two groups and often the game will force you to make a choice between trusting humanity to do the right thing or to fight for the freedom of the augmented. Many times during the story you are asked where your loyalties truly lie and I am going to be honest ninety percent of the time I didn't even know. Its that uncertainty that made the game interesting to me, other players may blindly follow one side but I wanted to know where the middle path might lead. That makes for a very different play experience and in the end different outcomes.
"And embrace what you've become"
Mankind Divided has some great core gameplay. The cover mechanics are sound and the abilities available to you make engaging enemies a different experience each time you try it. The game doesn't slap you on the wrist for the way you chose to approach a situation, in fact it actively encourages you to explore multiple and different ways of dealing with a situation wether you talk your way out of it with the C.A.S.I.E system or go in guns blazing throwing up titan armour and nano-blades like your some 22nd century berserker. The good and refreshing thing is that you don't get questioned (at least not often) about the moral choice of either sparring a life or taking it as some games like to do nowadays. I mean come on, sometimes you have to cut loose.
The plethora of augmentations available to Jensen means that you have multiple ways to play the game and though you are limited in your choice at first you can expand Jensen's armoury to make him more formidable as the game goes on. Certain augments are geared towards stealth, while others are built for engagement. Again we see the flexibility of the game allowing you to chose your own path both in terms of augments and in story path. Another thing about the game is that there are at least three different ways you can approach a situation each one varying in approach and difficulty. This means that you won't ever be stuck for ways to deal with certain situations.
The good thing about the augments is that there isn't just one silver bullet augment, one that is so broken that the game is just trivialised by your use of it, there are always ways for the enemy to counter the augments you use no matter what they are. Having said that the A.I in the game is actually fairly challenging. More than once I found myself moving back into cover because I had been spotted, enemies will check areas to make sure that the threat is gone and sometimes you can use this to your advantage. Distract a group of enemies by dropping one of them and while his friend investigates you sneak on past. Its these situations, these ways of manipulating the situation that makes the game good.
Shadows Linger
My experience with Deus Ex is minimal. I haven't played the first game Human Revolution and because of the 12 minute introduction I didn't feel entirely bad about skipping to the next one. Overall I enjoyed my time with Mankind Divided the intrigue of the game, the mystery, second guessing every characters alignment. These aspects of the game were fun and exciting, the various twists and the ways that you can approach NPC's meant that no two situations would be the same. Augmentations were fun to play around with and it helped me define what play style would fit me. The backstory of Deus Ex is interesting to, if you have the patience for it, piecing together every small detail of the various NPC's you encounter and working out the agenda through emails and phone calls is what makes the game large.
For all that though the game took me about seven days to complete, side quest's included. I felt that despite finishing it in the best way possible, no npc's killed, mostly positive outcome, that something was missing. For all its finery and a definite step forward in terms of graphics and gameplay Mankind Divided felt rushed as if all the best parts of the story were something that I had missed, when in actuality they weren't there at all. The story is half done and by the end of the game you feel dissatisfied with the ending. There are plot points that aren't resolved, characters who have little motivation and honestly a rather cliche villain. It felt as if they game could have more to it. Its a shame really, because so much of the game feels final, as if things have reached a fever pitch and all the answers will be laid bare. Unfortunately that isn't quite the case and whatever ending there is to find, also unfortunately, will likely as not be found in paid DLC. Still Mankind Divided is a fun and engaging experience and I would definitely recommend the game for any avid first person shooter/ rpg fans.
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