Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Part Man, Part Machine
Review
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Eidos Montreal (PS4)

Abstract: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is a worthy sequel to 2011’s Deus Ex: Human Revolution, but not one without notable faults. A gripping near-future setting and deft handling of modern social issues stands in contrast with an overly convoluted narrative that ends abruptly. Technical problems plague Mankind Divided, from frame drops to wonky animations. Gameplay is at a franchise best, however, with new skills, challenges, and sandboxes that are better than ever and unapologetically fun. Fans of Deus Ex will get what they want out of Mankind Divided, but it is not a game I would recommend without a caveat or two.

Sirens sound in the distance and the heavy steps of mechanized soldiers reverberate across the cold concrete ground. Drones fly over a world buzzing with technology. Adam Jensen’s task is simple: get from point A to point B. One quick glance at the dilapidated building lets you know your path is anything but straightforward. You have the direct, bloody route in which Jensen will shoot, heal, frag and punch his way through. But what about the serendipitously placed ventilation shaft or the door with a hackable entryway? Do you camouflage and take out enemies silently? Adam Jensen is more than a character, he is you and defined by your actions. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided transforms you into an augmented super spy and the feeling is fantastic.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is the sequel to 2011’s Deus Ex: Human Revolution, itself a spiritual successor (and prequel) to the hugely influential Deus Ex games of the early 2000’s. Human Revolution received widespread critical and fan acclaim, transforming it from an off-my-radar title to a must play. At first I approached the game with hesitance—I’m no huge fan of the stealth genre and had no attachment to the IP. A brutally punishing first couple hours all but caused me to completely drop Human Revolution. But then the game shifted, or rather, it finally clicked. My confidence soared as I dropped soldiers left and right, skillfully made my way through the environment, and completed side quests. Human Revolution is a game I would not have expected to like as much as I did.

Would Mankind Divided improve on an already strong foundation? 
Despite my adoration for Human Revolution, I couldn’t bring myself to purchase Mankind Divided proximal to its release. Maybe it was my fear of another challenging stealth sandbox; maybe it was the tone-deaf marketing campaign. After finding myself in the Upside Down and a friend’s strong recommendation I finally picked up Mankind Divided. Does the game live up it the high bar set by its predecessor? Yes and no.

Once again you take control of the cop turned mechanically augmented super spy Adam Jensen, in a direct continuation of the previous game’s plot. The most resonant event from Human Revolution is the aug incident, in which augmented individuals (augs) across the globe were hacked, causing them to enter into a murderous frenzy. This has spawned the world of Mankind Divided, where augs are marginalized citizens, often viewed as less than human. Groups like the Augmented Rights Coalition (ARC) advocate for equal rights, but many view their actions as terroristic. This acts as a backdrop for the adventures of globe trotting ubermensch Adam Jensen. When a mission in Dubai goes awry, Jensen is forced to question his loyalties, fight against unknown enemies, and try to drag into the light those who would do harm from the shadows.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is a spy thriller in which you never know who to trust.
Probably not that machine gun robot, though. That's a safe bet.
If it sounds like I didn’t really detail the plot of Mankind Divided, you would be right. I didn’t. And not because I didn’t want to, it is because the mainline story isn’t told with a whole lot of finesse. You're given a jargon-filled world of double agents and hacking. It's nothing new, nor is its attempt at making a narrative feel more mature by making it overly complex. I pieced together enough while playing to enjoy the story, broadly speaking, but it was forgettable. Even worse, the game ends at what feels like the second of three acts. You take out some big threats and gain a relatively clear understanding of all the moving pieces, but Jensen doesn’t address the main threat. The game ends not on a cliffhanger, but on a “to be continued.” Mankind Divided’s plot was more functional than important or engaging.

What really concerned me coming into Mankind Divided, however, was how it would handle its weighty themes. A large part of the game’s marketing was focused on how Mankind Divided will act as a lens through which we can view modern issues. A noble endeavor, sure, but one I quickly soured on after I started seeing “Aug Lives Matter” ads pop up. At best the campaign came across as naïve, and at worst willfully ignorant and trying to monetize a hot-button issue. It came as a huge surprise while playing that Mankind Divided actually handled its serious, real-world parallels with tact. Played out through ambient dialogue, side quests, environmental interactions and more, Mankind Divided portrayed a number of pervasive social issues we face today, like police brutality and institutionalized discrimination, well. I felt something when I was forced to take the augs only part of a train or watch as a serial killer of augs was ignored by a militarized police force.

Heavy handed, sure, but Mankind Divided does a pretty good job with
representing serious issues.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided clearly focused on refining its gameplay, and I’m happy to write that it is better than ever. The series famous 3rd person action stealth gameplay makes its triumphant return, replete with new abilities, a streamlining of the more clunky elements from past entries, and delightfully fun sandboxes. Each discrete part of Mankind Divided’s robust gameplay suite feels great. The game not only gives players the tools, it encourages them to play however they want. You can go from guns blazing kick in the front door to crawling around in vents while invisible to anything in-between. Jensen’s best augmentations return in Mankind Divided, like smart vision and high jumps, on top of some spectacular new ones, like Titan armor that temporarily makes you invulnerable and remote hacking to disable distant security cameras. Mercifully, Mankind Divided starts with several essential augmentations already activated, removing that brick wall problem myself and others faced coming into Human Revolution.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is an elaborate playground. The moment-to-moment gameplay experience is consistently engaging. You always, always can approach a problem from multiple angles. The sheer number of weapons, items, and power-ups at your disposal is staggering, made all the more impressive when you consider the game’s developers had to keep all of this in mind while designing Mankind Divided’s world. The hub world and missions alike are impeccably designed. In any given moment you could hack, stealth, shoot, run, jump, block, or boost your way around the same problem. Scouring the world for items and paths never stopped being fun. The design felt far more organic this time around. I never felt as if I was abruptly plopped into a ‘stealth’ section. Enemy A.I. is better too, making moving around environments both more challenging and more rewarding.

Difficult gameplay decisions are built into the foundation of Mankind Divided. You’ll die early and often if you’re not thinking while playing. Resources, though relatively plentiful, need to be thoughtfully allocated. Limited inventory space means you need to be decisive about what weapons, ammo, and healing items you have equipped at any given moment. Praxis points, used to power up Jensen’s augmentations, cannot cover the full range of Jensen’s abilities without serious grinding. This means that you have to make tough decisions about what you boost and when—should I get the high jump aug to explore better now or it is more important I increase my body’s battery recharge rate so I can do more in combat? Every augmented action requires energy. Consume it, and you’re unable to use abilities again until it recharges. This includes melee takedowns, a vital element of any mission. I enjoyed having to always think about my actions, whether it was in quiet moments or as a half dozen armed goons charged me with guns blazing.
Decisions, decisions. You should always think before you act,
 inside or outside of combat.
On the PlayStation 4 Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is riddled with some serious performance problems. I’m not a particularly technically minded person, nor am I a guy who gets up in arms about frame rates, resolution, or graphics. But Mankind Divided’s technical issues were hard to overlook. Stuttering and dropped frames occurred with relative frequency, resulting in gameplay than fell below 30 FPS. Textures and geography would pop in abruptly. The combination of the two seriously impacted my gameplay at times. It felt particularly bad perfectly planning an encounter only to be hit with frame stuttering that caused me to mess up, get detected, and then lit up by gunfire. Character model animations were bad, too. Everyone felt stiff. Mouth animations often didn’t line up to the dialogue. Characters in Mankind Divided felt like puppets. They came across mostly like real human beings, but were off just enough that it broke my immersion. For a game that came out 5 years after its predecessor, Mankind Divided felt shockingly rushed. These issues didn’t ruin my experience, but they need to be addressed should another Deus Ex from Eidos Montreal be released.

Character animations in scenes like this are bad. The real Illuminati conspiracy
is that the whole world is filled with awkward marionette people.
So did Deus Ex: Mankind Divided live up to Human Revolution’s legacy? Yes and no. While gameplay was a substantial step forward for the franchise, narrative and performance problems held Mankind Divided back from greatness. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is more than worth your time if you’re a fan of the franchise or action stealth games, but it isn’t a game I would recommend without reservations.  I’m happy to have played, though. There’s nothing quite like being part man, part machine, and 100% badass super spy. Jensen didn’t choose this, but I sure did.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
3/5

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