66 people found this review helpful
Recommended
0.0 hrs last two weeks / 2.8 hrs on record
Posted: 18 Mar, 2014 @ 6:05am

Having just finished the tutorial sections and story exposition parts of the first hour, I cannot speak for the whole game, but I felt it necessary to present my views after browsing the mostly negative Steam reviews on this game.

Yes, Deus Ex: The Fall is a mobile port. As such, it suffers from simplified gameplay, controls and mechanics, as well as voice acting and animations that cannot live up to the standards of the high-budget release that Human Revolution was.

However, it is definitely not as bad as people make it out to be. I can understand their disappointment, but this was never going to be a fully overhauled experience, but a port of the mobile version - and as such, it works.

Firstly, the game runs smoothly, and while the graphics options are limited to resolution, fullscreen/windowed mode and various degrees of Anti-Aliasing, lacking a Field of View setting, it does not look awful. Yes, you will recognize it for being a port, but it looks well enough.

What it struggles with are animations - especially during the many early cutscenes and dialogues. Characters look rather static, almost more so than in the original Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Gestures are rare, and overall the lack of life in the character models underlines the, in my opinion, biggest issue with the game: The mediocre voice acting.

Deus Ex: HR, outside of the main cast, ranged from acceptable to poor voice acting, but in The Fall, even the main characters have taken an obvious hit. Their lines are often delivered mechanically, or overdone, and don't match up with poses or expressions. What might not seem like a big issue on a smaller mobile screen quickly becomes disappointing on the bigger PC monitor and a proper sound system.
During the first few areas, you will find a bunch of audiologs, which are actually reasonably well done, however. This makes it especially odd that the story-dialogue between Ben Saxon, Jaron Namir, Anna Kelso and co feels flat.

Most sound effects I came across are directly copied from Human Revolution, so they are of reasonable quality. I have read about certain issues with sound effects or voices cutting out for some users, but have not experienced anything of the sort on my machine so far.
As for the music, I liked what I listened to up until now, with common themes from HR mixed with new tracks I might even prefer over the bigger title's soundtrack.

Now for the Gameplay; It suffers from its touchscreen origins, and there is nothing to be said otherwise. There is no jumping in the game, only contextual vaulting. No merry hopping around in The Fall. However, you get used to it easily, and the rest of the mechanics are fairly similar, if not the same, as in Human Revolution. There have been a few changes to the interface, though, which may need some getting used to.
The augmentations are pretty much the same as in the other game, as you might expect. I think Praxis Point requirements have been adjusted slightly, and the trees trimmed.
The dialogue system is still in, including the analyzer-augment - which I didn't get to use just yet, since all conversations so far were linear. Again, this is about an hour in, past the prologue sections.

The biggest change to the game would be the inventory / market. You can buy weapons, ammo, items, etc from wherever you are, provided you have the funds. This means you can stock up on cash, and then just pick and choose gear for the situation you are currently facing - got no EMP grenades to disable a robot? Spend 200 credits and you're ready to throw!
Personally, I think the idea is alright, but I would have liked to see limits to this system, or at least have it be more expensive than merchants found in the game.

For all its simplifications in the gameplay department, however, the world still feels like Deus Ex. The environment design seems quite alright, despite middle of the road textures for props. The atmosphere of HR is captured nicely, and ebooks, datalogs and emails are still all there, adding more lore to locations, characters and technology.

The game does follow up on the Deus Ex: Icarus Effect novel, but does a good enough job introducing non-readers to the characters and their motivations - though for obvious reasons, reading the novel first is recommended.

Please also be aware that The Fall was released as part one of the story, but so far, there hasn't been any word on a continuation. As far as I heard, the ending might disappoint due to a cliffhanger. Considering Square Enix/Eidos's plans for the franchise, though, this should get addressed fairly soon, with a new PC game in the works already, and James Swallow writing more stories based in the universe.
It should also encourage that a screen accessible from the main menu also made it from Mobile to PC, proclaiming that a continuation is supposedly happening, and the Pacifist achievement refers to the game as "Part 1". I am hopeful for a continuation.

Should you expect a big blockbuster like Human Revolution? No, not at all. This neither had the budget nor the time to become as impressive. For what it is, however, it is a fine Spin-off to the franchise, which fans should appreciate, once they lower their expectations and demands to a reasonable level, in accordance to the game's price and scope. It is a slice of Human Revolution, for a fifth of the launch price of said tripe A release. Considering that, I can't be too mad at the game.
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4 Comments
DarkChaplain 19 Mar, 2014 @ 6:38am 
@virtualmatrix258
I would agree, but the same goes for 95% of the other reviews, which played 10-20 minutes before calling it the worst thing ever. I have also pointed out my playtime and progress multiple times in the text.

By now I have three hours, and will add a few lines later as to what else I experienced, but it changes little as to the core of my "review"
virtualmatrix258 19 Mar, 2014 @ 2:51am 
If you didn't finish the game, you shouldn't be reviewing it.
T3 I_SaTaN_vel_I666I 18 Mar, 2014 @ 12:23pm 
hey exactly my thoughts, I bought this game knowing this is a port I am fan of Deus Ex series and wasn't dissapointed, maybe the game isn't AAA but it is at least GOOD. I like it so far.

PS. Oh boy I must say, I would give any money, so the original Deus Ex could be remade at least on the same engine as the "The Fall".
MC1_Judge 18 Mar, 2014 @ 7:06am 
Thanks for that, I appreciate your review and hope you will edit it in a few days/weeks once you've played more of the game.