Mankind Divided
is the sequel to Human Revolution and continues the story of Adam Jensen. It takes place 2 years after the events of Human Revolution and how the world changed after the “Aug Event” at the end of the previous game. But will this game live up to its predecessor?
Since the event, the relationship between those with and without Augs has become strained and governments around the world have responded in various ways. For instance in Prague, where your apartment is based, Augs have been segregated with limited travel around the city and are required to have additional passes and identification. The game does not start here though – the opening mission is based in Dubai.
Adam Jensen has changed carrier from a private security contractor for Sarif Industries to an Interpol agent assigned to a special task force investigating Aug related crimes and terrorism. The opening sees you trying to interrupt the sale of military grade Augs on the black market. Like many games, this first mission is designed as a training mission to teach you about the mechanics of the game and how to play it. Rather than giving you an easy mission to start, the initial mission will pause at key moments and let you replay a section an infinite number of times teaching you a different skill, then rejoin your playthrough (without sacrificing any of your inventory) at a difficulty more in line with the rest of the game.
Many of the mechanics are carried over from the previous game: how you play is completely up to you, either stealthily or action-packed. You can also have primarily lethal or non-lethal attacks or swap between every which way at any point. This time round though there is no penalty for taking the action route (in Human Revolution, to gain the maximum experience points for upgrades you had to play a stealth route). You can enhance your characters abilities through various upgrades to your augmentations using praxis kits; the enhancements you choose will depend on the style of play you are following, although certain enhancements are key to allow full game experience.
Graphically speaking, Mankind Divided is a big step forward from Human Revolution. It’s one the best looking games out there right now and this is reflected in the recommended specifications. This time around, the developers have gone for a distinctly different look in the architecture and overall style of the environments. The buildings are very much enhancements of current architecture and clothing is broadly similar to current fashion trends. A muted colour pallet was selected to help set the atmosphere of distrust and xenophobia, which is markedly different from the bright lights of Human Revolution and its drive for an Augmentation-positive society.
Negative points to the game? Whilst the graphics on the whole are very good, the animation for NPCs can be a bit ropey, and sometimes downright weird-looking. Also, sometimes I wish the objectives location were a little clearer – you can only access maps of buildings when you’re inside them, even if you’ve been in them before, which is annoying if you’re trying to plan a stealth infiltration.
When it comes to gunplay the game is not as tight as some of the dedicated first-person shooters such as Doom or Call of Duty, but it is a damned sight better than a lot of other first person RPG games and some actions games I have played recently. This has helped with its rebalancing to a pure open gameplay experience.
I have always thought that Human Revolution got the open-world gameplay spot on, and thank goodness Mankind Divided has stuck with a similar foundation. Unlike may open world games, the Deus Ex games don’t have a massive open world to travel through, killing stuff or causing mayhem – these games go for more densely packed city environments full of people going about their day-to-day living. You have to explore everywhere, walk down every alleyway, because you might find a side mission (of which there are many to play through). Police and enemies in this game are well-armed from the get-go and have no problem with shooting at you if provoked. Once they start shooting, there is a fair chance that you’ll die if you are not aware of your surrounding environment; an aspect I like, as it adds challenge to the game.
This game is a great addition to the Deus Ex world and I would highly recommend it to players new and old to the series.
Author: Jon, Cardiff store
