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DEUS EX THE FALL
When Deus Ex: The Fall was first announced there was a resounding
backlash from fans of the franchise who believed that an exclusive
mobile platform release alienated the core demographic of console and PC
gamers, particularly as many eschew mobile games, dismissing them as
mere casual distractions. Concerns were raised about distilling the core
mechanics of the series’ in order to compensate for the limitations of
smartphones and how effectively Square Enix would be able to replicate
the feel and unique black and gold visual style of Deus Ex: Human
Revolution when faced with the inferior graphical capabilities.
When the game was finally released many of these doubts were proven to
be unfounded: Square Enix competently handled the platform transition
and offered up a cyberpunk experience that, while short and self
contained, tapped into the aesthetics of the series admirably. I
gleefully dived into this instalment, having been rather impressed with
the previous console effort, and despite some glaring issues such as
inconsistent enemy A.I and some graphical errors (At one point I found
myself seemingly suspended in the air with nothing but the backdrop of
the city visible), I found the experience nearly as fulfilling as that
on a console.
So, I tapped out a review praising the elements the developers had got
right whilst lamenting the aforementioned issues and the near impossible
task of manipulating movement, reticule aiming and firing at the same
time; overall, I was incredibly impressed with what Square Enix had
accomplished and viewed The Fall as an indication of the calibre
of games that are now possible on mobile devices. Alas, a few days later
the game had an update applied that addressed the enemy A.I
shortcomings, the much publicised inability to fire your weapon on
jailbroken devices and other issues that had hampered the game and I
found myself playing through The Fall once again to discern any
major differences that could affect the final score. Upon completion, I
found that many of my major gripes with the game were no longer
relevant, making my original review redundant.
So, here is my second impression of Deus Ex: The Fall (For the
record, I originally awarded the game an overall score of 7.0).
Set in 2027, The Fall runs adjacent to Human Revolution,
exploring the story of augmented former soldier Ben Saxon, a character
originally introduced in the tie-in novel Deus Ex: Icarus Effect.
In fact, the story itself is a direct continuation of the novel, which
is a strange decision on behalf of the developers as only the most
ardent fans would be familiar with the story. Thankfully, the game can
still be thoroughly enjoyed as a stand-alone experience (I certainly
haven’t read the novel) but it goes without saying that those familiar
with the backstory would have greater emotional investment in the
characters.
Without spoiling too much, the opening of The Fall is mainly
comprised of flashbacks to Saxon’s experiences working alongside The
Tyrants, a terrorist group made up of augmented beings, and his
questioning of their overall agenda. These early missions serve to catch
the player up on the most pertinent details of the novel before focusing
on Saxon and his partner Anna Kelso as they hide out in Panama and
attempt to procure supplies of an anti-rejection drug for their
augmented implants. You see, having augmented body parts afford advanced
abilities to their users but there is always a chance of the body
rejecting the implant due to a building up of scar and nerve tissue at
the implantation point blocking the signal from implant to the body;
there is a drug available that offsets this, but supples are tightly
controlled and are fast becoming scarce.
Saxon soon finds himself forced to venture into the city of Panama in
order to locate a black market source for the drug... And that’s about
all I can reveal without giving away spoilers.
Deus Ex: The Fall
is a remarkably faithful recreation of the Deus Ex universe, with
elements from the preceding title coming across to mobiles with little
sign of compromise, particularly the brilliant hacking mini-game. One of
the main drawcards of the Deus Ex series is the ability to play
whichever style suits you best, with both gung-ho shootouts and stealth
tactics viable methods to get through the stages. Unfortunately, even
with the update, strafing and aiming whilst firing is an extremely
frustrating experience that practically forces the player to use stealth
over barging in guns blazing. As a majority of playes prefer sneaking in
the shadows this doesn’t affect gameplay as much as it would for a
dedicated FPS but it’s still frustrating, particularly when you
inadvertently alert the guards of your presence and are forced to flee
rather than hold your ground.
The enemy A.I, as mentioned earlier, has been tweaked and refined and
serves to make progress a challenging experience rather that the hit and
miss nature before the update where you could sometimes walk right up to
a guard and knock him out in clear view of other enemies without fear of
reprisal. Graphically the game is gorgeous, slightly above PS2 quality,
although there are still instances of clipping and minor glitches
evident. The RPG component of the game, mainly the levelling of
attributes and conversation trees make the transition untouched and the
level design far exceeds the endless linear corridors usually present in
games such as this, with Panama being a large and fulfilling environment
to explore.
Final Thought
The iTunes app store has often been criticised – And not exactly
unfairly – For its overabundance of shovelware in comparison to actual
decent and robust gaming experiences. Thankfully, with titles such as
The Fall this looks set to change, as hopefully more developers
start to view mobile gaming as a viable alternative to consoles and PCs.
Whilst it’s not without its flaws, The Fall is a satisfying
accompaniment to Human Revolution. If, like me, you mainly rely
on stealth to get through the game you’ll probably overlook many of the
issues with firing and just focus on the experience itself; it’s a shame
that the nature of touch screen controls restricts your play style but,
given the limitations and lack of actual buttons I think Square Enix did
the best that they could with the control interface.
For fans of the series this is a no brainer, although the open ended
nature of the conclusion can be frustrating as you realise that The Fall
is only really the first chapter of a larger story. Recommended. |
