Publisher Square Enix has revealed that its critically-acclaimed action title Deus Ex: Human Revolution, released last month and developed by subsidiary Eidos Montreal, has shipped over 2 million copies in total.
The company's content manager Jem Alexander explained that this figure has been reached since its European and U.S. launches in late August, and even before the game has been released in Japan. The game is Eidos Montreal's debut title.
The first DLC release for the game, titled The Missing Link is due to be released next month, and is set to fill in part of the story that is left out during the main game.
Hmmm... "critically-acclaimed" ignores the fact that the title has also been critically criticized by many gamers, including myself and Mr. Kim here on Gamasutra, and particularly with respect to offering the same level of analysis to other recent releases such as Alice: Madness Returns (i.e., the latter was widely panned while DX:HR has been praised despite far more serious flaws than Alice).
In my academic analysis playthru of Alice, I point out how the industry as a whole, including both individuals within the industry as well as consumers, are quite hypocritical when a title like A:MR offers a unique approach to a story and asks players to think about various issues presented in the game while a title like DX:HR recycles the same formula and issues that were posed 12 years ago by the original game in the franchise and does it without offering state of the art visuals, animation, or gameplay. People moan about nothing original being offered, but then ignore something original while praising something unoriginal. It's small wonder that companies stick with the unoriginal as long as the majority of people adopt this view.
I haven't played Alice Returns yet, so I won't compare the two games, but I highly disagree regarding DX:HR
The game isn't perfect, but that gameplay of "12 years ago" is very welcome in today's games, at least IMHO. I love the game, and I love atmosphere, art direction, the music is incredible, and it's a blast to play. This style of game is very much missing in today's market, a game that gives you so many choices, the ability to explore every part of the map, and you can play though multiple times and have a different experience.
The boss fights are annoying and don't seem consistent with the style and gameplay, they seem tacked on, and the game has some plot points that had me shaking my head regarding Adam's decisions. But the overall game is great, and it may not be "original" but there isn't a single game out there that is really like it currently, and what it has done, it has done it very well.
I'm very happy the game has sold well, and I hope for more games in the series, and maybe other devs will take notice that there is a market for this type of gameplay.
At the end of the day, it's all just opinion and never fact. I can't take anyone's review as the last say when it comes to games, otherwise i wouldn't have the individuality to try it out myself just to judge it for myself. While i understand the overall feeling between both Alice and Deus Ex, you must understand that many games that are "critically-acclaimed" in today's gaming generation aren't that original to begin with. Ultimately, this game gained critical acclaim because of it's smart approach to game play but also the context of the story. Not to say Alice doesn't bring anything to the table, but you need to understand the idea of the opinion. It's yours and yours only. Whether you enjoyed the game, or hated it, i personally love it. That and Alice. In short, i disagree with your statement.
I guess there is an inherent problem with the notion of the aggregate critics' score.
In the end of the day both apples and oranges get the same linear, flattened number, which is wrongfully believed by many to be an universal measure of being fun.
The fact that one game gets 75 on Metacritic, and another gets 89 does not tell anything about their "goodness" in relation to each other.
I don't really see how Alice is any better of a title when it recycles combat and platforming found in many titles before it...except it does a far worse job in execution compared to DX:HR which is far more open and complex mechanically. Literally outside of the story, art design and atmosphere it presents, everything about it is mundane for the genre, it harkens back to clumsy 3d platforming in the same way Epic Mickey did, except with more repetition. Not to mention it has some of the most clumsy and recycled level design I've seen used in the last few years, along with basic control problems , and collectibles that don't need to be there.
The story told through Alice is also still a linear affair, it doesn't really innovate in telling a story to a player, it just has a better written story than other games that tackles different issues other games normally don't. I prefer it to another desaturated modern military shooter with no story, but it hardly adds much to gaming, or anything I would call 'original'.
Deus Ex has alot of design problems, but most of them are born out of it's approach to giving player access to the gameplay toolbox to determine their playstyle...and each one is done far better with more small innovations, and far better polish than anything Alice brings to the gameplay table.
Not saying the new Deus Ex is an extremely innovative product that will push games forward, but it's base core of letting the player choose their playstyle instead of it being chosen for them, or limited to a rigid class structure. That philosophy I think would benefit many games, especially in the AAA market.
"compared to DX:HR which is far more open and complex mechanically. Literally outside of the story, art design and atmosphere it presents"
What disappointed me the most in DX:HR was the lack of any art design, over 2 years the developers talked about the Cyber-Renaissance style (the term itself has no meaning) and then come up with boring graphics, that seem to be lumped together from previous shooters coloured with a little more brown.
Alice Madness Returns on the other side had a fantastic art direction, at least in my opinion. The graphical style looked fresh and not like seen in dozens of games before.
It kind of bothers me when people don't value art direction in a game. Graphics technology and accomplished artistic vision are two different things. Both Alice MR and DX:HR had really excellent, original art direction, yet the critical establishment often views their importance in a user experience in a diminished light compared to technical or mechanical merits. Alice, I feel, should have been more favorably viewed on the merits of it's vision alone, while DX:HR received generous praise mostly on the basis of it's game mechanics, while sadly it was often viewed visually merely as less than cutting edge technically, while only lip service was paid to the quality of it's artistic vision. It speaks volumes about the spurious credentials of web criticism in general.
I'm glad its selling well and I hope that continues. Sure its not without its flaws, but Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a great game. Everyone at Eidos Montreal and elsewhere who worked on it should be proud of what they've made!
I've enjoyed the game and haven't had any headaches because of it.
But what "part of the story that [was] left out during the main game"? At the end it seemed fairly contained with bit of a surprise. It's not a perfect game and I felt at times a bit bare-bones, but I've enjoyed it.
I really wouldn't want to replay a game just because DLC added a new mission. Open world game, sure as it could be placed post-game credits. But games like Deus Ex are linear affairs.
In my academic analysis playthru of Alice, I point out how the industry as a whole, including both individuals within the industry as well as consumers, are quite hypocritical when a title like A:MR offers a unique approach to a story and asks players to think about various issues presented in the game while a title like DX:HR recycles the same formula and issues that were posed 12 years ago by the original game in the franchise and does it without offering state of the art visuals, animation, or gameplay. People moan about nothing original being offered, but then ignore something original while praising something unoriginal. It's small wonder that companies stick with the unoriginal as long as the majority of people adopt this view.
Good for you for having your own opinion, but you can't always expect the majority to agree with you.
The game isn't perfect, but that gameplay of "12 years ago" is very welcome in today's games, at least IMHO. I love the game, and I love atmosphere, art direction, the music is incredible, and it's a blast to play. This style of game is very much missing in today's market, a game that gives you so many choices, the ability to explore every part of the map, and you can play though multiple times and have a different experience.
The boss fights are annoying and don't seem consistent with the style and gameplay, they seem tacked on, and the game has some plot points that had me shaking my head regarding Adam's decisions. But the overall game is great, and it may not be "original" but there isn't a single game out there that is really like it currently, and what it has done, it has done it very well.
I'm very happy the game has sold well, and I hope for more games in the series, and maybe other devs will take notice that there is a market for this type of gameplay.
In the end of the day both apples and oranges get the same linear, flattened number, which is wrongfully believed by many to be an universal measure of being fun.
The fact that one game gets 75 on Metacritic, and another gets 89 does not tell anything about their "goodness" in relation to each other.
The story told through Alice is also still a linear affair, it doesn't really innovate in telling a story to a player, it just has a better written story than other games that tackles different issues other games normally don't. I prefer it to another desaturated modern military shooter with no story, but it hardly adds much to gaming, or anything I would call 'original'.
Deus Ex has alot of design problems, but most of them are born out of it's approach to giving player access to the gameplay toolbox to determine their playstyle...and each one is done far better with more small innovations, and far better polish than anything Alice brings to the gameplay table.
What disappointed me the most in DX:HR was the lack of any art design, over 2 years the developers talked about the Cyber-Renaissance style (the term itself has no meaning) and then come up with boring graphics, that seem to be lumped together from previous shooters coloured with a little more brown.
Alice Madness Returns on the other side had a fantastic art direction, at least in my opinion. The graphical style looked fresh and not like seen in dozens of games before.
But what "part of the story that [was] left out during the main game"? At the end it seemed fairly contained with bit of a surprise. It's not a perfect game and I felt at times a bit bare-bones, but I've enjoyed it.
I really wouldn't want to replay a game just because DLC added a new mission. Open world game, sure as it could be placed post-game credits. But games like Deus Ex are linear affairs.