Top 10 Games of E3 2015

09. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

The sequel to 2011s Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Mankind Divided is a cyberpunk-themed action-adventure and role-playing game that offers a fusion of stealth-action and first-person shooter play that really has created its own niche in the genres it falls into.

The game was developed by EIDOS Montreal, and is published by Square Enix, just to demonstrate its pedigree.

Mankind Divided is set to release on Windows, PS4, and Xbox One, though no official date has actually been set yet.

Its story takes place in the year 2029, just two years after the events of Human Revolution, and finds Adam Jensen facing an entirely new but not really unexpected world (there were hints in the previous game that it was headed this way) in which the human race has firmly turned against the “augments” among the population - of which Adam Jensen is one.

The issue is made all the worse by an underground augment terrorist movement that has been waging a war against humanity in protest to the real - and imagined - wrongs that they have experienced.

While Jensen has been trying very hard to change the opinion of humanity to the good with respect to augments, the terrorist augments have only made the task that much more impossible. It likely does not help matters that the leader of the augment terrorists is just the sort of scary monster-thug looking human-machine that plays right into the worse fears of humanity.

Gamers familiar with Deus Ex: Human Revolution will of course be familiar with the flowing augment-enabled skill and ability focused game play style -- and it is clear from game play video released so far and the demo at the show that this has been fully retained in the sequel.

That said however this newest entry in the series appears to offer a much wider variety of abilities, including some that are downright sexy. The stealth ability while cool, pales in comparison to the armor coating that Adam can activate when he is facing both explosive and blunt-force attacks. Just saying we could have used that in the last game.

We have actually been pretty lucky in terms of details for the game being released, but that process was not without speed bumps, and we suspect that at least in part the process was goaded on by certain missteps that occurred - like the series of announcements in 2013 about the game series that left many of its fans cold and confused.

To make up for that, both EIDOS and Square have been a bit more forthcoming about the game and its game play, especially here at E3.

The game play videos and trailers that have been released to media sites like YouTube are certainly sufficient to retain and even promote interest in the game but the previously unreleased experience on offer at the show - for the journos - is clearly intended to fire us up and recruit an interest base in what has previously been a wasteland of frustration and speculation.

Before we jump to the good and our impression - one more bad bite from the apple folks: a solid release date would be really nice here!

One of the major attractions for Mankind Divided is that it is one of the titles that bravely opted to focus on the current gen hardware and all that it has to offer. That decision to not try to shoe this title into the previous generation of game consoles was probably a difficult one, but we are happy that they made the right choice here.

The miasma of misinformation and silence that seemed to hover over the game is now gone, and we can only respect the fact that in both the new footage that has been released, and the game play content that has been presented at the show, it is clear that this one is on-track and knows what its voice is.

And that voice? That voice is instantly immersive and every bit the worthy successor from the previous game! So kudos to you EIDOS! We are eagerly awaiting getting our hands on more than just a taste of this one. But hey, you know that release date would be nice...

Posted: 22nd Jun 2015 by CMBF
Tags:
Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PC,