Thankfully this is the real Metal Gear released on MSX, not that butchered half-baked NES version!!
After Warren Specter made the flawless Deus Ex which born the fantastic Deus Ex franchise and the terrible Deus Ex 2 (made by Warren Specter also) which had been believed killed the Deus Ex series, the series came back and what a return it was! No, the first Deus Ex was not beaten but damn, Human Revolution was just a miracle looking at the time when the game came out. I clearly remember that at that time nobody expected anything from this game. Deus Ex: Human Revolution would have been considered another game by Square Enix that would have been forgotten a few weeks after the release, but what it came out was almost a perfectly-crafted mix of first person shooter, RPG and adventure set in an cyberpunk world. A Deus Ex game as it should be! The dense dystopian atmopshere full of emptiness and sorrow. No, there is not much people in the streets. People are getting separated more and more. Rather than being outside, they hide in their appartments and spend their time there. Fantastic soundtrack by Michael McMann, which has now even a cult status. Deus Ex: Human Revolution's OST set a new standard for a cyberpunk music. The gameplay is fantastic, though maybe a bit simplified compared to the first Deus Ex but still amazing. Skills have sense and you can choose whether you want to use an action approach or a more stealthy one. The level design is fantastic. Sarif Industries, Hengsha (this one is a total gem!), Detroid or Rifleman Bank Station are beautifully and smartly designed. Above all of this is the story. It is not a typical sci-fi cliché. Your "official" goal might be to find terrorists who attacked Sarif Industries, but Adam Jensen's real goal is to find his love Megan which has disappeared after the attack. It is basically a love story which is a pretty unusual thing for an action game. What I miss from the Director's Cut version is the nice golden filter, which Square Enix removed from the original game. There's really no reason for this. 9/10
This could have been another gem. The team which made the (yes, i will use that word) legendary Deus Ex: Human Revolution came back with the sequel promising even a bigger and better game. We all could have been provided with such a game, had Square Enix not been too greedy for its own good. Adam Jensen does not work for Sarif Industries anymore. After the events of the previous game, the world has changed - now, enhanced people are hated and not wanted. Not that they were priced even back then but nowadays the hate towards them rises at an incredible speed. Adam Jensen must fight not only for himself as he is a target of "normal" people, but also a global terrorist threat. My biggest problem with this game is that is not complete. There was a half year delay between the original release date and the final date and I have always been wondering (evene now) what had happened during this time. Did Square Enix force Eidos Montreal to cut off a half of the game? Did the game's mechanics has to be adjusted to this change? Did it lead to implementation of the microtransactions? Whatever had happened during that time, it has definitely affected the final product in a negative way. Level design is fine, but you just cannot have the "wow" effect anymore because you have already seen this. Cannot get pass by the guards? Just look around and you will find a vent entry or you can break through the wall or jump on the roof. Possibilites are nice, but in this game everything feels and seems too obvious, too expectable. This is the biggest flaw of this game in terms of level design. The atmosphere is still great tho, I loved the locations, though there is just a one hub - Prague (the former capital of my people by the way, lol) and the music is awesome, tho not as impactful as in Human Revolution. Graphics-wise, I love the look and the style of the game. Prague has a beautiful design, indeed. This could have been a gem, had Square let Eidos Montreal do their job. 7,5/10
Neverwinter Nights 2 is THE best RPG ever seen on PC. No Not only it uses the fantastic 3.5 Edition of the Dungeons & Dragons ruleset, but also it provides players with amazingly written characters and a fantastic story with a very unique twist. It is definitely not your typical "saving the world" story, but I am not saying more. The role-playing elements give players literally neverwinter possibilities. I mean neverending. See? I was trying to make a joke. The game constantly tries to make the time spent wit it as variable as possible - a superb minigame against a stupid bard, a castle management simulation, etc. The allignment system here finally gets its true purpose. You may begin as a neutral good character but you can end as a lawful evil one. There is tons of decisions which then lead to different outcomes with a real weight. Hell, you can even clap your hands with the final boss and side by side kill all your companion which you have been traveling with during the whole game. Insane! In this Complete edition there are also 3 great expansions included. - Mask of the Betrayer - fantastic story and interesting settings - Storm of Zehir - beautiul implementation of the D&D experience with trading and a possibility to end the game even a couple of minutes after the beginning (with a real ending animation and credits) - Mysteries of Westgate - shorter and a more traditional game than previous expansions but still a very enjoyable experience Just buy it and enjoy this holy grail of RPG!
