Notice I didn’t use the plural “impressions.” Also, I should add an extra “early.”
I only played for about an hour last night, so I didn’t do much more than look at the menu options and watch cut scenes. I did skydive onto the top of an unfinished luxury hotel in Dubai and start on what I assume is the tutorial mission. Very early on, I was able to get murdered by some terrorists. By the time I found them, I had forgotten who they were and why they were there — the briefing on their identity and motivations was barked out by some military guy on a transport plane, and I forgot who he was, too. Come to think of it, I forgot what military outfit he was with and why I was with them. This is not the game’s fault. I should pay closer attention, especially in a Deus Ex title, since every sentence and nuance usually turns out to be important.
So anyway, there I was on the top floor of this hotel whose construction had been interrupted by some spoiler I can’t go into. As I looked around, I noticed that practically everything could be picked up and thrown. I ignored this and marveled at the idea that I could mantle almost anywhere. Eventually, I came across said terrorists and realized that I must use my uber-pro-uncanny stealth abilities. Going through them would not be an option. Unfortunately, my uber-pro-uncanny stealth abilities were outmatched by their godlike lines of sight, resulting in my sad little death. I had a tranquilizer gun, but I think maybe I should have thrown a refrigerator at them. I can see that every encounter in this game is going to be a puzzle, which was the case in Human Revolution and which I liked very much.
So my impression thus far is that this is your usual Eidos treatment — it’s Tomb Raider with conspiracy theories gone wild, lots of talking, and lots of gnarly combat puzzles. It will probably take me a year to finish.
Oh, as for performance: I haven’t yet encountered the things that have upset the internet, but I’m sure I will eventually. So far, though, the game runs fine. It’s extremely console-ish, but that’s what you get these days and I can live with it if other things overshadow it. Everybody is throwing a fit about the preorder items not persisting beyond the first game session (or save or something), but since I don’t even know what the preorder items are or where to find them or whether they’re already equipped or whatever, I haven’t given them any thought. It’s early days, but right now I think this is a very professional “multiplatform” addition to the Deus Ex saga. Don’t be surprised, however, if I start whining.
Bonus snob content:
In video reviews, you’ll probably hear people call the game “doos ex.” The correct pronunciation is “day-oos ex.” Latin “e’s” are usually enunciated as separate syllables prior to other vowels, and “e” is pronounced as a long “a.” The letter “i” is pronounced as a long “e,” etc. The literal translation is “god from” and is taken from the phrase “deus ex machina” (pronounced “mahk-in-uh”) or “god from the machine.” Since the game series is about artificial augmentations, it’s a perfect title and deserves to be pronounced correctly.
Bonus bonus snob content:
“Machina” is “mahk-in-uh” because the letter “a” in Latin is pronounced as an “ah” sound. Also, “c” is always hard, like “k.” Romans didn’t have a “ch” or “sh” sound.
Bonus bonus bonus:
Romans would have called Julius Caesar “Iulius Caesar,” though there may be other variations. Latin omits the letter “j.” Caesar would sound like “Kai-sar” as “ae” in combination is pronounced as “ai.” The “s” would have been strong (master) instead of soft (please).
Bonus bonus bonus bonus:
So-called church Latin has altered some sounds. For instance, the word “excelsis” in “in excelsis Deo” is commonly pronounced like this: “ex-chelsis.” The Romans would have said “ex-kelsis.”
If you had tried to pronounce ecce homo as “ech-i homo” to a Roman, he or she would have been puzzled, since the expectation would have been “ek-kay homo.”
I read that you can progress your character with micro-transactions and sort of instantly got turned off to the idea of ever buying this game.