Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview @ RPS

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has a good preview of Deus Ex: HR, written by Quinton Smith who saw a demo at a recent UK press event:

In short, I think they’ve got the mechanics of the original Deus Ex down pat. The presentation began with Eidos Montreal’s Marketing & Communications Director, Sebastien Bisch, talking about the “four pillars of gameplay” the team had identified- combat, stealth, social and hacking. Which might set alarm bells ringing in your head, but sure enough, you can see all four come together to create the exact same level design you’d expect to see in Deus Ex.

The Shanghai level he showed was a pleasant, circular slice of a city with a selection of side quests. The docks level was an open-ended level containing guards, cameras, computer terminals, overheard conversations and multiple entrances to each building. With the exception of the new cover system, context-sensitive takedowns, the pretty visuals and the lack of an inventory, it could have been Deus Ex.

Everything is here, from the keypads, to ventilation shafts, to playing through the game using nonlethal means, to using stacked boxes to create steps. The dialogue seems pleasingly pacy and adult, and there’s a consistent competence in the voice acting that this series has never had (mixed with the contrived overhead conversations it always had- “Damn! I lost my datapad with the entrance code to this door on it again! oooh I am so clumsy.”)

...and new screens and art here.