Adam Jensen's back

There's a Human Revolution just around the corner, Deus Ex is back again and it's a successful relaunch of a really solid franchise. We were one of the few sites who really loved Deus Ex: Human Revolution and we gave it a really solid review and a high score.

It wasn't perfect by any means but it wasn't a slouch either on the Xbox 360. We had no real issues with it, and even the Boss fights weren't really that much of a problem. Yet, some people had issues with it and they didn't like the Boss fights as they stood.

So now in 2013 we're looking at the remastered Deus Ex: Human Revolution, in the form of the Director's Cut of the game and this is in a few words, the definitive edition of the game. Here in the UK you can grab a copy on Friday for the reasonable price of £20.

It's worth it.

Read our original review

So what's changed

This particular review focuses on the DX Human Revolution: Director's Cut referred to as DXHRDC from now on for the Xbox 360 and highlights some of the key changes which transform this already great game, into a truly superb experience that is a must-have for any Deus Ex fan.

DX HR managed to get a lot of awards, good reviews and great press even though some people had issues with the aforementioned Boss fights, endings and some AI problems.

It is that good of a game.

Now the game's back with this Director's Cut and it's changed a lot of things to make the game even better.

Augmented Baby!

At its heart the game remains the same core DXHR experience that the previous iteration was, with some fundamental gameplay alterations and additions to make it more fun.

Jensen's Batteries: The original system of one battery auto-charging meant that you could be left without the means to trigger a vital Aug, now two batteries recharge automatically instead of one. So if you're playing a stealth based character, or you love those takedowns - you can now perform your Aug abilities more frequently and do a lot more takedowns, wall punch-through attacks and the like.

Rebalanced Augmentation system: Jensen seems to start with more Augmentations active than previously, we're not sure if that's true since we no longer have access to the original DXHR to check. We also are pretty sure they changed some of the Aug costs too, for the better when it comes to using batteries to trigger them.

Rebalanced AI: The normal enemy AI has been given a polish and sharpened up, they work better in combat and understand tactics a lot more now too. They also spot you based on polished line of sight mechanics. You can trick them properly and confuse them if you vanish from sight. It's a great way to pretend that Adam is Sam Fisher, or Batman.

If you're using a second screen, there are all sorts of ways to interact with the game, from hacking to inventory management. The second screen feels like it's setup to make you feel as though it's been designed as one of Jensen's Augs. Smartglass integration is available on iOS as well as Android.

Director's Cut commentary: DXHRDC is packed with over 8 hours of commentary on loads of interesting aspects of the game.

Left-Hand mapping, for lefties everywhere. This is a really neat feature and gives a total of 4 control variations now.

Making of Video: 45 minutes of behind the scenes footage.

Rebalanced Boss fights: The original Boss fights were kind of vanilla, these are fantastic new additions and the first boss battle is no longer a generic room with a bad guy. Now it's a multi-level playground with options galore, vents to explore, panels to hack and you can literally get through it without firing a shot at the bad guy. Perfect for anyone who loves stealth! The AI has been polished too, just to make it even more fun.

The graphics of DXHRDC have been polished with the visual enhancements from the Missing Link DLC layered over the whole game. So the new textures and effects really add to the experience and make NPCs look a lot better too. Fog, smoother shadows, anti-aliasing and all sorts of little touches make it the best looking version of DXHR compared to the original.

The Missing Link DLC, Tong's Rescue and the DLC/Preorder weapons have been integrated into the package, so you get the Missing Link and Tong's Rescue as part of the normal gameplay narrative really expanding the DXHR storyline.

Finally, the best feature: New Game Plus, this really sells it for us. Being able to restart the story and build Jensen up continuously until you have a serious badass version is excellent and is one of the key selling points for this version, amongst the sheer value for money you get from the Director's Cut content as a whole and all the changes.

Worth it?

Yes, it is. DXHRDC is the definitive version of this classic well-lauded game and it really needs to be in your collection if you're a DXHR, or DX fan. Having a second screen option, using Smartglass, or just being able to fight the Boss fights your own way are HUGE changes that make a really sharp impact on the game as a whole and make it really worth playing again.

One word of warning, it seems to us that you can't import your save, so you're going to have to rebuild that Jensen from scratch. Hey, that's a small price to pay for the sheer fun you can have now thanks to all the rebalancing.

Go on, buy it again, you know you want to!