Seriously, fuck this shit.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a game set in the near future where people are attempting to augment themselves through cybernetics in order to become more advanced human beings. Along with this comes the inevitable groups of people who would naturally oppose human augmentation strictly because of their backwards beliefs. As some one who hasn’t completed the game, I can’t speak on behalf of the game or the story as a whole, but so far I am digging it overall. But I’m hating the boss battles.

The majority of Deus Ex: Human Revolution‘s gameplay focuses on finding loopholes in very tight security, be it by sneaking behind guard’s backs, crawling through air vents, hacking electronic doors to open them, or other means. The major emphasis of the game is not on direct combat as most of the common enemies you face will mow you down in seconds. The gameplay is very similar to that of the Metal Gear Solid series and sneaking is rewarded over brazen displays of power. Then you get to the boss fights and that fact is ignored.

The boss fights toss all of the rules of stealth gameplay out the window. The bosses know where you are at all times, yet they are still just as overpowered (or more so) than the normal units you have been sneaking past the whole game. I’m actually currently stuck on the 2nd boss even despite spending an hour memorizing her patterns and consulting a strategy guide.

There’s no doubt something that I’m missing, but probably my biggest complaint is that these boss battles are even in here. Is it really that realistic to have players spend their experience points on skills that will help them sneak and hack better for 95% of the game only to put up arbitrary road blocks that require upgrades to strength and shooting? I think it’s a little unfair and it actually demands that the game be replayed from scratch rather than finishing it as is. I haven’t given up hope of me beating the 2nd boss just yet though as I was able to beat the first boss through sheer luck and I might get luck again, but there is a good chance I will just have to start over from the beginning.

At any rate, I kind of am regretting not purchasing this game on PC where there will inevitably be a mod released that removes the boss battles.