dishonored wrote:You are the once-trusted bodyguard of the beloved Empress. Framed for her murder, you become an infamous assassin, known only by the disturbing mask that has become your calling card. In a time of uncertainty, when the city is being besieged by plague and ruled by an oppressive government armed with neo-industrial technologies, dark forces conspire to bestow upon you, abilities beyond those of any common man – but at what cost? The truth behind your betrayal is as murky as the waters surrounding the city, and the life you once had is gone forever.
rockpapershotgun provides a ridiculously long spamvert with some further detail here and there...
if you're looking at the visuals thinking "ermm.. Half-Life 2", congrats... some of the team actually worked on HL2(-1)... and Deus Ex(+1) as well as Dark Messiah(-5)...
they're talking all sorts of wonderful but bethesda has their toe in there and DM was stupidly wrong on so many levels... we'll see...
I got Dishonored this Friday against better judgement. No love was given or lost to this title as XCOM was busy destroying every bit of self esteem I ever possessed. But let's look at the game that I spent a good 2 hours over the coarse of the entire weekend on ...and that was wasting 40 minutes on a part I will refer to later.
First off the visuals are that of a painted style and despite that the game looks like a low detailed textured mess. There is a difference between looking crap and looking draw or painted (see Diablo 3/Torchlight 2/Borderlands 2). A real shame since the rest of the world is a joy to play in.
Let's get the story out of the way. You are Corvo, the queens body guard, who comes back from a mission she sent you on only to be framed for her murder and disappearance of the princess after your first report to her. Fast forward 30 seconds (6 months) and the accusers confess that they planned the assassination after they torture you for a confession. Targets painted, let's get this show on the road.
Your next part has you escaping the prison and getting thru the sewers. One of the things I noticed was the conversation between 2 unnamed npcs that was talking about how I cut my way out of prison. At this point I was thinking what if I didn't kill the poor bastards. Surely enough, I let them live and the conversation changed. Maybe the game has some kind of morality system.
As I was making my way through the sewers it became clear there is more than one way to get by. Either brute for will do and unlike some games brute force works. Stealth takedowns are harder to perform and tranq bolts are in rare supply. You also have the option of completely avoiding enemies all together (which I can't. See someone? Must kill or KO).
This formula of do whatever you like to do is even more apparent during your first mission to assassinate an Overseer. You can climb rooftops, traverse the sewers, run and gun through the front door or use back alley ways. It doesn't stop there though. On this mission there is a captain that the overseer wants to poison but his relative wants you to keep him alive as its the only family she has left. You choices are to swap the glasses, mix them, leave them or empty them. You can then kill them yourself or render them unconcious and beyond that do some interesting stuff with a heretics branding iron.
I'm not ready to cast my verdict but at current Deus Ex HR is the better stealth game.
OnlyOneKenobi wrote: it's not perfect but a lot more fun.
i would concur..
visually, it's a horrible blend of interesting and ugly... but that would be for the dated console hardware... the game really needs an HD patch...
gameplay is nowhere near that of the thief series... mechanics are simplified while some of the skills make the sneak attacks almost too easy - (we're looking at you, blink) - but the story and dynamic world is suitably engaging enough to keep you hooked...
7/10 easy...
Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so - Bertrand Russel
