Illuminati – with cloaking technology. Me – in an airvent. Sounds about right. I hide in the airvent and take potshots at the invisible assailants in the basement of Picus TV. With a bit of timing and patience, I manage to take them all out, using a combination of my trusty shotgun and combat rifle – the shotgun for close range and the rifle for longer range. I even use my upgraded, laser-guided pistol for a little accurate shooting.

As usual, I hack every computer in sight when there are no enemies to pester me. More e-mails hinting at Illuminati connections and even more putting a very anti-augmentation spin on their news articles. In my information search, I almost forget to visit the armory. There’s a robotic turret guarding it, just waiting to put a few pounds of lead into someone. I intend to make sure it knows that won’t be me.

I crouch behind the bot, following it for a bit, then pull into a small room. The robot finishes its patrol loop and comes back. From here, I sneak into the armory. The door is locked, but only opens easily using the code I found from the computers I hacked moments ago. I raid the armory, jacking their ammo and weapons. Then I see another door. One I could’ve used to avoid the robot entirely. Oh well, such is life.

I do a bit more searching, eventually working my way to Eliza Cassan. I cross a couple of guards and another robot along the way, but a key takedown, some hacking, and a modified security system later, all of the problems are behind me.

A few thoughts about Eliza Cassan thus far: I’ve seen her all over the place in Detroit: She’s on all of the billboards and people talk about Picus quite a bit. A thought had crossed my mind when I first wandered the Detroit streets. Is she human? I mean, I’ve read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Buster Friendly, the perpetual voice of the TV, was always on 24/7. It didn’t seem humanly possible. He was and android. Eliza may be an android, although I haven’t seen any in the Deus Ex world. Also, her voice acting is horrible. She sounds like an auditioner for a high school play reading from a script. It’s that bad.

So, without further ado, I meet Eliza. She’s not human. She’s… like Helios, an AI. Imagine a not-evil SHODAN. That’s what we have here. A large screen with Eliza’s face is in the center of the room while two physical existences are on either side. But, we’re not alone. Shades of the boss fight from System Shock 2 cast over me. Oh, no, I can feel it coming. Federova, an augmented mercenary that broke into Sarif Industries all those months ago has crashed my party with Eliza. Here we go again, another boss fight.

Eliza calmly tells me how to defeat the boss while I’m running around trying to avoid getting shot. “She recharges after the claymore.” “Electricity will cause her cloaking device to stop working, but the ground is water, so you’ll be hurt, too.” I put about 20 shotgun rounds into the Federova before she rips my augmented eyes out of my skull. I learned my lesson with Barret. I set the difficulty back down to the easy mode. I’m not wasting another thirty attempts on a sucky boss.

With the lower difficulty, I try again, and eventually, I get lucky. I’m able to use a couple of EMP grenades to slow down Federova, then when she’s not moving, I unload just about everything that I’ve got on her – shotgun shells, combat rifles, heavy rifles, pistols, the whole shebang. By the time the fights over, I’ve got almost no ammo left whatsoever. Did I mention the boss fights suck? She’s not anyone. No background, no story, no real reason for her to be a boss. Doesn’t matter. She’s dead. Eliza gives me some fine parting words, “Everyone lies.” Time to go back to Detroit, which has somehow gotten even shittier. (Sorry, Detroit.)

“Back to Detroit,” says Malik.

“No,” Jensen interrupts. “Montreal.” Continue reading →

Upstairs are cubicles and the wonderfully decorated offices of Tai Yong’s head honchos. The offices have very modern, IKEA-styled furniture, adorned with wood laminate floors and stone masonry on the walls for good measure. I spend most of this time hacking computers and perusing e-mails, eventually working my way to the final elevator that leads directly to the penthouse and VP of the company.

I’m struck. Not by a bullet, but by the view. It’s a modern palace up here. Blade Runner inspirations abound, as a a soft warm light radiates through the windows and onto large polygonal statues. As beautiful as the place is, I have a sinking feeling; there’s no way that there’s a big open space with conveniently placed hiding spots unless a fight is coming. Continue reading →

Up some more steps, which lead to yet even more offices and more computers. I give up on being completely stealthy, opting instead to sneak behind people just long enough to take them down. It’s paying off, and I’m able to reach the server room by taking down a couple of guards in this manner. The room is booby trapped. There’s a big laser grid running around it, preventing me from easily sneaking through, so I decide to rectify the situation with an EMP grenade. Continue reading →

Wow, the Tai Yong Medical Center is pretty damn fancy. That’s expected for a facility that’s making bank selling cutting edge (and potentially knock-off) augmentations. Warm sunlight shines through the floor-to-ceiling windows and the lower city of Hengsha fills the horizon. There are a lot of researchers around, and a couple of guards to boot. I’ve got to get into the research labs, but the guard won’t let me through without a pass. Continue reading →

I take the train to the upper city. There, I find some maintenance tubes. A guy in a chemical suit seems to have gotten himself into a bit of a pickle and has poison gas filling his room. His head piece is cracked and no doubt left alone, he’ll die. I can’t help but want to a help a person who needs some help, so I head over to the door. It’s locked. Time to put my hacking skills to use for the good side. I go and fail not once, but twice. Shit. And now security is coming after me. Ok, quick takedown and security is no longer a threat. One last try, and I’m able to open the door. I go in, turn the gas chamber off and then clear some boxes out of the way. As a reward, our new friend says that the security guy Lee will let us through. Oops, sorry Lee.

Further into the maintenance area, I find a trusty air vent. The air vent leads to a pretty good fall, and after falling off just about everything in Detroit, I’ve learned that’s not a good thing, so I’m willing to spend some Praxis points on the Icarus landing system. It does the trick and Jensen coasts the last few feet of the fall in third-person. The animation for it is a bit over-the-top for my taste, but it works, so I can’t complain. The air duct opens and shit… I set of an alarm. An alarm with robots. And guards. A bunch of them. My stealth expertise is short lived.

I hide in the air vent and take pot shots until I toast all of the guards. My silenced combat rifle works well with the distance. The robot is a bit stronger, so I use my shotgun upgrade – I can set it to fire two rounds at once for twice the damage. After a little work, the robot is toast, too.

Time to find the elevator to the Medical Center upstairs.

Those pods? They weren’t just a bad, long-term hotel. They’re basically beds in stacked caskets. Rent an enclosed bunk bed. Cheap? Probably. Nice? Hell no. But, there’s a ton of them in a small space, so there’s plenty of exploring to do. I find some info about Malik’s friend in one of these pods. I also pass by an airduct that strangely leads back to the entrance of the place. On the third floor are several of these pods full of computer servers. Right next to them is our hacker friend, Van Bruggen.

Van Bruggen admits to using the hacker back in Detroit and he points us to the Upper Area of Hengsha – that’s where we need to go. As we discuss the finer points of life, chaos ensues. Belltower security is bursting through the place and they’re taking no prisoners. Gotta escape. Continue reading →

Hengsha’s huge. Really Huge. Really, really huge. I’m lost in the game. And this time, I’m lost in the sense that I can’t get my bearings. I refuse to turn on any sort of quest arrow. I want to work my way through and discover things on own, even accidentally or out of frustration. Malik lands me on the rooftops of some hotel building. Almost immediately, I see a couple of working girls on the roof, one of which has a Chinese accent and one of which very much does not. I talk with them and get the scoop that there’s a fight between a girl and the owner inside. I walk into the building, head down a floor and listen to their argument. He wants her to get augmented; she doesn not. Augmented girls make all the money, it seems. Continue reading →

Barret kicked my ass to the point that I had to knock the difficulty down to easy, so I need a brief recovery. I work my way back through the FEMA facilities to meet with chopper pilot Malik on the roof. The place is deserted after Barret blew himself sky high. As I’m traveling back, I’m noticing the paths I hadn’t taken – some that would’ve no doubt made life much easier. I’ll try these out next next time I’m in there. Scratch that, I’m going to blast everyone to pieces anyway. Continue reading →

Checking out some bodies at the morgue – all in an average night’s work. So now, I reach into the hackers body and remove the implant from our dead friend’s brain. Yep, he was augmented. Although, based on his expressions before he offed himself (the same scene from all of the trailers), it looks like someone was pulling the trigger for him.

More orders now. Pritchard, the tech guy and Human Revolution version of Alex, tells me to check out the augmentation at my home apartment. Too much heat at Sarif, I take it. Oh, and by the way, he’s also able to access anything from my home computer. There goes any sense of privacy.

After a bit of street wandering, I pass by some working girls. One happens to be working double-duty. No, no two guys at once, but as an undercover cop. One J Alexander, who’s computer I hacked back at the police station. And to think, I had myself fooled into thinking it was a joke login modeled after Seinfeld actor Jason Alexander. She’s got a few “off the book” assignments over in the anti-Aug gangland. It seems there’s a crooked cop who’s trying to cover up some his off-duty activities. Ok, I’m a nice guy; I’ll help her. Continue reading →