Nhật ký: Kẻ tâm thần
Tôi đã tìm thấy một loạt bài viết khá cũ nhưng vẫn thú vị về cách chơi Deus Ex: Human Revolution, nếu tiếp cận quá trình chơi từ nhiều góc độ khác nhau. Tôi xin giới thiệu cho bạn bài đầu tiên.
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Trong vài tuần qua, một vài người trong nhóm biên tập đã chơi mười giờ đầu tiên của [Deus Ex: Human Revolution](/games?search=Deus Ex: Human Revolution), nhưng cho đến hôm nay chúng tôi không thể tiết lộ nhiều. Vấn đề là trò chơi cực kỳ tốt. Vì vậy, sự phấn khích bị kiềm chế của chúng tôi đã dẫn đến một loạt nhật ký: hôm nay chúng tôi sẽ nói về những gì sẽ xảy ra nếu bạn cố gắng chơi trò chơi như một kẻ tâm thần cyborg.
Ngày mai, Graham sẽ kể cho bạn về cách anh ấy vào vai một hacker, và vào thứ Sáu, Rich sẽ cố gắng hoàn thành toàn bộ chương của trò chơi bằng cách dựa vào đàm thoại và sự cải trang. Chúng tôi sẽ tránh những phần tiết lộ lớn, nhưng chắc chắn chúng tôi sẽ mô tả những tình huống mà bạn sẽ gặp phải khi trò chơi ra mắt vào tháng Tám. Trong khi đó, bạn có thể đọc những ấn tượng chung của chúng tôi trong bài viết trước và quan điểm không có spoiler trong một chương trình podcast đặc biệt về Deus Ex.
[Deus Ex: Human Revolution](/games?search=Deus Ex: Human Revolution) bắt đầu với các cuộc điện đàm giữa bốn hoặc năm hình bóng bí ẩn. Có vẻ như họ đang âm thầm âm mưu. Tôi sẽ không kể về điều đó, cũng như nửa giờ tiếp theo: có một phần giới thiệu bán tương tác, vì vậy nó không thực sự liên quan nhiều đến phần còn lại của trò chơi.
Tôi sẽ bắt đầu từ sự lựa chọn đầu tiên đánh dấu mà bạn sẽ phải đối mặt: bạn bay để ngăn chặn sự ăn cắp của bọn khủng bố về một nguyên mẫu bí mật của một cấy ghép mới từ chủ lao động của bạn, Sarif Industries. Chính Sarif sẽ là người phục vụ bạn trong khi bạn bay trên trực thăng. Liệu ngài có muốn giết những kẻ đối thủ hay chỉ làm cho chúng bất tỉnh? Tốt. Và ngài thích đấu tay đôi hay tầm xa? Nếu cho phép, giết trong cự ly gần là một lựa chọn tuyệt vời.
Vậy là tôi đã có một khẩu súng lục. Khoan đã, tôi có hình ảnh nào đó có độ rộng năm nghìn pixel.
Khi được thả xuống trước hai chiến binh SWAT, tôi cảm thấy một khát khao mạnh mẽ để sử dụng vũ khí mới. Tôi đã chơi nhiệm vụ đầu tiên một cách hợp lý khi được phép thử nghiệm phiên bản console. Vì vậy, lần này, tôi tự hỏi câu hỏi mà mọi game thủ đều nên tự hỏi ở một thời điểm trong đời: "Liệu tôi có thể chỉ cần bắn những gã này và lấy thiết bị của họ không?"
BANG. Có! Đồng đội của hắn rất ngạc nhiên, nhưng chỉ kịp bắn một viên đạn lên trời trước khi điểm ngắm của tôi chuyển sang hắn. Thật ra, trong trò chơi này, đồng minh không phải là bất khả xâm phạm. Và với chuột, việc bắn vào đầu người trở nên dễ dàng hơn nhiều.
Các chiến binh SWAT trong phòng bên cạnh đã cảnh giác nhưng không thù địch — họ đã nghe thấy tiếng súng nhưng không thấy ai bắn. Đó là một bí ẩn không thể giải quyết, các bạn hãy chấp nhận đi. Bởi vì rõ ràng rằng không phải là gã có khẩu súng lục đang ẩn nấp sau một cái thùng để bắn trả bạn.
Tình hình đã phức tạp hơn: ba chiến binh trong áo giáp cùng lúc. Tôi đã xử lý gã đội trưởng một cách dễ dàng, nhưng phải tránh né khi hai gã kia mở lại đạn. Chuyển sang góc nhìn thứ ba khi bạn đang trong chỗ nấp, dễ dàng hơn nhiều trên PC — được thực hiện gần như giống như trong [Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas](/games?search=Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas), và đó là một trong những game bắn súng yêu thích của tôi.
Một chiến binh bắt đầu nạp lại đạn, trong khi chiến binh khác tiến lên. Tôi đã thò ra để bắn gã đầu tiên, rồi đứng dậy để chiến đấu tay đôi với gã thứ hai. Từ cổ tay của tôi bật ra những lưỡi dao khổng lồ, tôi đâm chúng vào cổ họng và lá lách của hắn, rồi đánh kẻ thù ngã xuống sàn.
Ôi, tôi là một người khủng khiếp. Với khẩu súng tấn công miễn phí.
Tôi đã đối xử với bọn khủng bố nhẹ nhàng hơn, chỉ bẻ gãy tay và hàm của chúng để làm cho chúng bất tỉnh. Khi tình huống bắt đầu vượt khỏi tầm kiểm soát, tôi đã lao vào chỗ nấp và lấy ra khẩu súng lục. Soon, I found hostages — they were just a side quest, but I messed up with them when I played on console. This time, I found the code needed to defuse the bomb in someone’s email, so I had no trouble going in and saving everyone. Then I thought.
How will the game react if I save the hostages and then kill them all?
— Pritchard, — Jensen radioed, stabbing both his blades into the woman’s chest, — I found the hostages.
— I suppose that’s good news? — Jensen tossed the limp body onto the couch and went for the next. — They are fine.
In the name of science, I shot each of them in the head and walked out. Deal with this, game.
In this same mission, I received my first "practice" point. With these, you can buy or upgrade implants for your now semi-mechanical body. A new implant costs two points, so if you want to spend the first point right away, you will have to upgrade what you have. One of the modifications for the arms allows you to lift and throw heavy objects, so I, of course, took it.
The first thing to throw: the damned turret. To get behind it, I had to sneak past the camera, so I took the whole setup and threw it into the camera. The camera literally exploded into pieces, and I placed the turret in the corner like a misbehaving child.
Eventually, I met the leader of the terrorists, Zeke, who held another hostage. Negotiations? Of course, I will negotiate with bullets… wait, I missed. I will negotiate… oh, he killed the hostage. I will negotiate… well, yes, I shot him in the end, so truthfully, those weren’t negotiations.
The guy who burst through the door immediately after that too was shot by me before I realized he was a SWAT officer. After that, I shot all their other guys on the helicopter pad, and then all on the upper floor, after which I discovered that the entire complex was now filled with SWAT officers. And I played the mission again, but in reverse.
Like in Hitman: these guys won’t become hostile until they see you attack, so you can sneak up on them and eliminate them one by one with the blades without raising an alarm. I don’t know why Eidos Montreal thought I would want to play the entire one-and-a-half-hour mission in reverse when I had already completed it, but they accounted for that possibility. And for the insane serial killer my character was, it was a thrilling new way to play.
I’ll skip the post-mission briefing since I don’t want to reveal that part of the story. But the characters at the Sarif HQ reacted quite convincingly to my abnormal hostage rescue massacre, correctly determining that the hostages were dead. No one knew that I had killed them, of course, but I was surprised that completing the "rescue" objective didn’t get everyone stuck in "Great job!" mode — the game really checked whether the hostages were alive. The only mistake was in the newspaper article claiming that the bomb had gone off, when in fact I had defused it.
The next time you leave Sarif HQ not by helicopter, but through the front door. You are in Detroit, the first city center in the game and the point where the game really opens up.
This is not a full city like in GTA or Oblivion — the closest analogy is obviously [Deus Ex](/games?search=Deus Ex). There are a few blocks of streets and alleys, and while you can’t go into every building, there are more places to explore than ever in [Deus Ex](/games?search=Deus Ex).
I found a weapon dealer at a deserted gas station and bought a shotgun from him. I found the LIMB clinic, where operations are done to install new implants, and bought some practice points to improve mine. And finally, I entered a residential complex to talk to a former cop, now a security guard, about a side quest I just picked up.
He turned out to be helpful, but… for science. I had to find out if the game would let me kill him. Heading to the apartment he was guarding, I hacked someone’s lock, and I lifted up a refrigerator. It wasn’t easy to get it down the stairs since the strength implant consumed energy, but I had enough left when I managed it to throw the refrigerator at him. It toppled on the table, stunned and clearly hostile, but when he stood up, I was already lifting the refrigerator again and threw it at his chest, finishing him off. Sorry, buddy. This had to happen.
Exploring apartments in Detroit is fun. I kept running into scenes and bits of history that seemed related to something important that I hadn’t uncovered yet. Once I broke into an apartment that had nothing interesting except for weapons on a table and a locked door.
My hacking skill wasn’t high enough, and I was just about to leave in frustration when I noticed a grill in the door. I crouched down and peeked inside, seeing light. I got doubly angry that I couldn’t get in and further pissed off when I realized that it was probably explosive — a contact mine in [Deus Ex](/games?search=Deus Ex) glows like that. If games were logical, I could just shoot the mine through the grill and blow the door up.
Hmm.
This is Deus Ex. It really can be that logical. I tried.
It worked. The explosion was monstrous, not only breaking but completely obliterating the door. Inside, I found loads of money, ammunition, and grenades, as well as a computer waiting to be hacked that held information about the tenant’s activities. That guy was definitely up to something nasty.
In this playthrough, I never found out how nasty, but when other journals come, look for mentions of O’Malley — there is still much more to come on that subject.
Finally, I found what I was looking for — the apartment of a man connected to the robbery I was investigating for a friend. While browsing through his computer, I heard someone approaching. Esc! Esc! Esc!
I pressed myself against the wall and watched the bedroom door. A thug with a gun was wandering around the apartment, calling for me to show myself. I decided not to oblige him and shot blindly with my new shotgun.
The noise was horrific, but the hail of lead only grazed him. He started firing at the door until his magazine was empty, and at that moment, I rushed out, aimed for his neck, and shot him more accurately, knocking him back onto the table.
He’s not the guy I need, but I know where to find the right one. He’s hanging around by the dumpster outside, and I know from his email that the records I need are with him. In the conversation, he justified himself with good intentions and said he would give me the records if I took care of the drug dealers that are after him.
I thought for a moment, then punched him in the face so hard that his head cracked against the dumpster.
Not everyone liked this. Most of the runts and drifters in the alley ducked for cover, but two of them pulled out uzis and opened fire. I was hit before I could reach cover, but I survived, barely. When they split, I poked out and shot one in the head, then pierced the other with blades as he tried to flank me.
That’s why they do this in games: if the quest you wrote doesn’t appeal to some players or they just don’t feel the reward is worth it, they’ll still have something to do for fun. I’m not against taking out drug dealers — I love killing — but even if I weren’t playing a psychopath, I don’t think that guy was in a position to give me orders. The game let me express my opinion on the matter, with my fists.
The last bit of joy in the Detroit residential area I missed until Rich told me about it. The entrance to the block is closed, but if you carefully stand on a barrel and jump on the fire escape, you can get in. And at the table, a hunched figure in a hood awaits.
He doesn’t know my character, but I’m not the guy who should sell suppressors. I shot his bodyguard in the back of the head with a satisfying thud, then turned and shot the dealer before he could grab his shotgun. Most of his stock was locked in heavy crates, but he himself had some good stuff. I slipped out of there.
One of the important side quests in Detroit can be obtained from a prostitute on Derelict Row who claims she knows you.
— Jensen, over here! — she shouts as you walk by. I approached her and punched her in the face with my robotic fist. Everyone screamed.
Um. Listen, I know how this sounds, but honestly, I didn’t mean to do that. I just remapped the melee attack key that I usually use for interaction, and out of habit I pressed it.
She’s unconscious, and no one cares that I hit her — at least no one with a weapon. She had a thousand credits and a rare weapon modification on her. Well, I can’t let good loot go to waste. I mean, yes, she’ll probably wake up soon, but… listen, I’m just going to take all of this. Go on, judge me.
The last thing in this build of the game is a mission Rich found last week. It’s fun, but there’s less room for a psychopath’s experiments because everyone is initially hostile here: killing them is almost like stating the obvious. And at the end, there will be a boss fight, which has been the only disappointment so far: we’ve looked, but it seems there’s not a single peaceful alternative to fighting him.
In general, urban centers reveal the richness and flexibility of Deus Ex. Missions give you a new goal and the opportunity to put new weapons and implants, whether they are for combat or stealth, to a serious test. But I hope the full game will stick to a template like this: several missions per center and at least as much time to explore the world and its history. There will be three urban centers in total, and the first playthrough of the game will take between 25 to 35 hours, so calculations suggest that it will be so.
Cảm ơn Soth đã hiệu đính và giúp một số khía cạnh trong việc dịch.