Deus Ex: Human Revolution; Behind the Scenes: Boss Fights

Meet the man that forced us to kill in Deus Ex: Human Revolution
http://idorts.com/?p=8

http://bi.kotek.pl/bloxlite/f640x640/32/38/450f07b5b2.jpg
This is Paul A. Kruszewski, a PhD in IT with a polish sounding name. He is the owner of Grip Entertainment, a company designing artificial intelligence for video games. What does he have to do with Deus Ex: Human Revolution?
http://www.gripent.com/
As it turns out, bossfights, a great disappointment for many fans and reviewers, were not made by Eidos Montreal. Those segments, where we are closed in a tight space and forced to fight to the death, were outsourced to a company with an unprofessional website and... a founder that has never even heard the title 'Deus Ex', until he got the assignment to work for Eidos Montral.
Yes, a person responsible for an important segment of the game has never heard of Deus Ex and openly says so. This is probably why in locations he and his company worked on, there is no option to complete the task using a pacifistic method. In a game you can complete without killing any opponent (and where there is an achievement for it), the 'arenas' Mr. Kruszewski has created, forcing us to kill Barrett, Fedorova, Namir and those connected to the Hyron Project, are extremely out of place- especially compared to the fantastic 'social bossfights'.
When you see Anfossi, JJB, Dugas, Demerle and other creators of the game, they show real dedication to the franchise and the legacy of first Deus Ex. They understand that giving the player choice is crucial. They always stressed that there hundreds of way of approaching a task, and they didn't lie. And what about the bossfights? "There's a flow to these guys- you've gotta figure what their loop is and get in that"- so just one method of winning? Isn't this Deus Ex, aren't we supposed to talk our way out of the fight, sneak or even run away from it? Unfortunately Mr. Kruszewski doesn't speak with passion about the game's magnitude of options and possibilities but the technology that allowed him to create the bosses you can approach in only one way- brute force. No matter how advanced this technology is, this is a total failure, especially that most reviews question its quality and purpose.
Outsourcing is a popular method of making some parts of the production easier for a studio, Eidos Montreal also assigned an outside company, Nixxes Entertainment, to prepare the PC version of Human Revolution. And they completed their task flawlessly. The cover art makers, have also shown great dedication to their work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o8wronfGVE
But why did Eidos Montreal outsource an element of the game that should have been done internally? Did they not have enough time? They had 4 years, and from what the boss of Grip Entertainment says, it appears they gave him the job in a later stage of production, with all the models, animations, audio and weapons... That's suspicious. Especially that the team earlier released pictures and a video of fighting Barrett but... in Heng Sha. The scene didn't make it to the final game. In earlier designs of the game, was avoiding Barrett in the FEMA camp possible? Perhaps the bossfights were made by the core studio, and they decided to outsource later? Maybe the decision was made for them by Square Enix?
Let's just hope that in the unavoidable sequels (I personally already can't wait) Eidos Montreal will not hire Grip Entertainment.


All rights to Deus Ex: Human Revolution belong to Eidos Montreal and Square Enix.

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• Deus Ex
• DXHR
• Human Revolution
• Boss fights

[LCUCollosalBankia]

All the bosses were easy .. Seconds it took me to defeat them. Evidence is on youtube just look it up, hopefully if there is a next game make them more challenging! Great game though :3

[Miseric0rde]

@LCUCollosalBankia

Deus Ex is a game of choice. you may choose to play without weapons or augs even. Not everybody plays like you.

Besides, there is no evidence of your achievement on your channel.

[dean42bean]

'This is Paul A. Kruszewski, a PhD in IT with a polish sounding name'

I'm not sure why that Polish thing was in there, what does it add?

[Miseric0rde]

@dean42bean The original text was in Polish and we poles tend to note that on any occasion- the text is a rather straightforward translation, so this bit remained

[5GASF]

We never asked for this.

[gentlefury]

Good thing I maxed out my hacking and stealth skills......to be forced into an arena with a crazed gunman with grenades! And no way to bypass or think my way out of it! This guy completely missed the point of the game! Major FAIL!

[Mertazord]

@gentlefury My stealth augmentations came in pretty useful against Barrett. I unloaded a clip, turned invisible and legged it to reload and regenerate if I was hurt, downed an energy shot, rinsed and repeated. Sure it was unexpected that a boss fight like that would be included in such an open game, but it added a little much needed variation imho.

Then again, maybe I just liked how reminiscent it was of Metal Gear more than anything.

[swaryne]

He didn't exactly do a bad job, but his vision didn't mesh with the game for sure. He tried to give the player as many options as possible, but only if they were already going through the game taking people down (unlike me).

I still blame Eidos and Square for outsourcing the material and, on top of that, giving it to a guy who even straight up says he didn't know much about DX. Grip was just trying to do the best it could.

[HLimmen]

This guy is a fucking tool.

[ZamatoElite]

This guy is a complete idiot.

[DestructoMonkey]

Yeah that OODA loop really is there. Killing Barrett is easy and done in seconds, even on Give Me Deus Ex, if you get inside his range of actions, so to speak.

Stagger him (gass/emp nades, explosives), shoot him in the head, duck behind cover, run, while he moves to throw grenades, get there before they land and stagger him again.

Rinse and repeat once or or twice more and he's done.

Gotta have some kind of pattern. stun - shoot- duck - dodge - stun ->

[TheBadShaman]

These aren't bad bosses....they're just not Deus Ex bosses.

[narred]

@ydyammo that would be sweet but i'm on a friggin xbox. ARGHH! how i miss using a sweet pc for gaming.

[narred]

i play on xbox for cash reasons [used to have ninja pcs but no work=no cash] and 2 things i DESPISE in {xbox} games - end level bosses and SECRET achievements. i cannot kill the FIRST boss. i die from 1.5 seconds of bullets from this guy. i put 2 rkts and fuel can into him and he looks untouched.to me this is just plain lazy re story/plot advancement. play the 1st DE and u see how they sew the big boss fights into the game rather than FORCE u to play it. this guy lives in a dreamworld.

[narred]

@sirdownloadsalot totally agree w u, m8. playing on norm. non lethal hacker w shit hot pistol but combat skills very limited... first boss i meet? i cannot beat him. w only 2 EMPs and 2 bottle of painkillers i'm screwed. i went back and got a rkt lnchr, 2 rkts? did nothing. so, like u? i stopped playing the game. 2 things i HATE in games-end level bosses and secret achievements [if i could i'd own a decent pc but i'm forced to use xbox].

[richlinkin]

What an arsehole, a bit of research would have told 'em that if players wanted to shoot the shit out of faceless tanks, they'd buy gears of war.