Deus Ex: Human Revolution

One of the first games I've played on my HMZ-T1 for any great length of time, is also one of my favourite games of 2011. Recently featured in a bunch of Steam sales and the like, there's a good chance you might already have this game in your collection.

If you do, you'll have a good idea of just how immersive this title is, even when played on a regular screen, so it certainly sounds like the king of game that would be brilliantly suited for being played in stereoscopic 3D.

Even more promising, this is one of a handful of titles that currently has native support for 3D. Namely AMD's HD3D technology. What that means, for owners of recent AMD graphics cards at least, is that all you have to do to experience the game in 3D is have your PC connected to a 3D display which supports framepacked 3D resolutions, and turn on 3D in the options.

When the game first released, the promised native support was more than underwhelming. There was little to no depth in game and only really the menus stood out as looking impressive. As a result many of the articles taking a look at its 3D don't focus on the current situation. A few patches later and things are very different to how they were back at release.

Once 3D is enabled, you have access to two sliders in game. One controls the depth (Stereo 3D Strength) and the other the convergence (Stereo 3D Plane). Depth you want to set as high as you can tolerate (which in my case is full) and convergence is more a matter of taste. If you're playing on a display with crosstalk you might want to set it to the point where the gun looks like a single image with your glasses off, that way you won't see crosstalk on the thing that's on screen more than anything else.

So, how does the game look? First off, even though the updates have increased the depth of the 3D, I'd still like to push it a little bit further. Secondly, while it's nice to have some control over the convergence, it's a fairly limited amount. You can't make your hands appear to be closer to you than the screen of a 3DTV. Setting the Stereo 3D Plane slider to full, puts the back of your hand right at screen depth. Setting it to minimum moves it deeper into the screen. In other words, people looking for a lot of stuff to 'pop out' are going to want to look elsewhere. This settings doesn't effect permanent onscreen HUD elements like ammo count and health.

The colour scheme of the game with its glowing yellow highlights can lead to a fair amount of crosstalk (though those highlights can be disabled, personally I like the aesthetic they give the game) and everything else tends to be varying shades of grey. The game doesn't have a lot of colour, and on my 3DTV this makes the whole thing a little underwhelming. What it isn't though is flawed. The 3D is doing the best job it can with the art style of the game. Shadows, lights, particle effects, and other elements which often render incorrectly in some 3D PC games all render perfectly here.

A few game design elements are a little awkward in 3D. Iron-sight aiming isn't directly down the barrel with either eye, so you can't really aim as easily that way as you can in 2D. Mission indicators look slightly strange, because they're shown at the correct distance away from you, which is usually behind whatever object you're looking at. Since they don't change size, and since they aren't transparent, they look a bit confusing. They do correctly highlight where the next mission is, but like anything in a 3D game that is displayed on top of something that the depth tells you it is behind, it looks off.

Since a lot of weapons have laser sights which work perfectly in 3D, and since the mission markers are usable, these are minor annoyances that don't get in the way of enjoying the game.

A little disappointing on a 3DTV then. Technically one of the better 3D PC games, but the end result isn't what it should be. Fortunately this is where the HMZ-T1 swoops in and saves the day.

As will become familiar to anyone reading this blog, the HMZ-T1 is a 3D head mounted display. Unlike a 3DTV which displays the information for both eyes on a single display, and that uses a pair of 3D glasses to ensure that each eye gets the correct view, the HMZ has two distinct screens, one directly in front of each eye displaying the appropriate view.

This has a number of benefits. The biggest is that there is no room for crosstalk (an issue that I'll look at in a later blog). Another benefit is that it negates any impression of pop-out and look through. Just as there is no 'pop out' in the real world, there is no pop out when donning the HMZs, and it leads to a 3D world that looks that much more solid and real. Some people love the gimmicky thrill of popout and have complained that the HMZ doesn't have any, but there is no single display for anything to pop out of, and the HMZs can make objects within the game world feel as if they are floating right in front of your face, should you want that.

They also use OLED displays, which do a great job on darker images. Without 3D glasses to filter out some of the light, this lends the HMZ to do extremely well with darker moodier titles when compared to current 3DTVs.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a revelation on the HMZs. I've only had them a week or so, but more than any other game I've tried so far, Deus Ex justifies their purchase to me. They have their own drawbacks certainly (again, for a future blog), but this is the title to show off their worth.

Without crosstalk, everything looks much more solid. With greater contrast in the blacks (and deeper blacks) the atmosphere of the world isn't lost as it is on the 3DTV, its enhanced. The first person perspective lends itself so well to a visor setup. You see essentially what the character sees, with each eye of the device displaying what each eye of your character is seeing.

Deus Ex is a game that's all about immersion. You immerse yourself in the world and in your character, and it was already one of the more immersive games I've played. Layer on almost perfect 3D with the HMZs and it reaches new heights. It's unfortunate that playing the game on a 3DTV takes so much away from the game, without bringing the same sense of being there that the HMZs allow. It could still do with more depth, and a little bit more thought put into how 3D impacts aiming, but all in all, playing this game on a 3D HMD is an easy recommend all the same.

3DTV Experience: 3/5
HMZ Experience: 4.5/5