Deus Ex: Human Revolution - The Missing Link

In one sense - actually, in most senses - Missing Link is more of the same from Human Revolution. You can sneak around a facility, knock dudes out and/or unload lead into them, hack employee terminals, punch through walls, upgrade stuff, buy stuff, et cetera. There are a few key differences though, chief among them, that the 4-8 hour-long campaign is completely linear. (You can also do a stealth takedown on the final boss, which is pretty awesome.)

Much like the full game, Missing Link starts pretty rough, with no useful augments or items. Fortunately, once you weather the introductory segment, the experience levels and praxis kits start flowing in like, uh, some kind of electric gravy. And there's even a store in the form of one dude with an underground market -- and he has sidequests! It quickly builds back up into the same Deus Ex experience you grew to like in Human Revolution.

I do want to complain about the biometric scanning chambers, though. I assume they're used to conceal level loading time, because all they do is gate your progress for a minute or so with the same animated effect each time. And since there is a significant amount of back-and-forth in the DLC campaign, you'll be forced to sit through the effect far more times than is welcome.

Missing Link is like a snack-sized Human Revolution. If there's any real disappointment to be had here (other than how awkwardly it fits into the existing Human Revolution storyline), it's that the DLC's "game world," as it is, has no depth or meat to it. But if you liked Human Revolution's gameplay, you'll like this just fine.

Better than: Red Faction: Armageddon Path to War
Not as good as: Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Also, most of the voice acting is terrible: except for the underground shopkeeper, who is extremely Scottish

Progress: Finished on Normal