Well guys, after holding out for a year I've just succumbed to the lure of this game.
It is seriously addictive. I played through to the Barrett boss battle in one long night.
I've already died 10 times in this, but I'm dying all the time (on Hard, somewhat less insulting). How many bullets to the head can this tank take? Herman the German must be chuckling in his cradle. And I do wish the game's cover system was somewhat more suited to throwing grenades. Technically it should be easy to lob things out in a general direction without blowing yourself sky-high or getting riddled with bullets first. (Funny things happen during firefights near doors - one guy stood literally next to me in the door frame, but "covered" as I was, we could target but not shoot the other.)
Regarding the heads-up display, talk about information overload (with the yellow item highlighting turned off). Pretty hard to pick out the useful information and look beyond all those fragile boxes (and immovable trash bags). Pretty hard to look at one of those glossy news mags for more than 3 secs, too, without getting a headache. I'm woefully lacking political background info at this point, but no doubt will catch up on further play-throughs - after my brain has hacked the appropiate neural pathways.
It's strange how the characters and dialogue sound corny in video reviews, but elevate the experience in gameplay. The semi-starved punkish exterior and voice of Adam Jensen will surely become (almost) as memorable and iconic as the original JC Denton. Easier to make fun of, because it's all so serious.