henke on 10/6/2012 at 10:06

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Just finished this on the 360 and here's what I didn't like about it:


* Your character cant walk down stairs like a normal fucking person! He starts stuttering like he's having an epileptic seizure whenever you so much as go down a slanted surface.
* It does that annoying thing where a character can take a hundred bullets to the face during the gameplay parts, but when they get shot in the arm during a cutscene it's suddenly a life threatening wound.
* the dialogue options are messed up. For instance when someone tells you "Good job!" you might get the option to reply with "Ok", "No way" or "Fuck". Other times characters might ask questions in double negatives or present you with multiple options and the only replies at hand will be "Yes" or "No". Another good one was during a bossfight when the enemy insulted me and one of my reply-alternatives was "Hang in there!". I picked that one and the boss replied with "Is that supposed to be some kind of a joke?" Not even the enemy AI can make sense of the damn dialogue options in this game!
* The QTE's, though thankfully scarce, are too hard. Now, QTE's are clearly included in games to make you feel like you're taking part of the cutscenes and make you feel like it's you, not your character, who's doing all the badass things happening. But when a game makes it's QTE's so hard you'll fail and have to replay the same cutscene a half a dozen times over it does the opposite of the intended effect. It just makes you not care, and shout "come oooon!" at the TV as you have to watch your character's dragged out death-animation for the umpteenth time.
* The gameplay is a shameless rip-off of Gears of War. I know some people will call any cover shooter a GoW clone but this one really goes above and beyond in plagarism. The HUD and the control setup is exactly the same, going so far as to even include a Focus-button. That's not to say that it doesn't work, mind you. Wholesale copying GoW's gameplay and controls might be a bit creatively bankrupt but hey, if it ain't broke...
* There is a command-issuing mode but the commands are rather vague and the teammate AIs mostly seem to ignore them. It feels like it's been included in the game more to make you feel like a badass battlecommander than to have much actual function.
* Your teammates are mostly useless in battle. They don't do much damage no matter how much cash you spend on upgrading their guns. They don't seem to understand the concept of flanking either, when I risk my neck rushing over to a far piece of cover, instead of staying in place and taking advantage of my distraction they come trotting after. And of course they can't help but run into my line of fire and then get pissed at me if one of my bullets so much as grazes them. When they're not fighting enemies they're usually engaging you in long one-sided conversations.


Despite all that however, it's a pretty damn good game. The game's flaws might be annoying, but they're never gamebreaking. The core gameplay is fun, the setpieces are fantastic, and the way parts get chipped off of the robo-baddies under your machinegun fire is incredibly satisfying. The setting is clearly heavily inspired by Ghost in the Shell, and maybe Akira and some other animes too. Driving through the streets of Tokyo in a stolen truck, getting chased by a gigantic robot was a particular highpoint for me. The story is engaging enough and the dynamic between your teammates is great, even though they're a bunch of bumbling dumbasses I still love the goofy bastards. It would certainly be a long lonely trek through futuristic Tokyo without them. :)

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There's also a pretty good sequel-setup and a fun post-credits sequence at the end. The game-length overall felt just right, if I had to guess I'd say it's about 6-8 hours long. Not terribly long, but amazing setpieces and plottwists every step of the way, I honesly can't say there's a single bad level in this game. There's a multiplayer mode too but I haven't tried that one out yet.

Defenitely a recommended buy for action-junkies now that it's dropped to bargain-bin prices. :cool:

TTK12G3 on 10/6/2012 at 14:05

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This game caught my attention as well. The reply topics are far worse than in ME or DA. It does look fun as hell.

Jason Moyer on 10/6/2012 at 17:22

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Christ, I forgot how painful watching him play games is.

henke on 10/6/2012 at 17:41

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Hah, yeah. I like TB's videos if it's of a game I haven't played yet, they usually give you a good idea of what the game will be like. But if it's a game I've already played I usually just get pissed at how ill-informed he is, and how he goes with knee-jerk reactions instead of letting the experience settle in before making his judgements.

The KB+mouse contols do look pretty bad though.

Muzman on 10/6/2012 at 21:15

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I give him points for copping to not being very good at a lot of games. Maybe not in every video, but there's a general tone of that (although quite good at tribes). Most of them use their own confusion to make fun of the game, make themselves look snarky and cool. TB does sometimes, but will back off and praise a games strong points even if he doesn't like it, usually. I gotta give him some cred.

Anyway, Binary Domain. I didn't think it looked too bad as far as that sort of thing goes (which is something I don't have the slightest interest in).
On one hand I kinda wonder why they left all that personality and conversation stuff in since it clearly doesn't work. But I'm glad they're trying.