Binary Domain Review
- Thread starter WMDogma
- Start date
Scarim Coral said:
Hmmm, well my thought was that it seems like someone tried to do Hard Reset or the most recent Terminator-themed shooter with a better budget. No offense to the article writer, it does seem like a theme we've been seeing A LOT over the last couple of years, maybe not as omni-present as zombies or aliens yet, but I think robots are the thing people are looking towards to mix things up as they can be considered "neutral" to avoid inspiring the rage that real world groups do. It's not something we haven't seen "in recent memory".
As far as the theme of technology and humanity, I think the game pretty much covers that fairly well by saying robots and such are okay, but building machines with emotions is not, largely to avoid a lot of the touchier issues brought up in science fiction, without having to stagnate the development of technology. I'd imagine the issue is hard to address in a context like that where the "big issue" has been dealt with in a sensible fashion, and generally speaking your dealing with aberrations to that policy, where any questions raised are pretty much covered under "this giant pile of suck and emotional conflict is why we didn't go here to begin with".
That said the central theme reminds me of "Bubblegum Crisis" with the players being set in the role of early AD police (when they started and were fairly effective) actually, but that's just me.
Given the relative success of Deus-Ex, I do expect a lot of games that get philsophical about the relationship of humanity and technology in the near future, I sort of expect that while this will still seem fresh for a while, it will be crazy painful in short order, I don't think it has the "staying power" of all the stuff attached to zombies to hold on for years and years which is why it hasn't been used more often. It works best in small doses, but I sort of predict we're going to see a major media bombardment, especially with politicians who seem to be increasingly technophobic, and in the end I think a lot of it is going to wind up with the typical Frankenstein-esque "major Tech development is bad".
In response to what many have posted, yes it i like Vanquish but that is what happens when you have the same developer use the same game engine and invoke many of those who worked on Vanquish.
However the easiest way to sum up what this game is about is as following:
It is Gears of Vanquish as inspired by Philip K. Dick.
However the easiest way to sum up what this game is about is as following:
It is Gears of Vanquish as inspired by Philip K. Dick.
I gotta say, this game came out of nowhere and impressed the hell out of me. I made a bit of a gamble by preordering it because it looked pretty good, but I was fully prepared for Syndicate-level or even Shadowrun-level disappointment.
As it turned out, the gameplay was great, the characters were memorable, and it the best game I've purchased so far this year. I loved the damage system the robotic enemies have, which unlike a lot of damage systems actually shows you the damage as it's inflicted. The enemies themselves have that TF2 easily-identified-by-silhouette-and-color thing going for them, which is always a plus, and the AI is (fittingly) pretty good. Enemies with close-range weapons will charge your position while long-ranged ones keep you pinned down, and combat never gets boring.
I'm surprised that the review didn't touch on one of the main points of the story that...well, it kind of drives the whole thing. The androids that the company is producing are indistinguishable from humans, yes, have emotions, yes, but the main reason why they're impossible to pick out in a crowd is because they don't know that they're androids. As a result, they have the tendency to go insane upon discovering that A) all their memories are fake and B) they're not human. The sequence that introduced this issue was amazing, and it set the stakes of the game quite nicely.
So yeah. It's a great game. I agree with the review on most fronts, but I don't think it's too simple for people who are used to Blade Runner for their android/human conflicts.
As it turned out, the gameplay was great, the characters were memorable, and it the best game I've purchased so far this year. I loved the damage system the robotic enemies have, which unlike a lot of damage systems actually shows you the damage as it's inflicted. The enemies themselves have that TF2 easily-identified-by-silhouette-and-color thing going for them, which is always a plus, and the AI is (fittingly) pretty good. Enemies with close-range weapons will charge your position while long-ranged ones keep you pinned down, and combat never gets boring.
I'm surprised that the review didn't touch on one of the main points of the story that...well, it kind of drives the whole thing. The androids that the company is producing are indistinguishable from humans, yes, have emotions, yes, but the main reason why they're impossible to pick out in a crowd is because they don't know that they're androids. As a result, they have the tendency to go insane upon discovering that A) all their memories are fake and B) they're not human. The sequence that introduced this issue was amazing, and it set the stakes of the game quite nicely.
So yeah. It's a great game. I agree with the review on most fronts, but I don't think it's too simple for people who are used to Blade Runner for their android/human conflicts.
I feel bad for getting hung up on one detail but...
Why on earth would Human-like robots be banned?
If it's all part of some hostile take over bid that occurs via manual or semi-manual override of the 'hollow children' by a power hungry executive or such, then Maybe I'll see the point (but still argue for freeing the hollows' to feel and do what they want without the overide); But the emotion part is focused on?
Seriously, I'd trust a robot just as much as I'd trust a human; esspecially if they had emotions; Hey! I'd probably INSIST that they have emotions. And of course, there's the fact of mind uploading being a viable way of achieving IMORTALITY!...
... So yeah. Just one of many things that are a hot button topic for me. One of the others being bodily modification of all kinds, in which I say "It's my body, so I'll do what I want. So what if I want to be a fox person?" and... This could go on for hours if I don't stop now.
Why on earth would Human-like robots be banned?
If it's all part of some hostile take over bid that occurs via manual or semi-manual override of the 'hollow children' by a power hungry executive or such, then Maybe I'll see the point (but still argue for freeing the hollows' to feel and do what they want without the overide); But the emotion part is focused on?
Seriously, I'd trust a robot just as much as I'd trust a human; esspecially if they had emotions; Hey! I'd probably INSIST that they have emotions. And of course, there's the fact of mind uploading being a viable way of achieving IMORTALITY!...
... So yeah. Just one of many things that are a hot button topic for me. One of the others being bodily modification of all kinds, in which I say "It's my body, so I'll do what I want. So what if I want to be a fox person?" and... This could go on for hours if I don't stop now.
@ ZexionSephiroth
You raised the right questions there and you should play the game. Besides the body modifiction part the story is about these themes.
I rented this game and now i`m going to buy it (full price because i want to support it). The game has a nice length, a mature story, good mechanics, cool bossfights, varied endings (slightly) and even the most stereotype characters get their moments. The old Killzone 1 buddy-movie vibe is back.
The review stated that your comrades can (and will) get in your way from time to time. While this is true and annoying you can order them to retreat. The same goes for being alone against multiple foes, just order retreat and they fall back and help out.
All in all the fun i had with BD beats most so called AAA titles.
edit: This all goes for the sp. A story coopmode is missing, which is lost potential and i haven`t tried online yet.
You raised the right questions there and you should play the game. Besides the body modifiction part the story is about these themes.
I rented this game and now i`m going to buy it (full price because i want to support it). The game has a nice length, a mature story, good mechanics, cool bossfights, varied endings (slightly) and even the most stereotype characters get their moments. The old Killzone 1 buddy-movie vibe is back.
The review stated that your comrades can (and will) get in your way from time to time. While this is true and annoying you can order them to retreat. The same goes for being alone against multiple foes, just order retreat and they fall back and help out.
All in all the fun i had with BD beats most so called AAA titles.
edit: This all goes for the sp. A story coopmode is missing, which is lost potential and i haven`t tried online yet.