Monday, 18 November 2013

REVIEW: Remember Me

One of the more unique games Capcom have released of late - Remember Me is definitely one to remember.


Developer: Dontnod Entertainment | Publisher: Capcom| Genre: Action


PS3 | Xbox 360 | Windows PC

This game utilizes a combination of exciting combat and an interesting narrative that will quench your thirst for the rest of the storyline.

Set in Neo-Paris in the future; 2084 - you are put in control of Nilin, who wakes up one day in a compound known as the Bastille Fortress, here she's played victim to having her memory wiped, most of it anyway. This strange facility already gives of the impression something's not quite right here, leading to lots of unanswered questions. 

Nilin is part of the errorist group, an organisation who's mission is to fight against the Memorize corporation - this company created Sensen technology, which can be used to remove certain memories of an individual, retain memories, amongst other functions. However, Memorize has created a society that's addicted to Sensen, which has ultimately played perfectly to Memorize themselves as they are now one of the world's most powerful corporations.

Before taken by Memorize, Nilin was a highly skilled memory hunter, one who was known for her great talents in the errorists cause. Now she remembers hardly anything, except her name - its your job to progress through the game to put the pieces of her memory back together. 

In terms of the game's music, it's nothing to shout about, there's rarely a moment you'll find yourself thinking that a certain piece of music worked well - most of time, you won't notice it even being there, however the sound effects themselves are great, when you punch or kick an enemy, you know you've just dealt some damage because of that satisfying combat sound.

There are 3 difficulty settings, the easiest being 'script kiddie', to the hardest 'memory hunter' - the game is generally easy despite which setting you might choose, although there is the ability to alter the difficulty level at any time during the game. Remember Me is essentially a third-person action game with a very interesting narrative - whilst the combat is generally exciting, at times it can be a bit of a drag, it's thanks to 'Pressens' that the fighting can be mixed up in a variety of ways.

Pressens are special abilities that allow you to put combat combos together, there are four categories available; power, regen, chain, and cool down - if each are used tactically, you can make some extremely useful combos, for example you might use a few power pressens, combined with regen and cool down, which will also give you health back upon utlizing, and the cool down will also decrease waiting time to use your 'Special Pressens'. 

S-Pressens are different to normal pressens - they allow Nilin to perform a number of unique moves, the first one being Fury, which lets you attack enemies in a free flow state, allowing to deal more damage than usual. The best is the Logic Bomb, which when used causes an explosive virus in the air that breaks nearby enemies shields, proving very useful when you're surrounded by a group of advanced enemies later in the game.

More pressens can be unlocked as you progress through the game, using procedural mastering points (PMP) to actually purchase these new abilities - PMP can be obtained through defeating enemies. There are numerous collectibles in the game, there's SAT patches, which when collected enough will increase your maximum health capacity, items known as Mnemist Memories are pieces of information that aid the game's narrative in some way or another, and with 40 to collect in total, much of the environment's should be searched thoroughly if you're planning on getting them all. 

Speaking of envrionments, this game is absolutely beautiful - each location has its own personality and character, for example the slums near the beginning are filled with trash, do it yourself housing, and so fourth, whereas the Bastille Fortress is extremely clean and tidy, offering a much more relaxed atmosphere, which is kind of ironic as it's the last place you'd want to be. Everything is highly detailed, whether it be a wanted poster of Nirin herself or a backdrop in the distance, and it's because of this it's a pleasure to roam the game's various locations. 

You are able to use the environments to your advantage - to get to a certain waypoint for example, whether it be climbing walls, jumping over gaps on rooftops, vaulting over an unsettling floor, and so on. This type of gameplay is very much like Uncharted, which is definitely not a bad thing, and it's because of this the game plays very fluently.

Overall, this game will last you about 10 hours at the most, which doesn't seem very long - and it isn't really, but the time spent will keep you entertained, whether its by performing an advanced combo you've created yourself, defeating one of the many quirky bosses, or just revealing the core narrative itself. REVIEW1


7/10

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