WhiteDespair
Member
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2012
- Messages
- 157
- Reaction score
- 39
One of the new IPs that piqued a lot of gamers interest this generation was Dontnod Entertainment’s Remember Me. The trailers and screenshots that have shown over the months prior to its release and it showed a lot promise. With the idea of combining stealth, platforming, and puzzle solving, many can’t help but get excited for it. Attempting to invigorate the appeal of sci-fi games with Remember Me, did the game successfully do what it needs to be done to please gamers?
Let’s take a look at what’s GOOD and what’s BAD in my review of Remember Me:
THE GOOD
A Nice Paced Storyline and Setting
The story of Remember Me revolves around a memory hunter named Nilin who finds herself in prison. With her memory taken away by some sort of an evil corporation called Memorize that takes away memories, Nilin must find a way to take it back and find out the reason why her memory was taken. Luckily, a group named Errorist that is opposed to Memorize will free Nilin and help her escape. Remember Me is set in the not so distant future of cacotopia Paris, Remember Me’s attempt to show a sci-fi setting works pretty well in the game. The characters and the story told in the game are quite intriguing especially the kind of powers that Nilin gets to combat her enemies. In terms of its environment, you will see all sorts of beautiful locales; from the slums through the high towers of Neo-Paris. The textures is quite solid even on the consoles.
In the nine episodes that you will have to go through in Remember Me, all of these moments will be an interesting one. Every episode has their own climatic end wanting you to play more just to find out what happened. The premise of the game’s story will hook you right away. With Nilin and the bunch of Errorist that helps reach her goal, you’ll learn how to love each of them. Each has their own personality that makes the storytelling more interesting. As for its voice overs, they are believable and Dontnod did a pretty good job on the overall storyline.
You must be registered for see images
Combat System
Taking the ideas from the Batman Arkham series’ combat system, Remember Me’s own version of it is phenomenal. Instead of simply mashing buttons to do combos, players will do some sort of pattern to deliver successful attacks. Depending on Nilin’s level, she will unlock a series of combo slots where she can put in a ‘Pressens’, a part of Nilin’s forgotten combat skill that she can re-learn by gaining some sort of experience points as she fights enemies. Through the many Pressens that you can unlock, many combos can be mixed and each of those Pressens have their own powers. Action wise, Remember Me delivers it and improves the battle system we all fell in love with in Batman: Arkham City.
Memory Remix
As a memory hunter, Nilin have a cool power where she go into someone’s mind and re-live that memory. In addition, while at someone’s memory, she can change what actually happens where it will ultimately affects the future. An example of this is during the prologue chapter, some assassin attempts to kill Nilin and with her doing a memory remix where she actually goes into the memory and change what happens, the end results is that the assassin becomes a friend due to the changes she did. Playing with memory remix is one of the game’s strengths.
THE BAD
Linear and Boring Platforming
One of things that you will do for the most part in the game is platforming. Jumping from one building to another is what Nilin is going to do as she completes her mission. While the sights in Neo Paris and its locales are visually pleasing, the linearity and its boring platforming will drag the game down. For the most part, you will be jumping from one ledge to the next and sadly, there is no variety that you can see in terms of platforming. The obstacles that she encounters are simplistic and with no free exploration, adventuring through Neo Paris can be quite boring.
Enemies are Bland
While the combat system is the improved version of the Arkham series, one that kills the fun factor in fighting enemies are the types that you get to fight. Throughout the eight hour journey of Nilin, you’ll notice that she will be fighting the same kind of enemies with the exception of a few boss fights. The enemy designs are bland and they look boring. As for the boss fights, they are pretty interesting but another factor that kills the fun factor is the excessive checkpoints. Unfortunately, every time you reach a certain point of the boss’ HP, there will be a checkpoint and if you end up dying, you then can restart at the HP where you left it off. Pretty much if you are expecting some sort of a challenge, don’t be.
Ideas Falls Short
Remember Me is a game where Dontnod introduces a lot of interesting ideas but falls flat in the end. While they succeeded in the story department, other parts like the combat and platforming seems to be lacking. With the combat system, it would be a lot more solid if there are several more combo slots that we all can use, and the non-stop melee attacks are just plain repetitive and boring. In short, the combat system feels rushed where it could’ve been better by adding more flair to it. In terms of platforming, they fail to make use of the game’s beautiful environments. Everything about Remember Me’s visuals are impressive but unfortunately, the way the platforming segments are done in the game is just not enough to keep everyone entertained.
Memory Remixes Are too Few
In addition to the great narrative, another feature the game excels in is the Memory Remix. However, due to a few memory remixes that are playable in the game, I find it lacking and wanted to see more. The idea introduced in altering memories to have a different outcome may have been done in different games but Dontnod did it in a fashion where it’s quite interesting. Unfortunately, the lack of memory remixes are nothing but a huge disappointment.
VERDICT
In the end, Remember Me is not the game that you will have to remember after all. The premise of the first couple of episodes may seem appealing as the ideas Dontnod attempts to introduce is interesting but it all quickly falls flat somewhere in the middle. The story is good and it’s one of the greatest strengths of the game. As for the memory remixes, it could’ve been better if there’s several that you can play along but unfortunately that will not be the case. More or less, Remember Me is good for a rental and nothing more.
6.4 out of 10
+ A Nice Paced Storyline and Setting
+ Combat System
+ Memory Remix
- Linear and Boring Platforming
- Enemies are Bland
- Ideas Fall Short
- Memory Remixes Are too Few
