Binary Domain Review

Binary Domain Review
The Japanese video game market is going through a period of great creative crisis. Very few recent productions from the almond-shaped eyes that have managed to eke out a living in Europe and America. To try to move up the china inventiveness and achieve good results in terms of sales, it seems that SEGA has decided to develop a work that only the location of Japanese. Binary Domain is in fact a third-person shooter team that casts the eye without fear TPS for a western, including Gears of War it became for some years now the reference point.

If we think that the creator of the project is the ingenious Toshihiro Nagoshi, the author of the Yakuza, a true symbol of the Rising Sun gaming, the issue puts even more emphasis on the willingness of the software house of Nipponese homologate to western standards. However, Binary Domain is not merely a clone, but a product in the round of pregnant interesting features.

Binary Domain is set in a futuristic Tokyo of 2080, where the Amada Corporation, a leader in robot technology, plans to replace the human presence on earth with androids. The United States of America, concerned about the situation and the possible adverse implications and that an influx of robotic humans might have on the current world population, is sending a team of super specialized mercenary soldiers, including Sergeant Dan Marshall, the protagonist and alter ego of the player. The purpose of the U.S., as other allied nations, is to be able to enter the headquarters of Amada and raze everything to stop building androids.

While based on a background narrative rather trivial and widely abused so much by literature as much as the sci-fi film, the plot of Binary Domain is very interesting and well told, especially in the second half. The influences from films that deal with the delicate issue of transhumanism as "I, Robot" and "Blade Runner" are evident immediately, but their own storytelling and narrative methodology the key points of this new SEGA branded shooter.

The structure of Binary Domain, as anticipated, fishing liberally from Gears of War model, suggesting phases of third-person shooting with the aid of traditional roofing dynamics. Without reaching the quality, the fluidity and dynamism dell'antesignano masterpiece born from the brilliant mind of Cliff Bleszinski, the game plan that works more quietly. But Binary Domain shows especially the muscles leading to spectacular shooting display in which the robotic enemies literally lose the pieces under a hail of bullets Dan & Co, exhibiting a pattern of damage palpable and very scenic.

Added to this is very believable artificial intelligence, able to adapt to any situation: if an enemy robot loses such as the arm that holds the gun, it'll pick it up with the remaining limb, thus continuing the duel. Moreover, during about ten hours of single player campaign, the action keeps constantly a very high pace. This is because the game situations change all the time: in addition to the traditional shooting stages, we pass to the control of massive robots, or confront amusing phases scriptate tracking or massive bosses that must be defeated with a strategic mindset.

At the beginning of each mission you can choose two soldiers, available in ten, to take with you. The presence of fellow soldiers plays an important role in the gameplay as it will be possible to give spoken instructions to them through your headset with microphone. Who does not have one can still rely on the gamepad controls, though they are not only less engaging on an emotional level (Dan does not talk, in this case), but also less efficient in the face fun. In practice, even if the voice recognition system works in an unobtrusive and has a good number of options, the player will be limited to the canonical orders as "wait" or "cover me".

Moreover, among the supporting actors and Sergeant Dan will establish a relationship of trust, playfully translated by an ad hoc system, called System Trust, which is influenced by decisions taken on the battlefield (obviously not a question of moral action with a laminated cause-effect level of Mass Effect, but in his small, something changes). If the player will be good with their peers, they will prove far more useful to the cause and disciplined. But even if the idea is definitely interesting and original, its real effect on gameplay is very shallow, and even if your soldiers do not have confidence in you, the overall experience will not suffer particularly.

To accompany the good single player campaign, we think a fund multiplayer too ordinary and lacking in original content, which includes the usual dathmatch team, capture the flag and a sort of Horde mode à la Gears of War 2, called Invasion. While offering a decent pastime supplemental to story mode, the multiplayer Binary Domain does not have any kind of challenge that successfully exploits the peculiarities of the gameplay system, and certainly will not be able to trouble as the giants of the online shooter, all the paradigmatic Gears of War 3.

On the technical side, the developers made job offers an excellent eye for detail and a good modeling of scenarios and characters, although the latter particularly stereotyped. Worthy of note are the graphical representation of some of the mech and level design, always inspired and well characterized. It will not be able to compete with the majesty of the last Gears of War, but the visual impact is still high level. Discreet also dubbed in Italian, even though the other Anglophone, as usual, has managed a lot better. As for the sampling of the sound effects work done is commendable, especially for fire arms, but less well-aimed the soundtrack, which lack the right personality.

Judging at a first hasty glance Binary Domain seems to be facing the umpteenth clone of Gears of War. However, the newly formed SEGA proves to have many arrows in his bow, revealing a real surprise. Thanks to a campaign-paced and never boring-bore, an interesting sci-fi story and excellent voice control system and, Binary Domain is a product that all fans of the genre should grab TPS, with a single subject: not to expect too much from the multiplayer.