Read my impressions of The Last of Us and Lost Planet 3...
Read my impressions of The Wonderful 101, Dead Trigger, and God Factory...

REMEMBER ME

Remember Me is one of those games that had me worried for a variety of reasons. Puzzles based around modifying people’s memory is a really, really exciting concept. That doesn’t mean the entire game will play well, however. There is also the concern that Remember Me has a protagonist that is not only a woman, but is non-caucasian.

Considering the recent climate of games development and the insistence you can only have a white male protagonist by publishers, the success of a brand new IP boasting a lead character with the opposite of those traits could make a potential splash in the industry.

None of it matters, though, if the game isn’t good.

From what I’ve played of Remember Me, it could very well be a “your mileage may vary” situation. The protagonist controls a bit like a tank, where a ninety-degree turn isn’t always instantaneous. Attempts to simulate real world movement has instead made maneuvering the character rather awkward. You won’t be easily running to that ledge, leaping into the air and snatching that pole to swing yourself to the other side of the chasm. You’ll be jumping at slightly the wrong angle as Nilin, the protagonist, lightly brushes her arm against that pole before plummeting to her demise.

Not that this is a constant occurrence, but it happens often enough that the player won’t be free running across the environment with the smooth efficiency of Assassin’s Creed.

Climbing buildings and leaping across chasms still remains part of the fun, however, with delightful little beacons marking the next interactive object. Sometimes these can be hard to see based on the perspective, as the pop up as part of Nilin’s UI similar to the holograms in Dead Space 3. It’s based on the character’s perspective, not the player’s. However, these indicators may also be hidden just enough to hint to the more perceptive player the direction a secret treasure is hidden.

The game has a few hidden secrets scattered about, ranging from health upgrades to bits of story and setting information. While I am not too partial for the setting’s name (appending “Neo” onto the name of a modern city just sounds tacky and amateurish, the sort of thing a thirteen year old would do after watching too much anime), the location looks rather desolate. It’s a perfect Cyberpunk location, with abandoned buildings occupied by the poor and homeless, rust covering as much as slime and fungus. The occupants use anything available as bedding, a shop, or as a kitchen.

What perhaps struck me most was hearing a man pull at the rags of another, begging “gimme a memory, man! Just one more!” It was like accosting a drug dealer for just one small hit, only begging for a pleasant memory instead. It suddenly calls into question what life would be like if you could rewrite your memory however you’d like, and how life would be if you knew certain events didn’t really happen.

Unfortunately, the player never gets to mess with memories within the demo. Everything I got to play was in the slums of the city, where there seems to be a bit of a pest problem. It seems popular for any sort of dystopian setting to have mutants in their game, and Remember Me is no exception in this regard.

At first I found the combat to be a bit user unfriendly. It’s all in the timing of the dodge mechanic. When an enemy is about to attack a red exclamation point appears above their head. This is the player’s indication to press in the direction of the attacker and then press the dodge button. However, the player will often be prompted while they are already attacking a foe, which means the stick will be aimed away from this attacking enemy. The default dodge does not respond in time and, as a result, Nilin will frequently get struck.

I thought this was poor response at first, but it also caused my strategy to change. Any time I saw a foe approaching from behind I immediately performed a dodge and leapt over the enemy I was attacking. My combat performance improved greatly as I avoided being surrounded. In addition, the game allows you to chain attacks together into combos. If you dodge over an enemy you are attacking mid-combo, the game allows you to continue the chain after.

In other words, Remember Me requires you to learn how to play properly, or else you die. Between this and The Last of Us, I was feeling a refreshing change in attitude. A game being difficult enough that it forces a player to learn its system and the world, yet not being so difficult as to approach Dark Souls levels of torment.

I came away from the Remember Me demo satisfied. While I’m still not certain if the game’s story and writing will live up to the excitement it is currently drumming up, if Nilin will be as deep a character as we all want her to be, I am content that it will be a game I shall enjoy.

MERCENARY KINGS

The first thing that drew me to Mercenary Kings was that it looked like the sort of game I might have played on Super Nintendo. The second was the art style. This is the new game by Tribute, who recently developed Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game.

I’m always iffy when it comes to these “retro” games, as some of you may recall. The indie games I love the most not only feel like they possess the design philosophies of the Super Nintendo era, but are a natural evolution from that point.

Which is why Mercenary Kings actually has me rather excited. It has elements of a variety of older games, including Metal Slug, Contra, Castlevania, and even the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the NES. Yet Tribute isn’t ripping off any of these games. Instead, the game simply has a sort of familiar feeling to it.

The general idea of the level I played was to team up with three other players to complete a mission. A single map is large enough it could likely contain a variety of missions. The players are able to enter any section of the level they desire independent of the others, and considering how most of the environments feel cramped it may actually be beneficial to split up. Each mission having a limited amount of time also suggests a divide-and-conquer approach may be best.

As the players progress through the map they’ll pick up a variety of materials, ranging from metals like steel to minerals like phosphorus, which can be used to upgrade your weapons. There’s certainly a dabbling of RPG in the game as characters and enemies have hit points and numbers fly indicating damage each shot has done.

While the levels can seem a bit overwhelming in size at first, the game does provide a map with objective markers. So a team of players constantly communicating while also viewing a map for hints could easily complete the necessary objectives within the time limit (as opposed to a group of expo goers all wandering around aimlessly doing their own thing).

Tribute is hoping to target Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network in the future, but Mercenary Kings will first land on Steam. No release date is currently available.