Cyberpunk Games

Overview: The fighting in Remember Me no longer rages me, though the lack of exploration is still a bit of a pill. Fortunately, Master Rebot more than compensates. Actually, Master Rebot not only invites exploration, it requires it, as exploration is necessary not only to solve the puzzles you will encounter but to solve an even bigger mystery going on in the virtual afterlife. In order to do that, you will need to cross that ultimate barrier… between life and death.

The Story: The Mysteri Corporation is proud to announce the Soul Cloud, a virtual repository where the memories of the deceased can be stored and accessed by loved ones who want to “visit” the dearly departed. Each person uploaded to the Cloud will live in a “Soul Village” where they can accesses their memories. The Soul Village consists of buildings representing important memories in one’s life.

You’ve just arrived in the Soul Cloud, dropped on some deserted island surrounded by water (and some type of energy barrier or firewall). You don’t remember how you got here or why. Now you are just looking for a way off the island, and maybe some clue to the “how” and “why”.

Getting into your head.

While you explore your memories you will need to solve some puzzles in order to leave and get back to your Soul Village. These puzzles are not too taxing on your brain, ranging from basic exploration to deciphering codes to trying to avoid some nastiness in your path.

You might also find blue ducks along the way. (Seems to be a lot of duck-related stuff happening lately.) These ducks are clues to the mystery you are trying to solve. The clues are mostly visual like documents or a picture of you and you life. These clues are available in a “scrapbook” found back in the Soul Village when you successfully complete a memory. When you do complete a memory, a short cartoon animation plays that shows what the specific memory is, possibly including the clues you find.

Like I said, the puzzles shouldn’t be too hard to solve, unless you let the atmosphere get to you. Lots of darkness, shadows, and moonlight abound. Combined with some haze/fog effects, the general look of the scenes, and other general spookiness, and you have a recipe for scariness that gives Scooby-Doo nighmares.

As far as action goes, there really isn’t much to find. There are some scenes where you will be chased or have to race for you life. But this game is more for exploration and puzzle-solving… maybe some creepiness if you like that sort of thing.

Conclusion: Comparing Master Reboot to Remember Me is like comparing apples to bananas. Master Reboot is definitely not for button-mashers, or the easily frightened. It’s a mental challenge that will scare you. As 80’s band Dangerous Toys once sang, “Hey man, I think I like being scared and I will you all were there.” Maybe not the most cyberpunk, but it does its job quite well.

Note: This is a rewrite of the original article posed on Novemer 24. Explanation in the last paragraph.

Overview: I had some high hopes for Remember Me, Capcom’s memory-stealing, ass-kicking, knuckle-duster. Now I’m wondering if I want to purge this game from my databanks. Somehow, they managed to take a bleeding edge cyberpunk idea, add some excellent visuals to hook you, and implement what can only be described as some bad ideas that bring down much of what’s good about this game.

But let’s try to highlight better aspects of Remember Me, mainly the story and visuals:

The Story: In Paris (now Neo-Paris) 2084, the Memorize corporation has risen to dominance thanks to its Sensation Engine (Sensen) brain implant that allows people to share memories as part of a futuristic social network. Sensen can also be used to alter or even delete memories, affecting how people act. This alteration capability has not gone unnoticed by the “Errorist” movement, who sees this ability as a form of mind control (figuratively and literally) and seek to end Memorize’s operations.

Nilin is a “memory-hunter”, someone who can steal and alter (”remix”) memories. She was caught by Memorize’s S.A.B.R.E. Force, as part of their campaign to end the errorist movement, and taken to La Bastille to have her memories removed. But Edge, the errorist leader, helps her escape and is now trying to help her recover her memories before a final assault to take down Memorize.

What has been seen… The visuals of Remember Me is some sweet eye-candy. The differences between Slum 404 and sewers, and Saint-Michel district and Memorize’s headquarters are certainly stark enough in contrast. The slum areas certainly look like DIY constructs.

It certainly all looks inviting enough to explore. But that’s where one of the game’s problems come in: Limited exploration. All too often, the path you have to walk is linear with only a few branch areas where some upgrade “patches” might be hidden (in that case, a “clue” presents itself to show where the patches are). You will encounter some obstacles, so Nilin becomes a sort of “Spider babe” who is able to climb up and slide down ladders and pipes, shimmy across ledges a-la Ninja Warrior “Cliffhanger”, and even jump across bottomless pits between ledges. Arrows show the way to go, and if necessary and “aug-eye” clue can be called upon to show you the way. Helpful, but it’s no fun for more adventurous explorers.

As a memory hunter, Nilin has the ability to “remix” memories. This ability can have a dramatic effect on your target like turning a vicious enemy into an ally… IF it’s done right.

Control out of control. For those of you expecting a first person shooter, let me break the news to you: This isn’t a shooter, and it’s not first-person. Remember Me is third-person, from-behind, like Tomb Raider. And it’s a beat-em-up fighting game (think “Double Dragon”). I tend to prefer first-person games, but third-person can work for me… IF things work out right. Unfortunately, like many third-person games, the “camera” used tend to cause problems itself. Clipping, obstructions, and inability to fully control the camera (particularly when hanging off ledges) can make for some serious frustration, especially during the fights.

Speaking of fights, that’s where I had some serious problems. To start, you use the game’s “Combo Lab” to construct your own combo of punch-and-kick “pressens” that can do extra damage, heal yourself, or allow you to use special “Super Pressens” (S-Prssens) sooner and more often. Think carefully when making your combos as the pressens only do their magic if you do the combos correctly, otherwise your fighting skills become nothing more than a pointless exercise in button mashing. Another problem is that the combos are “predetermined,” meaning that the pattern of punches and kicks are already decided for you. You just decide what pressen those attacks are.

As for the fighting itself, it’s all about rhythm as ekkko points out in the comments. I was finally able to get past a fight with mourner leapers thanks to ekkko’s tip, though I did have to die another half-dozen times more before I saw an attack pattern being used, then it was the mourner leaper’s turn to get their asses handed to them. After that, it was smooth sailing through the end, except for a couple of “puzzles” to solve near the end. No more watching Nilin die during fights.

Conclusion: Remember Me had the potential to be a great cyberpunk game, possibly ten stars. It had a story line with some twists to make you want to stay until the end. It had the visuals to make the story come alive. But lack of exploration, a wonky camera, and limited combo customization should make you reconsider whether you want Remember Me to take up memory space on your systems.

NOTE: I originally blogged RM while in a state of rage due to an inability to get past a point late in the game. Do NOT try that at home! After a break and ekkko’s hint (and a few more deaths before discovering a pattern), I did make it past and finish easily. With calmer headspace prevailing, I saw fit to revise RM’s rating from 2 to 4 stars. The issues of the camera, premade combos, and no exploration still hold the game back though.