Review
Played on: Xbox 360Released: 2013
Finally, Capcom decides to put it's money into a new IP, it's about time to see something new and refreshing from them. Remember Me stirred up a bit of attention at E3 last year and has been on my watch list until release.
Has it delivered the ambitious gameplay from the trailers? Yes it does, actually you can play the very segment from the E3 video. However, as I predicted, it's more restricted and guided than I was hoping for.
Remember Me borrows a lot of ideas from movies and games alike. It plays somewhat like a Tomb Raider title: with climbing, jumping and parkour-like traversing of high buildings. While the art style and main character design giving me Mirror's Edge vibes.
Overall, the environmental design looks so beautifully modern and stylish, with a strong sense of minimalism. The melee fighting, combined with the sneaking and climbing about, and the story of a dictator-like corporation, reminds me of Beyond Good & Evil. In other words a healthy mix of solid inspiration!
The actual gameplay, though, takes a simpler approach to the climbing than a typical Tomb Raider title. There's usually only one way to go and this linearity hampers ite from becoming a true exploration adventure. It consistently shows the way to the next ledge to jump throughout the game, it feels like a training campaign that has outstayed it's welcome.
The visual aid for the player is fine in more dramatic scenes, were you need to rush along and keep the cinematic feel flowing, but it could have let you explore far more freely once the action dies down. There are samll hidden areas and items to collect, but they never fare far from the main route.
Although the enemies are generic looking, the actual fighting takes a rather original approach. It plays like a beat 'em up but lets you compile your own combos from various abilities. I enjoyed the approach, although it lacks some depth. The fighting ends up like the Batman Arkham titles: repetitive, where repeated beating of enemies with the same attack patterns. It's refreshing to see a game free of guns these days though! It makes me think of how cleverly Mirror's Edge implemented the same non-shooter approach!
Remember Me covers more ground than just climbing and fighting, though, it also has puzzles to solve and perhaps it's most original part: memory remixes. Here Nilin, the main protagonist, can connect to peoples memories and alter them. This introduces you to a sort of flashback movie of a prior event in that persons life. After seeing this flashback you can rewind it and change the outcome through key events and thus alter how the ending unfolds. Sounds confusing? Well, it surely is a little tricky, but it really is one of the best and most original parts.
For instance, a memory scene shows a wife walking out on her husband, leaving bitter, in the memory remix you change the memory so he believes he killed his wife. Thus, he remembers the incident as a sad and regretful moment of his life. The kicker, however, is that it never really happened, it's just the memory that you've changed!
This brings me to the apparent fact that RM also takes ideas from movies. The story reminds me of the Total Recall remake movie, while the memory remixing reminds me of Inception. Both are great sources of inspiration.
The story has a a progression and build-up, requiring the player to be focused to fully understand and appreciate it, especially with the memory remixes going on and at a later point where you remix a memory you've already remixed! Dream within a dream? Yeah, that's Inception alright!
The game isn't without it's weaker sides. I would've preferred some improvements to the controls, they feel a little stiff compared to Tomb Raider (2013) for instance. The fighting could've been more varied and I would've appreciated more more memory remixes. The latter is the most original part of the game, yet they only occur a handful of times throughout the story.
The game isn't without it's weaker sides. I would've preferred some improvements to the controls, they feel a little stiff compared to Tomb Raider (2013) for instance. The fighting could've been more varied and I would've appreciated more more memory remixes. The latter is the most original part of the game, yet they only occur a handful of times throughout the story.
A larger, more free roaming world would also have been nice. With less linearity and more time for adventure exploring. Changes that would've made this release go from good to excellent.
Overall, Remember Me is an original title that does a lot of it's ideas right, taking influences from a vast amount of movies and games and doing them justice. The design and artwork of it's world and characters are fantastic, it's also a graphically pretty title. Perhaps there's a little too much inspiration at once, as Remember Me needs more polish in certain areas.
Overall, Remember Me is an original title that does a lot of it's ideas right, taking influences from a vast amount of movies and games and doing them justice. The design and artwork of it's world and characters are fantastic, it's also a graphically pretty title. Perhaps there's a little too much inspiration at once, as Remember Me needs more polish in certain areas.
That said, it's a title you should be playing this year, there's nothing quite like it and feels like a breath of fresh air in today's game market. I really hope Capcom continues the franchise and makes an incredible sequel, there's a lot of potential here.
Review
Played on: Xbox 360Released: 2013
Codemasters have done an excellent job on racing games this generation. From the spectacular Colin McRae Dirt, which first introduced us to the Neon game engine, to the first Racedriver Grid and right up to Grid 2. I've mostly been a fan of the Dirt series, and while I enjoyed the first Grid to a certain extent, it was far from a perfect racer.
It felt like the Dirt series nailed the controls and steering in a better way. After three Dirt releases between Grid 1 and now, Grid 2, the road and city racer finally gets the spotlight again. This time it plays like it should have with the original!
Just from a glance Grid 2 looks much improved. Gone are the gritty, over-contrasted and yellow filtered colours of the first game and in it's place is a colourful racer with a large variation in scenery. Whether you're racing beneath a shadowy rail road in the city, passing tunnel lights, speeding through a misty mountain or enjoying the green countryside, Grid 2 looks great.
Featured is a varied set of locations, although not many racetrack layouts on each. Cities like Barcelona, Paris and Chicago are featured and, just like the Project Gotham Racing titles, the city racing is done right. The night races, with it's moon light, really look pretty! The cars look amazing too and can be damaged heavily in detailed crashes.
There's just something this developer nails in it's racer that makes Grid 2 just as entertaining. Maybe it's the blend between looking and feeling fairly realistic, while being arcade styled in it's handling and race action. Putting you constantly on the edge between being in control and taking chances. It's an action movie for racers!
I love how it puts all the cars in drift and grip categories, reminding me of the fantastic Ridge Racer Type 4, back on PS1. It allows the player to race diffrently, but fast, in both. Drifting isn't exactly the fastest way to go around corners, but in Grid 2 they simply encourage you to drift around corners in spectacular fashion for the sheer coolness of it!
It feels fantastic to zip underneath rail-roads in Chicago, slamming your car into the corners at high speed and burning through them, barely missing with the rear bumper on the roadside walls. While a huge cloud of smoke trails behind your car.
Realistic? Somewhat. But fun? Yes, so fun and intense, especially when combined with the aggressive A.I. that can screw up and make accidents on the road. There are too many racers that have A.I. opponents driving in a perfect line, seldom overtaking or doing faults. Grid 2 feels much more alive with it's A.I. drivers. It makes each race unique and unpredictable.
It feels fantastic to zip underneath rail-roads in Chicago, slamming your car into the corners at high speed and burning through them, barely missing with the rear bumper on the roadside walls. While a huge cloud of smoke trails behind your car.
Realistic? Somewhat. But fun? Yes, so fun and intense, especially when combined with the aggressive A.I. that can screw up and make accidents on the road. There are too many racers that have A.I. opponents driving in a perfect line, seldom overtaking or doing faults. Grid 2 feels much more alive with it's A.I. drivers. It makes each race unique and unpredictable.
There are some downsides, however, to this action packed racing. For instance, later in the career you progress to the fastest cars and, thus, equally fast opponents. These races end up forcing you to drive like a complete careless nut-case, disregarding common sense, to even having a slight chance at winning. Reminding me of what the original game also suffered from. The first Grid reached this level much sooner, but Grid 2 also ends up in this territory.
It feels wrong to drive so recklessly, taking corners so dangerously, simply because if you don't, you'll have no chance of winning. There's an inconsistency of how fast the A.I. racers are. Especially the one-on-one races seem to have an overdone rubber-banded behaviour, never leaving your tail. As a result, I had to lower the difficulty level for the later seasons, making some races too easy, while others I barely could win.
Also, the drift events are disappointing compared to the first Grid. Don't get me wrong, the drifting itself feels fantastic, but they no longer have the open, free-roam drifting events. The original had a dock side location in Tokyo, perfectly suited for this.
Sadly, Grid 2 offers nothing in the same vein, only ordinary racetracks. I really enjoyed these events in Grid 1 and it seems strange not to see something similar to the Gymkhana stuff from the Dirt franchise at least. This type of open, playground space would've suited Grid 2's drifting very well!
Grid 2 is a solid racer, it does what it claims. very well. It looks, sounds and plays fantastic. It lives in the semi-realistic genre, much the same as Project Gotham Racing 4 and Need For Speed ProStreet, consistently keeping action at a high level. You'll definitely be at your toes and love each race.
Grid 2 is a solid racer, it does what it claims. very well. It looks, sounds and plays fantastic. It lives in the semi-realistic genre, much the same as Project Gotham Racing 4 and Need For Speed ProStreet, consistently keeping action at a high level. You'll definitely be at your toes and love each race.
You'll probably enjoy it more than the Grid too, at least I did, but I would've preferred a less linear campaign, with more variation in racetracks and events.
Bonus: Me doing a long drift in Grid 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHObE23xbcg
