Game Review: Remember Me

Now, maybe I should stop acting like this game is from 2005, but to say this game is about 3 months old, absolutely everyone seems to have forgotten about it. And I'm also quite pleased that I've refrained from any puns on the game's name. 

Is this because the looming next-gen of consoles and the inevitable new CoD and Battlefield iterations? It's entirely possible, but it's more likely that this game was washed up in the video game sea of mediocrity, home to the likes of Army of Two, Tomb Raider and Just Cause 2, (excluding the PC version). These are all games ranging between 'solid' to 'actually quite enjoyable', and considering the relative youth of Remember Me, I personally don't think it's ready to be put into that bottomless ocean just yet.

What was good about the game? Well, actually a fair bit, but unfortunately at launch it seemed to be overwhelmed by its generally moderate features and mechanics.

Take the general idea and context of the game; an action/adventure title set in a futuristic iteration of Paris, melding new and old architecture together. It was pretty nice to look at, and was a great backdrop for the game. The only problem was that it wasn't really utilised as much as it could have been, it was purely just a backdrop. 

Although base jumping off of the Eiffel Tower would have been great and unrealistic, I would have settled for blowing someone's virtual brains out of their ears on the Arc De Triomphe. But there isn't really any of that. There's plenty of climbing/walking through/punching people in stylized streets resembling a hipster's paradise, but take the trademark tourist attractions out, and you could pass the setting off as any other dreamt-up futuristic city.

The setting looks great, but this also resulted in some mediocre platforming, with an arrow pointing to where you need to go. While everyone was complaining about this very small feature, I actually found it quite helpful, being the incompetent tit that I am. But seeing as people need something to complain about, that tiny little feature seemed to be as good as any. 

The main problem was that the game couldn't build on its platforming for the sake of realism, or the game's idea of realism. Unlike Uncharted or Assassin's Creed, which has notable yellow pipes or white-clothed boxes that let you know you can start climbing and/or free running, Remember Me had none of it, as it would have stuck out like a North Korean spy in the middle of King's Cross.

Courtesy of Shumafuk on Flickr

And then there's the main focus of the game, the combat. Although it did try its very best to be just like the array of Batman: Arkham games that everyone and their parents have raved about over recent years, it didn't quite pull it off, as the mechanics felt noticeably clunkier than Rocksteady's series which has become the main comparison for every third person brawler. The only other problem was the flow of Remember Me's fighting, which was constantly interrupted by an enemy which you had to dodge. Apart from that, it was again, very solid. 

Then there was the 'Combo-Lab'. A great idea! Make your own move-sets to help compliment your own fighting style. It was just somewhat poorly executed, as most people ended up stringing the same kind of attack together. What's that? You're low on health? No worries, just mash the square button until you're fine again. Rinse and repeat and exploit to your heart's content.

Apart from its flaws, I personally really liked the game. It's new and different, a brand new IP in a world over saturated with the next iteration of your big-budget FPS. It was colourful, (sometimes), and had a great aesthetic. The entire digital theme really suited it, and allowed for some cool additions, like a wrist-mounted cannon that fires data at enemies.

Also, (it's unfortunate that this is notable), it includes a female protagonist and it doesn't resort to the typical exploits that most games do. Nilin is like an unmasked Batman, without the money, and what's even better is that developers Dontnod stood by their game when publishers Capcom wanted to change it due to having a female lead. This is 2013, not the 1950s; people aren't going to be outraged due to the sex of the main character.

Granted, the story is a bit cliché with the entire context of an intrusive mega-corporation and a amnesia-riddled protagonist, but in the later hours of the game, I was quite intrigued to see what would happen, and what brains I'd be able to mess with next.

Oh yeah, one key concept behind the game was 'memory remixing', essentially sequences that were as cinematic as Heavy Rain, but had relevance and were great to experiment with. While they were scripted in the sense that you have to do certain things in order to achieve a certain set of outcomes to progress, they were really fun and made you feel really integral to the story. Unfortunately, there were only four of these brilliant sequences in the entire game, but ah well...

For what it's worth, I really enjoyed Remember Me and really cannot see what all the criticism is about. Overall, it's a solid action, brawler, whatever genre it fits in, and it has some really unrecognised new ideas. It’s a leap forward which has been overlooked. I mean, when was the last time a new IP like this came out, and not just a reboot? You can pick it up fairly cheap from a range of stores, so instead of getting one of those £20 games like Dead Space 3, Crysis 3 or the latest of one of EA or Activision's franchises, why not try something new?

Give it a go, and reward innovation in the process.