As we get closer to the end of a console generation, the least likely we are to see any new ideas and directions, new game studios and IP’s. All that, with good reason, is being saved up for the next gen so when one does come along, gamers seem to shun it and instead stick to what they know best; the sequels and big name studios that have delivered the goods in the past.
When you do get a game come along that ticks all the ‘new’ boxes, it’s probably in for a hard time, but is that something that Remember Me warrants? A new IP. A new studio. A new gameplay direction and a shed load of new ideas. Shun it if you must but you’ll be missing out on something that will stick with you for some time, not just in terms of gameplay but also in the memories it creates.
The good memories at least.
A gritty 3rd person action adventure/beat em up from Dontnod Entertainment sees the gamer cast as Nilin, an Errorist memory hunter who goes out to rewrite history, bend memories and ultimately take down Memorize, a company which has wiped the memories of all citizens and created a brain implant, the Sensen. The Sensen enables the people of this future world Paris to remove unhappy memories and replace them with all thats good. Unfortunately these memories are more addictive than crack and Memorize therefore control everything and anything. The Errorists, a bunch of freedom fighters, fight to give back control to the Parisians. The game starts with Nilin on the verge of having her memory wiped before taking the fight to Memorize!
A new IP has to hit the ground running and Remember Me does this with an excellent storyline and the whole ‘memory’ thing is something I haven’t seen done in a game before. From starting off as knowing nothing and having no past, Nilin sees her memory return throughout the 15 hours of gameplay, filling in the blanks as she goes. The back story slowly but surely comes together as one and you quickly get a feeling that this is one Errorist that we probably haven’t seen the back of. Lara Croft would be proud and there are obvious cues taken straight from Laras finest games; from the climbing of old to the quick time events of her latest outing there’s more than a hint of Lara about Nilin. Maybe it’s time for the old girl to move over and make way for this new upstart.
Nilin’s a bit more of a hands on fighter than Lara mind. Whilst you eventually get a weapon in the form of a ‘slammer’, most of the combat is more in line of that found in the Batman Arkham games, with the now familiar hand-to-hand combos interspersed with prompts for when an enemy will be attacking. Another neat touch I haven’t seen in many other games is the ability to form your own combos of sorts. Whilst you have a set pattern of button presses, xxx, yxxyxx etc.., what type of attack you place in each button position is entirely up to you. You may wish to have a quick 3 button combo full of hard core all out attacks to deal the most damage to any one enemy or you may decide a slower healthier route is the way forward and plan your combos with regeneration of health in mind. As long as you have ‘remembered’ the necessary attacks, you can change your combos as and when you require and I found myself doing this on numerous occasions throughout the story......normally whenever I found myself up against one of the increasingly hard big bosses. Whilst these started out easy enough, there were times nearer the end when they verged on the edge of frustration and I spent a good 50 minutes trying to defeat just one of the latter bosses. It was these points of the game that just take it down a notch in my view.
As for the normal bog standard enemies they come in many forms ranging from those taken out with a good flurry of left and rights down to those who are a bit more equipped and require the use of your Slammer. Very rarely would you find just one or two to fight though, more often than not you would sit in a fight for a good few minutes at a time using all your tactical nous to work your way around the different adversaries in front of you.
Like I mentioned earlier, most of the brawling is hand-to-hand stuff but occasionally you get to make the most of your Slammer. A weapon attached to your arm this is very useful in dispatching robot fighters but also has a number of other uses. Throughout your journey trudging the streets of 2083 Paris you’ll be finding your way blocked by numerous doors, shutters, conveyor belts and the such like. Your Slammer is able to power up (or down) these obstacles and at times manages to just about get your brain working enough whilst you work out the very lacklustre puzzles. Unfortunately, for the most part you really don’t need to think too much. Whilst the battles are pretty much button mashing affairs, your progress through each area is very linear with little scope for exploration. Add to this some ever so helpful yellow HUD points and it’s near enough impossible to get lost or not know where you are meant to go or what to do next. It’s a bit too much for my liking and I’d much prefer to traverse the poles, walls and electrified walls for myself without so much help.
In fact the only time you are actually left to your own devices is when you get to look for and find the ‘hidden’ packages. I use the word hidden with a little disdain as the vast majority of these crop up along your usual path. I mentioned earlier that the game was a linear affair and it’s highlighted when you find the hidden assortment of goodies without too much of a search.
The cutting edge world is portrayed very nicely indeed with plenty of futuristic sights and sounds with the audio being amongst some of the best I’ve ever heard in game. I’m sure you can conjure up in your mind what sounds you are likely to hear in a future world but the change in the musical score and its pace whenever a battle is incoming is a joy in itself and is something you have to hear for yourself.
So overall we have a pretty decent first game from Dontnod. A bit of an occasional dodgy camera issue and one stupidly hard boss aside they have a lot to be proud of in creating this interesting absorbing world. It would have been nice to have been able to use your weapon and combos upgrades a bit earlier in the story but if you don’t know about something you can’t use it. That’s where the old memory thing comes in useful!
I know Capcom published this but if there were a bigger name on the development side, I’m sure this would be a massive success and not one of those games that I feel gamers will pass by. It’s been a pleasure to play Nilins first adventure and lets hope this can become one of those big hitters in future times. But please let it stick to its single player values without feeling the need to go all multiplayer on us.
Trust us Nilin, we won’t forget you.
