Nine Things You Should Remember Before Starting A Souls Game

Dark Souls 3 has finally been announced and with its early 2016 release date already established, we have less than a year to prepare for the inevitable onslaught of rage quits, smashed controllers and shattered relationships that will accompany it.  Having beaten the first three Souls games by this point (I’ll be getting to Bloodborne soon enough), I know these acrimonious sensations all too well, having spent 90 hours alone on Dark Souls, several of which attributed to three back-to-back, rather unwarranted shouting matches with my mom over the course of three days (Thanks a whole fucking lot, Ornstein and Smough!).  None the less, many of us will doubtlessly attempt to brave Atlus’ daunting challenges one more, willing to put our collective sanities on the line for whatever may compel us to play these games.  

And those of you who have never touched this series before and do not fully understand why these games have infuriated so many must understand one thing: it is not just the brutality of these games that has enshrined them in infamy; it is the psychological impact that can leave its toll in ways you may not even be able to comprehend.  The Souls series is not your average beat-em-up.  You can’t simply find the biggest weapon you can get your hands on and start wailing on everything.  You have to think before you act, or else your oversights and bravado will be your downfall, with even the weakest of enemies standing a chance at sending you back to a bonfire if you get too confident. 

Because of this, I have found that no amount of strategy guides and wikis will save your ass if you don’t have the appropriate mindset.  Mind you that this isn’t a beginner’s tutorial and I won’t be going over the basics of the games.  Rather, I’m presuming that you have at least a rudimentary understanding of the control scheme and rules of them and will be focusing more on general strategies than specific technical details, as anything I have to say will be meaningless without you knowing how the simpler mechanics work.  That being said, here are nine of the most important things that I find you need to keep in the back of your head as you venture forth on your respective playthrough.

1. Look Ahead

First and foremost, you need to first analyze the threats ahead of you before tackling them.  Don’t simply think you’ll know what to expect from a group, even if you’re familiar with these types of foes.  Focus on what they’re capable of by themselves and together and how you can counter these attack patterns.  If you’re encountering a new enemy, don’t attack immediately.  Either stay on your toes or keep your shield up and test the waters.  Let them strike first and gain a sense for their move set, then strike once you’re comfortable with fighting them. 

Don’t forget about your surroundings either.  Whether you’re in a tight corridor or on a narrow cliffside, remember to alter your strategy in a fashion that allows you to compensate for the new terrain.  Try to use thrusting weapons or magic in tight corridors and taking a slow, methodical pace on cliffs by striking once and backing up, lest you get caught in the heat of the moment and try to side roll.  Also, keep any pitfalls you see in mind at all times, whether during battle or when you’re simply scouting out the area for treasures.  This may seem like a given, but sometimes the simplest of dangers can undo your progress if you neglect them.  Never lose sight of how much room you have to work with, or you’ll find that the terrain can be just as treacherous as the enemies.

Finally, you’re going to find that many areas are either packed with traps or are as dark as a conservative talk radio host’s heart.  Just like with combat, don’t jump into things.  Take your time when entering any new area and survey every crevice and tile.  Many of the traps tend to stand out if you don’t dash through areas, but will punish the impatient.  Just remember that time is on your side; learn every detail and almost nothing will take you by surprise.  As for dark areas, try to keep various landmarks in mind as you continue to explore so that you associate them with new sections that you encounter.  If you come across enemies in an area that is particularly dark, simply lure them back into an earlier room that you’re more familiar with and deal with them, then return and analyze it, just in case you return there in the future.

Just respect your environment and it will return the favor.

2. Understand Your Limitations

I cannot stress this enough: this is not your traditional beat-em-up.  On top of utilizing an RPG stats system, these games are also based in an open-ended world where many dungeons are available to the player from the get-go, provided that you can reach them in the first place.  That being said, your best bet is to follow a walkthrough that will give you a sense of where to go.  As tempting as it may be to go out and explore, many of these areas are scaled in a linear sense for the player to follow in a mostly specific pattern and will be too difficult to handle at first.  Like any RPG, simply stick to the weaker enemies at first, build up your stats and work your way towards the tougher enemies down the road.

Furthermore, you should also pay close attention to your characters movement patterns.  In games like these, it’s not enough to roll aimlessly out of the way or throwing your shield up at any given moment.  Timing is everything and, whether you’re going toe-to-toe with a boss twenty times your size or a horde of undead, one misstep can cost you dearly.  Focus on how long it takes to take a sip of your Estus Flask, how long it will take an enemy to connect with a strike and so on.  If you can grasp the intricacies of both your character’s motions and the enemies, it’s going to make your experience far easier.

3. Stick With What You’re Comfortable With

Throughout these games, as in any adventure title, you’re bound to find a plethora of equipment that can make your journey more manageable.  You’ll see charms and rings to boost your magical powers, armor and shields that seem sturdy enough to withstand the wrath of even the largest beasts and weapons that appear to be capable of clearing a room full of foes in mere seconds.  While all of these may seem tantalizing, appearance and even higher base stats are not everything.

What you’ll really want to focus on initially is how the weapon handles and whether or not it compliments your play-style.  Are you more inclined to get in quick swipes and back away?  Try daggers or rapiers.  Are you willing to play it risky and get more bang for your buck?  Give axes and broadswords a try.  Do you prefer to keep your distance and pick away at enemies from afar?  Stick to magic or bows and arrows.

On top of this, the name of the game is not about just finding the best weapon, but also upgrading them to achieve the maximum damage output.  Initially, it would make sense to get better equipment, since you typically start with a rather dismal repertoire that won’t get you very far past the first few dungeons.  However, as time goes on and you put together an arsenal that you feel comfortable with, make sure to think long and hard about any potential changes to it.  Upgrading is not only essential, but also very time-consuming, as smithing materials can be very hard to come by down the road.  If you truly feel like this new weapon is superior to your current tool and you’re up to the task of perfecting it, give it a try.  Otherwise, one would be wise to stick with what has gotten them this far.  No point in fixing what isn’t broken.

4. Divide and Conquer

If the speed and strength of your foes doesn’t become an issue, their numbers certainly will.  You’re going to come across many instances where two or more enemies will be grouped closely together and, as I’ve mentioned before, the last thing you want to do is bum rush them.  Since many enemies are attracted to the player based on your proximity to them, the best thing to do is inch forward until only one starts to make its way over.  Then simply back up a decent amount, eliminate them as you see fit and repeat this until only one remains.  However, if attracting two or more of them is inevitable, all you can do is keep your guard up and closely watch their attack patterns until one leaves himself open.  You can also try various poison or fire bombs if you have them at your disposal, but patience will always be your strongest asset in these situations.

5. Bait Them into Attacking

If ever there was an optimal time to strike an enemy, it would be at the end of an attack animation.  Upon performing one of these animations, most enemies typically require a second or more to revert back to their walking animation, leaving them open to attack.  In other words, master those dodging skills.  Study the attack patterns and as soon as you appear to be out of harm’s way, bash their heads in.  However, this also brings us to point #6…

6. Don’t Get Greedy

Too often do the deaths of players spawn from our innate desire to finish the fight as quickly as we can, particularly during boss battles, since that alleviates ones paranoia surrounding the risk of death, losing their souls and having to restart the level.  Trust me when I say that this urge is completely natural and understandable, as I have succumbed to it multiple times in the past, but will leave you absolutely hating yourself when it inevitably gets you killed. After a certain period, enemies simply won’t be stunned by attacks and will commence their attack animation regardless of how hard you hit them.  As always, patience is your ally.  There’s no time limit on any of these levels, so simply take it nice and slow and strike when you can, not when you want to.

This rule also extends to soul collection.  We all love the satisfying feeling of seeing our soul counter get higher and higher as we fantasize about all the items and levels that we can purchase with them.  That’s a given.  But as that counter slowly begins to fill, think to yourself: how much do I really need?  If you’re in a new area with enemies and terrain that you’re unfamiliar with, is it really worth the risk to see whether or not you can reach six figures?  Even if you find yourself halfway through this new level, think about what those souls could purchase.  If it isn’t an amount to write home about, moving on should most likely be your first choice.  However, if you have enough to level up five times and buy a brand new set of armor, it might be time to swallow your pride and head back.

7. NEVER Get Cocky

Believe it or not, there will be portions of these games that you’ll find yourself breezing through, whether it be because the enemies follow a rather predictable pattern, you’ve been doing a fair amount of grinding or you’re simply on a bit of a lucky streak.  Considering how much hell the Souls series has been known to give players, it is VERY easy to get overconfident from that point onward.  Hell, if you can handle what one of the most notoriously difficult game series’ in history can throw your way, you must be unstoppable.  Nothing can stand in your way!  May the Lord help any black phantoms that cross your path!  YOU ARE A GOD AMONGST MEN!

Yeah…cut that shit out.  Now.

The very last thing you want to do in these games is get cocky.  It may seem inevitable, even natural, to feel like you’re untouchable when you do exceptionally in games like these, but remember: cockiness leads to carelessness; carelessness leads to mistakes; mistakes lead to death.  Enemies and the environment can and will punish even the minutest mistake by, at least, taking a nice fat chunk out of your health bar if you’re lucky.  If you don’t stay on your toes, you’re gonna get sloppy and you’re gonna be kicking yourself for it when it costs you souls.

Simply put, you’re not invincible.  Get your head out of the clouds and focus.

8. Don’t Be Afraid to Ask For Help

This one can be attributed to pride more than anything else.  The Souls series has always been heralded as a set of finely crafted games for a number of reasons, but that’s not the only reason that people play them.  Considering its reputation, many play these games as a rite of passage within the gaming community.  To say that you completed one of them is a badge of honor that any gamer would wear with pride.  So, if you’re going to be one of those people, the last thing you’re gonna do is use a walkthrough, right?  Who cares if it’s mind-bendingly difficult?  You’ve been playing video games for your whole life and dammit, you’re gonna press on!

Now, while this mentality is very common (God only knows I’ve been there before), the Souls series simply isn’t designed to be beaten by oneself.  Many things are not exactly made obvious to newcomers, such as how to produce better weapons and armor, and even directions may elude them from time to time.  This is because the games were intended to be community based; to have the community work together, collect data and share tips with one another in order to overcome the challenges (which also explains the in-game messages and blood stains).  Whether you believe this to be a flaw in the games or not is none of my business.  The point is that this is how the games are designed and if you want to spend less time gritting your teeth in frustration and more time actually progressing, you’d be smart to bookmark a few walkthroughs and wikis for reference.

Believe me; the rest of the game will pose more than enough of a challenge for you.

9. Understand That Death WILL Happen

This one may come off as very difficult to accept, but just hear me out.  No matter how much you practice, how much you grind, how careful you are and how much caffeine is running through your body, that dreaded “YOU DIED” screen will inevitably appear now and then.  You may not want to hear this, but you’re going to make mistakes. You’re going to panic occasionally during your first outing in a new level.  You’re going to get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of enemies in these new areas.  You’re going to misstep sometimes and fall to your death.  You’re going to forget to ration out your healing items and run out at particularly inopportune times.

You’re going to die.  A lot.

But you’d be surprised what accepting this fact can do for your attitude.  If you greet death with rage and frustration, that anger will linger throughout your play session.  You’ll want to blame the game.  You’ll begin to lash out at those around you.  You’ll start smashing controllers and screaming at the top of your lungs.  And your concentration will suffer as a result.

Instead, when it happens, think to yourself: “Why did I just die?”  Go back to the moment of your death and examine the scenario you were faced with.  Perhaps you got too greedy with your attacks and got crushed by the boss?  Maybe you didn’t take a dark area slowly enough and fell into a pit?  Or could you have simply not put enough distance between yourself and the enemies when you tried to take a sip of your Estus Flask? 

Whatever the reason, it is better to focus your anger towards something productive than mindlessly flying off the handle.  Hold yourself accountable for your mistakes, figure out how to avoid them and try harder next time.  And, most importantly, understand that you will die here and there.  It happens to the best of us, but it does not mean that the game is over.  If you hunker down and keep looking forward, you can and will succeed.  Just remember:

“…people die.  But death is not defeat.” – Hal “Otacon” Emmerich

And that’s about all I can give you.  Keep in mind that by no means am I any sort of “Souls expert”.  I haven’t dedicated my life to surveying every element, weapon, enemy and character build under the sun.  Nor do I imagine will this guide be the end-all, ultimate reference guide for Souls players.  I’m simply another gamer who has experienced firsthand the merciless power of these games and felt like it was my duty to help others grasp the challenges before them.  No amount of my experience will be a good enough substitute for your own personal experience, so I can only hope that this guide will make your time somewhat easier.

Best of luck.

Valiant Hearts: The Great War Review

“Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.”

                     - Martin Luther King, Jr.

There’s no way around it: war is hell.  Countless dead soldiers and bloodstained battlefields can attest to this a thousand times over.  I think we can all agree with that, at least to some extent, as have literature, films, paintings and other mediums in their countless attempts to capture the mind-numbing brutality of this necessary evil.  Obviously, video games are not ones to shy away from this topic, especially considering the popularity of the Call of Duty and Battlefield franchises.  But if you take a second to really examine these games, you’ll find that most of them typically put forth little effort to showcase the full impact of war, outside of its affects to the combatants.  Nine times out of ten, these games will focus on either delivering intense, visceral combat or taking control of entire armies and leading them into battle. 

Either way, games that hope to reveal the true face of war, that being its mental, emotional and psychological toll for both soldiers and civilians, are unfortunately few and far between.  Granted, this concept may not be the most glamorous idea to advertise, but a truth such as this is one that still needs to be shown to the public, and Valiant Hearts: The Great War is more than up to the task.  Based around the eponymous “Great War”, Ubisoft Montpellier’s depiction of the First World War does not seek to be the next great FPS or produce another glorified game of chess.  Rather, it aims to construct a far more humble experience, utilizing puzzles as its primary gameplay component and allowing for us to divert our attention more so to our surroundings, giving us time to develop a greater recognition of just what war is capable of.  It may have its share of minor flaws, such as narrative quirks and ambiguous objectives, and its art style is undeniably unorthodox, but Valiant Hearts certainly succeeds at its principal goal: teaching us one of life’s most callous lessons, whether we want to listen or not.

                This lessons all starts with the graphics and sound of Valiant Hearts.  Naturally, it goes for a very drab, depressing style, but it oddly enough also captures the characters and their surroundings in a relatively cartoonish, almost caricature-esque fashion, albeit with a more reserved, realistic take on their gesticulations.  Houses and hilltops alike either bear the scars of war or at least have their color scheme dulled, but are also shown in a very sketchy style, with pencil markings apparent on many surfaces.  That is not to say that all locations have this macabre appearance, such as earlier stages set across the rather vibrant and lively France, but when the game needs to capture the horrors of war, it does not hold back.

And the same can be said for the game’s heavily piano-based soundtrack.  Each song appropriately matches its pertaining level, perfectly capturing every type of emotion that needs to be conveyed, from a slow, heart-string tugging piece when tending to wounded soldiers to far more intense, pulse-pounding segments when rushing through trenches and enemy machine gun fire.  There are even some tributes to more popular orchestra piece, like Flight of the Bumblebee, during certain sections of the game to deliver a more light-hearted tone (more on that later).  It’s nothing that we’ll remember years from now, but the music still performs its duties well enough to keep us transfixed on the game.

But why the cartoonish art style?  Personally, I have no strong feelings about the general visual appeal of the graphics, if only because they feel somewhat out of place.  They do their job perfectly fine, but their impact comes less from the graphics alone and more from how they meld together with the rest of the game.  However, I can commend the art style on what I assume it was utilized for.  As I’ve said before and will no doubt say many times after this, war is a violent spectacle that can cause even the most hardened of veterans to wince.  Not everyone is up to the task of seeing the bloodshed up close; even those who are simply learning about its history.  Utilizing less realistic graphics, while still implementing dramatic storytelling and portraying the bellicose turmoil that the war begets, as we’ll see later, allows the player to be able to stomach the tragedy while still understanding it and its impact, even if the later stages can really push the envelope on illustrating the brutality.  I’m not the hugest fan of the art style, but I can at least understand its purpose.

As for the gameplay, as I mentioned before, Valiant Hearts falls away from the cliché war game styles and prefers to create a puzzle-based experience which, although it is not unheard of, manages to explore each element of war quite successfully.  The player controls one of several characters throughout the game, typically traversing various 2D plains in order to accomplish the current objective, whether it be trying to cross a series of trenches in order to push back enemy forces or exploring a small town and trading various items in order to get a new wheel for your car.  The former sequences are quite fast paced and typically have the player dodging mortar fire and machine guns, as well as cutting away the occasional barbed wire or digging through specified patches of dirt.  The latter are more laid back, allowing the player to analyze their surrounding and piece together what item needs to go where in order to spark a chain of events that leads the player to the item required to end the mission.

You are also given a throwing mechanic that shows the trajectory of whatever you are throwing, typically a grenade to destroy an obstacle, and are occasionally accompanied by a Doberman Pinscher named Walt who can retrieve various items that the player cannot reach or act as a second player to activate various switches and levers when the player is occupied.  Generally, these levels function quite nicely, giving the player a clear objective and understanding of how certain puzzles function.    However, although it is rare, some levels can suffer from a sense of ambiguousness surrounding objectives (the P.O.W. camp) or even what certain items are supposed to be, but this occurs so sparsely that it’s not something worth losing sleep over. Some puzzles can be also quite challenging, but neither the dodging of mortars, nor the more relaxed puzzle sequences, ever feel cheap or downright impossible to figure out without a guide; a bit of common sense and critical thinking can go a long way. 

On top of this, Valiant Hearts spices things up here and there with vehicle segments and healing mini-games.  A few of the former segments feature the player driving tanks across battlefields in order to break through enemy lines more swiftly, albeit while dealing with enemy machine guns and fighter planes.  As for the rest of the segments, this is where Valiant Hearts takes a strange, but none the less humorous, turn.  Trying to experiment with some comic relief for these parts, which I’ll be delving into later, these sections have the player driving an old (and I mean OOOOLLLLD) car along a road with the camera facing towards them, giving us a behind view similar to the boulder segments in Crash Bandicoot.  The segments will task the player with dodging a variety of obstacles, such as mortars, other cars, barrels and the like, depending on the current scenario, all attacking the player in sync with an accompanying well-known music piece, essentially turning the segment into a music mini-game.

Like the issues I brought up with the art style before, I have nothing bad to say about these mini-game by themselves, as they function well enough and can be quite exhilarating at time.  But, like the art style, they just feel totally out of place.  Chase sequences would have been fine, but turning them into musical mini-games, particularly when you take the game’s focus into account, makes the sequences unnecessarily awkward.  The healing mini-games, on the other hand, feel right at home with the themes at hand.  Whenever you encounter an injured NPC, you can sometimes initiate a healing segment which boils down to timed button prompts as you go about performing the necessary steps towards treating them, such as dulling the pain with a swig of whiskey or removing a bullet.  What makes these segments stand out is the emotion tied to them  Not only do you hear every scream and groan of pain from the victim, but you also run the risk of killing them if you cannot perform the button prompts correctly, which does get trickier in later levels.  When taking these factors into account, these segments can get downright hair-raising.

But going back to the bulk of the game, the puzzle sequences can offer far more than the occasional brain teaser.  For example, most levels have various historical relics scattered across them.  Upon collecting them, the player gains access to little factoids that explain the significance behind what they just collected, be it a letter written by a homesick soldier, sterilizing solutions used to purify water or the various weapons used during the conflict.  They don’t add much depth to the game, but they at least help the player grasp what occurred during the war.

There are also some odd little quirks and glitches that occur throughout that don’t exactly ruin the mood, but can certainly leave the player laughing inadvertently or scratching their head at what they just witnessed.  Characters will occasionally moon-walk after returning from a cutscene and the enemy guards can be downright robotic at time.  Granted, I understand that we’re dealing with a puzzle game and not Splinter Cell, but how many times am I expected to accept the idea that the German soldiers wouldn’t find a random dog walking past them, snatching up various supplies and running off with them just a tad queer?  So, yes, these moments can lead to some rather odd moments in Valiant Hearts, but all of that pales in comparison to what the gameplay is truly capable of. 

What’s really alluring about making a puzzle game based around World War I is just how humbling the experience is when compared to your average war game.  When the very term “war game” is mentioned, how can you not immediately think of Call of Duty, of a nameless warrior barreling down a corridor and blowing away anything with a pulse?  To be fair, this type of gameplay does show us the intensity of war and how death can emerge from behind any corner, but practically every other aspect of war is completely overshadowed by the sometimes mindless FPS mechanics.

With Valiant Hearts, it becomes readily apparent that your characters are not killing machines.  They can’t perform amazing acrobatic feats, pull off headshots from 300 yards away or take down a platoon of soldiers single handedly.  They’re all working-class folks that just feel human, having to work past their limitations and use their brains instead of a wide array of weapons.  Because of this, you don’t get to shoot all your troubles away.  You have to face them head-on, whether they are emotional or tangible, and it is here that the game truly prospers.

Perhaps I should have brought this up first, but I always feel like the most important element of a game deserves to be brought up last.  Writing etiquette aside, Valiant Hearts starts at the very beginning of the First World War, wherein a German-born farmer named Karl is deported back to Germany while he lives in France with his wife Marie, his son Victor and his father-in-law Emile.  Karl is drafted into the German army, while Emile is soon drafted into the French army, leaving Marie to fend for herself and Victor.  Along the way, Emile comes across an American soldier named Freddie, who joined the war as a means of revenge against the German military, a high-ranking officer named Baron von Dorf in particular, because of one of their bombing runs that killed his wife shortly after their wedding in France, as well as Anna, a Belgian medic who throws herself into the war effort, primarily helping injured soldiers on the front line.  Together, they both delve into their own personal missions and work side-by-side in order to face down everything that the war can throw at them, although some characters end up having more success than others.

I could spend hours upon hours deconstructing this story from beginning to end, but just take my word for it when I say this it is a pure emotional roller coaster that very few games can match, at least in my opinion, and it all starts with the general structure of the narrative.  Each chapter is paced perfectly, both in action and narrative delivery.  Once you’ve completed an action sequence, it will typically be followed by a more relaxed, albeit occasionally stressful, sequence that lets the player absorb everything that happened previously.  Better yet, no one’s story every feels rushed.  Whether characters are working together or independently, as soon as someone gets some screen time, the next person will get an ample amount.  And that’s before we even get into the meat of the narrative.

Valiant Hearts’s uses a very minimalistic script, with actual voice acting only being used for narration, occasionally from Marie or Emile as they write letters, but mostly from Dave Pettitt, who serves as the nameless narrator.  Pettitt’s performance is nothing short of haunting throughout the game and you get the sense that his voice was made to talk about this subject.  Every utterance from him makes it feel like he was there in person to witness the violence, and even when he speaks of lighter news, his voice still has a depressing tone that simply won’t allow us to forget what has transpired around us.  Surprisingly, however, the seemingly mute characters are just as, if not more, adept at emoting as the story unfolds.

Most of the characters do speak through quick journal entries found in the menu, but most of the time, they and the NPCs that comprise this world speak in a relatively unintelligible imitation of their native language, spouting it in a fashion that doesn’t sound too distant from Simlish.  Even when a character needs to specify something, such as a destination, they will instead show a speech bubble that is filled with symbols of what they are trying to discuss.  This all goes back to the cartoonish art style of the game, but it also allows for the player to ignore what these individuals are saying and focus on their actions.  We don’t find ourselves transfixed on what one statement might have meant and prefer to focus on how Emile is helping Freddie through a particular mission to overthrow a German weapon manufacturer or how Anna is assisting various civilians in a war-torn portion of France.  This lack of speech allows the player to make their own judgment call on these characters and ultimately allowed me to gain a greater connection with these characters than any script could.

But that’s not to say that the narrative is perfect.  Its accomplishments still help it to stand head and shoulders above many games of its kind, but, much like the gameplay, it will have its baffling moments that are sure to raise a few eyebrows.  First of all, certain plot points feel relatively hastened through, missing key details that would keep the plot flowing smoothly or simply not giving a segment enough time to adhere to the player’s psyche and make any sort of impact.  I look to Karl’s attempt at escaping a P.O.W. camp with a fellow soldier as the shining example of this flaw.  Upon being surrounded by French forces in an abandoned barn and with the other soldier dead and sprawled on the ground, Karl manages to escape capture only by hiding behind a bale of hay and swapping his dog tag with his dead comrade, somehow convincing the French to leave the area and end their search.  So, I guess were just gonna forget about the fact that they were looking for TWO men, not just one, not to mention that switching dog tags will just make the soldiers think that you’re the other man that they’re looking for.  Moments like this don’t exactly shatter Valiant Heart’s immersion, but strengthening said immersion isn’t one of their strong points either.

The other big problem stems from the game’s attempt at comic relief.  With the amount of death and destruction facing the player in nearly every mission, it comes as no surprise that the developers would want to try and lighten the mood periodically.  And I’m more than willing to acknowledge that the humor can be very effective in its own right.  Baron Von Dorf actively acts like a comically over-the-top villain during your encounters with him, German soldiers are just a step away from using flappy jaw animations when they speak and even the musical driving mini-games, as out of place as they are, still manage to deliver a few laughs, if only because of how outright ridiculous they can get. 

The problem is not that the humor isn’t effective, but rather that there is a lack of synergy between it and the dramatic elements of the game.  We’re not exactly dealing with a black comedy in Valiant Hearts, so any attempt at humor will naturally feel inappropriate.  But, it doesn’t even seem like the humor is stemming from simply trying to cut loose a little bit and crack a joke in order to cope with the violence, as can be expected from soldiers during their down time.  Every attempt at humor can be attributed to the games attempts at being cartoonish, which simply does not blend well with a narrative that wants us to understand just how dark war can be.  It feels like we’re dealing with two separate scripts that someone tried to meld into one, albeit with most of the script being on the more serious side.  Comedy can be effective when referencing war, but only if that is the main goal of your story.  Otherwise, it’s just going to seem like the developers can’t decide on what they even want to produce.

Thankfully, like many of this game’s flaws, problems like this don’t do much to harm this game’s image, especially because of its sheer emotional appeal, arguably its strongest asset.  What Valiant Hearts gets better than anything else is its ability to help us truly understand what war is like; not just combat, but EVERYTHING that war can beget.  Mission structure can be rather simplistic, but it is the variety of subjects that are tackled that attribute to this.  You get to see the successful battles, rally the troops and standing victorious as the Central Powers retreat, and the major defeats, with the Allies recuperating as they tend to their wounded and honor their dead.  You get to see French forces reveling in their successes and partying to old-timey music and you get to see them in their darker hours, their uniforms covered in patches and the scars of war beginning to materialize.  One second, you’ll be exploring a relatively peaceful city in France, and the next, you’ll be rummaging through the ruins of that same city after a bombing run, doing your best to save and assist as many civilians as you can.

The Allied forces won't be the only one see the destruction of war firsthand.

 And even the moods set by these missions feel fitting.  You feel like you can take a breather and relax during more peaceful sequences, with the sun shining down upon you and light musical pieces playing in the background.  But as soon as the bombs drop or someone is at death’s door, your fight-or-flight instincts are guaranteed to start kicking up, with the skies darkened by smoke and fire and explosion constantly attempting to overload your senses as you try to maneuver past each challenge.

And then there’s the human aspect.  War can have a great psychological impact on individuals, as you’ll no doubt see and feel.  However, Valiant Hearts goes further than this and serves as a reminder that whether you want to acknowledge it or not, you’re still fighting fellow human beings.  Outside of the combat, you’ll play through a number of instances where you’ll either see the war through the eyes of the Germans, be it when they are celebrating and carrying on after having taken a French base or maintaining a miserable existence inside of the P.O.W. camp, or actually interact with and assist them in some way, like how Emile encounters a German soldier trapped in an underground tunnel system and helps him escape, only for the French generals to order the German tunnels blown up, killing Emile’s German acquaintance and effectively rendering Emile disillusioned about the war.  Taking all this into account, we still find ourselves wondering why governments love to throw out propaganda during wars, painting the enemy as bloodthirsty monsters and godless heathens, as if it weren’t blatantly obvious.  It’s a hell of a lot easier to kill someone when you think they embody evil, instead of recognizing them as a man like yourself who’s fighting for his country the same way that you’re fighting for yours.

And even the little details can drive home just war is capable of.  The key to creating either a captivating story or an immersive world in a video game all comes down to details.  Ironically enough, if you can’t nail down the seemingly minute stuff in your game, many of your strengths will be all for naught, as they all need a foundation to be built upon.  Without it, the strengths now seem pointless and without direction.  It is through these small details that Valiant Hearts truly captures the look and feel of Europe during World War I.  During healing mini-games, you hear the victim’s heartbeat as they moan in pain, trying their damnedest to withstand having a broken bone being set in place or having a bullet removed from their side.  Corpses are scattered across the battlefields as you push forward to the next turret emplacement.  Civilians and soldiers alike will scream in fear and agony as every structure around them turns to rubble in the face of continuous mortar bombardments. 

And then there’s the Nivelle Offensive.  Noted for being one of the most devastating Allied losses in the entire war, the offensive lead to over 200,000 soldiers losing their lives and the developers wasted no effort in reminding you of this.  The moment you start this mission late into the game, you’ll be controlling Emile, being told by his commanding officer to scrounge up any soldiers he can find for the next push in the offensive, many of whom are either sick or already injured.  Before you even leave the camp, you’ll notice the background littered with bandaged, bloodied soldiers (this is one of the only levels that actually features blood, by the way) as medics pour into the camp with even more victims of the offensive, a grim reminder of what is to come for the next participants. 

I dare anybody to show me a picture that better displays the brutality of war than this.

The further you move into the battle, the worse things will get.  More and more of your already injured squad mates will be shot down; mortars will pour down like rain, making most segments ridiculously unnerving; the sounds around you will begin to blur into a dull ringing; Emile will literally be forced to climb hills of corpses and hide behind carts filled with dead French soldiers in order to advance.  And all of this will happen while a French officer pressures the squad forward at gunpoint, eventually trying to get them to run out into the sights of several machine gunners with no cover whatsoever to rely on.    Emile, much like ourselves, will have had enough and smacks the officer upside the head with his shovel, fracturing his skull and killing him instantly, causing Emile to be arrested and tried for mutiny. 

And even though the game has had its fair share of brutality up to this point, I feel that it is this mission that serves as a testament to what war can do to a person and how successful Valiant Hearts is at encapsulating this sensation.  Like Emile, I was utterly drained and jaded by the time the game ended.  I really found myself wondering if all of this mayhem was really worth it in the end; if all the dead soldiers and civilians were worth it; if the physical and psychological scars were worth it.  This is the power of Valiant Hearts: it doesn’t just give you an idea of what World War I was like.  It makes you truly perceive and understand why it is so detested and what kind of damage it can do.  And while it may stray from the path here and there and suffer from some minor flaws, there is no mistaking that it has captured the spirit of war and its awful power more effectively than even the most experienced war novelists could hope to.  

Ratchet and Clank Review





Back in my youth, as was the case for many gamers, my gaming was limited to what I could scrounge up from my parents with chores, Christmas, birthdays and just sheer luck.  I needed to prioritize what consoles were essential for me to obtain and which I could sacrifice, at least for the time being.  The PS2, unfortunately, didn’t make the cut.  I was more than aware that there were plenty of great games for it at the time, but I wasn’t exactly in any position to bitch about any games that came my way.  That being said, thanks primarily to the PS2 Collection games available on the PS3, I’ve been able to try out these gems from console generations past, leading to plenty of memorable experiences that showed me just what I was missing out on all this time.  And Ratchet and Clank is absolutely not an exception by any means.  The first in a long series of cartoonish sci-fi action adventure games, Ratchet and Clank feels special from the first moment that you start playing, gloriously melding together freedom and variety; combat and platforming; comedy and personality.  Even if it does have some glaring issues from time to time, Ratchet and Clank contains so many great elements that any gamer, from casual to veteran, can appreciate.

                The setting and plot of Ratchet and Clank alone will remind you that this is not the type of game that will be taking itself very seriously.  In a highly futuristic alternate universe, the alien civilization known as the Blarg, led by Ultimate Supreme Executive Chairman Drek (Can you tell that he’s in charge?), is attempting to create a new, pristine planet out of other planets by conquering and stealing portions of them , as their planet has become highly polluted and uninhabitable.  While on the war path, a robot manufacturing station run by Drek accidentally produces a miniature version of their usual product, who manages to view an Infobot, small hovering robots that produce TV screens to deliver short messages, which reveals Drek’s plans and motivates him to escape the plant by hijacking a space ship in order to stop Drek.  He doesn’t get far, however, as he is soon shot down by Drek’s minions over a desert planet which is inhabited by our other protagonist, Ratchet.

                Ratchet is working on his own ship as he witnesses the small robot’s ship crash-land near his garage.  Upon rescuing the robot, which Ratchet soon names Clank, Clank informs Ratchet of the impending threat to galactic life and, with a bit of persuasion and promising to power Ratchet’s ship, Ratchet goes along with their plan, which includes gaining the help of Captain Qwark, a supposed galactic hero, and finding strong enough equipment to take on Drek and end his plans.  The story is nothing to write home about, but this is all forgivable because of the tounge-in-cheek nature of the game.  And sure, the plot is fine and dandy, keeping things short and simple, but the real allure comes from the characters and Ratchet and Clank’s sense of humor. 

The writing manages to come off as both quick and clever, never wanting to keep you too long from the action, but still getting a couple of chuckles out of the player, even if some of the cutscenes are a tad long-winded.  But, the characters are what really allow the comedy to flourish.  Each character, both primary and secondary, is full of personality, bolstered by stereotypes, but never defined by them.  They feel like real people (or aliens, whatever), but still have a note of silliness behind them to really take jokes home, while never reaching for a laugh and coming off as obnoxious.  On top of that, Ratchet and Clank make quite the duo, as Ratchet is the brash, strong-willed type that encompasses many of the tropes of that of a 90’s cartoon character, while Clank is quite polite and articulate, if not somewhat naïve.  Together, the two juxtapose each other perfectly, allowing one another’s strengths to make up for the other’s flaws.  Unfortunately, Ratchet can be pretty selfish and a bit of an ass in the middle of the game, but he thankfully overcomes this behavior in the end and his dickishness does little to hinder the loads of laughs that Ratchet and Clank contains.

"Hello.  I'm useless.  And you are?"

However, we’re not dealing with a cartoon here.  There’s a lot more to video games than cracking a few jokes, but the game is more than capable of holding its own in those areas as well.  For starters, the graphics and music perfectly compliment the light-hearted, cartoonish tone of the game.  Ratchet and Clank’s soundtrack is a catchy mix of jazzy, electronic and orchestrated elements; the former two when it comes to beat-‘em-up sequences and platforming and the latter in more dramatic moments.  This helps to create the perfect atmosphere for both types of environments, especially when you’re beating the hell out of mooks and you need something energetic to liven up the mood.  As for the graphics, they liven the world up in a whole different fashion. 

They’re expectedly stylized and cartoonish, but not something you would expect out of the likes of Uncle Grandpa.  Each level is colorful and vibrant, but conserved, not only relying upon bright distractions to catch our eyes temporarily.  The layout certainly feels animated, but equal time was given to structuring the world to give each level its own personality, whether it’s a city filled to the brim with towering skyscrapers or the Blarg’s hyper-polluted planet, littered with abandoned laboratories and literal ponds of toxic sludge.  It really runs along the same lines as the writing, in that it offers a lot of flare, but never feels obnoxious.  Simply put, the levels are both cartoonish and atmospheric, allowing them to have both an immediate and lasting appeal that, as far as I’m concerned, never outstays its welcome.

But all of these elements only serve as the backdrop for the big star of Ratchet and Clank: the gameplay.  Starting with Ratchet’s controls, they feel smooth enough, but do take some getting used to, as turning while moving can feel somewhat sluggish at times.  The same goes for jumping, due to the double jump that gimps Ratchet’s momentum, but it can actually come in handy when you realize that it can be used for more precision platforming, not to mention that he can cling to the edge of platforms.  Again, it does take some getting used to, but it’ll feel natural with an hour.  Likewise, utilizing weapons is the same deal, at least with long-range weapons.  Melee weapons, such as Ratchet’s wrench, have a good amount of range and speed behind them, but machine guns like the Blaster feel kind of clunky initially.  You can run-and-gun and enemies will be locked on to, if you’re close enough, or Ratchet can enter a first-person mode, disabling movement but allowing for far more precision.  Locking on isn’t always as precise as you’d like it to be, so it really comes down to whether you want to sacrifice accuracy or mobility.  But again, within the first couple of levels, these issues should become a thing of the past, especially since you can always develop your own strategy with the weapons and gadgets the game gives you, and hoe-lee shiiiit do they give you a lot.

Over the course of Ratchet and Clank, you are given access to a total of 15 weapons and 14 gadgets, each with their own purpose and ability to mix up the gameplay.  The weapons are all ridiculously campy in their design, such as a massive boxing glove (The Walloper) and the R.Y.N.O. (Rip You a New One), a heat-seeking rocket launcher, but what is even more glorious is just how much they can accomplish.  You have your traditional short and long-range weapons, including flame throwers and rocket launchers, but you can also use the Suck Cannon to suck up smaller enemies and use them as projectiles, the Decoy Glove to set up a blow-up doll of Ratchet to distract enemies and attack them from behind, the Tesla Claw to electrify enemies with a bolt of lightning that tracks them, the Glove of Doom to shoot out tiny mechs that run up to enemies and blow up on contact…I think you get the picture.

Take your pick, gentlemen.

Because of just how versatile Ratchet’s arsenal is and how effective all his weapons can be, the player is free to tackle groups of enemies in practically any way they see fit.  You can go in guns blazing, keep your distance and pick them off one at a time or, hell, even simply distract them in order to sneak by them, if you so choose; the choice is yours.  Not only does this keep combat fresh and exciting, but it  means that replay value is through the roof.  Furthermore, each level has a number of collectable Gold Bolts which, when spent alongside a certain number of regular bolts (Ratchet and Clank’s currency), can be used to purchase upgraded versions of your weapons, although they’re only available after you’ve beaten the game or in a hidden area near the end of your first playthrough.  Unfortunately, as great as all of this stuff is, the gadgets just don’t have the same amount of versatility.

First off, let’s get one thing straight: the gadgets are all useful in their own right.  Their purposes vary from transportation to solving puzzles to just easing the player’s journey.  The Heli-Pack and Thruster-Pack, which allow Clank to levitate Ratchet and help him cover more distance, and the Hydro-Pack, which allows Ratchet to rocket through underwater segments, are all massive helps when it comes to traversing the levels, but they’re pretty much the only ones in the game that don’t feel completely situational.  Any other gadget can only be used when a special circumstance calls for it.  You’re given Grind Boots to grind on rails, but you’re only given rails to grind during special level sequences made up of nothing but rails.  You get a hover board, but can only use it for a whopping two racing minigames. 

But the worst offender is the Hydrodisplacer, which is basically a glorified Super Soaker that can suck up massive amounts of water from flooded areas so that you can explore them.  Literally all you do with it is walk up to a vent specified for the gadget, stick it in there to either suck up or deposit water and THAT’S IT.  Now, I understand that sometimes gadgets are only needed for one specific purpose, but what I’m getting at is this: why couldn’t more gadgets be given more versatile functions?  Wouldn’t it be awesome to grind around levels and shoot at enemies a la Infamous?  What about using the magnetic boots you receive to walk up any wall you choose, instead of one specific twisting ramp way?  How about allowing us to use the Sonic Summoner, a helmet that summons a small spaceship that can assist you with eliminating enemies, whenever we want, at the cost of some bolts, instead of only at specified stations?  The gadgets may share the same levels of goofy charm as the weapons, but damned if they don’t reek of unrealized potential.

Thankfully, the same can’t be said for Ratchet and Clank’s level design.  Aside from looking vibrant and full of energy, what so alluring about the level design is that each world is never the same as the last.  Granted, you’ll have your minigames, your combat sections and your platforming sections, but the way they are all spread out is never even remotely similar to any level before or after it.  Some levels may be entirely linear, while others have a hub area with paths to smaller sections that contain various mission objectives.  Some levels have multiple pathways to the same objective and it’s up to the player to decide which to take, while other are seemingly linear, but have small side routes that give an added sense of depth to the levels.  And that’s just getting into their general structure.

Every one just has so many nuances that break up the gameplay and really give each one its own identity, making it more than just another stage that they needed to fill a quota.  The enemy variety is simply fantastic, as it doesn’t just throw the same old groups of quick, little creatures that distract you while trying to deal with the bigger, gun-toting enemies.  Each world features a new type of enemy, constantly evolving their strategies at a gradual pace to make each encounter more difficult, forcing the player to rethink their strategies and utilize all the weapons at their disposal.  The platforming sequences are structured nicely as well, always feeling perilous and exhilarating, yet still giving you moments to get your bearings and plan your next move.  There’s always a steady variety of side missions where you control Clank or a vehicle (which control perfectly, I might add) to break up the jumping and gunning.  Even the bosses are fantastic, although they tend to be few and far between, with their strategies constantly changing throughout the battle, making things far more intense than simply fighting some super huge mook.  Honestly, it’s pretty hard to articulate just how much these levels have to offer.  The best way to truly appreciate them is to play them first hand. 

That’s not to say that I don’t have a few problems with their overall setup.  I do find that the checkpoints can feel relatively scarce at times and the use of the breakable crate trope can make the game a tiny bit tedious at times.  The difficulty can also be somewhat inconsistent (I’m lookin’ at you, Planet Orxon!), as some levels will throw a ridiculous amount of enemies at you, all for the sake of begetting an artificial sense of challenge, but only coming off as cheap garbage.  However, my biggest problem comes from bolt collection, specifically concerning my ability to afford new weapons that are made available in the store. 

All right, are you f**king kidding me!?

For the first half of the game, they are given out at a fair pace, as long as you’re willing to earn them.  But as time goes on, weapons become a lot more expensive, but not only are enough bolts not made available from either breaking crates or killing enemies, but there is no realistic, practical way to grind for them, save moving on to the next level or killing the same groups of enemies over and over for the same measly amount of bolts.  In this case, you’re forced to either forgo the new weapons or actually sacrifice buying ammo and rely upon that which you can find throughout the level.  As you can imagine, this becomes a HUGE source of frustration in the later levels, as you’re going to need as much ammunition as humanly possible, so having to deny myself that for a weapon that may or may not be useful can drive me pretty close to wanting to smash a controller or two.  Maybe I just got unlucky for some reason, but this is exactly what we have testers for.  When you’re basing your gameplay heavily around gunplay and I’m unable to use these guns when I really need them, we’ve got ourselves quite the issue.

But even with a couple of bumps in the road, Ratchet and Clank serves as a reminder that a little bit of variety and freedom can go a long way.  Along with the quick-witted writing style and beautiful graphics, the amount of possibilities given to the player in combat and each level having its own unique style make this game an instant classic, even 13 years after its release.  I do get the sense that some portions feel experimental, as if the developers were simply trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t for this series, what with the underutilized gadgets and several pace-breaking moments caused by the inconsistent bolt collection, but these do little to hamper the fun factor that can be felt so many times during the game.  If you haven’t played this already, do yourself a favor and get your hands on it immediately.  God only knows I’m already pumped to start the sequel.

Remember Me Review

Objects on screen are not as meaningful as they appear

Do any of you remember that kid from high school?  The one who was astonishingly smart and gifted, but couldn’t be bothered to apply himself, even though the guy could be the next Steve Jobs if he wanted?  Remember Me essentially feels like the video game embodiment of that kid.  Set in a hyper-advanced “Neo”-Paris in 2084, Remember Me, for all intents and purposes, has the potential to be the best game of 2013, at the very least.  The presentation is beyond stunning; nearly perfectly melding the beauty of Paris with futuristic technology, while maintaining a fervent level of action that keeps you on the edge of your seat without appearing obnoxious.  Unfortunately, it seems to fall short in literally everything else that it attempts.  The characters range from underdeveloped to outright forgettable, exposition is sparse and rushed to no end, each level is mind-bogglingly linear and “deep combat” is nothing more than a façade, just to name a few problems.  In a sense, Remember Me feels less like a video game and more like Dontnod Entertainment simply wanted to develop a sci-fi TV series.

                Hell, maybe that’s what they should have done in the first place, as it would have given them more time to clean up this mess.  Remember Me revolves Neo-Paris, a futuristic remodeling of Paris after the effects of global warming and a massive European war ravaged both the human population and the region, respectively.  At the same time, the company Memorize, specializing in memory manipulation, has gained control over the city’s population with their new device, the Sensen, a machine that hooks up to the user’s brain stem and allows them to transfer their memories like data on a computer, sharing certain memories with different people and erasing painful ones.  However, this, in turn, gives Memorize unfiltered access to the thoughts of all Sensen users, which is nearly the entire Neo-Paris population, allowing them to create an Orwellian surveillance state within the city, tracking any potential “undesirables” and imprisoning them at will, erasing their memories and transforming them into Leapers, insane, violent mutants who inhabit the slums and sewers of Neo-Paris.

In order to combat this oppressive regime, the enigmatic Edge has started up the Errorist movement, a group of people who seek to bring about chaos in the city, tearing down the system of memory surveillance and giving the people control once again.  This is where our protagonist, Nilin, comes into play.  Having just been arrested and gotten her memories wiped, she is contacted by Edge while on her way to be turned into a Leaper, who manages to hack the prison’s systems and assists Nilin in her escape.  Free from her binds, Nilin is guided by Edge in an effort to recover her lost memories, uncover Edge’s true identity and dismantle Memorize’s stranglehold on the city.  Now, while that all sounds like the grounds for a down-right spectacular plot, it’s the execution of this story that causes the whole thing to fall flat on its face.

Jesus, where do you start with this thing?  For starters, the characters, with the exception of Nilin, are completely unrealistic and forgettable.  In almost any story, if a character is to be considered important, the viewer needs time to adjust to them and understand their views, actions, appearance and so forth, so that we may develop an opinion about them.  Remember Me, on the other hand, simply introduces most of them at the beginning of each level with a quick description and proceeds to give us literally NOTHING ELSE to work with until we actually approach the person near the level’s end.  What little exposition we do get on them either comes from collectable info packs (more on those later), or from a truckload of personality traits being dumped into the small amount of screen time that they get, thus making them look more like stereotypes than real, relatable people.  On top of that, the majority of them are insignificant to the overall narrative.  Because of how little focus many characters are given, we either completely forgot that they even existed, or if they do manage to get a little extra focus down the road, I actually found myself struggling to recall who the hell they even were.  If you aren’t going to give these people the time they need to leave an impact on us, you can’t expect us to give a damn about them.

As I mentioned before, however, Nilin is the one rare exception to these circumstances.  The last, best hope for the Errorist movement, Nilin comes off as a strong, defiant young woman, more than capable of defending herself, while still seeming human, expressing her disapproval with the Errorists ongoing tactics of causing chaos in Neo-Paris, even at the expense of the lives of innocent civilians.  In between each mission, we see her monologue about how she is reacting to these events, slowly coming to terms with her true identity, the powers that she wields and how she can handle all of this, all while traveling through a virtual realm that is supposed to be the manifestation of her memories; a realm that shapes itself to her current mood and intended actions.  In all, not only does Nilin appear incredibly admirable as a character, but she also highlights one of the strengths of Remember Me’s narrative style: its ability to take an inch and run a mile with it.

While this ability does not do the game favors with most characters, many scenes in the game, the scripted action sequences in particular, have every second that they can afford utilized in an exemplary fashion.  You never get the sense that the cut scene designers felt clueless at any point, as everything that we see is done with purpose.  The more casual cut scenes never feel pointless; the characters say what they need to say, do what they need to do and move on.  It allows for so much to be accomplished in a short amount of time, all without overwhelming the player.  And the action.  Dear God, the action scenes flow about as smooth as silk sheets in a breeze. Every movement and gesticulation occurs with such fluidity that we can really feel immersed in the situation at hand, and even better is the pacing of this action, which made it so that we could be amazed without being overwhelmed.  I could be blown away by the intensity of each scene and not have to replay the moment in my head to fully understand what happened, not once having to ask myself “Did I miss something?”  And yet, ironically enough, this surging, fluent pacing just might be what truly kills this game’s story.

If you go back and read the synopsis I wrote up above, you’ll notice that it’s rather bare-bones.  I say this because if you’re expecting things to be far more fleshed out when you go through the game, you’re going to be in for a rather nasty surprise.  Just like how most characters are given the bare minimum in terms of exposition, practically every element and theme in Remember Me is pretty much just glanced over; all while we’re being told that these ideas are supposed to matter and we’re supposed to be invested in them.  Everything from the back stories of various antagonists to the technology that makes up Neo-Paris to the provocative, thought-provoking concepts that are mused over never seem to get the amount of focus that they rightfully deserve.  Instead, we are given those small collectable data caches that I mentioned earlier. 

Similar to the codex in the Mass Effect series, they fill you in on various machines, VIPs and past events that make up this world.  And frankly, if this is all you’re going to give us, instead of coupling it with an immersive world that feels like it lives and breathes, it really feels like you’re not even trying.  We cannot be expected to invest ourselves into this world if efforts are not taken to show the player just what kind of effect the events that are taking place can have on the world, and not once are we given the chance to engage in any activity that might allow us to feel the pain that is felt by those who live under Memorize’s rule.   



Can't you just feel the emotion?



It really is a damn shame too because, as I mentioned before, the themes that make up this game come off as incredibly deep and profound, such as whether or not the suffering of innocents can justify an uprising, whether we should ignore painful memories or learn from them and the idea of Nilin’s amnesia allowing her to view her situation from a whole new light.  Furthermore, when she remixes a target’s memories in order to manipulate them, we are actually in charge of taking this memory and altering minor elements that will add up to a different conclusion, at least from the perspective of the target.  These parts feel quite similar to Run Lola Run, reminding us that even changing the smallest, seemingly trivial thing can alter our future drastically.  I wanted to mull over these further with the game, but without the proper development, they come off as nothing more than the pretentious notions of an already poorly executed plot.

Thankfully, the same cannot be said for Remember Me’s art direction, music and atmosphere.  I’m beginning to get the feeling that Dontnod spent all its time on the game’s visuals, because Paris has never looked this engaging.  The French architecture alone is worth highlighting, as every hallway, balcony and street is steeped in the intricate stone carvings, filling the city with untold amounts of culture.  Inversely, the technology that is spattered across Paris gives each area tons of personality, whether it be the use of holograms across the city walls, even if they come off as distracting sometimes, robotic servants performing their duties without a care in the world and the other bits of machinery that cover living rooms and blend together with buildings.  Admittedly, the appearance of these electronics can give some areas a cluttered, almost obtrusive feel to them, but these situations are few and far between and they typically meld together with an almost unparalleled beauty.

But it’s not just the mixture of new and old that gives Remember Me its visual flare.  Each level has a distinct vibe to it that the graphics capture perfectly every time.  The slums and underground stages are cast in darkness and a feeling of depression, with disrepair and filth littering the player’s path, although some parts can feel a bit hammy with their attempts at horror.  The city streets are a perfect blend of technology and classic architecture.  The buildings controlled by Memorize appear clean and controlled, but have an overwhelming, almost menacing feel to them, as if the constructions surrounding the player are concealing something far more sinister.  Even the virtual reality segments have a strange appeal to them, the abyss invoking an enigmatic serenity that you don’t see in many games.  These vibes are complimented even further by the soundtrack.  It’s mostly a mixture of symphonic and electronic elements, but they feel so utterly appropriate for these scenarios, with the harmonic elements granting many action sequences a heroic motif to them, while the electronic arrangement grants many portions of the game a rhythmic aesthetic that mostly balances out the traditional instruments, even if the symphonies can feel a bit overused at times.  But that all lies upon the surface of Remember Me.  At its core, the gameplay, much like the story, is a shoddy, shallow mess.

Nothing about Remember Me’s gameplay is wrong or broken, per say, aside from some minor hiccups with the camera and controls.  Rather, it speaks volumes to the game’s overarching problem: untapped potential.  Each level boils down to making your way from point A to point B, while presenting the player platforming sequences a la Uncharted, fighting off various goons in a similar fashion to the Batman Arkham series and typically finishing off with a boss battle.  One of the big problems that immediately comes to mind is how the game holds your hand at almost every instance that it is given the chance.  Tips are constantly flashing on the screen during combat.  Getting lost is practically an impossibility due to the overly linear pathways.  Remembrance sections, sequences where Lilin follows the holographic personification of the memories that she stole from someone in order to get around certain obstacles, are nothing more than a hi-tech version of follow the leader.  THERE ARE LITERALLY ARROWS POINTING TOWARDS THE NEXT PLATFORM THAT YOU SHOULD GO TO!  On top of all of this, going back to the linear pathways, there are various collectable strewn across each level, such as the info caches and health upgrades, but finding them is about as easy as finding fries at McDonalds.  They tend to be “hidden” down small paths or on ledges that obviously don’t lead in the direction of your objective, emphasizing that there has to be something there, thereby eliminating any sense of it being a secret.  Linearity is the name of the game in Remember Me, and that doesn’t stop with the platforming.

Where do I go from here?!

The combat certainly appears deep and visceral to the naked eye, but one to two fights reveals that it’s no less shallow than the rest of the game.  Nilin is equipped with a number of tools that come her way at a steady, albeit uneventful, pace, including the Spammer, a “Memory-shooting” gun that overloads enemies’ Sensen’s, which is mostly situational and doesn’t hold much practical appeal to most fights, a short list of customizable combos and S-Pressens, unlockable special moves that allow Nilin to clear the battlefield far more easily.  Nilin handles smoothly enough, dodging by jumping over enemies while utilizing combos to build up energy to perform S-Pressens, although a lock-on feature would be more than welcome in certain scenarios. 

As for the combos, you don’t customize the button inputs themselves, but rather you affect what each input does with Pressens, button presses that speed up S-Pressen recovery, recover health, do more damage or increase the effect of Pressens used previously.  Customizable combos really feel superficial in the grand scheme of things, but the true problem lies in the core of the combat, as well as the gameplay in general.  Enemy variety does evolve as time goes on, with Memorize forces adopting shields and mechs while Leapers use their memories to strengthen their power houses, but the formula remains the same: dodge, perform combos, use S-Pressens, repeat until the battle is over.  There’s nary a sense of variety, customization or choice to any of it and you’ll find yourself just going through the motions after a while.  The same goes for the rest of the game; just fighting, then jumping, then fighting, then jumping until you reach the boss, with an occasional puzzle thrown in to try and break up the monotony, most of the time feeling like a case of too little, too late.  And yet, strangely enough, the combat has more than enough appeal to keep you going until the credits roll.

 For one, the boss battles are leaps and bounds beyond the repetitive nature of regular combat.  Ignoring the final boss, which is your typical “fight a giant without actually fighting him” affair, each encounter actually requires the player to think on their feet and strategize for a change.  Whether you’re going three rounds in a street fight with a super charged ex-Memory Hunter or facing off against a prison warden who can manipulate virtual reality, they have more personality than practically all the previous fight scenes combined, breaking away from the tired old dodge-and-punch formula and really trying to leave an impact on the player, even if the trick to beating certain bosses doesn’t reveal itself until the game decides to tell you.

 

But even the regular fights have a certain draw to them.  Although they may be fairly simple, they are still entertaining for the same reason that the scripted action catches your attention.  Every attack is done with such purpose and energy that you’ll swear that you were watching a Jackie Chan flick, and not once did I notice the frame rate chug.  This is also true while Nilin traverses various platforms which, while incredibly linear, are still quite hair-raising.  The difficulty even manages to compliment this by punishing you for failure, but not in an overly cruel fashion to ruin the pace, thereby keeping you focused on the action.  However, no matter how fun it looks, no amount of window dressing can compensate for the fact that the gameplay is simply has no depth to it.

                And that pretty much sums up Remember Me perfectly: spotless beauty that alludes to a deeper purpose, only to reveal that it’s about as deep as a kiddie pool.  Sure, it looks and sounds incredible, but the story, gameplay and world in general are so underdeveloped and borderline nascent that it makes me wonder if something went wrong during the development process.  I know that this could have been a superb adventure throughout Paris, as there are brief glimmers of brilliance scattered throughout it.  I get the feeling that it would have been more successful as an open-world adventure game, similar to Assassin’s Creed or Fallout, as it would have given the story more time to develop, allowed the player to interact more with the NPCs in order to get a better sense of what ails them and might have even delivered more varied combat situations.  Hell, considering how much Nilin’s story has to offer, I’d say this could have even accomplished more as a TV series.  At least that would have eliminated the need to worry about gameplay and allowed the creative team to focus far more on adding depth to the narrative.  But, as it stands, Remember Me is the kid who, for all intents and purposes, could have been President, but just ended up as a tour guide in the White House.  Stick to making movies, guys.