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.