Video review: “Binary Domain” – just a good cyberpunk shooter
Large classic third -party shooters in recent years have been experiencing far from their best period. Deserving attention of the large -budget games of this genre (without any impurities, like an open world, elements of a horror and other add -ons leading from the essence of additions), you can count on the fingers of one hand. Therefore, lovers are simply to shoot in everything around with a look from the back of the protagonist more and more often have to return to the already passed projects and that at one time was overlooked from sight. On the other hand, such a deficit within the framework of the genre gives a chance to such a half -forgotten, but memorable and original games, as the culprit of our today’s conversation, to receive the attention of the attention of them on the release.
Unlike the same Hideo Kodzima or Shinji Mikami, the Japanese gamer -in -law Tosikhiro Nagosi, which is not so famous for domestic players, boasts by no less impressive experience of developing and loud projects to which he put his hand. He began to work in Sega back in the late eighties, he managed to take the most direct part in the creation of such popular racing series as Virtua Racing and Daytona USA. He worked on the legendary Shenmue in those years and many parts of the franchise about the blue ultrasound hedgehog Sonic. However, the general public primarily knows him as the author of the line of entertainment games Super Monkey Ball and one of the fathers of the cult series Yakuza. The versatile interests of Nagosi and the willingness to take on something hitherto unexplored have always been his business card. Therefore, it is not surprising that among the Japanese developers, who often did not risk launching large new franchises, it was he who was one of those who still decided to take up a large -scale, original project in the genre unusual for himself and the genre atypical for the country of the rising sun.
Nagosi – all hands master.
In many of their interviews, which stated that Western shooters who managed to achieve incredible progress in design and gameplay mechanics are still extremely primitively approaching the emotional side and depth of the plot, Nagosi in his new game planned to rely on a cinematic, well-set story;non -standard and exciting history;real drama and interesting philosophical issues. Having reinforced all this with bright, living characters-partners and an unusual system of direct interaction with them in battle and beyond. Implying the construction of mutual trust and establishing ties with each of them individually. At the same time, the gameplay component itself and of course the shooting should have remained as peppy, funny and fascinating, being implemented at the level of the best representatives of the genre. Orientation on the big world, rather, even the Western market from the very beginning lay the foundations of the game. Unlike Yakudza, this time Nagosi planned to attract maximum attention of the audience outside his country to the project. Having offered her a kind of alloy of cultures, where Europeans and Americans act as the main characters of history, but all actions take place in Japan. Even the capture of the movements and directing of all Katsen was engaged in Western specialists hired by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio for these purposes. So Binary Domain was born, which managed to realize most of the ideas of its author and sunk into memory to many players.
Given the traditional proximity of modern Japanese culture to the cyberpunk genre and a mass of cultural works in the field of anime, cinema, and of course, the video game created in this country, the choice of nagging of the anti-utopian, gloomy future for its new project does not seem at all amazing for its new project. In addition, as is usually the case with developers from this part of the world, in the history of the game there were no direct references to global world events, neat statements on acute topics and a typical self -digging for the Japanese. Cautions and suggestions to think about how our tomorrow can turn out. After all, the world of the future in Binary Domain with its total inequality, complete devastation, flooded continents and changes in the climate became an echo of real social shifts, financial stratification and natural disasters of Japan. Unconditionally caricatured and hyperbolized, but perfectly reflecting social and economic trends not only in the homeland of Nagosi himself, but throughout the globe of balls.
Decent upper Tokyo.
World warming, casinopalm.net destruction and flooding of most of the cities of the Earth, entailing the death of millions of people. International corporations have gone roots in public administration of many countries. Developing by the seven -mim steps of the technology of the late twenty -first century, which became a good for endowed with power and carrying death and extinction to all the rest. The new cities rebuilt thanks to them on the wreckage of the old world. And as the most striking example of the peak of inequality – the upper part of the closed Tokyo with beautiful light avenues and a cafe in the open air and hiding in the darkness, immersed in chaos of his underworld. Became a shelter for Amad, fighting with the local corporation and its robots of resistance and trying to survive the poor people. Where even children have to engage in murder and looting in order not to die of hunger. It can be said, the reference embodiment of all Cyberpunk canons. For sophisticated lovers of this genre, probably even too much. Fortunately, this is compensated by the rapidly developing story of the game, an abundance of humor and perky gameplay.
“An empty child”.
The plot of Binary Domain starts in 2080, when the world’s largest technological corporation Bergen is an unexpected attack that practically suppressed all competitors in the world. The attacker is the so -called empty child – a humanoid robot, the development and production of which, for moral reasons, were prohibited by the Geneva Convention a decade ago. It turns out that it is no different from ordinary people and that the worst person herself, who is aware of himself, android received US citizenship thirty years before the company who had played in the action of the tragedy in the action of the tragedy. This fact and the fact that the most advanced American corporation, even close to a similar level of technology, can hardly analyze its nervous system, causes huge fears of the government of the country. When such empty children are found in the highest echelons of power around the world, suspicion falls on the Japanese corporation of Amad and its founder. Many years ago, Bergen accused of the theft of technology, but the lost court due to the interference in the case of high-ranking patrons of a competence corporation. To get to the bottom of the truth and find evidence of the connection of Amada with prohibited Androids to Japan urgently send an international military detachment consisting of special units of different countries. Which will have to quietly penetrate the well -protected territory of the company and find out the truth. With the arrival of the colorful American duet to a huge dam on the coast of Japan and the game itself begins. Sweet couple in the person of the protagonist Dan Marshall and his partner Big -mane Big Bo in the manner characteristic of the brave fighters of the United States naturally immediately falls into an unplanned ambush. Pull them out of these troubles and help to get to the place of general collection of the entire detachment to the player himself.
Habitual shooting due to shelter.
And literally from the very first minutes of gameplay and several shootings, it becomes clear that we are dealing with the classic “Chemberlen answer”. After all, by no means in vain in the West, the game after the release was quite deservedly christened by the Japanese Gears of War. Epic rifts and shelters, like the main game mechanics. Blind shooting because of these very shelters and short run between them. Moderate arsenal of useful weapons and grenades to one degree or another. Huge disproportionate trunks and selected from enemies are completely monstrous guns. True, unlike this popular, Epic Games Binary Domain TPS feeds boasts somewhat increased speeds of everything that happens and the number of maneuvers that the player will have to perform, as well as much greater gameplay diversity. And in general, chaos, which often occurs on the screen, comes out a degree higher than the well -deserved source of inspiration. A large number of interactive and destroyed surroundings, gas cylinders, barrels and shelters. Shots with an enhanced energy charge for clearing passages and quickly eliminating crowd enemies. The use of baits to divert the attention of iron boobs and destroy them using grenades of different types. Given that throughout the game to meet in shootings, the Marshall detachment will have to exclusively with the security robots of the Amad Corporation (various configurations, sizes and classes, with its own set of weapons and protection), then the selection of proper tactics and the use of all available equipment sometimes become vital.
Of course, the creations of engineers of the future cannot boast of a particularly developed artificial intelligence, but they are easily able to crush with mass and continuous overwhelming fire. Very spectacularly flying away from shots into pieces with electronic filling, gradually naked under armor, with perseverance worthy of the best will be the best to go forward. Often, making crazy races behind the back, imposingly sitting up behind the player’s shelter or with shooting legs, timidly running forward. By the way, the ability to partially divide ominous iron can sometimes play a plus. Indeed, instead of messing up with a group of opponents, it will be easier and easier to shoot the heads of a couple of them and those, having lost the opportunity to navigate in battle, will begin to plant all around and primarily in their former allies. Opponents with shields, highly armored enemies, insect -shaped robots, especially healthy machine gunners, flying bots, landing and a whole bunch of other types of pieces of iron, diversify the whole thing. The farther the plot, the more fun. Therefore, we can safely say that the main gameplay mechanics of the game, namely, shooting does not bother at all. Robots spectacularly fly away from explosions, recoil and hit are perfectly felt.
Typical “Hell and Israel” on the screen.
In addition, the occurrers very cheerfully and preventing skirmishes with opponents who do not get bored are constantly interspersed with other game activities. Swims in sea water and hide and seek from security bots. Laps on gutters at frantic speed with dodging obstacles. Runes under wild rockfall with “good old” QTE. Water motorcycles on tunnels and sewers. Crazy cars by car along the highway with shooting wheel robots and flying drones. Pursuit on the roof of the train with a bunch of enemies. Salvation of partners from faithful death, during which you will have to break through the crowd of iron. Control of a giant robot storming the hordes of opponents. Interaction with the environment and mechanisms for promotion by locations. And of course the classic holding of the waves, and fights with huge bosses. Which, according to the developers, are very important for games in the Shuther genre and on which a deliberate large bet was made. And it really catches your eye. Methods of struggle against each of these gigantic communities are significantly different, like the battle conditions themselves in completely different decorations. To defeat some of them, you will have to use interactive environment mechanisms. Others need to climb on the head using vertical and distracting maneuvers. Here you have the flying collars, accompanied by a smaller Robots, and completely indecent sizes of a mechanical spider, which will have to shoot limbs one after another. The battle with a gigantic furious loader, an escape on the van along the city streets from the monstrous Karbaras with huge wheels. Incredible sizes of a chandelier with tentacles and even hell knows that. The battle with each of the bosses takes place in several stages, and some of the particularly annoying giants will continue to return as history develops.
Not the largest representative of local bosses.
The cherry on the cake in all this disgrace, of course, are partners and the interaction with them promised by the team, both during the shootings and beyond. Breaking through an ambush on the dam and got out to the lower city of Marshal and his comrade meets three more fighters of an international team sent to investigate the actions of the Amada Corporation. British Charles Gregori and Rachel Townsend, as well as Chinese sniper Fei Lee Lee. A little later, in the plot, a robot named Kain is joined by them, the only surviving member of the French unit, unsuccessfully landing on the enemy territory. Very different heroes with their own characteristics. From this moment, the player will be free to decide – whom to take with him for the next mission, and whom to determine in the second compartment, which will move in parallel. Each of the partners, who has his own character, preaches his own style of fighting and prefers weapons of various types and range, which should be taken into account during the formation of the detachment. In addition, in Binary Domain there is the possibility of pumping characters using special nanomash. Found on locations or purchased in special vending machines scattered by the levels of the game. Where, in addition to them, you can purchase the improvements for weapons, new trunks, ammunition, grenades and other sources necessary as air. The player will willy-nilly will have to focus on upgrades and pump the indicators and equipment of certain members of the detachment. After all, to bring to the maximum everything and everything will not work out in any way. The characters themselves will react differently to the decisions of the protagonist and offer various options for the action during clashes. Come in from a certain flank, cover up the daring offensive by Marshall from afar, throw the enemy with grants or support them with fire when they themselves rush forward. At the same time, encouraging his commander, admiring his successful maneuvers or, vice versa, criticizing the rash. Not very wide, but still in the game, the team system exists, including for reactions to such initiatives and phrases of allies.
Teams to partners during the battle.
Although, first of all, it is of course intended for tactical maneuvers and coordination of the actions of the detachment. Send partners on the attack, gather everyone around the protagonist or ask to share a first -aid kit when Marshall is dumped from their feet. All this is accompanied by constant jokes and jokes of each other’s fighters, small dialogs right during the battles and in the breaks between them. Answers to questions and jokes of partners and the player’s behavior on the battlefield gradually form the attitude of a character to him, which can always be traced in a special menu. Correct commands, personal courage and a large number of destroyed enemies in a short time positively affect the status of a commander in the detachment, and fire in their own and failure to comply with joint tactics reduce respect for it. Although, of course, there are their nuances, such as the completely opposite reaction of different heroes to the same phrase of the protagonist or the decision made in battle. In addition to quite obvious consequences, this whole system of partners and reputation has another interesting property. Depending on who is currently in the detachment and what characters have the level of trust in the main character, combat situations will differ somewhat, some unique scenes and other differences in the passage will appear. True, some very radical fork is not worth expecting, and the main story of the game certainly will not change. Nevertheless, it is pleased that the establishment of relations and interaction with the allies is built in such a way that all the dialogs and the change of mood of the heroes do not occur in individual fragments of history, as if divorced from the main gameplay, but are woven both into the fighting unit and peaceful walks, and into plot cades. There is even an important love line for the main story of the game.
Establishing relationships in the breaks between shootings.
It is lively, memorable characters;high -quality cinematographic production;The frantic pace of the game, from time to time diluted with calm segments with the ability to study the world and chat with neutral NPC and atypical for projects in this genre, questions raised as the plot develops and distinguish Binary Domain from many other shootings. Nagosi did not at all shouted in his soul when he declared that his game, in addition to high -quality, hurricane gameplay, would focus on an interesting story, philosophical dilemmas and force the player to empathize with the heroes on the other side of the screen. At the same time, in the correct proportions, combining serious topics and thoughts, with humorous elements and military bravado. One robot Kaine who speaks with a strong French accent, leading the car like a crazy, masterfully shooting his brothers from two pistols in Macedonian and non-stoply pouring jokes of what is worth. And in general, good -natured humor in the game is more than enough. Fucking conversations of the healthy Big Bo, from which the ears of the detachment wipe the ears. The caustic remarks of other fighters about typical manners are too confident in themselves by the Yankee. A little toilet humor and ridiculous scenes in the style of anime. In contrast to this, Binary Domain affects a lot of classic questions for cyberpunk and other serious topics. The tragedy of “empty children” aware of themselves people. The dilemma about what life is, about the difference between people and their creations and the unexpected results of their union. Mechanisms of thinking of artificial intelligence and its differences from the human mind. And even the concept of symbiotic reproduction of robots using the resources of the human body in the style of “software” of Rudy Ruker’s “software”. A peculiar mixture of the “Running Blade”, “Crycons” and “Scraper” from the Japanese genius known to everyone. The influence of the cult Cyberpunk Adventure in principle can be traced quite strongly. In the form of extremely similar storyline elements, some of the scenes clearly inspired by him and even familiar motives in the soundtrack of the game.
French robot Kayn is one of the most colorful characters.
True, unlike the meditative and atmospheric legendary quest, the eighty -eighth year of Binary Domain can rather characterize as a kind of Zalikhchikh fantastic action movie. With an interesting presentation of the plot from different points of view. Alert electronic soundtrack, remarkably maintaining the pace of what is happening. Excellent production of Katsen, revealing the details of the world, the individual and motives of the parties of the protagonist. A clearly tracing arc of the character of Dan Marshall himself, his development within the framework of the story and even a small drama for the final of the plot. Nothing extraordinary and incredibly deep. Just a very pleasant, albeit somewhat secondary story with interesting questions and possibly too simple answers. Not without a typical Japanese game with impaired logic of actions and excessively hyperbolized reactions. But demanding another from a shooter (albeit a claim to something more than a thoughtless shooting of thousands of iron boobs) would be simply stupid.
Yes, and to call Binary Domain just the perfect tongue will not turn. Not all of his gameplay mechanics work as planned. To get rid of the long shooting of the waves of the opponents, despite all the attempts of the developers to diversify the passage unfortunately, it was not possible. Small partners often climb under bullets themselves and complain about friendly fire. And the system of answers and interactions with them, whatever one may say, turned out to be quite conditional. Rather, giving an interesting, but unknown concept with uniform options for reactions and not too much consequences. Plus the management of the Allied with the help of voice commands, which was declared as one of the main chips of the game, does not really work at all. There are enough other unpleasant little things. But all this is more than compensated by the extremely pleasant shooting, a variety of gameplay, interesting bosses, charismatic characters and a plot, still trying to dig a little deeper than usual. This is doubly offended that the game, which received quite positive reviews of the press and players, did not gain success at all. And even her fast release on a PC after entering the consoles did not particularly fix the situation. A fat hint of the planned continuation in the scene after the credits and the interest of the creators to take up it, for a year now, for a year, the unwillingness of the “segi” to sponsor and publish a sequel. It remains only to believe that once again sorting out the franchise in the bastard of the franchise, this Japanese company will risk re -investing in the ideas of Nagosi and its studio, which continues to produce quite profitable projects.
