PlatformOVERALL
PlayStation 36.90
Overall 6.90


The first few hours of Remember Me were just the opposite of the title, they were totally forgettable. I was just going through the motions and thinking of all the funny ways I can trash this garbage game in a review. But as the hours went by something strange happened, I enjoyed myself. The setting, story and even combat all come together to create a decent original gaming experience.

Remember Me follows the modern day game developer guide book to a tee. Borrow elements from popular games to easily sell your title, it has uncharted platforming and batman like combat. Add a unique hook to prove your game is different, this game has memory hacks. Create a story premise that sounds really interesting but it actually isn't, check. Make sure the game is cinematic so make the player walk slowly while stuff happens, check. Oh and QTEs of course you need those.

Another staple of modern game design is making sure the player never gets lost and that every action feels like there is an invisible developer hand guiding you. Well I guess this developer felt their game was super complicated cause they made damn sure you know where to go. First the game is linear (with a few extra hallways to find hidden upgrades) so it's not like you can get lost anyway but just in case you can't figure out how to move forward you next destination is highlighted yellow. Every time you are climbing the next spot of the climb is highlighted yellow, not that you can actually climb to any other spot except the yellow one. The developers still believed you are too stupid to find your way so you can always press a dedicated button that focuses the camera on where you need to go. Oh and there are on screen prompts and hints telling you what to do as well. And so you go on your very guided experienced through this future Paris.

Neo Paris is an interesting looking setting, they nailed the look of the place with its neon future look. There are codex entries detailing the this world where memories become storable, like data on a USB stick and now there are memory hackers, you are one of them. The story gains steam toward the end but is ultimately predictable. Still there is room to explore this neat world they created in a sequel, look at that I want a sequel.

When you are not running around set paths, and doing auto platforming you are in combat which is where the game really stands out. There is this combo system where you decide the type of damage each button of the combo delivers, if you chain a certain type you gain more of that types power. The three types are damage, healing and special. Damage obviously does the most damage, healing heals with each hit and the special fills up your special bar so you can pull off special attacks. These attacks are varied and extremely useful against certain enemies. After using one you have cooldowns which are reduced by using the special.

Fights are not free form, you can't jump from opponent to opponent like batman, instead you lock onto one guy and try to string one of the preset combos. There is a dodge that is pretty slow plus you can't really cancel out of all attacks and you have no invincibility frames when dodging making defense a total pain in the ass. One of the specials is to enter free flow attack mode which lets you finally fly around like batman, as I said before getting powered enough to do specials is the key. As the combos grow and you begin to customize, the combat system really starts to shine.

Enemies start to appear that are designed to make use of every kind of attack you have. One enemies gives you damage any time you hit it so you need to attack with healing attacks so you can heal as you hit him. Some enemies have to be hit with a special first to take damage meaning you need to charge the meter by beating the grunts. Fights weren't all about being good at the combat, each kind of presented a strategy that you needed to find. There is also a projectile attack that of course you cannot aim, why would the developers think you are capable of aiming yourself. So you have to use the horrible lock on which almost always fails in a major battle. So for all the good the combat does there are plenty of frustrating aspects to it.

The big selling point of the game were the memory jack sequences where you enter a memory and alter it. This plays out like a point and click adventure game but in a set video that you can rewind and move forward. As you watch the memory you will see objects light up meaning you can interact with them then continue watching to see how your interaction changes the memory. There are quite a few different endings to each memory you can find, only one leads to success still I found messing around with these to be a fun mini game, especially the ones where you can do horrible things to the persons memory. Sadly there are only four of these the entire game.

There are a few other elements like powers that let you move objects with some magic glove, of course on a set track cause there is no way a player could figure out how to move objects on their own. There are a few puzzles that actually make you think, specifically two riddles that are actually quite tough and come out of nowhere. Playing the game feels like you are a small girl holding hands with daddy as you navigate a busy mall, then all of a sudden daddy lets go and says if you want to go in the toy store answer these series of obtuse riddles. You start to beg for help but daddy says no help for you! That's what that moment was like, so random in a game like this but I will take what little puzzles I can have. Boss battles always make use of your powers, almost Zelda like at times. After the first few hours it feels like a good action adventure game and that lasts for a good six hours or so.

The game looks nice, as I said I love the art style. The music is pretty neat. It runs super well, no glitches (so it did leave out part of the modern game handbook after all!!!). In reality all its  issues comes with it playing way too safe with the gameplay. It feels stiff when it could have been fast , loose and exciting. It doesn't really excell at anything either. Remember Me is simply one of those cool enjoyable second tier games we used to get before the AAA monster are them all up. But it's a second tier game trying way too hard to be a AAA game, if it just focused on what it did differently and unique it could have been something we would actually remember.
Posted by Dvader Thu, 27 Nov 2014 00:34:44
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Thu, 27 Nov 2014 00:39:56
Man, fantastic review!   You are spot on!!!!
 
Thu, 27 Nov 2014 00:43:21
Lol! But really I liked this review, so please read.
 
Thu, 27 Nov 2014 00:44:22
Remember Me is what Capcom will soon be saying if they don't turn their business around.
 
Thu, 27 Nov 2014 00:46:02
I got a boner from reading Vader's eloquent prose in this excellent review.
 
Thu, 27 Nov 2014 00:48:52
I did read it.  Sounds like something I'd pass on until it's dirt cheap.  Maybe they should make a game about changing people's memories.
 
Thu, 27 Nov 2014 01:39:13
The funny thing is I saw the pm first so I thought it was a new nice guy that was lurking that just liked my reviews, then I see he was a spammer. Ass.
 
Thu, 27 Nov 2014 18:26:17
I downloaded this on the PS3 when I had PS+ only played for about an hour or so. It seemed ok but nothing special.
 
Thu, 27 Nov 2014 19:59:30
No, I don't remember you. Are you Steels manservant?
 
Thu, 27 Nov 2014 21:20:08
This review was so good it gave me manservants.
 
Fri, 28 Nov 2014 10:44:19
+1
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