Grave Gamer News & Views — scifi

Remember Me Lands a Summer Date

First time developer Dontnod’s sci-fi actioner, Remember Me, has gone and got itself dated.  The Capcom produced title will see a Western release June 4th and on June 7th for the European market for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

A dash of Arkham Asylum’s combat, a bit of Assassin’s Creed’s platforming, and a whole mess of Total Recall’s, well, everything, Remember Me follows Nilin, an amnesiac who awakens in 2084 Neo-Paris (don’t ask me to point it out on a map).  Nilin soon discovers her forgetful disposition may be a taste of her own medicine; in her former life, she was an expert at “memory remixing,” a skill that gave her access to others’ memories, allowing her free reign to manipulate and modify them at her whim.

It’s a rife concept that plays on the notion of literally rewriting people, effectively playing God.  Hopefully Remember Me’s meatier notions aren’t overshadowed by mindless action (both Total Recall’s suck in their own special ways, after all), but I’m willing to give Dontnod the benefit of the doubt considering how hard up the industry is for original IP’s, especially when studios are saving up their “Wow” shit for the soon-to-be next generation.

Burn this solid Remember Me trailer into your memory.

Isaac by Svetlio3d

On paper Aliens: Colonial Marines sounded absolutely ace.  A direct continuation to one of the most influential and timeless science fiction films of the last fifty years signed off as official canon by 20th Century Fox, developed by Gearbox Software, one of the most renown and rejoiced gaming studios of this generation.

Colonial Marines should have been great.  Living and breathing Jimmy Cameron’s universe, a perspective on the future that countless, countless games, novels, and films still unabashedly rip off to this very day, should have made for an engrossing interactive experience that its imitators could hardly match because, instead of playing loose homage to the 1986 film, Colonial Marines had free reign to tap from the source.

I’ve been a huge fan of this franchise since early childhood; my immediate, almost unconscious response to “What’s your favorite movie?” is always “Aliens” without hesitation, and I’ve been excited about this game for a very long time.  By the time this review posts, you’re likely to already have heard the sordid truth.  It hurts me to say that Aliens: Colonial Marines doesn’t just miss the mark, it makes a vapor cloud the size of Nebraska fifteen miles away from it.

Destiny Unveiled: Details On Bungie’s “Shared World Shooter”

Bungie has returned from their three-year video game hiatus to show us a project so utterly ambitious, its success could mean changing the console shooter as we know it from here on out.

So, what is Destiny?  Bungie likes to think of it as “mythic science fiction” in a massive, always-online world.  But we’re not allowed to call it an MMOFPS, despite how fitting it sounds.  The ingredients may all be there – gigantic open-world, instantaneous co-op, in-game currency to unlock better gear, the ability to embark on raids…But, no, MMO doesn’t fit the bill according to Bungie.  Despite the need for persistent online-access, publisher Activision promises there’s no subscription fees, and Bungie claims the amount of players you’ll encounter has a controlled cap, shirking MMO standards.  Bungie prefers to call it a “shared world shooter” (think Borderlands on a larger scale).

Players don the role of a Guardian, warriors tasked with protecting the last of human civilization.  Drawing their power from the moon-shaped “Traveler” floating above Earth’s last city, Guardians can evoke class-specific skills to thin the alien onslaught attempting to bloody humanity.  Three such classes were revealed: the Titan, a brute with a focus for guns, big ones; the Hunter, a lithe infiltrator with a knack for sneaking and a sure-shot sniper; and the Warlock, a mage imbued with the Traveler’s decidedly supernatural power.

When touching on the sheer scope of the game, Bungie revealed players will have to think big.  Not only can you traverse amongst the ruins of Earth’s once-great cities – locations like the swamp infested Old Chicago and the “European Dead Zone” – but your exploits encompass the whole of our solar system with customizable spaceships bouncing you from planet to planet (while Bungie hinted at space combat, it was mum on whether or not we’d take control of our vessels).

Each locale offers you the chance to create your own “Legend,” a set of missions that compose a story molded by your actions.  These Legends can be tackled by your lonesome or you can better your chances with Guardians you meet, randomly generated in your session seamlessly and unobtrusively (think Journey with a spot of the ol’ ultra violence).  Bungie made it a point that Destiny’s story isn’t told, but found; players having to actively seek, or even shape, the narrative and lore through discovery and completed Legends.  How that works is anyone’s guess since Bungie was far from clear on the subject.

And that same obscuring, self-perpetuated fog hides the rest of Bungie’s grand effort.  We know to expect Destiny on both current and next-gen technology (PS3, Xbox 360, and whatever’s around the corner) but Bungie is dodgy about when, though they’re sure cross-platform online play is being ruled out.  We get the general premise, and a bunch of conceptual art to boot, but the public hasn’t seen minute one of gameplay footage.  This may only be the first reveal, but it seems the meatiest of details are purposely being withheld.  Though, mission success if it was Bungie’s intention to make me crave more.

The general assumption was that we’d see Destiny release before the year’s out, but with critical information lacking and two of the four consoles it’s intended for still not public knowledge, it appears we’ll be waiting quite awhile yet before we experience this shared world shooter.  From what we’ve seen and heard today, though, it looks worth the wait.

[Check out a detailed assessment of Bungie’s reveal hereabouts.]

Bungie’s Destiny Unveiled This Sunday

The time is soon upon us, folks.  Announced on its newly created Facebook page, February 17th marks our first official reveal of Destiny, Bungie’s first major title since giving up control of the wheel behind the phenomenally successful Halo franchise.

Just an arm’s throw back, we were privy to a sizable leak of story info and concept art that Bungie begrudgingly confirmed as real.  In said lowdown, the basic premise picks up seven-hundred years from now and pits players as “Knights"  bent on protecting the near-extinct remnants of humanity and their "Last City on Earth” against bizarre creatures creeping in from the fringes of the universe.

What we don’t know is just what the hell kind of game Destiny is supposed to be.  Brace for impact: there’s going to be shooting involved.  But ever since the project hit the radar, it’s been hinted we might see Bungie take on multiplayer of the massive variety which, in and of itself, hints at an equally large open world.

MMO/FPS, open world/co-op shooter, Halo-meets-Nancy Drew…Whatever in the fuck it is, it’s an original IP from one of the industry’s best, fan-loyal developers and that’s enough of a reason to be excited.  See you Sunday, folks.