VideoGame I would remember you, but I have a bad memory.
Remember Me was a game that had incredible potential, but poor execution. The controls were clunky, the nice-looking graphics sometimes delved headfirst into the uncanny valley, and the best part of the game only has 4 scenes. The music, however, is great if you like techno, the setting is original and interesting, the protagonist is very interesting as a character, and the combo lab is a unique and original idea. You can read my full review here
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VideoGame I Really Want to Remember You Nilin, But...
Remember Me is a beautiful game which successfully blends Techno Wreckage with Ascetic Aesthetic and Graffiti Town. Clean type treatments and clever futuristic touches gives it such personality. The story is also interesting: Nilin is a criminal who steals and remixes memories; she is part of a societal storm that she may or may not want to remain in.
Nilin is actually quite interesting. She looks cool, she's pretty tough, and looks unique in a world of heroes that tend to look alike. I applaud her solid design. The game provides many languages, which is a Godsend! It is best played in French, in my opinion, as the French voice for Nilin and the others feels natural.
All of these things are great about the game. But it could have been so much better. Remember Me suffers from linearity, lackluster combat and platforming, and most glaringly, from being stingy with its best feature: memory remixing!
Remixing memories is easily the most original and fun thing about this game. One watches the memory of a character, and looks for possible memory-glitches. Nilin can change these glitches to cause the victim to remember whatever Nilin wants them to. It's clever and fun. But we played the game for several hours and only remixed two memories that whole time.
Unacceptable. Why? Because between were endless boring platforming and fighting sequences. The combo system is fun (one may set each combo to achieve a certain effect) but the mooks were a bother to fight. The platforming was very clunky, and definitely no Mirror's Edge.
The game is unfortunately too linear. The environmental artist did a phenomenal job with the settings. They are gorgeous, and some visual elements are reminiscent of Mass Effect. But the player is forced along a set pathway and it feels like it. There are deliciously enticing shoppes everywhere, but they're only for looking at. I wanted so badly to customize Nilin's style or just buy something. Anything! And there are people in some places, but it's hard to interact with them to learn more about the cities. It's heart-breaking that the potential for these little extras was wasted.
Overall, I would play a sequel if I could explore more, remix more, and buy stuff. Especially clothes or other customizables. It's a cool future world that has potential, as the writing was lovely.
This game is worth a play. Do it!
Videogame Impressive Game, Flawed Mechanics
Remember Me is an innovative game that brings something original to a familiar genre. Its setting is fascinating, but the story doesn't seem to know how to properly utilize the world it has established for itself. You can tell a lot of passion and skill into the development of the setting and the story, but the relatively narrow scope of the narrative hampers a potentially immersive experience.
The gameplay also disrupts the enjoying of watching Nilin uncover the secrets behind Edge, the Errorist and her own past. I found everything around me to be at least moderately enticing, and there were several times where I had to simply stop to gaze at the scenary. It's a visually stunning game even though the character models seem somewhat unpolished. Playing as a mixed-race female protagonist who isn't overly sexed up is a plus, but the combat system...Dear lord.
While I can respect the slight originality of the combat creation system, it is poorly executed and a chore to use against multiple enemies. Combine this with a faulty targeting system and a hyperactive insistence on having to fight circular crowds of foes, and you have a chore of an action sequence that wears out its welcome very quickly. I certainly had a few "wanting to throw the controller" moments, and the repetitiveness of the enemy swarms combined with huge flaws in the cool-down pressen will give you the sense it will never end. The design of the pressens is especially messy because you may find yourself running around in circles waiting for a badly needed pressen to recharge. Some will take up to 160 seconds even with a good cool-down chain set up, and this results in fights that are artificially protracted and totally unenjoyable.
Nilin herself is well-designed. I love her choice of clothing, and her motivations for participating in the drama are respectable to a degree. However, the game poorly resolves the moral dilemma she faces from manipulating people's memories, and it seems like the developers weren't sure how to write a plausible way in which Nilin either confronts or adequately comes to terms with the conundrum of altering people's lives for mostly personal gain.
I would like to see more from this world. A sequel would be nice, but the combat system needs to be stripped down and rebuilt. I obviously found it to be the game's weakest point.