Remember Me Review on PlayStation 3

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RememberMe

Set in 2084, this third person action fantasy game has an extraordinary narrative as players rebuild the life of a female protagonist named Nilin in Neo-Paris amid a world where memories are the ultimate commodity.

The Hype

  • Speculative, stunning vision of our future – Discover Neo-Paris 2084, where augmented reality and memory digitization have taken control of people’s lives.
  • Play as Nilin, an elite memory hunter with a clouded past – Become the most wanted memory hunter in Neo-Paris and experience the power to break into people’s minds to steal their memories.
  • Memory Remix – This innovative new gameplay mechanic allows players to use Nilin’s powers and alter parts of people’s memories in real-time gameplay.
  • A balanced mix of combat and exploration – Fight your way through the different environments Neo-Paris has to offer, using Nilin’s proficiency in martial arts, as both hunter and prey!

The Reality

Set in this futuristic Paris (though not many characters speaking in French accents), Remember Me, formerly known as Adrift, offers a unique third-person action adventure game set in the familiar French city.

In this futuristic world memories are digitized, bought, sold and traded creating a world with no secrets. The story centers on Nilin, a former elite memory hunter with the ability to break into people’s minds and steal or even alter their memories.

Nilan

The one player story begins with an incarcerated and incapacitated Nilin on deck to get her memory erased. This tall, athletic woman with a British accent must learn as she goes while players also learn, which heightens every action…if player get emotionally invested into this character.

Who is behind the quest to control all these memories, which are digitized and traded? The game reveals multiple answers as players gradually rebuild Nilin’s past experiences.

Bounty hunters, “leapers”, prison infiltration, corporate espionage, “Errorists”, resistance movements, and secret world powers all enter the mix as a new product called Sensen hits the market.

The Sensen is visually shown in the back of neck and accesses memories as a brain implant where characters upload and share their memories and/or remove bad memories.

Play the game with three save slots at three difficulty levels (script kiddie, errorist agent, and memory hunter), which players can change at any time in the game (changes can affect performance, trophies, etc.) throughout nine chapters (numbered 0 through 8). Chapter 0 provides essential details, but a video or other supplementary unlocks would have been nice.

Players experience load times after death, so the game automatically creates an incentive for players not to die. Remember Me departs from familiar button mashing, location radar icons, and health kit pick-ups.

Involving a world with stylized elements including technology, civic engineering, modern gadgets, and architecture, which players become quite familiar as they move through every nook and cranny using easily visible orange arrows and/or markers as guides.

Nilin can climb, jump, repel, slide, and drop from many environmental objects. Again, the camera can become an issue here.

Players must remember to be methodical when making special moves. For example, when making an opposite direction jump, make sure Nilin is reaching towards the area you want her to jump in.

RememberMeAction

Nilin’s past acquaintances also factor into the mix as the game presents characters speaking the dialogue in the upper right screen corner. The voices are clear plus no lip syncing is required to make more room for the numerous cut scenes, especially in the memory remix sequences.

When encountering guiding memories called remembranes, Nilin can follow the guiding character’s actions. As the sequence begins she can literally follow the character (outlined in white) correctly and carefully through the environment.

RememberMeEnvironment

For example, Law enforcement robots look unavoidable at first, but have a limited range of detection that the nimble Nilin can slip through.

The fluid combat movements remind me of the Batman Arkham game series. Players can always dodge attacks (left stick and X) after visual prompts from enemies – a very helpful addition.

Combat is the only way to regain lost health in this game and different enemies always require different strategies.

The combo lab (accessible by pausing the game any time) could be more intuitive so it has a mild learning curve, but basically involves square and triangle button combinations on the left then assigning specific types from the left. It’s great to experiment with different  combos while learning the lab.

There are a maximum of four combo sequences available where players assign a type of punch or kick in the set sequence. These moves (a.k.a. pressens) include regen (health boost, low damage), power (triggers finishing move), cooldown (reduces cooldown time for quicker special attacks), and chain.  The four Pressen families are “Regen” (healing), “Power” (damage), “Chain” (duplication and doubling of previous moves) and “Cooldown” (regeneration of S-Pressen energy). There are several possible Pressen combinations. Players also build “focus” in combat.

All the action – good and bad – earn players Procedural Mastering Power (PMP). The special S-pressen moves are unlocked throughout the story and include fury, D.O.S., camo, logic bomb, R.I.P. In these moves, players can stun enemy groups, turn invisible, reveal invisible enemies, perform instant finishing moves, break shields and turn robots into allies.

RememberMeMemoryMix

As the plot progress, player can develop a constant desire to improve, so Nilin relearns her skills, and break the overall balance of power. Nilin can access, alter, and even steal other people’s memories, which have become an important commodity in this futuristic world. Memory remixing plays a big role in power shifts. Players do not get a choice of which memories to alter, but must choose the right event sequence to achieve the required result and progress further in the game.

Players also interact with the right moments during special sequences to change outcomes. Memory remixes also reveal important character background about Nilin. Players can really feel the emotional conflict from Nilin as they cycle through the video looking for key events to change, which are visually represented as blip-like distortions in the environment. These visual distortions also appear when Nilin’s health is low. Players choose only one option, but must get the right sequence. The trial and error is entertaining and minimal.

RememberMeAdvanced

The smooth fighting system and melee actions involve simple alternates between triangle and square button. Again, camera issues constantly cause minor sight and viewing issues. Sometimes players can move Nilin totally off-screen and other snafus bring the view too close, but these issues don’t usually occur during combat only when navigating through environments.

Special signs in the environment give hints for special items, so players can always look for clues as they move through the environments. The environments are complex, but usually have linear markers where Nilin needs to go, so players do not get lost in the game. The top-notch music is as unique as the visual design. Composer Olivier Deriviere uses digital enhancement to modify his orchestral score from the Philharmonia Orchestra.

RememberMeScene

This complex world epitomizes open world, but the overall game experience is a little too linear. Signs and notices pop out, but players cannot interact with most of them.

Hopefully future add-on content will include multiplayer modes and/or additional memory remix experiences. Remember Me requires 1.8 GB of hard drive space. Extras include artworks and 3D models. Also available on PC and Xbox 360.

Remember Me is an innovative game…hopefully players will remember their interest so a new game series can provide even more action-packed, emotional experiences. This intriguing game, published by Capcom and developed by Dontnod Entertainment, is primed for a sequel, which will hopefully come very soon.

Remember Me

MSRP: $59.99 (Amazon and other stores)

What I Like: strong female lead character, visual design, emotional investment, unique experiences, memory remix gameplay, fluid combat movements, ambitious plot, highly detailed environments, impressive Nilin character rendering/movements, voice talent, musical score

What Needs Improvement: more open world navigation/exploration opportunities, problematic camera, missing multiplayer modes, some character dialogue

Source:  Reviewer copy provided by publisher

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