[h2]Overall: 8/10[/h2]
[h3]Story:[/h3]
I like a lot about the narrative, but I also dislike a lot about it as well. For starters, the base premise of a dystopian near-future where AI/robots need to be regulated due to global economic instability and the rapid advancement of robotics is extremely intriguing, and resonates a lot in today’s age (probably even more now than when Binary Domain first came out, to be honest.) I also like the commentary it makes/the subtle questions this game raises about sentient AI and what it means to be “human” in a world increasingly shaped by artificial life. However, it’s the finer details of the narrative that either don't really make sense or just feel pretty silly when placed under even mild scrutiny. For example, one of my biggest issues is the [spoiler]literal forced romance between Faye and Dan. In theory, its a very cool narrative twist; Dan clearly holds deep resentment toward robots from the start of the game, and having him reevaluate that stance when he discovers the girl he "loves" is the offspring of a Hollow Child sounds clever on paper. The problem is... Dan literally meets Faye on [b]THIS[/b] special ops mission, which cannot have lasted longer than a day or two. tops. We're just expected to believe he is willing to do a complete 180 on a lifetime of hatred for robots just because a fling he met [b]HOURS[/b] ago turned out to be a hybrid? Even worse, if you unfortunately get the ending where Big Bo either sacrifices himself or betrays you, Dan’s reaction to his partner and longtime friend being mortally wounded seems strangely unbothered and thus very jarring compared to how intensely he reacts earlier in the game when he is almost willing to beat Charlie to death for suggesting they must kill Faye for being a hybrid.[/spoiler]
The whole story feels like a culmination of B-movie action vibes. Its definitely fun, serves the gameplay well, and makes you think about certain aspects of consciousness/identity, but I really wish the narrative glue holding it all together was a bit more cohesive and presented better.
[h3]Gameplay:[/h3]
First off, I couldn’t get a controller or controller prompts to work [b]AT ALL[/b] during the tutorial section, but I think this game is probably better suited for KB+M regardless. Anyway, the core gameplay here is cover-based shooting, and I personally really enjoy it. This game came out towards the end of the height of the cover shooter era, and while that probably made it harder for it to stand out when it first released, it also means the gunplay here had already been perfected several times over so it actually holds up very well. Even better, The enemies you fight are all robots, so they can not only be dismembered but also react in surprisingly detailed ways to said dismemberment, including the various bosses. Robot grunts and bosses both adjust their methods of attack depending on the damage you have done, can crawl after you shoot their legs, pick weapons back up after you destroy one of their arms, etc., and it keeps the gameplay engaging because you have multiple ways to disable/manage your targets rather than just going for headshots all the time.
Outside of the cover shooting, the game tries to do... a lot... and probably too much for its own good at times. Between the main shooting sections there are various gameplay types that, while not groundbreaking or particularly innovative, are still pretty fun and give believable narrative reasons to shift away from cover shooting at just the right times so things don't get stale. These segments (such as swimming, jet skiing, car chases, etc.) are not the greatest mechanically, but I still found them mostly enjoyable, and I respect that this game manages to pull off most of its gameplay ideas reasonably well. That is, except for two things: the overarching trust system and the voice activation system. The voice activation is honestly just an annoying gimmick, so I'm glad you can turn it off completely and just use TAB to issue commands/respond to squadmates instead. The trust system is more interesting in theory since your conversations with the team can affect your relationship with them, but in practice the dialogue choices are very narrow and usually just boil down to slightly different versions of yes or no, with the “positive” response often being painfully obvious, so it just feels poorly implemented and pretty unnecessary by the ending.
[h3]World:[/h3]
The world/level design is pretty linear from a gameplay standpoint, but I actually think that structure works in its favor rather than against it. What stood out to me is how each chapter manages to take you through a distinctly different area or facet of dystopian Japan, so even though you're moving forward on a mostly guided path, it never feels visually or thematically repetitive, or like they're just giving you a different setting to kill robots in just for the sake of it. I especially loved the early sections where you're literally swimming through the submerged ruins of the old world, as it does a great job of immediately communicating the scale of what has been lost. As the game progresses, I really appreciated the contrast between the cramped, harsh living conditions of the resistance/the general population who were left behind and the elevated, pristine environments of society that built upward into something cleaner but also far more controlled. Sometimes showing and telling is both necessary, and I think Binary Domain strikes that balance just enough, using its level design to reinforce narrative details that are already being introduced early in the story rather than relying on exposition alone.
[h3]Visuals:[/h3]
Visually, this game still holds up exceptionally well. It came out towards the end of the PS3 era, so while it certainly looks like a PS3 game, it looks like a [b]GOOD[/b] PS3 game. That’s not to say that this game is without its problems though. Ironically, due to this game’s age, it has more visual problems than advantages. For starters, gameplay is hard locked to 60fps and can’t be changed at all. This is mildly annoying, but for a PS3-era title, the gameplay still feels pretty smooth at 60fps. The real downside is that every cutscene, however, is locked at 30fps for absolutely. no. reason.
Its definitely noticeable too, and creates a jarring shift whenever the game transitions between gameplay and cinematics. Furthermore, Binary Domain has issues with letterboxing the display improperly, causing it to not work correctly in ultrawide resolutions. I can’t even fully hold it against the game since it came out in an era before ultrawide monitors were commonplace, but if you have an ultrawide, getting the Flawless Widescreen fix is a [b]MUST[/b]. On my first playthrough everything was cramped, cropped, or just straight up bad looking, even after tweaking FOV ratios in the settings multiple times. I legit almost left a negative review on this game just because of how bad it looks natively on ultrawide setups.
[h3]Music/Sound Design:[/h3]
The music/sound design is unfortunately probably the weakest aspect of the entire game. Don’t get me wrong, It’s not all bad, but it's hard to not subconsciously compare to more modern gaming soundscapes, and that often results in the general sound design leaving a lot to be desired. For example, the voice acting is mostly serviceable, but when it's bad, it's BAD. Specifically Shindo and Faye Lee (which is Laura Bailey doing a Chinese accent...yikes...) Otherwise, I genuinely enjoyed a good bit of the upbeat, cyberpunk-inspired electronic tracks in the OST that really complement the futuristic setting/tone; However, a fair amount of the soundtrack also leans heavily into generic, corny action music that feels indistinguishable from other cover-shooters of the era. This issue is compounded by the dated sound design of gunshots, explosions, etc. that lack the weight/punch you've probably come to expect.
