PC
PlayStation 3
XBox 360
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Product Features

Genre
Adventure
Publisher
Capcom
Release Date
June 07, 2013
Available Platforms
PC, PlayStation 3, XBox 360

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Remember Me

REMEMBER ME

  • Dan Grainger June 27, 2013 360
    ****

    Remember Me is built around an interesting concept that involves a future in which memories can be deleted, altered and rewritten. It's an idea that has been explored in movies before (like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or Total Recall) but as far as I know this is the first time it's really been incorporated into a game.

    Unfortunately though, the concept ends up feeling bolted on to an otherwise fairly ordinary game that looks great but which isn't as much fun to play as it sounds.

    Set in a futuristic version of Paris, the story of the game sees you doing battle against the sinister Memorize corporation, sometimes through good old-fashioned shooting and combat and sometimes through more complicated means that involve rewriting people's memories.

    You play as Nilin, an enigmatic protagonist who is a bit of a blank slate when you meet her at the start of the game as she's had almost all of her memories wiped. As the game goes on, however, you begin to learn more about her and where she fits into the story.

    I said earlier that the game looks great, and its graphics are probably its biggest selling point. There's an exotic cyberpunk flavour to the whole game in general, with Neo-Paris looking a bit like the urban neon city of the movie Blade Runner (and a bit like, well, Paris!). The detailed backgrounds and buildings help to create a really involving and real-feeling city, and the special effects when you use your fighting abilities are pretty cool and futuristic too.

    "Errorism" - the ability to read and then either erase or rewrite memories - is your character's most distinctive skill, and it's something that sets Remember Me apart from other games. There are sections that require you to delve into another character's mind and change something in their memories that will then alter their personality or outlook, helping you on your quest as a result.

    It's a cool ability and it's depicted in a stark, stylish way. But unfortunately this "remixing" element is just not used enough, with only a few pre-set opportunities to use the skill being sprinkled across the entire game, in set places.

    Which brings me to another problem with Remember Me: it's just too linear. The path you take through the game is pretty much set, with only very minor opportunities to explore Neo-Paris in more depth and uncover secrets or hidden areas. This makes the detailed graphics feel like a bit of a tease, given that they only serve to act as window-dressing for a very simple structure.

    And with the best will in the world, the fighting and platforming sections get a bit dull and repetitive after a while, with not enough variation between different parts of the game to keep things interesting.

    This all serves to make Remember Me feel somehow slightly less than the sum of its parts. A great idea and some excellent graphics are marred a little by a very average execution, and in the end there just isn't enough made of the memory-rewriting stuff to make this game feel truly distinctive or original.

    Good, but not great.