Binary Domain

With Waypoint starting up a monthly video game club I decided to take part in it. Since I like writing small reviews of most of the games I play I figured it wouldn’t hurt to review this month's game too. Binary Domain was a third person shooter that came out in 2012. I played it when it was new and enjoyed it. Yet does it retain its positive qualities 5 years later? Before I answer that question let's go over a few things like the story and how the well the game plays.

A bleak world where global warming has flooded most of the world is the setting. With humans not being able to keep up with the newfound construction to build even higher cities robots were created to do most tasks. All was fine till a robot was found disguised as a human. In every way, he believed he was one yet he wasn’t. To combat this newfound threat Rust Crews were created to deal with and find out who was creating all these fake humans. Thus the game starts with Dan and Bo who have snuck into Japan to infiltrate the Amada Corp since they are most likely the ones making them. The setting and the unique cast of characters you meet are still a very vital part of why this is a memorable game. Sure they may all be standard action hero archetypes but it all meshes together very well.

The fact that this entire game feels like I’m playing a crazy blockbuster movie is not a bad thing at all. Most of the chapters are set up with standard TPS sections against the many robots that stand in the Rust Crews way. Yet unique scenes constantly pop up to change things up slightly. Maybe you’ll be sliding down an irrigation tunnel or taking control of a giant missile mech to take down overwhelming odds. It never repeats bosses or any of those unique sections I mentioned. So the game constantly has something new pop up to keep the game feeling fresh throughout the 8-12 hours you'll be playing this game.

Plenty of unique set pieces is good yet it is also important to say that the shooting is spot on as well. Running around hiding behind cover while popping out to shoot a bunch of robots feels like it should. All the different guns feel like they are more accurate than they should be thus making it easy take down everyone. Which could just be thanks to the fact that all the characters main weapons can be upgraded. So by the end, everyone had a much faster and harder hitting gun the deeper I got into the campaign. The Rust Crew can also upgrade themselves by using a Tetris-like skill box that can be filled up with health/defense upgrades. Of course, the fact that only the main gun is upgradeable makes it the best weapon in the game by the end. Thus not giving the player a reason to use any of the other generic weapons much is not a good thing.

Other than the story mode this does have an online vs mode and a hoard mode too. Going by how well the guns felt I’m sure the versus mode was fine and blasting a bunch of robots in the other mode is okay too. Not really the reason why you should play this game but it is never a bad thing to include a few extra modes. The fairly standard third person shooting does get a bit bland after a while. At least on normal it never felt like I was going to lose. None of the enemies really posed a threat other than a few bosses. Without the world feeling so alive thanks to who the player meets I don’t think the shooting part would work very well on its own. Luckily that isn’t a huge issue since something different is usually going on.

Overall this is an enjoyable action adventure romp through a futuristic setting that doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. The story is a bit silly sometimes but that just gives the game some charm. The mix of serious and silly moments is a lot like the Yakuza series which shouldn't be surprising since the designer of Yakuza helped create this game. If a solid TPS with a crazy story sounds like something you would like then I suggest you check this game out.