The core gameplay is also so fun that at least I dont mind replaying bits of the stage over and over. It will be interesting to see if it will pass the line and go from "I really want to try that jump again" to "this is just frustrating" but I actually doubt it.
I am completely in love with the graphical direction they decided to take. Its all clean bright colors with a sense of style and crispness to it. It feels very stylized and it fits so well with the games futuristic controlled, "big brother sees you" utopia setting. It feels extremely focused. Not one single thing goes outside of these stylized, brightly colored textures. Even animated cutscenes, loading times, the menu and the overall design of the main character Faith. Big props to the art direction at Dice. This does NOT, however, mean that all the levels feel the same. I´ve already seen the inside of an office building, the rooftops, stormdrains & big underground sewer complexes. Ive been running streetside aswell as 40 floors up.
The same goes for the audio. It dosent throw alot of ruckus or ambience in there. Its your own heavy breathing and moans, cops screaming from another rooftop where you left them and the sound of your own footsteps on different surfaces. When jumping or falling you can hear the wind blowing into your ears. Theres often some pretty minimalistic electronic beats playing in the background that picks up to become a bit more of a technotrack when there´s something hard coming up. It helps you build up that adrenaline needed every time you have to retry that section.
Alright. I´m not gonna spill it all at once. I´ve only played for maybe 1-2 hours so its very fresh impressions. Overall it feels very focused. It knows what it wants to do and every little bolt in the machinery is adjusted to merge with this vision. Its refreshing and unique and it feels like a big, bright beacon in this holiday season of games.
Oh. One more thing that is important to realize. This is not a shooter by any means. This is a one of a kind platformer. There´s an achievement for completing the game without ever firing a bullet. I totally feel that is possible so far. The sensation of running past the cops in some acrobatic way is way cooler than shooting them. Sometimes they kill you but hey, I really dont mind trying that again and leaping over them in another fashion. Also, theres alot of achievements focusing on the Speed Run part of the game. I have no doubt that I will be spending alot of time in that mode once im done with the Story. Oh the Story? Its actually better than I thought it would be so far. An important politician is murdered and your sister is framed for it. I guess i´ll leave it at that to avoid any epic spoilers.
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