Lending a helping Hand
Amy is a third-person survival horror game where instead of guns and cover, it's about survival and protection. Lana has been tasked with protecting Amy, the small child who is unable to speak, but possess special abilities which come in handy at specific parts of the game. The game has been critically panned since it's release, and I have to agree with the complaints, but for the $10 price it may be worth a look for horror fans.
Amy takes place in the future where a sudden outbreak sends everyone in a panic. Lana and Amy are aboard a train set to leave the main part of the city when suddenly the train stops and hell breaks loose. Now Lana and Amy must find their way out of the city by completing puzzles, avoiding the tougher by stealth, or if there is no other way, fight with improvised weaponry. Things also get more complicated when Lana becomes infected herself, but staying around Amy suppresses her infection.
Controls are one of the issues in the game. To run, you must hold left bumper and then rapidly press the X button, but you must also hold onto Amy which requires calling her and using to right bumper. Yeah, its exactly as you would expect – its not very fun to play like this and there seems to be no way to change the controls. Combat is another problem I encountered. It's simple enough to melee, but the dodge command seems to be iffy. I usually would die because the enemy would disregard the space that was created when I dodge – it pretty much doesn't work. I switched to easy and had a better time dodging, but that was mostly due to the fact that I took less damage when I was hit.
Amy is also about protecting and escorting. Little Amy understands simple commands like 'hide' and 'open door'. She can also hack terminals and activate doors to areas Lana can't, so she is more useful than others in escort-type games.
Positives of this game include the visuals and sound effects. It is generally creepy at moments, and I was really impressed with the visuals. Characters express emotion, and the infected look, well, infected.
Overall, Amy was created for a specific audience, although I think it's not the best horror game around. If you want a challenging horror game, give it a try, but it's challenging due to the controls besides the gameplay.
This review is based on the Xbox 360 version (XBLA) of AMY. A copy of the game was provided by Bender/Helper Impact
