On the surface Binary Domain looks like a cross between Mass Effect and Vanquish and kinda forgettable. Much like the upcoming Yakuza Dead Souls, Initially I was concerned about shooting stuff yet again, as the fighting in Yakuza 4 in particular was really enjoyable

The demo has done enough to convince me that this squad cover based shooter won't be all that forgettable. Rest assured, Nagoshi and his team of perverts have brought the crazy. It's a prettier game than Yakuza 4, controls handle pretty well, with movement and handling similar to Vanquish but not as fast paced. Expect bizarre Japanese Sci Fi gangster cut scenes, upgradeable weapons, intense combat, large robots and a touch of comedy that will hopefully be as funny as the panty thief bit in Yakuza 4

i'm all about blasting some robots, but totally not interested in scifi gangster cutscenes.

loved vanquish. what some people considered to be a negative in the throw away story, i considered a positive in that i could skip all the cutscenes and continue blowing shit up without missing out on anything important.

To me it looks like Gears of I, Robot which is actually pretty damn intriguing.

The production values on it seem impressive and the gameplay doesn't look shoddy; I will definitely give it a look when I can.

Is the demo available on PS3?

just watched a video of the demo on youtube and lost most of my interest.

but seems like a game that will be half priced within a month of release so maybe worth a shot.

I don't know what to think about this game. It looks cool but the gameplay is generic. If the game turnsout good and has a lengthy single player campaign. Then I'll probably consider picking this game up.

What I played of the demo seemed fun, but it was also all in Japanese, and I can neither read nor speak any Japanese.

I actually thought the demo was pretty decent and actually raised my interest in this game. It's no Vanquish, but I'll probably purchase it at some point.

you had me at scifi gangster cutscenes. :)

Played the demo last night. The first thing that really struck me was how sharp it looked. Really nice animation on stuff and movement is fluid and fast. the stick to wall isn't as responsive as Gears or anything..it seemed a bit Mass Effecty when it came to that stuff. I wish I knew what they were saying as it was clearly giving me prompts to say stuff to your two squad members. I must have said something dickish cos I got a red arrow down on the girl.

The shooting feels good, surprisingly really good and some of the weapons feel like they have real power behind them helped pretty much by the way the robots bust up into pieces and lose limbs. It was a pretty good demo, two levels and some training stuff. This seems a lot more promising than I thought it would.

Huh, is this out on 360? Sounds like a cool new idea, might give it a try.

Saw a whole bunch of ads for this game and yet I have not heard nor read anything about it.

I didn't even know the Yakuza guys made it, I just figured, solely based on the name, that it was some kind of EA published shit. Really, Binary Domain? How about Binary Domain: Unleashed: Revenge of the Robots?

@cosi83 said:

On the surface Binary Domain looks like a cross between Mass Effect and Vanquish and kinda forgettable. Much like the upcoming Yakuza Dead Souls, Initially I was concerned about shooting stuff yet again, as the fighting in Yakuza 4 in particular was really enjoyable

The demo has done enough to convince me that this squad cover based shooter won't be all that forgettable. Rest assured, Nagoshi and his team of perverts have brought the crazy. It's a prettier game than Yakuza 4, controls handle pretty well, with movement and handling similar to Vanquish but not as fast paced. Expect bizarre Japanese Sci Fi gangster cut scenes, upgradeable weapons, intense combat, large robots and a touch of comedy that will hopefully be as funny as the panty thief bit in Yakuza 4

I just finished the demo for ps3 and wasn't really blown away by anything. However, its a perfectly competent Third Person Shooter. Just not the best out there.

The squad stuff was actually kinda annoying. It'll do the Gears of War "Marcus walks slow while listening to his ear piece" thing when they're trying to get your squad to "bond." The dialog responses were basically "Be a dick" or "Be a nice guy." And which ever you choose will help determine how your squadmates feel about you. Basically, it reminded me of playing Counter-Strike with bots. You'd tell your teammates "stick together team!" and they'll respond with "negative!", "No sir!", "not gonna happen!", and etc. Except you can't do anything to influence your teams attitude towards you in CSS.

The only similarity to Vanquish that I saw is its a TPS and you shoot robots. The controls didn't feel as "tight" as Vanquish, and it definitely wasn't as hectic.

Shooting bad guy robot's heads off and having them turn on each other was kind of neat. I also liked how many different ways you could "crumple" the robots by shooting out their legs from under them.

@ESREVER: How was the gameplay? And how did you get access to the demo? I don't see it anywhere on PSN or the Marketplace.

I was hoping this to be a sleeper hit. Hope I would not be disappointed.

@mcderby4: The demo should be up for everyone on PSN now. PSN wasn't updated until just a few hours ago. The gameplay was standard Third Person Shooter stuff. Take cover and shoot mechanics. There's blindfire as well. There's an option for voice commands that involve you saying "OK", "No", "Fire", "Cover Me!", etc. Doesn't look like you have direct control over your squad like you would in Brothers in Arms. As in the AI kind of just goes where it wants. It also has a "downed" mechanic like Gears of War where you are scooting along the floor waiting to be rezzed by your teammates. Or you can just use a shot and rez yourself. Those come in limited supply though.

@ESREVER: Hmm, seems pretty standard.

I've been keen on playing this game since I first saw trailers of it last year. It did more than enough for me to convince me to keep my pre-order. I don't think it's going to raise any bars but it should provide a good and fun shooter experience. I do feel like the consequence system was a little too forgiving however, I intentionally went out of my way to shoot and pester my teammates with commands as often as possible to bring down my trust level. However co-operating with them to shoot the cable and leap from the roof onto the Grand Lancer's head was enough to win back that trust apparently. They didn't take their sweet time to revive me when necessary and I didn't notice them running into a stream of gunfire to try and help me back up either. A few times I found a teammate running into my line of fire. I guess that's why they have 'shit' and 'fuck' as words on the voice recognition list.

@Soap_of_Death said:

However co-operating with them to shoot the cable and leap from the roof onto the Grand Lancer's head was enough to win back that trust apparently.

That scene was a little silly for me. That was because my team was standing in the pool of water just below the wire I was being yelled at to shoot. The next moment both of them were on the ground trying to crawl out of the water shouting "I'm OK! I can do this!"

I also didn't bother to wait to be rezzed by my team. The one time I did was on the train stage and I made sure to crawl behind cover before asking for assistance. The french robot squadmate was just dancing on my body until I bled out, trying to figure out if he should heal me, or shoot aimlessly at the bad robots.

Yeah, it's definitely more effective to revive yourself than rely on teammates but I wanted to see how they'd react to Dan needing help and asking for assistance. One of my concerns with the game prior to playing was whether or not squad mates would revive me in a timely manner. My experience with the demo has me feeling confident that I won't spend much time yelling at the TV waiting to be revived.

Upon playing this demo, this game has more to it than I thought.

I had no idea there was squad customization like stat bonuses with nanomachines and stuff. Also didn't know about the weapon upgrade stuff and the shop. It's also pretty cool that you can put different combinations of squadmates and have them suggest different tactics and such. It's just a shame the the squad interaction seems pretty shallow. I'm not really sure what the voice commands do like "Fire!" since they are already firing. I wish I could tell them where to go as well, so as to mitigate that friendly fire penalty. And it'd be nice if Dan actually spoke when you react with a yes or no dialogue. But I will say from what I've seen of the characters, they seem pretty cool. French robot dude is definitely going to be in my squad because he's a fucking french robot dude.

Shooting seems pretty good and I really like the ways you can dismember enemies. But I experienced some frame rate drop during that train level, enough to hinder me in battle and make it pretty nauseating. Hopefully not all the levels are like that or that they fix it in the final game. But overall it seems like a solid shooter and pretty difficult even on normal. The enemy AI is pretty competent. They won't just sit behind cover and pop out occasionally. Some will advance towards you to make sure you don't stay in one place to long to pepper their friends with bullets. There are also different enemy types. I'm still unsure of the shooting though. I don't like the crosshairs. But considering you can upgrade your guns for more accuracy and fire power, it may get better as the game progresses.

Overall I enjoyed it, although there are some hiccups that worry me. I'm liking what I see of the squad stuff, even if it's a bit shallow compared to Mass Effect or Brothers in Arms.

Played the demo a bit last night. Some quick thoughts:

The Good

• The characters. I know I'm probably going to regret saying this when the game actually comes out, but I think I got a handle on some of the consequences system. I chuckled at the start of stage 1, where I picked the two women in my squad and one of them asked outright if I had any dirty thoughts. I responded "my bad." One of them was disgusted, but the second one was intrigued by my "honesty."
• Last Stand Mode (or whatever they call it here): Now you can keep firing at enemies with a pistol while prone on the ground until you stab yourself with a happy syringe or get a teammate to help you out.
• The enemies. They certainly seem robotic all right. Take out their legs and they might try to self-destruct on you if you don't look carefully. Shoot off one arm and they'll just keep firing with the other. Also, no GIANT GLOWING WEAKNESSES with these robots. Just need to break off their armor then shoot the head until it dies. Also, your rifle butt will not work when the robots decide to charge at you or flank you.
• Use of nanomachine enhancements: Only got a taste of it in this demo, but hopefully there will be more use to it in the full game.
• Destructible cover: Adds to the challenge, especially when going up against giant robots with large miniguns firing at you. Can't just sit still in one place forever, buddy!

The Bad

• The AI and the Consequences system: difficult to tell if your teammates are following your orders. You tell them to cover you, and even if they agree I still seem to be the only one shooting the robots. Rachael once offered to fire an RPG at a cluster of enemies. I tell her to go ahead, and she fires it into a nearby wall instead, with the explanation of "damn, I missed!" It was pretty funny though. Haven't figured out if the mic works with this game yet. Maybe I'll try that later, but this system definitely needs some polish and patching. Also in stage 2, the constant cries of "HOLY SHIT WE'RE UNDER FIRE!" every 10 seconds from Faye and Cain. I got it the first 5 times you shouted it. How about you start putting down some of these evil bots instead of telling me that they are everywhere?
• The shooting itself: Difficult to differentiate one large rifle from another. Maybe the nanomachine upgrades will fix some of that awful recoil, but can't say for certain now.
• The hints of a deeper story. Granted, much of it was absent from the gameplay, but the various trailers hint at something downright Asimov-ish. Robots that cross the "uncanny valley" to the point where they don't even realize they are robots, and the humans who have to seperate the people from the "scrap-heads." I'd like to see more of this in the actual game, but the demo had very little of it.

The Weird

• Store kiosk in the middle of a ruined building. Good to see there are opportunities to spend fake-dollars on weapon and nanomachine upgrades, but the part where the rest of the world abruptly pauses to let you shop in peace? Hilarious.
• The fake French-accented robot. It was amusing at first but I get the feeling that as the game goes on and the bot speaks more you'll have to resist the urge to bash its head in with the butt of your gun.

All in all, I'd be willing to buy this game, but I'll wait for some other reviews and/or a price drop first.

i knew nothing about this game prior to trying the demo apart from knowing that it was made by the Yakuza team. it was surprisingly fun. the shooting felt pretty good, the animation and graphics were pretty sharp and i thought the voice recognition was neat.

it was cool, but i think i'll wait for a price drop before i buy it.

I was kind of mixed on the demo. It's a game I'd rent if it's mediocre and buy for $30 if it was good.

Tried the voice commands in the demo, and apparently they don't work so well. Half the time the game thinks I'm literally calling someone "stupid," and the other half it's calling Rachael for no reason whenever I'm not giving one-word commands like "YES" or "FIRE."

A British Troy Baker... well I like what I've played thus far.

Also the shooting does feel surprisingly fun, and the enemies and the way their limps can each be shot off at a time is really fun and offers up a nice bit of strategy to take hold. The voice commands are a little cumbersome, though. Trying to reply and/or give out orders in the midst of combat feels a little too hectic. You can at least withstand a surprising degree of punishment (played on survivor), and I imagine you're intended to use the mic instead. Still, I like a lot of what I've played, and the story and its character look to be just as, if not more so, appealing as the shooting gameplay.

The squad mechanics still feel a little shallow, and while the whole squad-mate relationship trees is a neat idea, it largely seems pointless since you're obviously just going to butter up your team mates at every turn. Otherwise of course you're left with a person who won't follow your orders and is said to be less effective in battle as well.

It will be worth playing for the moments of sporadic madness littered throughout Yakuza. Forget Mass Effort, give me some Japanese crazy

I got all the way to jumping on the giant robot before I decided not to play anymore. It was not very entertaining.

People who have played Yakuza will know there is more to it than the demo let on

I gave the demo a whirl recently, it seemed like a competent 3rd person shooter ( I don't play a lot of those, so I wouldn't really know). I'm interested enough by the premise and I thought it looked good, I was also surprised by the amount of dialogue in the part I played. During the encounter with a bigger enemy the team were conversing frequently and there was only one repeated line. It did feel like scripted handholding the way they were instructing me though (and I felt kinda dumb because I had trouble figuring out where they wanted my attention sometimes).

I didn't find any use for the commands that were given to me either. Attack? Cover Me? No suppressing fire or retreat? (that one might have been there) No way to order someone to a specific location?

Two funny things though:

1. Looking through the list of words that were recognized as voice commands and finding both "damn" and "fuck".

2. I couldn't stop thinking "we might as well be shooting flowers at it!" during the bossfight.

Edit: Oh and the first thing I did when I got control was to shoot the chinese girl in the head. Her head flew backwards from the impact but she didn't react. I found this absolutely hilarious and proceeded to unload several clips into her.

The squad dynamics stuff is really interesting. But, man, the frame rate in the later mission with the poorly voice acted French robot was horrendous. I doubt reviewers will be kind to this game, but I'll check it out regardless.

Western Reviewers weren't that kind to Yakuza 4

Famitsu gave it a 10

I think i played way too much Gears to be able to like this game.

Vanquish is awesome cos it's a different type of 3rd person shooter, but, this feels like bad Gears of War.

I'm only judging it from the demo, but, for what it's worth, i really didn't enjoy it, and almost quit the demo.

The visuals are also very generic, the only thing i think i can get from this game is the story, and even that...

Not bashing it, just my opinion.

Ah, would have preferred playing in Japanese with subtitles as the voices are generic. "Damn, the word is charge!" Kinda funny when you input the wrong voice command

Played the demo and I love how they've taken the Gears controls and made them way more responsive, improved the cover mechanics and the whole thing is just way more fluid. Surprisingly good voice acting, was expecting the Japanese cheese. Squad selection is meaningful and you have many interesting weapon options as well. Terrific boss fight.
 
The only thing is that: Damn that was brief. If that's an entire level, this'll be one damn short game. Damn.
Vanquish had a fine length, so if it's as long as that, that would be fine. Shit, now I miss Vanquish but really wish it had better replay value.