Binary Domain

With all the Resident Evil 6’s and the Lightning Returns out there, it’s becoming more evident that Japanese developers feel the need to emulate Western titles in order to find success overseas. If they weren’t killing our favorite series in the process, it would be almost cute. As it stands though, this recent trend is destined to kill established series. That’s not to say that some developers didn’t get it right though. Sega’s “Binary Domain”, developed by the up and coming Ryū ga Gotkou studio, developers of the distinctly Japanese “Yakuza” series, isn’t the perfect marriage of Western and Japanese sensibilities but achieves that desired blend far better than much of its Japanese brethren have.

            Binary Domain starts out like feeling a Michael Bay movie. The characters are loud, vulgar and obnoxious. Both of the main characters are as cliché as they come, an unfortunate trap that many of the game’s characters fall into. Sexist remarks, racist jokes and over-the-top racism towards robots (referred to as “Scrapheads”) permeate the cast and cast them in a negative light. It’s never enough to hurt the game, the characters aren’t constantly wisecracking but it happens enough during the 1^st act to leave a bad taste in the player’s mouth. The game attempts to twist some of these character flaws on their head towards the 3rd act but it fails to confront the main character’s blatant sexism which is about as uncomfortable as some of the voice acting. And hoo boy, the voice acting. That’s for later.

            The game tries to tackle similar issues to 1982’s “Blade Runner’. It attempts to examine what makes us human and how much a non-human’s life is truly worth. It’s nowhere near as poignant as Blade Runner is but it does a passable job. There are a few questionable decisions made in regards to the cast’s actions and the game has severe problems with ludonarrative dissonance but it’s a fairly solid, if straightforward cyberpunk tale of corruption, racism and an elite team of muscleheads caught in the middle. The best way to describe the game’s approach to everything is “a cross between Yakuza’s storytelling style and the ham-fisted approach to morality and politics that made the “Metal Gear Solid” series so infamous". It’s an acquired taste and one that’s distinctly Japanese despite first impressions. There’s little doubt in my mind that this was intentional. A clever bait and switch on the writer’s part but ultimately one that doesn’t make up for the game’s initial missteps; bad jokes are bad jokes, no matter how you spin it.

            Binary Domain features a “Trust” system that can determine the outcome of certain plot events in addition to determining how often your AI partners will listen to you. Unfortunately, if unsurprisingly, this “Trust” system is (no pun intended) very binary. It’s incredibly easy to get your squadmates to trust you and you have to go out of your way for them to dislike you. The trust system does influence certain plot events in fairly noticeable ways but I would have liked to see more done with the concept. It was not nearly as fleshed out as it should have been. It doesn’t feel like an afterthought but it does feel undercooked.

            Earlier in the review, I called the voice acting “uncomfortable” because there is really no other word for it. In 2012, there is no reason to have characters put on an Engrish accent. The main character appears to have two different styles of speaking that he’ll fluctuate between. And both styles of speaking are fairly bland. The rest of the cast doesn’t run into any major problems and some performances, like Troy Baker’s performance as Charlie and Alem Sapp’s performance as Big Bo are particularly noteworthy.  It’s just unfortunate that established voice actors like Johnny Yong Bosch had to use over-the-top accents that are both distracting and dated.

            The game’s sound design is excellent. The music, when it plays, is pulse-pounding techno that fits in perfectly with the game’s futuristic setting. And when I say “when it plays”, I don’t mean that the game has sound glitches like Splatterhouse did. Rather, the game doesn’t have music playing all that often. And this is deliberate. Music doesn’t play during especially tense scenarios in order to help the player focus on the battle at hand. In doing this, the designers made it so that the player could focus on what commands to give while simultaneously keeping their character alive. It’s a smart decision that’s worthy of the highest praise. In addition to the music, the noises of the robots exploding and the sounds of gunfire sound great. The explosions in particular are incredibly satisfying and make every firefight a rewarding affair.

            Graphically, Binary Domain is passable. The character’s faces look fine and their armor, while generic, has a certain distinct flair to it. And the game has neat touches strewn about like a growing five o’ clock shadow on the main character’s face. However, when you look at certain parts of the character models, the hair especially, it becomes clear that the engine the team used was dated. The buildings and background don’t look too great either. They’re a bit plain although they do a fine job of creating a futuristic city. Just don’t expect anything out of the ordinary. Most of the game takes place in hallways and sewer drains though which makes the game feel a bit more generic than it actually is.

            The real eye candy lies in the design of the bosses. The bosses and some of the tougher enemies have a distinct Japanese flair to them. Much like the rest of the game, it manages to blend together the best design elements of Western robots with the best design elements of Japanese robots. They’re sleek and stylish but they also look like they could absolutely wreck your shit and do it efficiently. They’re as cool looking as they are imposing. I absolutely loved the design of the “Grand Lancer” in particular, especially when stripped of all its armor. A lot of work was put into these robot designs and they deserve far more attention than they get.

            Binary Domain is a game designed to appeal to both Western and Japanese sensibilities. It’s a 3^rd person shooter with cover mechanics that is also not afraid to get weird at times. I’m sure Sega saw this as a “best of both worlds” case and they weren’t too far off but it appears that the team may have fallen into old habits while working on the game. For starters, the game’s cover system is half-baked and dated. Transitioning from one spot to another while in cover is overly difficult and oftentimes clumsy and the game’s “take cover” button and “leap over cover” button is the same button which leads to a lot of hopping back and forth. It is little things like these that make clear that the Binary Domain team hadn’t taken into account the advances that the cover system had made since 2008. In addition, the game likes to knock you off your feet a lot, especially early on which makes for a rough start.

            But the parts that the team got right, they absolutely hit out of the park. Gunplay is fast, frantic and arcade-like. The aforementioned sound effects help to make every kill feel rewarding and every gun feels like it has some weight to it. There was a ton of thought put into the gunplay and it’s certainly got some nuance. Robots come in droves which mean that you have to figure out to handle the waves upon waves of enemies coming at you while keeping yourself and your partners alive. It’s a game that requires you to think on your feet. And since enemies normally pour in from all directions, you’re going to be running around a bit. Recharging health doesn’t mean anything when you’re exposed to enemy fire. Powerful enemies are generally quick as well which means you have to prioritize. If you don’t do a good job of that, expect to go down more than a few times.

            The game has an interesting take on the inventory system. Instead of immediately getting a game-over once you're shot enough, you instead go into a critically wounded state in which you either need to use one of your medkits or have one of your teammates patch you up. In this state, enemies do not directly attack you but you can directly attack them while waiting for backup. Your allies can also enter this state and this introduces a clever, if underutilized, item management factor. It’s a smart little trick that makes the game feel deeper. And seeing as how checkpoints are fairly few and far between, you’ll really want to conserve your medkits wisely.

            Normal encounters probably won’t be enough to kill the average player but the boss fights will certainly drain a medkit or two. Part of this comes from being knocked down all the time or not being able to aim properly during the fights. It’s a pain but the game decides to do away with colossal boss fights toward the last half. By the last half, the game levels the playing field and makes it so you aren’t constantly being tossed around like a rag doll which makes the boss fights far more fair and enjoyable but no less tough.

            The game’s trust system also manifests itself in the gameplay. If your teammates don’t trust you, they won’t listen to the commands you bark out. These commands are imperative to survival so it’s important that they listen to you. However, I have my doubts that the commands really mean much. The only command that really seemed to do anything was the “Cover Me” command. The “Fire” command was generally redundant and the “Retreat” command never did anything. So, really, the “Cover Me” command is imperative to survival, nothing else. Not to sound like a broken record, but the “Trust” system feels undercooked.

            The ally AI isn’t great either. They aren’t escorts, so they aren’t supposed to stay back but they might be a bit more gung-ho about shooting things than they should be. I can’t even count the number of times I had one of my allies run into my crosshairs while I was firing my gun. Naturally, I shot them and they got mad at me. Then they trusted me less which wasn’t really a problem because they all loved me anyways. They managed to get themselves killed by enemy gunfire numerous times as well and while they were generally pretty good about reviving me, sometimes they’d get distracted by an enemy. In short, your allies are a bunch of hyperactive children and you have to make sure they don’t get themselves killed. It’s like babysitting but with guns and explosions. And it’s substantially more fun than babysitting because of that.

            Much like with the plot, the game’s beginning is pretty rough. Your guns aren’t great, you have to go through a long, grueling tutorial section and the game’s main gimmick doesn’t matter at all at that point. As you progress however, the game becomes far more comfortable. It drops the whole “Western” façade and decides to go down its own path. A path that just so happens to contain jet-skis, two car chases and a giant robot battle. Once the game finally gets into its own skin, it becomes far better and far more enjoyable.

            Binary Domain might be a game that you have to work at in order to enjoy. Despite Sega’s best intentions, it is not a game for everyone. Iffy moral choices and questionable voice acting might make most gamers shake their heads but addicting gunplay and neat robot designs make up for those missteps in spades. It’s an over-the-top action movie that tries to tackle serious morality issues and while it doesn’t quite succeed, it’s little wonder why Binary Domain has amassed a small but dedicated cult following.

Final Score: 6.5