Back when Binary Domain was announced, it looked like Sega was going to bring us to a familiar setting. The whole turbulent future where robots are fighting back isn’t original, but this doesn’t mean it’s instantly bad either. However since the announcement not a lot of details were given. With the game releasing in a few weeks Sega has released a demo showcasing two of the games chapters. The only question is, will we want to see more or was that enough?
The demo starts by offering you some training missions or one of two chapters. The training missions are your standard explanation of how the systems work, but the real highlight is the chapters. The first one has you storming through a small area, which immediately draws attention to how the combat system works.
Basically all your enemies are various types of robots. Each is covered with different amounts/colors of armor and all of this can be stripped off. As you continue to remove the armor, it opens up their “inner body” to attack. This is where the system actually stands out. You see whatever you target has an advantage. For instance destroying its head will cause the enemy to assist you. Additionally destroying its legs will force it to crawl or breaking its arm will cause your enemy to drop its gun (he will pick it back up though). How you go about using these elements will impact your experience. Naturally this makes these elements all the more exciting.
These elements are only enhanced by the variety showcased in these two chapters. There are roughly eight different enemies shown, each of which have their own unique elements. For example the short red enemies seem to move a lot faster. This will force you to constantly change how you play. Additionally vast selections of weapons are useable, but oddly enough none of them were futuristic beyond look except for two (hologram/sticky grenade). Unlike other shooters it seems like many the weapons have more realistic kick to them. This will make aiming a lot harder and even unusable in some situations.
While Binary Domain gets these elements right, there are some issues that will ideally be resolved. One pivotal problem deals with the cover system. Every now and then the input seems to get confused. Sometimes while trying to duck for cover I would end up jumping over the cover or miss the mark. Additionally rolling dodges seems to be hit and miss. These short comings can result in deaths, though they will most likely be fixed in the final version.
Despite some shortcomings, Binary Domain is definitely an interesting title. It appears to have a firm grasp on its concept and unique gameplay to boot. It’s hard to say how much of the game is being showcased, but if it maintains the same quality it might just be a stand out title of 2012. If you’ve not given the game a look I strongly suggest you look into it as it’s shaping up to be quite interesting.
