Nilin's memories have been removed. Just as she was about to be killed, someone saved her. Now she's in the middle of Neo Paris with no clue where she's going. And she's going to take down the government by herself.
1. Gameplay
Remember Me is a game that had some great ideas and let them get mired in a stew of mediocrity and shallow clichés. There were parts of this game where I was literally screaming at my friends “WHY ISN’T THE WHOLE GAME LIKE THIS?!” and parts of it where I was bored out of my mind, ready to give up the ghost. If you don’t remember this game being released, I don’t blame you. But before I discuss how boring this game was, let me give you a picture of the potential (since, after all, that’s what made this game notable in the first place). Remember Me is a third person fighting game that gives the player the power to control what effects their combos have, effectively encouraging the player to chain together high-level combos while still giving enough enemy variety that the player will need multiple types of combos to stay alive. It’s a very interesting idea that, with a bit more polish, could have been awesome. The game is set in “Neo-Paris”, where humans have developed a system for manipulating their memories. You can erase bad ones and share good ones. It’s a lot like Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind meets Blade Runner. There’s humans and their robot servants, an upper class oppressing a lower class, and a government that is heavily involved in manipulating the memories of its citizenry to keep them in line. Nilin, the game’s main character, eventually gains the ability to rewrite memories of certain individuals. This was, by far, the most interesting part of the game. In these situations, the player watches as a scenario plays out. The scenario has certain notable events that occur and, after the scenario has played, the player can manipulate each one of these events in order to create a different outcome. So, for example, there’s one scenario where a woman watches as her husband is properly treated by his doctors and is on the road to recovery. Nilin needs to rework the scenario so that the woman believes her husband died due to medical malpractice. By changing certain details about the scenario (i.e. how much sedative was induced, whether the bindings were properly fastened, where a set of tools was in proximity to the patient), Nilin can make the alternative scenario happen. Unfortunately that’s where the greatness of this game ends. I loved these scenario manipulations, but there are only three in the game. The rest of the game is a relatively shallow brawler with a story that never seems to make an impact. I liked the ending, but there were plenty of situations where I wondered how a certain person or location would have an impact on the greater game (and, ultimately, they didn’t have much of any). I try to justify playing Remember Me as worth it just for the memory rewrite scenarios, but really there are a ton of other, much better games. I’d recommend the Assassin’s Creed games first, since they at least have more open world gameplay and a more definite direction of story. Still, I would love to see a game that primarily hinges on the memory-rewrite situations.
This game took me around 7 hours to complete. For something with as much potential as this game, that is extremely short. And while the game does have collectibles and hidden items that I can go back and find, after completing this game once I have no desire to attempt it a second time.
There were a number of fight sequences that felt unnecessarily difficult and learning the combo moves could prove problematic at times, but this game was less frustrating than it was disappointing. The only time when I felt truly frustrated was during some of the platforming sections, especially in one scenario where I was chased by a helicopter while I was engaging in the platforming. The game’s parkour elements didn’t always play well with the controls, so there were plenty of sections where I felt that I was killed not for my failure but because of the game’s inherent flaws. 2. Parental Notices
Violence in this game is extremely mild. The player will engage in frequent hand-to-hand combat scenarios. Punching, kicking, and doing other various martial-arts style moves will be common in these scenarios. While some of the moves may look like they break bones, there is never any blood. Considering most of the enemies are heavily armored, it’s somewhat surprising that any of Nilin’s hits have an impact. The only real exception to this violence in the combat comes in the “memory overloads”. There is a chance that Nilin will be able to grab an enemy and overload its memory, causing the enemy to instantly die. This event involves Nilin charging up the enemy’s computer implant at the back of the neck and causing it to explode forward. While there is no blood or gore in this scenario, the effect is designed to look like a headshot from a gun. There are a few other rare situations where violence can increase. There are a few instances where Nilin will have to rewrite someone else’s memory. In these situations, failure to perform the scenario in the correct way often results in one or more of the individuals dying. While none of the scenarios I encountered resulted in any blood, the violence was much more impactful than that of normal gameplay.
Sexuality is an extremely odd factor in this game. For the most part it’s completely absent, but the writers felt the need to include an almost Blade Runner / AI style of robot prostitution. It came across as very strange at times, especially when advertisements for “Bits” came up. There was a full on robot red light district in one section. The player never makes use of these services, but the game will have the player navigate through hone of these areas (and a robot brothel) in one section.
There is one scene when two characters share a bottle of wine. Considering this game takes place in “Neo-Paris”, this type of situation shouldn’t be too surprising. There are one or two other very minor substances that come into the game, but most are placed into the context of a greater scenario. For example, a doctor injects drugs into a patient in order to sedate him in one scenario.
Gambling is not a factor in this game. 3. Other Factors
There are a few mods available for this game but the total number of mods created is surprisingly small. As a result, modding is not a factor in this game.
If the player looks closely at some of the background environments, certain religious structures are present. However, their religious symbolism is not included or discussed. As a result, religion is not a factor in this game.
Over the course of the campaign Nilin joins a group known as “errorists”. Yes, these people are terrorists, how did you know? These people go about doing everything they can to upend society and try to bring their social agenda into the limelight. They willingly cause serious harm to the people they believe to be working with the government, and anyone that happens to get in their way is just another casualty of war. Much of Nilin’s actions will, in some way, promote this group and their agenda. This will include actively fighting the local and state police forces. Despite the fact that many of these officers are heavily decked out in riot gear, Nilin takes them on regularly. They are the most common enemies in the entire game. While the anti-law may not be especially prominent in the normal combat outside of these police enemies, the anti-law is a deeply interwoven element to the plot.
There are no multiplayer modes for this game.
Nilin will frequently make use of “parkour” type mechanics to complete platforming scenarios. Basically, she will climb pipes, walls, and jump from ledge to ledge in order to get where she needs to go. There are plenty of times when these types of situations become extremely dangerous, and almost all of them are not the kind of situation anyone should try to recreate. There are plenty of scenarios where Nilin has to cling to moving beams while hanging over a hundred foot drop. Falling would mean death, but for the most part the game prevents the player from falling.
While some of the actions in this game might seem magical, the game makes it clear that they are all technologically based. As a result, magic is not a factor in this game.
Human Disfigurement There is a particular character / enemy type that has been completely mentally broken by the memory manipulation process. These people are human but act a lot like Golem from The Hobbit. Their thoughts are pretty much incoherent, and they constantly attack people because of some part of their madness. Their features have been changed somewhat (for example, they have significantly lengthened fingers), but they are clearly human.
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