A surprise in the shooter genre that manages to exceed expectations and tell a story that's as strong as the gameplay...
Binary Domain is a futuristic sci-fi third-person shooter that features unique aspects such as voice recognition and the consequence system. You play as Dan Marshall, a member of the IRTA task force, or 'rust crew', a multi-national team who's job it is to deal with violations of the New Geneva Convention. One of these violations is the creation of robots that resemble humans. Amada Corp, a Japanese robotics company is accused of this violation and a rust crew including Sgt. Marshall is sent into Tokyo to arrest its chairman, Yoji Amada, and bring him in for questioning.
The game begins as Dan and his partner Big Bo infiltrate the Tokyo Bay seawall and move to rendezvous with the rest of their crew in the lower city slums...
Graphics
The visuals are very good. Faces are highly detailed, environments are varied, and the character models are solid. Animations are silky smooth and the cutscenes look fantastic. There's some minor hiccups with lip syncing at times.
Sound
The audio is pretty good. The music fits with the setting and gets uptempo appropriately. You won't recognize any voices in the dialogue and while it can be a little cheesy at times, the overall voice acting is well done. Sound effects are crisp and the roar of gunfire and clashing of bullets with robot armor sounds nice.
Gameplay
The combat is smooth and the cover system works like a charm. Everything is implemented well and while it may be a 'gears clone', its definitely one of the better third-person shooters on the market. Enemy AI is great as well. Robots are aggressive and even when half destroyed, they will claw and drag themselves toward you with relentless fury.
Replay Value
Some may want to play the campaign more than once to see the full effects of maximum trust with all companions, but the game doesn't offer much choice nor is there any kind of NG+ feature here. Some cutscenes and outcomes will change depending on trust levels and party makeup though, which may give some players a reason to play again. With the multiplayer being dead however, the replayability takes a hit.
Positives
Combat mechanics are rock solid and the cover system is well designed. Your character has evasive moves and can really motor around the environment with ease. Controls are tight and responsive and the largely familiar control scheme is a welcome sight from a Japanese developer.
The overall story is interesting and unique, and the characters (while cliche) are likable and well developed. There's a couple of nice plot twists here, and they can change depending on your level of trust with different companions.
As I mentioned earlier, the graphics are good. For example, there's nice detail in the way enemies blow apart. The sound effects are solid for the most part and the dialogue is surprisingly good for an english dub.
This a polished game. Its easy to learn, fun to play, and largely bug free. The AI programming is definitely above average. The menus are easy to navigate and the minor RPG elements in the form of weapon upgrades and nanomachines are a nice touch as well.
Negatives
The voice recognition was a neat idea but unfortunately, its just too inconsistent. When it works, its great but too often it reads words incorrectly or completely ignores them. Since voice commands are time critical, this feature is basically unusable. Its far better to just issue commands off the left bumper.
The boss fights can be a little long and tedious. The fact that the game throws other enemies into the fray while facing some bosses can prolong the fight, especially when the boss is enough to contend with on its own.
A lot of enemies don't drop weapons for you to pick up when they die, which is rare to see in a cover-based shooter post-Gears of War. The revive animation needed to be a bit faster as well.
Even though friendly AI is aggressive and involved in the action, they often walk directly into your gunfire, lowering their trust if you hit them. This is can do a lot to undermine the trust system, even for a fairly good shot.
Final Score 8.1
Binary Domain is an interesting game. Its got strong shooter mechanics, an excellent story, and employs some character customization & upgrade features that are uncommon in the shooter genre. The graphics and sound are surprisingly good and while the campaign is too short and the multiplayer feels tacked on, this is a game any shooter, sci-fi, or Gears of War fan should enjoy.