So, this game is a curious thing, as it was developed by the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, aka the Yakuza studio, cause they wanted to experiment a little with a few concepts, and try out some ideas.
It uses a modified version of the Unreal Engine, and its surprisingly stable, taking into account how much is going on on-screen at any given moment, and, as its a surprise with Unreal Engine, it didn’t crash on me.
It also has a voice recognition system, which never works, but, when have those ever worked anyway?
Story & Setting
The year is 2080, and a lot has happened in the 21st century, leading up to the events of the game, an entire Roland Emmerich movie happened, think Day After Tomorrow and 2012, leading to most of the human population to be wiped out, and a considerable amount of habitable landmass to become lost to the tides.
With such a diminished population, it was quite the struggle to rebuild, so, in need of workforce, robotics brought the solution, and automation progressed leaps and bounds.
Yet, the advancement on technology, forced other fields to catch up.
And, it seems that the Geneva Suggestion wasn’t cringe enough for the 21st century, so a few amendments were added, mostly regarding robotics, more importantly, banning the creation of robots indistinguishable from humans.
It seems that its such a major issue, that an entirely new army was created to deal with any robotics related issues, the Rust Crew.
Things seem to be going well, until a robot makes a scene.
That robot, not only looks indistinguishable from a human, it also believes to be human, thankfully, it was destroyed, but… The fact it existed, is a problem.
Who is to blame? A Japanese robot manufacturer, Amada, only his company is far along to be able to create one of those.
So, Geneva and the US get to work, to assemble a Rust Crew, and to send it to Japan, their goal, to acquire evidence, and apprehend Amada.
But, things are never so easy.
With such a diminished population, it was quite the struggle to rebuild, so, in need of workforce, robotics brought the solution, and automation progressed leaps and bounds.
Yet, the advancement on technology, forced other fields to catch up.
And, it seems that the Geneva Suggestion wasn’t cringe enough for the 21st century, so a few amendments were added, mostly regarding robotics, more importantly, banning the creation of robots indistinguishable from humans.
It seems that its such a major issue, that an entirely new army was created to deal with any robotics related issues, the Rust Crew.
Things seem to be going well, until a robot makes a scene.
That robot, not only looks indistinguishable from a human, it also believes to be human, thankfully, it was destroyed, but… The fact it existed, is a problem.
Who is to blame? A Japanese robot manufacturer, Amada, only his company is far along to be able to create one of those.
So, Geneva and the US get to work, to assemble a Rust Crew, and to send it to Japan, their goal, to acquire evidence, and apprehend Amada.
But, things are never so easy.
Presentation
Unreal Engine Game, you know the drill, looks good, and surprisingly, it doesn’t have too many hiccups, this game came out the same year as Yakuza 5, it would have been interesting to see a third-person shooter made in the Dragon Engine, but its understandable that they wanted to keep that card saved for Yakuza.
Still, we have some pretty good character models, but the real stars of the show, are the enemies, with destructible parts for that sweet sweet locational damage, with some really cool boss designs as well.
Environment wise, its mostly different flavors of corridors and linear segments, with some arenas sprinkled in, and the occasional rest area, even though the locales themselves are linear, each has its own vibe and aesthetic, keeping the game from becoming visually dull, with quite a lot of variability, as you make your way through through Tokyo.
Still, we have some pretty good character models, but the real stars of the show, are the enemies, with destructible parts for that sweet sweet locational damage, with some really cool boss designs as well.
Environment wise, its mostly different flavors of corridors and linear segments, with some arenas sprinkled in, and the occasional rest area, even though the locales themselves are linear, each has its own vibe and aesthetic, keeping the game from becoming visually dull, with quite a lot of variability, as you make your way through through Tokyo.
Tech wise, it isn’t too out there (besides some few exceptions), for the most part, it looks like stuff you would see in a Black Mirror episode, weapons are still ballistic in nature, with some emps, or some more advanced grenades.
The enemies, are different kinds of robots, slowly changing in appearance, and with some equipment being added, or taken away, as you move through the different areas.
As for the human characters, they do stand out from each other, but design wise, there isn’t much going on, and the robot party member does look different enough from the other robots to avoid friendly fire.
NPCs are whatever, most of the time you will be seeing them once or twice, so they get as much effort as you would expect.
Sound wise, the music doesn’t get in the way, but it isn’t memorable either.
There is a really satisfying “ding!” When you headshot a robot.
Each weapon has a unique sound, which helps you what you are dealing with.
Other characters like to talk both during action and out of action, they give orders, suggestion, and sometimes praise or chastise your performance.
There is a moment in which the term “stopping power” is used to describe a gun, which made me cringe.
I only checked the English voice acting, but, there is occasional Japanese for when Japanese characters talk to each other, which does make sense, and helps with immersion. But, it is a bit annoying that they do talk in English when on earshot from you.
The enemies, are different kinds of robots, slowly changing in appearance, and with some equipment being added, or taken away, as you move through the different areas.
As for the human characters, they do stand out from each other, but design wise, there isn’t much going on, and the robot party member does look different enough from the other robots to avoid friendly fire.
NPCs are whatever, most of the time you will be seeing them once or twice, so they get as much effort as you would expect.
Sound wise, the music doesn’t get in the way, but it isn’t memorable either.
There is a really satisfying “ding!” When you headshot a robot.
Each weapon has a unique sound, which helps you what you are dealing with.
Other characters like to talk both during action and out of action, they give orders, suggestion, and sometimes praise or chastise your performance.
There is a moment in which the term “stopping power” is used to describe a gun, which made me cringe.
I only checked the English voice acting, but, there is occasional Japanese for when Japanese characters talk to each other, which does make sense, and helps with immersion. But, it is a bit annoying that they do talk in English when on earshot from you.
Mechanics
Its a third-person shooter, with cover mechanics.
There is regenerating health, but, with a caveat, if you are downed, you have to use a medkit to get up, or have a teammate use theirs on you, other characters, can use their medkits in the same manner, and you can use yours on them.
But, why would you use a medkit on allies?
Well, the game has a trust system, which isn’t too in-depth, but, its related to the good ending, and, the lower the trust, the less likely allies are to follow commands.
The easiest way to increase trust, is to revive fallen allies, be good at destroying robots (they might even praise you or chastise you afterwards, which also awards or takes trust away accordingly), following instructions quickly and efficiently, and, just like in real life, telling them what they want to hear when conversations happen, like the simpletons that they are.
You lose trust, by doing poorly on fights, being mean to your teammates, not answering to your teammates, being too reckless, or with friendly fire (teammates like to move in front of you).
Although the game was meant to be played with voice recognition, that gimmick never works, thankfully, the game provides an alternative, of using a menu to give orders, and to give responses to conversations, so you can go through the entire game without bothering with the atrocious voice recognition system.
There are some QTEs around the game, but they aren’t too many, nor too difficult.
There is regenerating health, but, with a caveat, if you are downed, you have to use a medkit to get up, or have a teammate use theirs on you, other characters, can use their medkits in the same manner, and you can use yours on them.
But, why would you use a medkit on allies?
Well, the game has a trust system, which isn’t too in-depth, but, its related to the good ending, and, the lower the trust, the less likely allies are to follow commands.
The easiest way to increase trust, is to revive fallen allies, be good at destroying robots (they might even praise you or chastise you afterwards, which also awards or takes trust away accordingly), following instructions quickly and efficiently, and, just like in real life, telling them what they want to hear when conversations happen, like the simpletons that they are.
You lose trust, by doing poorly on fights, being mean to your teammates, not answering to your teammates, being too reckless, or with friendly fire (teammates like to move in front of you).
Although the game was meant to be played with voice recognition, that gimmick never works, thankfully, the game provides an alternative, of using a menu to give orders, and to give responses to conversations, so you can go through the entire game without bothering with the atrocious voice recognition system.
There are some QTEs around the game, but they aren’t too many, nor too difficult.
Throughout the game, you will find shops, which sell you ammo, secondary weapons for yourself, grenades, and upgrades, both to characters, and their weapons.
When you finish buying, there is a little roulette thingy, which has a chance of giving you a freebie, sometimes its ammo, other times a medkit, maybe grenades.
For weapon upgrades, its the usual affair, range, RoF, firepower, accuracy, and magazine capacity, you can upgrade both your weapons, and the ones your party members use.
Finally, upgrades, they are called nanomachines, each one provides a passive boost to your stats, thing is, in order to equip them, it follows a grid system similar to Megaman Battle Network, with every upgrade having a specific shape, and its a little puzzle in on itself to get the most bang for your buck, although in this game, it isn’t too complex of a puzzle.
Then, we move on to enemies, each one of their body parts is destructible, awarding you money per kill, and a little extra for headshots, multi-kills, melee, etc.
Thing is, because they are robots, they won’t go down easily, blow their legs, they will crawl towards you, blow their arm, they will use the other to shoot you, blow both arms, they will rush you and self-destruct, blow their head, they will shoot their friends. Its quite a cool system. With their armor being visibly destroyed as you damage them, and some robots having different behavior when their parts are destroyed, and this includes bosses.
There are times in which you will be prompted to pick your team for the next section, there is no real tactical consideration for it, but it is helpful with increasing trust levels, some sections can play out slightly differently, depending on who you got in the team at the time.
There are a few set pieces, but, they don’t differ too much from normal gameplay.
Some times you will have a timer to add tension.
Some bosses have gimmicks.
And, that’s about it.
When you finish buying, there is a little roulette thingy, which has a chance of giving you a freebie, sometimes its ammo, other times a medkit, maybe grenades.
For weapon upgrades, its the usual affair, range, RoF, firepower, accuracy, and magazine capacity, you can upgrade both your weapons, and the ones your party members use.
Finally, upgrades, they are called nanomachines, each one provides a passive boost to your stats, thing is, in order to equip them, it follows a grid system similar to Megaman Battle Network, with every upgrade having a specific shape, and its a little puzzle in on itself to get the most bang for your buck, although in this game, it isn’t too complex of a puzzle.
Then, we move on to enemies, each one of their body parts is destructible, awarding you money per kill, and a little extra for headshots, multi-kills, melee, etc.
Thing is, because they are robots, they won’t go down easily, blow their legs, they will crawl towards you, blow their arm, they will use the other to shoot you, blow both arms, they will rush you and self-destruct, blow their head, they will shoot their friends. Its quite a cool system. With their armor being visibly destroyed as you damage them, and some robots having different behavior when their parts are destroyed, and this includes bosses.
There are times in which you will be prompted to pick your team for the next section, there is no real tactical consideration for it, but it is helpful with increasing trust levels, some sections can play out slightly differently, depending on who you got in the team at the time.
There are a few set pieces, but, they don’t differ too much from normal gameplay.
Some times you will have a timer to add tension.
Some bosses have gimmicks.
And, that’s about it.
Final Thoughts
With the amount of world building, its quite obvious that they were going for a potential franchise. Thing is, that the game didn’t sell too well at the time of release, with any future installment now dependent on whatever Sega wants to do with it, or if it wants to do anything with it at all.
Gameplay wise, its pretty solid, the shooting is good, the moment to moment gameplay is engaging, some teammates are alright, with only the brits and the chinese girl being boring. Big Bo and Cain are the best characters.
Cutscenes overstay their welcome at the last quarter of the game, the plot is OK, until the twist ruins it entirely, is not rubber bullets (if you know, you know) levels of stupid, but, its bad and nonsensical nonetheless, I had a good laugh with it this time, but I do remember rolling my eyes the first time I played this game.
There is a romance, and… Best way to describe it is, forced, I have seen Harvest Moon couples with more chemistry than these 2, its just the typical action movie romance, it wouldn’t be a problem normally, it would be whatever, thing is, this romance also plays a major role on killing the plot, with some truly eye rolling moments.
Still, for the most part, it is an enjoyable game, with a decent plot, which gets ruined at the end, but is decent enough to keep you interested on getting there.
For plot reasons, the team separates for long periods of time, making a lot of money spent on upgrades, feel wasted, and making a lot of the team building mechanic, feel pointless.
There is Cup Noodle, and some other brands in-game which I don’t know.
Gameplay wise, its pretty solid, the shooting is good, the moment to moment gameplay is engaging, some teammates are alright, with only the brits and the chinese girl being boring. Big Bo and Cain are the best characters.
Cutscenes overstay their welcome at the last quarter of the game, the plot is OK, until the twist ruins it entirely, is not rubber bullets (if you know, you know) levels of stupid, but, its bad and nonsensical nonetheless, I had a good laugh with it this time, but I do remember rolling my eyes the first time I played this game.
There is a romance, and… Best way to describe it is, forced, I have seen Harvest Moon couples with more chemistry than these 2, its just the typical action movie romance, it wouldn’t be a problem normally, it would be whatever, thing is, this romance also plays a major role on killing the plot, with some truly eye rolling moments.
Still, for the most part, it is an enjoyable game, with a decent plot, which gets ruined at the end, but is decent enough to keep you interested on getting there.
For plot reasons, the team separates for long periods of time, making a lot of money spent on upgrades, feel wasted, and making a lot of the team building mechanic, feel pointless.
There is Cup Noodle, and some other brands in-game which I don’t know.
The multiplayer… Its probably dead, I didn’t bother to check, even when I got this game ages ago in a giveaway, the multiplayer was a graveyard.
The best way to describe most of the themes is, naive, too surface level social commentary, laughable takes on realpolitik, hilarious ideas about AI... I can keep going, but I can only willingly be so condescending at any given moment, otherwise I might sound like a professional reviewer, god forbid.
And, that’s that, Binary Domain is an interesting game, with good gameplay, and serviceable plot, but, most people remember it because it was made by the Yakuza team.
It would have been great to have cyborg Kiryu beating up robots, but alas.
The best way to describe most of the themes is, naive, too surface level social commentary, laughable takes on realpolitik, hilarious ideas about AI... I can keep going, but I can only willingly be so condescending at any given moment, otherwise I might sound like a professional reviewer, god forbid.
And, that’s that, Binary Domain is an interesting game, with good gameplay, and serviceable plot, but, most people remember it because it was made by the Yakuza team.
It would have been great to have cyborg Kiryu beating up robots, but alas.
Pros
- + Nice and satisfying shooting.
- + Easy to pick up and play.
- + Cool and creative boss fights.
Cons
- - Meh story.
- - Voice recognition which doesn't work.
- - Cutscenes are too long.
8
Gameplay
Has some really nice locational damage system, and very cool and creative boss fights, the moment to moment gameplay is very solid, and enjoyable, only being let down by occasional jank.
8
Graphics
It looks very good, still holding up so many years later, with good robot design, and nice attention to detail for enemies, sadly, the same effort wasn't there for the human characters.
6
Story
Its serviceable, but killed by a very nonsensical twist, with a very forced romance to close the lid on it, but, it isn't flat out boring, which is something.
7
Sound
Forgettable music, decent sound design, and alright voice acting, that ding from the headshots is very satisfying.
5
Replayability
Only if you feel like seeing the little differences that come from team comps, as otherwise, its on player's discretion, as there is no actual incentive.
8
out of 10
Overall
Binary Domain is a curious game, it has a really cool locational damage and dismemberment system, which it gets away with by using robots as enemies. Having some really cool and creative boss battles, and a very solid moment to moment gameplay. Its only let downs would be a mostly serviceable story, turned bad by a very nonsensical twist, and a forced romance. As well as a voice recognition system which doesn't work, and a deep as a puddle trust system which only serves for which ending you get.
