Well-known for their collaboration with Asian developers, SEGA once again teams up with an Asian developer for the title ‘Binary Domain’. Game director Daisuke Sato might seem like a familiar face. He was the game director for Yakuza 3 – which seems like something completely different. Sato shares that he is actually excited to work on a shooter, do something different. This doesn’t mean that his numerous experiences, including those with Yakuza, don’t influence the game.
Binary Domain might seem like a generic shooter at first. It takes place in Tokyo in 2080. Robots and humans live together in harmony – and then it goes completely awry. Of course. It turn out someone has created robots that look exactly like humans, and this goes against all international rules. You play Dan Marshall, who has to go to Japan together with his team to find out who is responsible.
And then Sato began to talk. You can put together your own team, picking from a few operatives. As the story progresses, you can win their trust or let them down. This affects the way they respond to you and what you can command them to do in battle. Your squad, thus, actually has a purpose in this game and can be used to your advantage. From the demo it became quite apparent that the team really was responsive to your commands. The trust between you and them really is an important issue. As Sato explains, this will also influence the game itself and the cutscenes that you will watch. Sato’s enthusiasm doesn’t stop there, as he continues to explain that killing robots earns you money. And this is money you can spend on items and upgrading your gear.
A sci-fi theme makes the game interesting, cool and action-packed. But the developers take it much further than that. The gameplay seems deep and elaborate, the depth to which they will go is still unknown, but the promise they hold within is intruiging. The cutscenes that we’ve seen so far show a powerful way of storytelling. The game looks like fun, and it holds a lot of promise. Although I personally believe in the skills of this particular development team, we will still have to wait and see. It can still go either way. Keep your eyes on this one, though. I’ve got a got feeling about it.
(p.s. Did I mention I’m a huge Daisuke Sato fan? I giggled a little as he signed my Yakuza 3 copy. I admit it).
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