Remember Me: Gameplay kills the game

 

I’m playing Remember Me, now. Haven’t heard of it? No surprising. CAPCOM didn’t exactly beat the drum loudly getting out the word on it, and probably with good reason. I’m still in the early stages, only about 15% of the way through the game, but the game kinda sucks.

Remember Me tries to be a futuristic version of Tomb Raider, with the character leaping on building, climbing around and fighting lots of bad things. But where TB was thrilling and exciting to play, Remember Me is a constant struggle.

There’s some sort of annoying “feature” to almost every aspect of the gameplay:

Camera angles go wild:
When you’re climbing and fighting your camera view can swing up or around to weird points of view, making it hard to see what you’re doing.

Please don’t make me view this scene, again:
There’s an ability to alter memories, which might sound like a cool gameplay feature. Sadly, it’s a bit of a pain in the ass to use and you’ll find yourself going through the same memory over and over, trying to get it right. Try not to destroy the control or you mouse.

Fighting is poorly explained:
All of your fight moves are punches and kicks that are chained, but there’s almost zero explanation about why one move would be better than the other. There’s mouse-over help, but it says almost the same thing for every move.

Wait while I choose a power move:
Fighting feels like it should be dynamic, but it’s not. Just when things get exciting and moving, you might want to chose a new power move. Hit Tab to stop the action… Yes, that’s right. Bring the cool fighting to a complete halt while you arm or choose your special power move. Lame.

Simply put, the gameplay sucks.

The story is intriguing and it’s possible I might play through this one just to see how the story turns out. But a story does not make a video game. You kinda need good gameplay for that.

Too bad. Remember Me is clearly a game with a lot of potential. But poor execution will undermine great potential every time.