We can never truly trust our own memories because we don't always remember things correctly. Where we might say something happened at one time and place, someone else will say something totally different. That doesn't always mean the other person is a liar it just means that they probably saw something that we might have failed to regester in our viewpoint. Which in itself is the condrum, how do we really know if what we're remembering really happened or something we might have made up ourselves but don't know it?
The game I personally feel is another under the radar gem, the real shame for me is that this didn't become a franchise, it did have potential to go even further. We could of explored more of the futuristic world, dove into other heady concepts or utilized more mind abilities. Or even discovered a little more about Nilin and what else she's fighting against. May'be even change the gameplay or improve in some places in the sequel. I don't know which is why I feel this was another lost opportunity from my favorate video game company Capcom.
I really like the story, to me this is what the "Total Recall" remake should of been. Though that's strange to say since the story was clearly influenced by both the 90's film and Philip K. Dick short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale", the game does have a reference or two. But I really like the tommarow's world concept on everyone gaining the technology and ability to implant memories even going so far as to hack into other peoples minds. And I do like it's conspiracy plot which I didn't think was hard to follow it was pretty much one thing leading to another. I like how in the revolving mystery most of the time we're kept in the dark, we get some answers to some questions but not all, it's pretty much all one big math equasion that is slowly but surely adding up to something. The main protagonist Nilin is I think decent if not too memorable which is one of the weaknesses of the game for me, but her character is sympathetic because she's in the same boat as us as she is constantly trying to make sense out of everything and who she is. I even like that the game just like with Philip K Dick's stories has heady extencial philosophy on our perceptions on memory and identity.
The graphics I think are very good, I really like how it portrays a futuristic Paris which looks inbetween our modern day reality and the future. You see the grit, grime but also some of the futuristic aspects of it from technology or how certain archetectures are constructed. I even like the character designs there is a soild variety of enimies to fight, like some of the mutants that you fight whom are really creepy, and there are different totalitarian cops and machines to deal with. Music I think is soild despite not that memorable.
But the gameplay I really like it's soild, it's goes for both linear platforming adventure and also beat em up which I think is a great combo because it mixes things up so things won't become too staionary. However what makes this game stand out are in the abilities that you are using. The mind/memory technology you could say is almost the equivilant of psychic abilities. I don't want to reveal too much since gaining these abilities and discovering them is part of the joy. You can fire at someones mind which can drain them of mind energy, charging you body up so that your punches and kicks will do greater damage temporarly, and other things. However be careful, once the ability is used it takes a while for it to recharge so pick your times carefully.
There is also the typical RPG element where you can buy more or different componants to your combo system or even streathen your life gauge and mind abilities. However the real joy is in the ablity to mix up your combo system which is great because it really gives you creative freedom. By arranging certain moves you can trigger function that can regenerate your health and abilities. This doesn't make you totally unstoppable but it's more of just a management function. How you create and arrange each of the combo systems is all up to you, but it all depends on what the task at hand.
And of coruse there is even a visual puzzle sequence where your in a situation where you have to rewrite someone memory in order to get you to the next task at hand. I wouldn't say this is anything mind blowing (no pun intended) I just though it sort of gave you the idea on what memory implantation and manipulation is like.
Unfortunately like some technology this game has some bugs in it. One of the things that hold this game back is that the boss battles I think are way too long. There not boring but it really felt like minutes needed to be cut because it almost took forever to take one of them down. But the worst part of it is that it really cut into the momentum of the game.
Another problem I have is the difficulty in this game can be really uneven sometimes, like in one situation there were way too many mutants to fight. And of coruse what really ticks me of is there is a soilder that generates a force field thoughout his whole body. There is no safe way to take him down except direct physical assault which also means most of your life will be drained from you. This I felt was a very unfair and unnessary difficulty that I feel hurts the game a bit. The thing was this was a difficulty that I think could of easily been avoided, either by having the soilder lose the force field at some point or better yet just not having that character at all.
Overall this I thought was a soild game. If your a fan of sci-fi video games as well as Philp K. Dick stories I recommend giving this game a try. This is a game I feel deserves to be seen/tried and not forgoteen.