Binary Domain is going to be one of those really fun games that just falls by the wayside. I hadn’t heard of it before Gaming Angels asked me to review it, and after playing it, I want to smack Sega for not promoting this more. Or I guess I should say, for not promoting it at all.
It released right before Mass Effect 3, so that didn’t help matters much. I think most things that released within that two-week period were overlooked and forgotten. However, that’s not much of an excuse for not effectively marketing a super fun shooter. It’s only been a few months, and already retailers are not carrying it. Many haven’t even heard of it, and that’s a damn shame.
The best way to explain Binary Domain is to say that it’s a Gears of War with robots. Lots and lots of robots. However, it has a bit of some Mass Effect-dialogue-choice features mixed in.
One very unique feature to Binary Domain was its use of dialogue and dialogue trees. When NPCs talked to Dan, occasionally Dan could respond and prod a conversation of some sort. Depending on how you responded in these dialogue trees affects the NPC’s level of trust in you. The level of trust actually influences how well your team will listen to you when you give orders, how your team responds to certain cut scenes, and if your teammates will be willing to come to your aid if you’re down. Inputting dialogue could be done one of two ways: via controller with a BioWare-like radial or via your headset mic. If you use the mic, you aren’t limited to what choices the radial provides, and the characters will respond to a wide variety of voice commands. I tried this once just to see how it worked, and I had to turn the mic off after I was losing trust from my team because they thought I was cussing at them. Apparently I yell at my TV more than I thought I did. The trust feature isn’t solely based on the dialogue either. Friendly-fire is most decidedly turned on in the game, so if you shoot your teammates, you will lose their trust.
I was also completely blown away by the story. Just when I thought the final twist had reared its head, another popped up. And then another. And all were fantastic. If you want to read more about the story, then you’ll just have to pay a little visit to Gaming Angels to see what I had to say.
In the end though, I cannot recommend this game enough, something I gushed about in a recent (not yet posted, grrr) episode of the EvilCast. If you like third-person shooters at all, pick this game up. You will not be disappointed; I can almost guarantee it.
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