A Re-Introduction To The World Of Binary Domain

The Machine Age Has Begun

I’m sure you’ll have already heard of SEGA’s forthcoming game Binary Domain – from the legendary creator that is Toshihiro Nagoshi – so for most of you this is something of a re-introduction. For those of you who haven’t then please allow me the pleasure of giving you the lowdown on our forthcoming title.

The narrative focus of the game is thus: the world is a much different place in the year 2080 and catastrophic climate changes since the 20th century have forced the major nations of the planet to adapt to new ways of living. Rising sea levels have wreaked havoc on many countries, resulting in new cities being built upward, and on top, of the older ruins of once-great metropolises. Thankfully, incredible innovations in robotic technology have made these changes easier on humanity. Due to the huge undertaking of rebuilding existing cities, robots were manufactured at an incredibly fast rate in order to relieve a lot of the strain on manual labour supply. Before people knew it, robots were everywhere and had taken over many of the other difficult and menial tasks that people were happy to give up.

Seeing the potential future before them, the nations of the world joined together in 2040 to discuss how to regulate this new industry. Jointly, they passed certain international mandates that companies must abide by when building machines. Most importantly however, was the ban on any research on robots that could pass for humans; this international treaty was called the “Geneva Code”, and strictly forbade the creation of human-like robots. For almost 40 years, this rule had been followed, or so everyone believed until one morning in Detroit, when a man with a gun stormed into the Bergen Offices and kick-started a series of events that would forever change the world…

So as you can see from the above synopsis and cut-scene footage, the world in 2080 is in the midst of some major tension not only from the geological issues faced, but also from political and moral standpoints. This forms the perfect backdrop to the third-person, squad based action you’ll be thrown into, and not only will the action be tense, but the narrative framework around the game is highly volatile too.

The ‘Consequence System’

The main focus for Binary Domain is how the squad you’re working with deals with their surroundings, the enemies, and more importantly, each other. This is implemented, and brought to the forefront of the action, through the inclusion of one major piece of gameplay; the ‘consequence system’.

You play as Sergeant Dan Marshall an ex-US Army officer, who is part of the “Rust Crew” – a covert operation unit that works to crack down on violations to the Geneva Code. This unit comprises of a squad of teammates, who as you’d expect have their own specialisms, character traits and personalities, and juggling these various characters is one of the most important aspects of the game. For example, how you deal with Big Bo (another ex-US Army officer) is going to differ drastically to Faye (an extremely talented agent from China who doesn’t tolerate weak leadership) and therefore keeping your core team members onside, and willing to ‘have your back’ is imperative…unless you like making life more difficult, and then you can throw caution to the wind, alienate your squad, and make the game all the more challenging.

Through the use of the consequence system, you can issue commands to your squad-mates as well as share idle chit-chat in quieter moments of the game, therefore meaning you can multi-task your way through the action. Pinned down by enemy robots? Then order a teammate to flank and destroy. Want to charge into the action yourself? Then make your squad lay down covering fire to divert attention. The best thing about all this (other than it makes for a more immersive experience with your squad), you can do all this either through standard controller commands, or you can implement your headset and bark your commands down the mic for that true sense of immersion.

Demo out now on PlayStation Store

Don’t take my word for how great this game is though, see for yourself and download the demo via PlayStation Store now to test what I’ve said. This demo sees you tackling two Tokyo based missions set early in the game’s story, and will find you battling enemy robots as well as being able to test the consequence system, and give your leadership abilities a thorough examination.

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