In the world of Binary Domain, "Hollow Child" is the nickname pinned on an outlawed robot that not only looks and acts human, but -- in a Blade Runner twist -- doesn't even know it's a robot. The label is also an accurate description of Sega's sci-fi shooter as a whole. Binary Domain looks and plays the third-person, cover-based shooter part, but it's really just a soulless imitation. And I'd love nothing more than to bash its robot brains in.
Blade Runner isn't the only source of inspiration -- Binary Domain poaches from everything from Terminator to I, Robot to Mass Effect to Gears of War to Resident Evil and more for its gameplay mechanics, storylines, characters, and dialog. As a result, it lacks its own identity, and when it tries to establish one, it buries the needle on the unintentional comedy meter. One of the biggest face palms is the attempt to combine a tongue-in-cheek action romp with a serious, philosophical commentary on what it means to be human. One minute I was blasting robots to pieces as my cardboard-cutout squadmates threw out cliche one-liners, the next I was presented with the horror of a Hollow Child ripping its own face off while screaming, "What have you done to meeee?" Pure gold.
Oh No You D'int.
At the outset, my plays-by-his-own-rules American character, Dan, was dropped behind the lines of New Tokyo in the year 2080 with his partner Big Bo, a linebacker-sized African American not dissimilar to Cole Train from Gears of War. Big Bo walked me through the funky controls, with dozens of painfully stereotypical lines of dialog, continually asking me if I was "A'ight?" No, Big Bo, I have no clue which key corresponds to the Left Bumper, and I've pushed every single one. I am not a'ight.
Right... can you just tell me which key to press for LB?
Thankfully you can configure your keyboard controls so that you can reload by pushing R (instead of the middle mouse button) but the many, many on-screen prompts given throughout are all in the language of controllers. Even after I'd completed the nine-hour campaign, I still hadn't figured out how the Xbox 360's X or Y buttons correspond to the keyboard. If you still want to plunk down $40 for the PC version of this sub-par shooter, make sure you're ready to play with a controller.
Correction: you can set the on-screen prompts to keyboard in the configuration menu with an additional option. It does not, as you would expect, automatically switch when you set config to keyboard, and requires an additional step that I missed. This option does greatly improve the overall controls. However, it's not enough to change my opinion Binary Domain is a "Fair" two-star shooter.
Pure Flash
One way to avoid the clumsy controls is to plug in a mic and give your four-man squad orders with voice commands, such as "Charge!" "Take cover!" "Retreat!" or "I hate this game!" Yes, it actually works... unless you want your squad to do different things at the same time.
Bo, you draw its attention by running up the left side. British guy, come with me to the right and we'll hit it from behind... never mind. Take cover!
I couldn't really play strategically by telling Big Bo to charge while simultaneously telling Chinese sniper Faye (yes, she's actually a rice farmer) to take up a flanking position. It's a gimmicky feature that perfectly exemplifies Binary Domain's design mentality: it's a kinda cool lesser version of something we've seen before, and it works okay, but it doesn't provide any true depth to gameplay. I plowed through the vast majority without issuing a single order by following the one-two formula of shooting off robots' legs and then blasting their metal skulls as they dragged themselves toward me. There were some nice effects as I chiseled away at robot armor with bullets, sending scraps of metal flying, but the simplistic design of the enemies themselves (think the boring robot extras in Star Wars) is also disappointing.
Bathroom Break
The many boss battles are among Binary Domain's only enjoyable moments. One particularly pesky foe who hunted me throughout appeared to be the lovechild of Megatron and Starscream; another steamed after me on all fours like a wild, robotic silverback gorilla. These battles are frequently fought in wide-open chambers with limited cover, and the robots themselves have a ton of health and tough armor, providing a multi-layered challenge.
Unfortunately, I had to laugh, shake my head, and snooze my way through dozens of linear levels to get to those bosses. At one point, I even had to wait for one squadmate to go to the bathroom because he had to take a dump. I wish I was making that up. By the time I'd finished my "adventure" I felt like I'd been released from videogame prison. You mean I don't have to play this anymore? Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster! Oh, but I did have to play a bit more in order to test out the two multiplayer modes where (if you can find anyone playing online) you can commiserate about how awful it is while blasting bots in a co-op Horde mode or take your frustrations out on one another in team deathmatch.
I recommend you avoid it all entirely. Binary Domain tries to be many things, but it's really just a Hollow Child.