Anima: Gate of
Memories reminds me of old Japanese Action Role Playing Games from
the PlayStation 2 era. In fact, playing through this game it reminded
me of a game I fondly remember called Nier from last generation. It
features many of its traits including open areas, similar art, decent
music, and even a book as your companion. Unfortunately, the
experience of Anima is something I won't recall upon all that fondly
despite some enjoyable moments.
Developed by The
Anima Project and out now for PlayStation 4, Anima: Gate of Memories
is a game a few years in the making after its successful Kickstarter
in 2012. I wouldn't normally mention that as every game deserves to
stand on its own merit without its history included but a lot of what
I have to say about the game in terms of its shortcomings stem from
the studio's funding coming from Kickstarter.
There's no denying
that Anima: Gate of Memories is ambitious and you can clearly see the
vision set out by the developers but their $110,000 funding that was
raised in 2012 was clearly not enough to meet their lofty ideas.
Corners were cut in almost every aspect of the game - aspects that
would help a great deal believing the world, characters, and even the
gameplay itself.
The gameplay is
ambitious to say the least. It's fast and fluid for the most part as
you switch between two different main styles that has unique attacks
and abilities. However, the enemies are dull for the most part and
even though every individual part of the gameplay feels decent, it
never comes together to feel satisfying.
Anima is based on a
Japanese table-top role playing game and it's something I know
nothing of. The story portrayed in Gate of Memories is so poorly
written and delivered in places that prior knowledge would not save
it from the cringey dialogue being spouted from the protagonist's
partner Ergo. He's essentially a dick that has no respect for anyone
and anytime the book talks, it usually ends in your character telling
it to shut up. Oh yeah, by the way, it's a talking book.
The
cel-shaded look isn't the worse I've seen but it's also underutilised
and fails to give the game any semblance of life. It makes the
open-world areas feel simply flat and dull whereas a more emphasised
colour palette may have done wonders to make the game stand out. This
would have been handy as some areas in the game will leave you
chasing your own ass as you try to figure out just what the game is
asking of you. Any idea on what you are required to do next can be
completely lost as you try to piece things together while you
aimlessly wander around. However, some credit must be given to when
things are structured right and you can't help but feel that the game
can actually be clever and well-thought out.
From the world you
explore, to some of the characters like the book and main characters,
it all reminds me of Nier but not nearly as good. Its lofty goals
fall short on every front meaning that while you can see its good
intentions, the result is disappointing and frustrating on almost
every level.
This is one gate to
keep locked. 2/5.
★★☆☆☆
Jason Redmond
Anima: Gate of Memories at CeX
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