Atomic Coronary heart wears its BioShock influences on its sleeve. Each video games place first-person journey mechanics in elaborate utopias gone unsuitable. Each characteristic verbose, bombastic leaders lifeless set on making their grandiose desires into actuality; fight repertoires combine conventional weapons with in-game “magic” (as an alternative of BioShock’s Plasmids or BioShock Infinite’s Vigors, we have now Atomic Coronary heart’s Polymers); a confused, amnesiac principal character has mysterious ties to stated chief, forming the narrative crux.
But, crucially, Atomic Coronary heart fails to nail down what made the BioShock collection — as divisive as it’s — work: a eager laser-focus on just a few central themes.
As a substitute of fastidiously weaving a textured dimension to its plot and gameplay, Atomic Coronary heart developer Mundfish forged its internet huge. And by embracing a lot, it held onto little or no. This lack of focus, whether or not intentional or not, on cautious narrative threading in favor of paint bombs of set items ends in a imprecise sketch of BioShock relatively than an in depth reimagining. None of that is to say the chum of its writing bloodying the waters of its world, or the incessant whining and unjustified antagonism of its unlikeable protagonist, all inside a haphazard mess of ranges that wanted extra modifying, no more selection.
Whereas my preliminary impressions of the sport had been (and stay) extremely favorable, and I do suggest making an attempt it on Sport Cross — simply not shopping for it — I can not assist however be underwhelmed by the consistency of the sport’s inconsistencies. Whereas the retro Soviet “aesthetic” is distinguished, that bombastic, stunning opening theme is deserted in favor of occasional notes. It’s symphony greater than solo.
Picture: Mundfish/Focus Leisure, 4Divinity
This illness of range seeps into the bones of gameplay too. Whereas Atomic Coronary heart’s method is initially enjoyable — it jumps from areas replete with plant zombies to areas with hulking monsters — it rapidly feels just like the designers took the kitchen sink method. There isn’t any connection between these sections of the world, and in consequence, the sport feels extra like a patchwork, relatively than a number of sturdy concepts which are step by step iterated upon in every subsequent stage.
Essential elements of the sport happen in underground amenities — attention-grabbing, initially haunting, stunning corridors — however when Mundfish thrust me into Atomic Coronary heart’s open world, I truly thought of turning the sport off.
Within the recreation’s semi-open world, the murky depths of an empire’s fragmented failings are deserted in favor of a garish pastoral setting. The house is huge open, and stuffed with safety cameras and robots and machines that make extra robots when alerted by stated safety cameras. Every thing you spent hours studying is deserted — Atomic Coronary heart’s open world would possibly as effectively be a very completely different recreation. Stuffed with robots which are endlessly repaired and swarms of bullet-sponge enemies which are positioned at nearly each nook, these open-world areas are a few of the worst-designed areas I’ve encountered.
Picture: Mundfish/Focus Leisure, 4Divinity
Except for taking part in host to quite a few helpful crafting supplies, I counsel — in the event you insist on persevering with — skipping the open world altogether. The sport is stingy with ammo which you’re higher off saving for hall fights and boss battles.
In spite of everything, let me repeat: Atomic Coronary heart’s open-world robots endlessly respawn. I can not fathom this design selection or why it’s so antagonistic to your presence. Even FromSoftware video games, well-known for his or her worlds’ antagonism towards gamers, semi-permanently kill enemies.
However the open-world design is illustrative of the broader level: The sport is making an attempt to do every little thing and due to this fact wins at nearly nothing. BioShock had huge stunning areas, however didn’t inject such design into gameplay — there was no have to diversify its focus, because it caught to at least one theme and performed it. Atomic Coronary heart, in its try at complexity, spins a thousand plates and drops many. If the builders had hewed extra intently to BioShock, it might have caught to its underground amenities, taking part in fastidiously to its core theme. It could have made a generally pleasurable recreation right into a memorable one.
