Holler If You're Dead

I always get excited when a weird Japanese game gets a PC port. Sega's Binary Domain nails the "weird" and "Japanese" parts and is a fun game as well. It took me around 11 hours to see the story to the end and I was surprised at how much I cared for the story of a third-person shooter. Not only are there a good twist here and there, but the characters are endearing enough to be likable and memorable. The story is helped by the game's conversation system that lets you reply to your squad's questions and comments. The extra dialogue goes a long way for an action game's story.

The gun play of the game could have stood to be tightened. The cover and aiming are competent but never reach higher. Thankfully, the robot enemies are wonderful and explode spectacularly when hit with assault rifle fire. Also, the boss fights in the game are pretty spectacular. While some bosses can take too many bullets and have a lot of attacks that knock down the player, I can't hate on them when they let me see a spider robot hopping on its last leg.

Japan has stumbled with its person-shooter games of the past, so it is nice to see Sega's Binary Domain get things mostly right. While it is unlikely that there will ever be a sequel or successor, I would certainly love one.