Sega’s robot science-fiction action title from the maker of Yakuza is an odd kettle of fish, at least based on the first trailer floating around the net today, which oddly plays heavy on the North American squad-based shooter only to slide into a bit of the potentially bizarre twist that insinuates a deeper objective at the very end. Most of the video is plenty parts “send in the killbots,” caught somewhere between The Terminator and I, Robot, begging to be viewed as a predictable attempt to please the North American marketplace at the moment.
Toshihiro Nagoshi’s included pitch in the PR offers a few potential reads,
“What I wanted to create this time was a dramatic and energetic sci-fi shooter. When you hear sci-fi you may think of cold, clinical environments but with Binary Domain I wanted to combine this with a deep human drama,” commented Toshihiro Nagoshi. “The keyword we have in mind for this project is ’Life’. I wanted to make something that will be accepted by both the Japanese and Western markets, and this fundamental theme is something everyone knows but which the full extent of can be difficult to grasp.”
Sega mentions this idea of life having an important role with the battlefield AI, but does this also mean we should anticipate environments pulsing with life, or expect a plot ever heavy with philosophical drippings layering over a generic “me too” shooter? Your guess is as good as mine, all I know at the moment is that I wouldn’t have minded them “Ghost in the Shelling” it up a bit.
There really isn’t a lot to go on here without actual gameplay, so we’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime you can catch the current trailer after the break.
