GITS: SAC Review
This is yet another recent licensed game that makes proper use of the source material. Any fan of the series should give it a look. Like the series, this game is not for kids, though I fail to see what really warrants the Mature rating. Now, I haven't been all the way through the game, but what I've experienced thus far is a little bit of blood splatter from bullet wounds. Unlike what I would expect from an M rated game, there are no over-the-top spigots of blood, no gore. Also, the blood fades quickly, and the bodies disappear soon after being shot as well. While the game makes no apology for killing, neither does it revel in the act. Besides, much of the enemy is robots and prosthetic bodies
That said, the level design is not very expansive, with only the occaisonal branch, and very few if any alternate routes through a level. The designers somehow manage to camouflage this, and end up with some rather cohesive and fun environments, though. I suppose it's because the fun here isn't from exploration. The fun of the environment is the beautifully rendered futuristic world true to the anime. I love the glows on the monitors, and in general the lighting in this game, while nowhere near as pivotal or complex as in Splinter Cell, is dramatic nonetheless. Outdoor environments draw the player out from the dark interiors into near-blinding light and alabaster concrete. It's really a stunning game to look at.
While we're on visuals, the animation in game is quite extraordinary as well. No "Enter the Matrix"--style climbing here (wow, that was one of the most hilariously bad animation jobs I've seen in recent gaming), only fluid running, flipping, jumping, and rolling. Quite a joy to watch Batou or the Major deftly dodge incoming fire and strike with several swift martial-arts blows. My favorite powerup is the Stun Equipment, which allows Motoko to deliver a jolt with each successive melee hit. The bright flash and the incredible power-house punches are really rockin'.
What truly makes this game good is its expert placement of save points. These are all automatic, so there is no break in immersion, and they never leave you too far behind the point where you bit the big one. The load times also make up for a few spots of tedious difficulty that otherwise would be game-breaking. Because of the forgiving re-try rate, I can excuse the clunky wall jump controls and slightly unpredictable behavior in that regard.
The difficulty in the Normal game ramped up about as fast as I expected, and made no allowance for the inexperienced gamer. I suppose for you GITS-first fans, Easy would be perfect, but I expect once I beat the game, I will replay it on Hard mode.
Despite the lack of variation, which is compensated only by the change in player character every few levels, I think that this game could have some great replay value. The fast-paced action never really bogs the player down into having to wait for the game (think Splinter Cell, for a game that really bores me on subsequent playthroughs; I just end up waiting around to get to the good parts, and the tedious parts require the most waiting and precise timing). The whole game really rewards players for doing things at their own pace.
So, for a game that I expected to feel slow and clunky, I was surprised by a smooth, fluid game experience whose visuals and game mechanics are unexpectedly good. This is a game for gamers, and a game for GITS fans, though I would hesitate to reccomend it to just anyone. I based this review on two days of play
Reviewed by: Bruno Eiras from NJ on 7/27/2011
4 4
