Nier: Automata | a Review
originally published on 13/12/2024;
Hello everyone, I am the very human G.E.M.Simov, a 100% real live human that is running off to the moon to save itself from the machines.
Simple review details - I rank games on an out of 10 basis, granting up to 3 points in 3 categories, as well as a last, single point from my own self, depending on my experience with it. Also, I am a gameplay designer and a writer so I got the credentials to talk shit.
Gameplay
Nier: Automata is a 3D action game with a heavy emphasis on combat and some RPG elements. I find it to have some good aspects of the RPG genre, while also maintaining its originality in adding a whole slew of staples from other genres. That allows it to become quite the unique blend of gaming and turn into a sublime experience that the player will be hard pressed to find a way to re-experience, through a means other than replaying the game.
Right off the bat, the player will find themselves flying through the air in a Space Invaders inspired section, of which there are many, and will be treated to the bullet hell that is Nier: Automata, in a gameplay section that truly possesses the feeling of a game that has spawned a genre known for bullet hell. That is then translated, smoothly, into the main style of the game - namely the action, the combat, the 3d babes with big swords cutting down enemies left and right.
The combat is fluent. It allows for some combos, but those come from what kinds of weapons the player is using, and, in general, the opportunity to weave moves together into an infinite slam of destiny is not present. The combat relies on the player's need to dodge, bob and weave in between enemy attacks to land their own, which normally don't end up being more than three or four, and, as such, any bigger combos are quite the rarity.
I personally enjoyed the combat, and I found most of the weapons to bring decent movements to the table, not too slow and restrictive, with enough flow of motion to look good, and to also feel good. Another thing, connected to the combat, is the fact that most weapons have similar, although not entirely lacking in uniqueness, ways in which they affect the enemy. That serves as a great way to provide the player with hit feedback, something incredibly valuable in any game that features combat, and, sadly, many games fail to do it well. Nier: Automata does it good.
I want to emphasize something - Nier: Automata does combat perfectly. This is the only game, in which I have always known that I could have done better, following a failure, and, even if I were to go on and blame the game's design, in the heat of the moment, I always knew that it was all due to my ability, or lack thereof.
Nier: Automata presents the player with the opportunity to experience fluent movement, while dodging attacks through the use of said movement, as well as utilizing attacks, which are executed in accordance with the character's movements, to bring the most enjoyable experience I have known, when it came to gameplay.
There was the incredible challenge, the incredible joy of movement, the satisfaction of landing an attack, owed up to the challenge itself as well as the splendid hit feedback, and the well balanced reward for beating certain enemies. This game is perfect when it comes to combat, and no other game can even compare. Dark Souls is too sluggish, Bloodborne is a console exclusive which makes it bad, with no room for debate. Other action games like Nier: Automata lack the things it has and uses so well.
The bullet hell segments, present in almost every fight, are one of the things that provides the player with a feeling of mastery - while in most other games the player needs to watch out for the choreography of the attack that then fires a projectile, which either has an animation that oftentimes appears bigger or smaller than the actual collision box, thus making it imperfect, or the appearance of the animation melds into the setting of the fight and becomes harder to see, thus making the encounter more difficult based on something beyond the player's control, in this one that is almost not a factor.
Nier: Automata is the best action game when it comes to combat. I stand by this statement, and I probably will stand by it until the next installment in the franchise arrives, if it ever does, or until I play more action games on the PC with good optimization and reasonable control layouts. So far… Not that many of those.
But, you see, ladies and gentlemen, combat is not the only thing this game does well, when it comes to its gameplay. Another thing which has been specifically worked on and conceived by the designers was the world itself and the spaces within which the player can wander about. They are vast and appear almost empty, but that is intended.
In reality, there are many things to be found - items, secrets, destinations - many, many things, but they are placed in such ways that the game never feels cluttered if it was not intended to. Nier: Automata depicts a wasteland, a desolate world, and the game feels as if it takes place in such a setting, even though there are, actually, many, many things to be found within every area.
The RPG aspects of Nier: Automata come in the form of a bunch of things - utilizing stores to buy and sell things, using upgrades to make the character stronger, providing the player with choices, providing the player with a massive plethora of endings, more than 10, each quite unique in its own right when compared to all others, multiple characters with different abilities and play-styles, customization options - the only thing this game does not have, as an RPG mechanic is the option to change the size of the character's chest.
However, there are more things to mention. The possibility for customization in Nier: Automata is incredibly great, even if it is relatively limited in its visual effect on the character. There are a few different outfits that can be worn, in addition to different weapons that can be used, but those conclude the visual differences in the characters based on customization.
What is customizable, greatly so, is the gameplay. The player character is an android and has a certain capacity for programs it can run at once. That capacity is taken up by programs/upgrades, each requiring a certain amount of processing power. Upon equipping an upgrade, the player's capacity is filled up a little, and the performance of their character is increased or changed, based on the upgrade.
What is unique about this is that the player can choose to optimize. How? Well, the player can pick to remove any UI, outside of menus, so as to get some more capacity for other upgrades. The player can choose to remove the voice program, making their character effectively mute. They can remove the sound receptor management, making their character deaf. The player can even remove the Operating System of their character, which results in the character's death.
What is important is that the player has this opportunity. The player can softly inconvenience themselves to gain a slight advantage. These programs/upgrades can provide other things, such as detection of items in the map, a way to cheat death by straight up not dying when they take lethal damage, upgrades that give them new moves - there is a lot of everything. Naturally, extra damage, extra health, extra currency - those are options. And it is great to have that many options, as the customization of an experience truly makes it splendid.
There is even a fishing minigame, which is, actually, a really good foray into fishing for a game that is not entirely focused on fishing, though that could be owed up to the tint of my glasses as I recall these wonderful things.
So, let me recall some silly shit.
First, there is an aspect of the combat that does not work, and it is owed up to, 100%, exclusively, unequivocally, the fact that this game is a console port, and, thus, it is just bad by design. The main character has a 'Pod' as a companion, and that Pod has a number of means of attack. It can fire rockets, or a stream of bullets like a mini-gun… But aiming that is impossible, unless, of course, the player is utilizing a controller. Fortunately, Nier: Automata has realized that this could be an issue, and so when the player is locked onto a target, the Pod automatically shoots at the target.
There's a plethora of additional issues when it comes down to the quality of the game's port, but it is not that grandiose. There are some other slight issues, though, such as the way the camera collides with stuff. Sometimes, the camera performs the wildest maneuvers possible and just messes with the player. Other times it locks itself in place and, while the view is, most often, quite pleasant, the fact that a goon can be hiding just out of sight, or under something, is really grinding my totally metaphorical gears.
In short - very good gameplay I like playing the game it feels good to play hold on why is this sentence so messed up-- 3/3
Presentation
Ahem. I like playing the game, it looks good. The colors are always vibrant, in a very pleasant sense, and even sights that might be otherwise four and dreary are made all the more lively and wondrous by the spectacular application of lighting that is bright and seems to be the type of light that makes people happy, by default… It is very pretty. Even when the graphical settings are bumped down, the game is splendid.
Naturally, we (the gamers) cannot miss out the opportunity to mention the culturally significant depiction of the main character - 2B - and her form. I'll leave it at that, for, if you know… You know.
When it comes to voice acting, I am very pleased… But, then again, I feel as though it could have been better. Naturally, as you may recall, ladies and gentlemen, this is a Japanese game. And, in Japan, for some reason, people like performing noises. Gasps, gulps - so on and so forth - which I figure is influenced, heavily, by the emphasis on such things in Anime and Manga, which act as means of portraying emotion or reacting to something. In Japanese, those are a bit cringe-y, but they work. In English, they make me crave the sweet release of death.
In addition to that, however, some moments felt really… Really silly. A highly emotional event, and the character, wracked by wrath… Does not sound as though they are shouting as hard as they could be. It felt as though there was conscious stifling. It felt as though there was a distance between the character and the actor, which distance needs to be closed, if the performance were to be truly good. I was not as satisfied with that as I would have wanted to be.
The music bangs. It's a bop. As the kids say: "This shit BUSSIN'!"
Not only does the soundtrack feature some intense audio, but the moments at which the game shows the player something impressive, visually, the songs are quite expertly crafted to feature some relief, sound-wise, be it a swelling or a stifling, which makes the visual presentation even more striking. The presence of these somewhat throaty choruses, the calm pieces, everything about it… It is quite great, though I must admit that my perception of it as great could be influenced by my perception of Japanese, Korean and Chinese as languages that are far better when it comes to song and rhyme than most European languages.
I wish it could have been a superb score, but it isn't, because the Voice Acting really messed with me. 2/3
Story
Right, here it is, the reason why I was in such a rush to finalize my statement pertaining to the quality of the gameplay, as well as the weirdness of the sentence.
I like playing Nier: Automata. I also dislike playing Nier: Automata. Why? Because the story is both good and also bad, in a very strange combo.
Ultimately, I perceive it as thoroughly nihilistic, maybe even far too excited at the prospect of doom. It is 100% a tragedy, and, without spoiling much, I was left disappointed by the decisions of the characters, who are, supposedly machines, operated by reason, and yet acted like humans, and the least appropriate type of human - the one driven exclusively by instinct and emotion, the one who can not stop itself and ask: "Why?"
Naturally, the story is heavy. Its manner of delivery was not one that I would call subtle, nor is it one I would call elegant or skillfully crafted. The sheer fact that the setting is as it is - presentative of such a fantastic mystery, of this post apocalyptic world - really allows the writers freedoms that make it all just a mystery, and most, if not all of the story, is the discovery of answers. Ultimately, the end is so bleak I was truly saddened. It almost left me feeling as though I had just listened to "Everywhere at the End of Time", if not just because of the story itself, because of my own consideration and perception of reality.
In short? We have enough doom to look forward to, don't shove it in my escapist anime waifu video games. But also do, and don't let up. 2/3
Legendary Point
Does this game get the legendary point, so craved and wanted by all and none at the same time?
I don't know. On the one hand, the spectacular, perhaps over-hyped by me, combat system really urges me to look at this game and clap excitedly, to give it the point. However, on the other hand, the whole feeling of the game, the totality of it, the fact that there was a slight sensation of cringe as I played, the fact that I would feel uncomfortable if anyone walked by my computer screen and saw 2B's ass - those left a sour taste in my mouth. So, too, did the story. It was like eating spicy food. On one hand, you like it, but, then, on the other, just a bit too spicy and you're no longer enjoying it.
Part of my problems can be solved with societal and cultural changes that cease their frowning and sly glances when it comes to anything sexual, part of my problems can be solved with the application of cultural expansion of one's own knowledge, but, others… I don't know if they could be dealt with that easily. Thus, unfortunately, I am NOt giving this game the legendary point. 0/1
Conclusion
7/10. It's a great game. This is what I would like average games to be. This is what I would like good games to be. Unfortunately, though, due to the things mentioned in my considerations of whether or not this game earned the Legendary Point, I don't think I can recommend it to everybody. Play it if you are open to philosophical provocation, play it if you are interested in good combat, play it if you are interested in a good, semi open-world experience.
I tuck it under my belt, another shining achievement that I proudly display. I only wish… For changes that are, frankly, not that associated with the game itself. Ah well, it is good, is it not?