BRIGHT MEMORY: INFINITE

The same Chinese man, a lone hero, hiding under the sign of FYQD-Studio (actually his name is Zhang Xin Cheng; Zeng Xian Cheng), who made a rustle of his Bright Memory last year (I wrote about this short but bright beauty), all, of course, a little confused. It seemed that it was a 40-minute demo of a full-fledged game called Bright Memory: Infinite, reminiscent of Shadow Warrior 2. So Infinite came out – and it turned out that she and the first Bright Memory – two different episodes of the main character’s adventures, and the continuation is also short: not 40 minutes, and somewhere a couple of hours. Also, you see, very little for a shooter. Well, how to deal with it?

Player cover
hello from the past
And at first you are reserved. Yes, the game looks cool, showing how to squeeze everything out of Unreal Engine 4 – and when you remember that all this was done by one person (even if now he was helped, as he himself admits, “global partners and people who provided technical support” ), then, of course, you are amazed.

There will also be parachute landings. If anything, I played on a laptop and at medium settings.
But here’s the story about how the heroine of the first part, the sexy agent Shelia from SRO (this is a Supernatural Research Organization), in 2036, rushes on an assignment to save the world from a black hole that appeared in the sky from nowhere, is served too clumsily and straightforwardly. And given that we still remember the events of the first Bright Memory – all these gaps between the two worlds and the ancient emperors with their artifacts, then this story cannot be particularly surprising.

And why do we need to follow the plot and read some messages there, if the main role is a girl, and we have DLC with bonus costumes?
The main advantage of Bright Memory (well, in addition to graphics), namely the combat system, which is a juicy mixture of shooting, melee combat using a sword, block and dodges, as well as superpowers, now places more emphasis on shooting. Simply due to the fact that there are spacious sopen level, unlike the first episode, where there were tight fights in an ancient temple.

Here we see the temples only from the side.
And the shooting is nothing special. Well, we fire from three or four types of firearms and fire. Enemies do not shine with their minds and try to take in numbers. The only good thing is the presence of alternative fire modes (they need their own ammunition) and opponents with different tactics (there are, for example, archers and soldiers covered with shields). On the average level of difficulty, it is quite easy to shoot everyone from a distance. Only sometimes swords and superpowers are used in battles with mini-bosses. For fun, you can pull enemies with a cat hook and tear them apart with a force wave – it looks like a cheat that makes it even easier to pass.

Everyone around is in such a hurry to meet Shelia.
Then a very rudimentary, but effective stealth appears. After all, it is always spectacular when a girl in a sexy outfit cuts down armored soldiers with a cleaver.

Although it can be softer.
Using a grappling hook, of course, looks stylish too. Like shooting at boats or running on walls. But we have already seen all this. Yes, and frank clues, where exactly to run on the walls, are bewildering.

Bugs complete the picture, when, for example, after a reboot, Shelia is fully armed, although according to the scenario, this is a stealth scene and she should only have a cleaver in her hands. As a result, there is a risk of making much more noise than necessary – you have to die again on purpose and hope that this time the cleaver will return to its place.

Does the author take us for idiots?
This does not mean that it is unpleasant or boring to play – on the contrary, everything is quite spectacular and cheerful. But, let’s just say, at the level of shooters of the past generation. This, of course, is not about graphics and not about the theoretically intriguing combination of “firearms” with swords and superpowers, but about the very ideology and game design.

The main thing is the spectacle!
In principle, Bright Memory: Infinite remains like this throughout, but in the second half, especially in the last third, the dynamics simply overwhelm, changing the impressions for the better. Firstly, the battles become much denser and more difficult – difficult bosses appear, having several forms, we are driven into a corner, pinned against a wall, surrounded by snipers.

Health is restored automatically.
And here already (especially at the last level of difficulty) you have to use almost the entire arsenal of possibilities, as well as look for relics and pump super moves for them, so that a girl with a steel hand throws her swords at archers, lifts opponents into the air, hits from a running start, throws everyone standing in the way, and so on.