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ReCore

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ReCore
DevelopersComcept
Armature Studio
PublisherMicrosoft Studios
DirectorsMark Pacini
Masahiro Yasuma
ProducersKeiji Inafune
Scott Green
Takuya Shiraiwa
DesignersEric Weiss
Berenger Fish
ProgrammersMarc-Antoine Bernard-Brunel
Romain Jarrier
Bruno Colom
ArtistsTodd Keller
Shinsuke Komaki
Daiki Kasubuchi
WriterJoseph Staten
ComposerChad Seiter
PlatformsMicrosoft Windows
Xbox One
Release
  • NA: September 13, 2016
  • AU: September 13, 2016
  • JP: September 15, 2016
  • EU: September 16, 2016
GenresAction-adventure, platform
ModeSingle-player

ReCore is an action-adventure platform video game developed by Comcept and Armature Studio and published by Microsoft Studios for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One. The game will be released worldwide in September 2016.

One of the first volunteers for the utopian Far Eden colony, Joule Adams, awakes after centuries in cryo-sleep to find that nothing has gone according to plan. With her trusty corebot companions, Joule starts her adventure on Far Eden to save mankind from a terrible fate. The semi-open world environment of Far Eden is subject to exploration and the collection of resources. Joule's weapons are color-coded to inflict damage on a particular set of enemies and, like her companions, can also be enhanced. The corebots support her in battle and puzzle solving.

Development began in 2014. The game was directed by Mark Pacini, written by Joseph Staten and produced by Keiji Inafune, who also provided the founding concept. Mega Man and Metroid were significant influences in its creation.

ReCore received mixed reviews, most noteworthy of which were the insufficient design, technical issues regarding lengthy loading screens and repetitive combat. Praise was overall focused on the worthwhile story, platforming and controls.

Gameplay

Player character using ammunition matching the color of the opposing force.

ReCore is an action-adventure platform game played from a third-person perspective. It centers around Joule Adams and her corebot companions, whose function is to aid her in combat and puzzle solving; these types of creatures are amenable to improvement, should players find the blueprints and materials to do so, which grants upgrades to their attack and defense. The creatures' cores can be swapped between them, changing their abilities in succession. Players can level up Joule's weapons and vitality. Ranged weapons have four kinds of ammunition – white, red, blue and yellow – but only the three latter ones serve the purpose of taking down an enemy with a matching color.[1][2][3] Furthermore, if one of Joule's corebots matches the color of an enemy, it will thus inflict more damage in combat. Joule also wields a grappling hook that she uses to extract her enemies' energy cores after a certain amount of damage is done.[4][5] As there is no cover system in the game, Joule must dodge, jump or dash quickly to avoid damage while engaged in conflict.[1]

Joule navigates the semi-open world of Far Eden either on foot equipped with rocket boosters on her shoes and her back, across platforms with the grappling hook or via fast travel. The scenery may be altered by sandstorms, unveiling new areas to explore. Corebots can speak their own language called DigiMode, which the players are permitted to translate.[4][6][7][1] Removing power cores from one location to another as well as traversal challenges represent the puzzle solving.[8] Dungeons are scattered throughout the world for Joule to unlock, containing resources that can be used for crafting.[7]

Synopsis

Recore's setting takes place about 200 years in the future, following a disastrous period during the early 2020s, after Earth was ravaged by a terrible disease despite a series of concerted global efforts spearheaded by an organization known as Mandate. With Earth no longer deemed habitable, and human life appearing to be doomed, Mandate launched several missions to a promising planet called Far Eden. This ringed world was discovered during the first decades of the 21st century, and though close to Earth in terms of cosmic distance, was still many light-years away. So after several thousand corebots were sent to build atmospheric processing facilities on Far Eden, a first group of colonists including Joule made the journey away from Earth. These colonists would hibernate in cryo-sleep for 200 years while the terraforming process finished. But in that time, something went awry causing the other colonists to vanish, and most of the Corebots and terraforming equipment to be corrupted. Sending Joule on a mission to discover the reason.

Plot

ReCore is set roughly 200 years in the future. During the early 2020s, a disease began to ravage the Earth. An organization named Mandate led global efforts to fight the disease. As the Earth became uninhabitable, Mandate launched several missions to a new planet known as Far Eden. Far Eden was discovered during the first decades of the 21st century, and was many light-years away. Several thousand robotic machines known as corebots were sent to build atmospheric processing facilities on Far Eden, and the first group of colonists was sent. The colonists were to hibernate in cryo-sleep for 200 years while the terraforming process finished. During this time, many of the colonist vanished, and the corebots became corrupted.

The game begins on the desert world of Far Eden as Joule Adams, one of the colonists, and her corebot Mack are walking past the wreckage of her cryo-sleep maintenance habitat, or "crawler", from which she previously woke. They venture out to obtain a power source to get the crawler back online, which Mack tracks down. They eventually reach the power core, which Joule pries out with her extractor tool. Joule and Mack then return to the crawler, switching its power back on. Joule sets out to reactivate a terraforming pylon she learns has been offline for ninety-six years.

Joule manages to reboot the pylon upon her arrival before receiving a distress signal from a beacon that had until then been obstructed. Meanwhile, enemy corebots pursue Joule with the intention to kill her. After she obtains a prismatic core in order to progress toward the signal, the corebots appear. On the order of someone named Victor, they demand that she hand over the core. When she refuses, they get agitated. She defeats the enemies and proceeds to her destination. There, she encounters amputee Kai Brehn and his corebot Seth. Kai requests aid for his leg and Joule complies. She reveals the prismatic core, as it might assist him. Kai urges her to travel to the core foundry so that Joule may discover the answers to its potential. Seth accompanies her.

In the foundry, Joule is able to analyze the prismatic core. She can make out voices coming from the core – including her father's – thus deducing that it is a transmission of sorts. Heading to Eden Tower to decrypt the core's transmission, she agrees to meet Kai there. Once reunited, they are ambushed by Victor. Kai stays behind to provide Joule the time to escape. She finds a lost crawler filled with parietal art indicating that Victor had manipulated corebots to attack the maintenance habitats. Corebot Duncan enters, lamenting the death of his human companion and unites with Joule against Victor. Joule approaches Eden Tower to activate it, only to be faced with Victor and his minions. She learns that the ships, once orbiting Far Eden while waiting for its terraforming to complete, are long gone; having been destroyed by Victor. He throws Kai's prosthetic leg to the ground, proclaiming him dead. Finally, Joule bests Victor in combat and activates the terraforming system, materializing a hologram of her father from parts of memories hidden in the cores. In the end, it becomes clear that Kai survived his confrontation with Victor.

Development

Development started early 2014 and took fourteen months to go into full production. The concept was contributed by Keiji Inafune, who wished to convey the idea of surviving in a world verging on human extinction. The developers first came up with the implementation of robots, whose anatomical design problems would later be solved by the insertion of cores to explain their propulsion.[9] Writer Joseph Staten resolved to create a simple story to enhance an emotional backdrop more grounded in complexity.[10]

ReCore is being designed by Comcept, which is a development studio started by former Capcom employee Keiji Inafune.[11] Partnering with Comcept is Armature Studio, formed by designers who worked on Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate, and the prior Mega Man X series spinoff concept Maverick Hunter.[12] The game is directed by Mark Pacini, director of the Metroid Prime series.[13] Mega Man and Metroid influenced the manner in which the robotic characters and world-unlocking were developed, and Staten's cinematic story was impacted by his reading of The Jungle Book.[10] Chad Seiter, who worked on arrangements for "Pokemon: Symphonic Evolutions" and "The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses", composed the music.[14]

ReCore was first revealed at E3 2015 during Microsoft's opening press conference prior to the start of the show.[13][15] In the debut trailer for the game, a young woman is shown in a vast desert, accompanied by a robotic dog with a glowing sphere in its abdomen.[12] As the pair explore a vault, they are attacked by robotic enemies.[13] The woman has a grappling hook that she uses to remove the cores from the enemies, causing them to collapse, but when the pair are about to be overwhelmed, the robot dog self-destructs to destroy the enemy robots, leaving behind its core.[13][12] The woman collects the core and finds a humanoid robot in the vault and inserts the core into it.[12] The robot comes to life, and the two appear to recognize each other again.[12]

At the conclusion of the debut trailer, Microsoft revealed the game was to be released in the second quarter of 2016 on the Xbox One.[13] On January 4, 2016, Microsoft announced that ReCore would also be released for Microsoft Windows.[16] ReCore was released as part of Xbox's Play Anywhere program – the opportunity to play the game on both Microsoft Windows and Xbox One, no matter which platform it was initially purchased for –[17] on September 13, 2016 in North America and Australia,[18][19] and launches on September 15 in Japan and September 16 in Europe.[20]

Reception

ReCore received "mixed or average" reviews, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.[21][22]

Destructoid's Brett Makedonski had a mixed response to ReCore. Though describing the game to be "brimming with ideas", the design was criticized for being injurious to its foundation. Makedonski felt the fetch quests were repetitive and overrepresented as part of the gameplay experience, and that it "never does the narrative justice". The platforming and controls were praised, but the combat was disapproved of for its tedious nature and inability to advance.[23]

Game Revolution showed little enthusiasm for the game, considering the dungeon raids "formulaic", boring and repetitive. The unlockable Arena Dungeons were declared unintelligible in the context of the game's established world. In addition to combat abilities being recounted as "pointless and padded", loading times – lasting up to 4 minutes – also met charges of criticism. In conclusion, Game Revolution said, "The first couple of hours of ReCore were almost downright magical. The story had me on its hook ... A few hours later, everything fell stale. The gameplay gave way to typical dungeon-platforming formulas ... At least I had the story to keep me going, and that somewhat made it worth it to push through to the end".[24]

To Sam Prell of GamesRadar, ReCore signified "a great example of good ideas [with a] flawed execution". Prell explains that, for all the game's positive aspects, "it has a hurdle of problems holding it back". He cited its extensive loading times as "one of the most frequent offenders", which would also cause the game to crash. Other technical issues included bugs and frame rates that would scale down dramatically. The main story was nevertheless appreciated for its "Planet-of-the-Apes-But-With-Robots vibe", even though it had a slight running time and, as concluded by Prell, resulted in a "padded" experience.[26]

Writing for GameSpot, Tamoor Hussain called it a modest action game "grappling with insecurity over its length", yet added that most of its ventures were carried out successfully. Hussain found the combat "quite pleasing" despite its simplicity, in particular the extraction of cores, which he likened to "reeling in a fish". Though marred by an apparent lack of visual diversity, the world appeared conversely evocative according to Hussain. Also subject to complaint were lengthy and unsuccessful loading screens, and the rate at which the game would crash on the Xbox One.[25]

Polygon took the view that, however strong a first impression the fundamentals and ideas yielded, the game's overall quality was reduced by "a very real sense of padding that draws the game out beyond what it's capable of delivering on". A more favorable aspect was the combo system, which was said to channel "early '00s Japanese action games in a way that feels hard to resist". Traversal challenges and controls were also lauded. Further, Polygon disparaged the design for the game's considerable length, and sensed it was to compensate for the small number of story missions. The loot and crafting system appeared minimal in action and the grinding involved was found to be "annoying" and "a real chore".[27]

Mike Williams of USgamer endorsed the combat and platforming's reminiscence to Mega Man Legends and Metroid Prime (previous titles of Comcept and Armature Studio), respectively. Williams wrote, "One of ReCore's strongest aspects is your corebot companions. They don't speak any English, but they all have rather clear and endearing personalities that shine through in cutscenes and gameplay". He judged exploration to be the game's most robust feature and the fast travel system "generally easy". However, he thought the story was obstructed by the level-based progression.[28]

References

  1. ^ a b c Prell, Sam (September 7, 2016). "This ReCore gameplay video is an hour's worth of story, platforming, and robo-destruction". GamesRadar. Retrieved September 13, 2016.
  2. ^ Hall, Charlie (September 13, 2016). "Does Recore bring anything new to the action genre?". Polygon. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  3. ^ Favis, Elise (August 23, 2016). "Recore". Game Informer. Retrieved September 13, 2016.
  4. ^ a b Gaca, Christian (August 21, 2016). "ReCore". Gamereactor. Retrieved August 28, 2016. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ Otero, Jose (August 16, 2016). "ReCore's Robot Buds Are Not Duds". IGN. Retrieved August 28, 2016. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ Campbell, Evan (June 23, 2015). "Recore Tells a Survival Story About Joule". IGN. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  7. ^ a b "E3 2016: ReCore Gameplay and Interview with Joseph Staten". Shacknews. June 27, 2016. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  8. ^ Kerzner, Liana (August 3, 2016). "ReCore Preview: Exploration, Puzzles and Shooting". CGMagazine. Retrieved August 28, 2016. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ Tach, Dave (June 23, 2015). "How ReCore's creators revealed a secret new game without saying a word". Polygon. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  10. ^ a b Cox, Simon; Davison, John (September 13, 2016). "'Halo' Writer Joseph Staten Talks Story, Influences and 'ReCore'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  11. ^ Staff, Xbox Wire (June 16, 2015). "Keiji Inafune and the Makers of Metroid Prime Showcase All-New Exclusive ReCore". Xbox Wire. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  12. ^ a b c d e Hussain, Tamoor (June 15, 2015). "Mega Man Creator and Metroid Prime Devs Announce Xbox One Exclusive at E3 2015". GameSpot. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  13. ^ a b c d e Sliva, Marty (June 15, 2015). "E3 2015: Metroid Prime, Mega Man Creators Announce ReCore". IGN. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  14. ^ Giargiari, Andrea (June 16, 2015). "ReCore: An Adventuring Mechanic and Her Robot Dog". The Tanooki. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  15. ^ Kastrenakes, Jacob (June 15, 2015). "Xbox One exclusive ReCore looks like Star Wars and Wall-E mashed up". The Verge. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  16. ^ Frank, Allegra (January 4, 2016). "ReCore will launch on PC, too". Polygon. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  17. ^ Arif, Shabana (September 14, 2016). "Xbox's Play Anywhere launches today with ReCore". VG247. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  18. ^ Good, Owen S. (June 12, 2016). "ReCore launch date leaks out, it's September". Polygon. Retrieved June 12, 2016.
  19. ^ Totilo, Stephen (September 13, 2016). "ReCore Hampered By Long Loading Times On Xbox One". Kotaku Australia. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  20. ^ Romano, Sal (June 13, 2016). "ReCore launches September 13". Gematsu. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  21. ^ a b "ReCore for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
  22. ^ a b "ReCore for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
  23. ^ a b Makedonski, Brett (September 12, 2016). "Review: ReCore". Destructoid. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
  24. ^ a b Honea, Keri (September 12, 2016). "ReCore Review". Game Revolution. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
  25. ^ a b Hussain, Tamoor (September 12, 2016). "ReCore Review". GameSpot. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
  26. ^ a b Prell, Sam (September 12, 2016). ""A great example of good ideas, flawed execution": ReCore Review". GamesRadar. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
  27. ^ a b Gies, Arthur (September 12, 2016). "ReCore review". Polygon. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
  28. ^ a b Williams, Mike (September 12, 2016). "ReCore PC Review: Building a Platform for New Legends". USgamer. Retrieved September 12, 2016.


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