XBox 360

Nier

Genre: Action , Adventure , RPG
Publisher: Square Enix Developer: Cavia

Release Date(s): US: 2010-04-27

SCORES:

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Nier Review

by Ryan Clements - IGN.com | 11 May 2010 12:00

You can't judge a grimoire by its cover.

My first thought of Nier after booting the game up was "dear lord is this ugly." Although some of the character models in Nier are charming, one of Nier's greatest flaws is its visuals, as the in-game environments are laughably bad. But sometimes it pays off to look past a game's graphics and enjoy the workings underneath, because Nier is a terribly intriguing, occasionally original experience that many gamers will miss because of the way it looks -- and that's a shame.

Nier is also one of the weirdest games I've ever played. And I've played plenty of weird games before. Sure, seeing Namco Bandai's Muscle March in action might be weird, but Nier is unusual for a number of reasons. Its pacing, aesthetics, narrative and cast are all just a little strange -- almost unsettling. It was for this reason I enjoyed Nier, despite its shortcomings.

This third-person adventure game borrows gameplay mechanics from a shockingly diverse pool of ideas. At its core, Nier is all about running around and slashing away at bad guys, while performing fetch quests and trying to figure out exactly what's going on in the game's sullen world. But Nier will surprise you, as there's 2D platforming, riddles and plenty of bullet hell moments to be found here ("bullet hell" being the recent trend in shooters where the player is overwhelmed with enemy projectiles). The fact that Nier does some extremely unusual things is really part of the charm, though I imagine it could disorient players expecting a straight-forward, hack-and-slash affair.

The Shades are your main adversaries.

The majority of Nier takes place approximately 1,300 years in the future, on an Earth that has wholly forgotten its science and civilization. You play as an unnamed father that's doing everything in his power to cure his young daughter, Yonah, of her fatal disease. I don't want to spoil anything else for you, as the oddness and melancholy of the story is another part of the charm, but I'll just say that I developed an attachment to the game's characters, especially as their pasts are later explored.

When it comes to Nier's battle system, don't expect anything too extraordinary. Players have basic combos at their disposal (one long combo string for each of the three weapon types), along with a number of spells which are unlocked as the story unfolds. Thanks to the copious amounts of blood that spew from the father's shadowy enemies, I found a fair amount of satisfaction from the Nier battles, and some of the later encounters certainly offer up a challenge. But the game's optional side quests reveal an overriding flaw in Nier's design: repetition.

Most of the side quests in Nier were of the legendary "fetch" variety, where players are forced to trudge from one location to the next in an effort to collect a healthy assortment of fruits, metal or whatever else the Earth's population needs to survive. But this all starts to bleed together, and by the end of the game I realized that the environments you see at the beginning of Nier are the same ones you'll be seeing fifteen hours later. I returned to the Lost Shrine at least three times, which killed some of the awe that came from visiting it in the first place. Having to backtrack over old areas is a royal pain, though I wonder if this issue (and the game's lackluster visuals) is the result of a small budget on the part of the developer.

Kaine is one cool gal.

So if Nier is ugly and repetitive, where's the fun come from? It's all about reveling in the quirky surprises this game delivers one after another. Whether it's the unusual -- but fantastic -- personality of Kaine or the sudden gameplay shift that comes from your first visit to the Forest of Myth; there's just always something in Nier that made me smile, even if the raw gameplay is totally average. This is a classic example of a game where the developers' ideas sometimes outshine the actual implementation. Nier is still fun enough, and there are plenty of weapons to collect and upgrade, boars to ride (yes, really) and you can event plant vegetables in the garden by the father's house to harvest later.

I also want to specifically call out Nier's soundtrack and voice acting. Both are quite excellent, especially the former. Nier's score is beautiful and haunting, as well as surprisingly flexible. In the Lost Shrine, for example, an eerie choir sings slow, stirring chants as you wander the abandoned halls of the shrine. But when a battle begins, a layer of drums and horns comes in underneath the choir perfectly, without ever dropping or interrupting the vocals. I really enjoyed this. Similarly, the voice acting is admirable, especially for a game that looks low-budget at first glance.

Closing Comments
Nier is ugly and it can get really repetitive, forcing players to backtrack multiple times across familiar locations. But for every frustration I encountered in Nier, there were surprising gameplay twists, unsettling aesthetics and intriguing characters to meet. The ideas that Nier was built on are extremely solid -- the execution just falls short.

If you're still the type to rent or borrow a game and you have a free weekend, you can get through Nier in about 20 hours or so. I'd say it's worth it, despite the game's faults -- especially when you consider the endearing cast contained within.

Supplied by IGN.com

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