Recore, a third-person-action-adventure-dungeon-crawling-shooter (that’s a mouthful!) and platformer developed by Comcept and Armature Studio, is Microsoft’s first “Play Anywhere” title.
Developer: Armature Studio, Comcept Inc.
Price: $39.99
Platform: Xbox One (reviewed) and Windows 10 PC
In Recore, you play as Joule Adams and travel to a planet called Far Eden, where she is tasked with a special mission. Joule awakens to find out it’s been much longer than she’d hoped and that something has gone amiss on the desert planet. You and Mack, your doglike core-bot companion, must traverse the sprawling landscape to discover what has gone wrong. The overarching story, has its high and low points. While it may have some minor plot holes, most of the backstory can be found in holographic log books that you’ll discover throughout the world. Overall, the story has a solid idea, that the developers, it seems never truly fleshed out as much as it could have been.
The semi-open world story line is gated through the collecting of “Prismatic Cores.” These multi-colored cores are required to progress further through the game’s different regions as well as unlocking dungeons, each door requires a certain quantity of Prismatic Cores.
Along the way, you’ll discover friendly core-bots that help you get to places previously unavailable, as well as some not so friendly. You may have two companions with you, but only one is available at any given time, and they can be alternated with a click of a button. Core-bot companions are an essential part of the game play in Recore. Each companion serves a particular purpose, which can be used when available and has a special move to help fight off enemy core-bots. Mack, your faithful puppy pal, can sniff out items in the sand, that can help you upgrade his and other companions abilities. Seth, a spider-like core-bot can attach to special tracks and carry Joule along for the ride using her trusty grappling hook. Companion bots are also capable of performing special moves against enemy bots and extra damage if your companions core color matches that of the enemy it is attacking.
Enemy bots come in a variety of core colors which require a specific type of ammo to be used to defeat them. The colors (white for normal, red for fire, blue for shock, and yellow for a paralysis-like effect) are based on type of damage. Some enemies can be outside of the normal damage colors (green and purple) allowing you to choose the type of ammo you wish to use to defeat them. Boss encounters, much larger versions of already present enemies exist as well. These bosses have a unique mechanic, in that their health bar can change in color making for an interesting fight as you may have to make split second decisions in order to stay alive. Being constantly on the move is a must in order to be successful. Once an enemy is low on health Joule may use her grappling hook to yank the core from its body rendering it defeated. This is accomplished by clicking the right thumbstick in when prompted. Once the grappling hook is attached to the enemy’s core you must use the right thumbstick again to pry the the core from its body being careful not to snap the line with too much pressure.
Extracting a core, as it’s called in-game, can also be done instantly by getting up close on unsuspecting enemies. Core extraction is an interesting and unique alternative to just defeating enemies, that makes for a neat in-game animation. If you’re on the fence about when and when not to extract a core, remember that extracting rewards you with only the bot’s core which is then automatically turned into fusion energy to upgrade your companions stats (Attack, Defense, Energy). Defeating an enemy outright leaves behind scrap pieces that can be used back at the workbench in Joule’s Crawler and turned into core-bot parts that further increase companions stats as well as changing their appearance. This allows an almost endless list of possibilities for how they perform in battle making for some very different encounters with enemies.
The dungeons are really where the game shines. They require you to traverse large gaps, jumping platform to platform using Joule’s various traversal abilities. Whilst inside a dungeon you’re tasked with a set of challenges that must be completed to receive each piece of loot corresponding to that task at the end; completing all the tasks in one try rewards you with a bonus item. While the bonus item may not always be of particular value, it’s almost certain to be something you wouldn’t have found before. That’s not to say, you wouldn’t find the same item in better shape (and with better stats) later down the line. The rewards range from common scrap parts to make core-bot parts as well as core-bot parts themselves, and there’s almost always a Prismatic Core or two in every dungeon.
The Final Word
Recore, in a way reminds me of an old Rare title called, Banjo-Kazooie in the sense that it requires you to collect these Prismatic Cores (jiggies in BK) to pass through the game’s many regions. Other than it’s low graphics, I can’t find any reason not to like it. The story has a solid idea, however the developers never truly fleshed out as much as it could have been. Overall, it’s a truly masterful game, calling back to the earlier platformers of SNES and N64 gamer yesteryear.
– MonsterVine Rating: 4.5 out of 5 – Good
