Preview: ReCore

ReCore will launch in Australia at the budget price of $50 next month. While that inevitably carries an aura of caution, don’t confuse “budget” with “inferior” for Xbox’s key new IP in 2016. Microsoft insists the economical price is to entice gamers who might be apprehensive to invest in the unknown, not because it isn’t an offering equal in quality to Gears of War 4 or Halo Wars 2.

With the bloke that directed the Metroid Prime Trilogy (Mark Pacini) and the man responsible for designing Mega Man (Keiji Inafune) at the helm, there’s little cause for alarm.

Watching a behind-closed-doors demo with both of them and going hands-on for about 15 minutes at E3, the similarities to Metroid Prime are unmistakable. Watching from afar, ReCore takes on its own life with an abundance of enemies and obsession with hit stats from a third-person perspective. But pick up a controller and the combat and quasi-platforming is Metroid; plain and simple.

There are a couple of spiritual successors buzzing around at the moment. While I wouldn’t stigmatise ReCore as such (it’s not trying to be Metroid without the licensing), it embodies an emotional connection that will forever link the two. So much so, I asked Pacini if there was ever any thought of going first-person. “I can see how you could imagine that,” he said, before explaining third-person was always the vision.

Action takes precedence, but if the demo is any indication, it’ll be interrupted regularly with small platforming segments, mostly to solve a puzzle to progress beyond a sealed room. Combat is dependent on a four-pronged colour-coded weapon system. Red, blue, yellow and white ammo are cycled using the D-pad, and simply matched to the corresponding coloured health bar of each enemy. Each beam has rapid fire and a charged shot, but appear to behave exactly the same (upgrades might differentiate them more). The more enemies on screen, each aligned to a different colour, the harder it becomes.

“We’re relying so much on colour in the game…so we’re implementing a very innovative icon-based colour blind system,” Pacini told Stevivor. He didn’t explain how it will be implemented, but the fact it’s a key focus shows how critical colour is to gameplay.

Last year’s CGI announcement introduced protagonist Joule as a wasteland wanderer,  amongst the backdrop of a sandy post-apocalyptic world. We saw one of her Corebot companions, and got a sense it wouldn’t be a monogamous relationship. Her robot consorts will come and go throughout her quest, which still remains shrouded in mystery.

I didn’t get to see any of that during the E3 demo. The introduction to gameplay was set inside an artificially constructed dungeon, it seemed to be a robot factory, where the onus was on Joule and one of her robotic allies to eliminate enemies and solve puzzles to progress.

Following some of the biggest third-person shooters in the business launching new instalments in 2016, ReCore forges its own path; it’s nothing like the cover shooters that adorn AAA sales. Combat is a mash-up between Metroid and Zelda – combining the targeting system and viewpoint of the latter with a weapons systems reminiscent of the former; and there it becomes its own beast.

The mechanical enemies are nothing like those you’ll encounter in a Nintendo property, but also diverge from the usual rabble of goons that inundate Xbox shooters. They have a range of attacks that keep Joule on her nibble toes, and platforming engages the action throughout 360 degrees of each isolated arena. There’s no cover to fall back upon and it’s as far removed from a corridor shooter as an action game with firearms can get.

I was taken aback by the sheer challenge that confronted me in the opening minutes. Partly because of the learning curve associated with jumping into a game without having passed a tutorial; but mostly because combat is much harder than it looks as a passive observer. Enemies are tougher and smarter than they appear, and Joule doesn’t have a great deal of cover when they can attack from any angle. Don’t rush into ReCore expecting an easy beat just because it has lock-on aiming.

I only got a small taste of puzzle-platforming, but it’s this fleeting moment that garnered the most flashbacks to Metroid in feel, rather than appearance. Joule’s double jump and dash abilities were required to scale across a room, while her robot buddy was able to ascend to new areas using a magnetic rail (very Spider Ball). This was all to retrieve a robot core from a downed enemy to unlock a door and progress to the next area.

It was merely a glimpse of what ReCore has to offer, but with a budget price tag and such a strong development team, I’m willing to take the gamble it will deliver on all its mysteries in September — but there’s still so much we don’t know. While it will make its own name, the Metroid similarities are plain to see; and with Nintendo deciding to put the franchise on hiatus for an entire generation, I’ve more excited than ever to see this forgotten style of gameplay re-emerge revitalised with a third-person, Xbox-flavoured, twist.