Binary Domain

K. Fields
2025-06-08T16:39:37-04:00
Video Games

I enjoyed Binary Domain a lot more than I thought I would. It is a Japanese third-person shooter released by Sega in 2012. It was originally a console game but was released for PC shortly thereafter. Given its console roots, I was going to play it with a game controller. Unfortunately, it appeared to require an Xbox controller and my Logitech RumblePad 2 wasn't completely compatible. Therefore, I switched to keyboard and mouse controls and that was fine. The game offered optional voice input to issue commands and to respond to teammates. I tried it but it wasn't reliable enough so I chose to issue commands strictly with the keyboard.

I love strong story driven games and Binary Domain was quite good in that respect. There were numerous cut scenes to advance the plot, some of them fairly long. The plot involved very advanced androids known as "hollow children" and was set in Japan in 2080. These androids, which are virtually indistinguishable from humans, are viewed as a threat to humanity. Your character, Dan Marshall, works for the International Robotics Technology Association (IRTA), who hunt them down.

In addition to Dan Marshall, there was a nice assortment of teammates with their own personalities and strengths. The game has a trust system in which teammates gained or lost trust toward Dan depending on his actions and responses. The trust levels played into some outcomes of the story, particularly the ending. There was also in-game currency to buy equipment and upgrades for the characters and their weapons. I found the game's standard difficulty just about right for my taste. One thing I don't usually care for in video games are overly difficult boss battles. Unfortunately, Binary Domain had a lot of boss battles. However, they weren't too tough and I never felt like I couldn't get past them.

This wasn't a very anticipated game for me and I almost skipped it. In the end, I'm very glad I didn't.

IRTA Agents Rachel, Bo, Dan, Faye, and Charlie