GameZuki Review: Recore

Release Date: September 13, 2016
Genre: Action Platformer
Reviewed For: Xbox One
Published By: Microsoft
Developed By: Compcept, Armature

By: Jay Parks (GrimlockTheDino9)

Story 

Welcome to Far Eden, the future home of what's left of the human race. Upon waking up you (Joule Adams) find that something is very wrong. The terraforming of the planet has not started and no one is here yet. You and Mack (K-9 robot partner) travel the unknown planet to find out what happened and try to correct the situation before it is too late. 

Game Play

ReCore is an open-world adventure that you explore in 3rd person. The game starts on a linear timeline that forces you to the first dungeon. Once you complete the first dungeon, which teaches you many of the game mechanics, the game shifts to an open-world game style. When you gain access to the open world, you need to search for parts and cores to gain access to the next dungeon, then rinse and repeat for the remainder of the game. Here the game can become grindy; you are tasked with repetitively searching for cores to progress the story line. Each core adds parts for your bots, which give them better stats. The dungeons are when the game really shines, with puzzle platforming styled after Metroid Prime. The crafting in this game is fun (changing the looks of your core bots or improving your weapon) but it feels like it was added last minute as it does not make a huge impact on the game itself. The game play is enjoyable; from gunfights to puzzle solving, everything feels right.

Mechanics

Overall the mechanics feel sharp and enjoyable to use. From gunfights to jumping puzzles to removing cores from corrupted bots, the controls feel good and easy to grasp but still have enough of a challenge to make you try to improve. Controlling your core bots (Dog, Spider, Gorilla) involves simple button presses to have them attack and retreat. Each bot has special abilities; for example, Mack (K-9) can sniff out hidden materials. The relationship between Joule and her bots feels right and the bots are interesting characters. The one mechanic that is missing on a major scale is GPS, or a way point system. At the beginning of the game you see green diamonds targeting a location to head toward. The issue with this is, once you get used to it, and accept that this is how the game will direct you, it disappears from the game. This is my one major issue with ReCore, as it makes the grinding and overall exploration of the game more difficult than is needed. 

Graphics

When I first saw game play of ReCore I was not impressed with the visuals; however, knew it was still in development and the visuals would improve. The end results are better than I expected and I am very happy with the visuals of this game. From the world to Joule and Mack, I was very impressed with their appearance and animation. The Corrupt Corebots (bad guys) are a little messy and I wish their designs were thought out better but overall the 3D modeling of ReCore is very impressive. 

Conclusion

ReCore is a linear/open-world hybrid that is enjoyable and a very welcome game to the Xbox One library.  Joule is interesting and it's refreshing to have a new female lead that is a strong figure. Mack and the rest of the supporting cast are fantastic and at times you care more about Mack than Joule. The game play is fun and the story drives you to find out what happened on Far Eden. However, ReCore does suffer from a lot of grinding for cores with little to no GPS system. This does not ruin the game for fans of other open world games (Assassin's Creed, Borderlands, Destiny, or Batman Arkham Knight) but it does make you wish they spent a little more time to balance this aspect of the game. Overall, ReCore is a fresh IP with a new hero that you can get behind and a world that sometimes feels a little too big but one that you want to explore. ReCore retails for $39.99 and if you own an Xbox One, you should definitely pick up this game. GameZuki Review Score 7/10.