We essentially have a trio of protagonists here in Markus (Jesse Williams), Kara (Valorie Curry), and Connor (Bryan DeChart). Each of them get their own arc and while their stories do intertwine, they are distinctive and they all have some great moments. Whether its Kara's journey, understanding what it means to be a parent, Connor overcoming his programming to do what's right or Markus becoming the reluctant leader of the androids and leading a revolution, I was invested the whole time and while the pacing is a little slow for certain scenes, there was always a new angle to pursue or a choice to be made. Markus was my favourite character but I enjoyed playing as all 3. Connor's analytical nature, Kara's warmth and courage and Markus' determination were inspiring and I connected on some level to all of them. My point is the character development was solid for all the main characters (Markus got the most predictable arc but after you hit the midway point in the game, you know where his story is going) and there weren't many moments that felt off or irritated me.
The visuals are pretty good across the board. The design of Detroit is interesting, they didn't go in a completely fresh direction but I appreciated the stylistic touches like the design of the androids, the mix of the old and the new in the city of Detroit and the action scenes flow well with the QTE (quick time events). The animation on the motion capture is pretty good, you can tell they spent hours upon hours on it. The facial animation doesn't quite escape the uncanny valley (the worst is on Clancy Brown's character Hank) some of them are seamless but others are just not quite there and it was a little weird to look at.
With the motion capture technology being utilized, we have to talk about the performances as opposed to just the voice over. I would say Jesse gets the most screen time but I thought Bryan did the best job. He's good at being unfeeling and stilted like a machine would be. That's not to sell Jesse short, he's the least emotional of the 3 but he gets the job done. Valorie is also great, there's real warmth that comes through her character and she helps convey the turmoil that Kara is going through. Clancy isn't helped by the animation but he's well cast as Hank. Minka Kelly was an interesting choice but this was a different side of her and she had a lot of emotion, she was surprisingly effective as North.
With the story spanning so much time, one of the easy things to criticize is the pacing in Detroit: Become Human. The beginning of the game is a lot of setup, they're crucial scenes but it does drag a little. But I think this is in contrast to the first scene of the game which is not only thrilling but it smacks you with how serious the consequences of your choices are. So you start off with a bang but the following scenes hit the brakes pretty hard. My advice is be patient, there's lots of good stuff to come. The next is that the dialogue is a little clunky. This was a problem for Heavy Rain (the previous David Cage game for PS3 that I loved) and some of it lacks the needed subtlety and is a little on the nose. Lastly, some of the acting in the supporting cast is hammy. I'd point out Carl's son and Todd Williams as the most notable but to be fair, you listen to actors in motion capture productions talk, they have to act huge to get through the layers of CGI that will be put on top of their performance. So maybe that was the intention?
Detroit: Become Human is a game that caters to a specific group of gamers but I think its good enough to bring new people into this genre. I love games like this, where you can manipulate the story based upon your choices and the characters can branch out based upon what you want them to do. I don't think this is a perfect game, there are plenty of options but the story skirts being too conventional and the subtext of the civil rights movement is very heavy handed. But it has some really involving moments (the scene with Markus in the android graveyard was the high point, it was frightening for me), the action is good without being too hard to execute and I really liked the characters and their respective journeys. I would give Detroit: Become Human an 8.5/10 and I'll round up to a 9/10.
The visuals are pretty good across the board. The design of Detroit is interesting, they didn't go in a completely fresh direction but I appreciated the stylistic touches like the design of the androids, the mix of the old and the new in the city of Detroit and the action scenes flow well with the QTE (quick time events). The animation on the motion capture is pretty good, you can tell they spent hours upon hours on it. The facial animation doesn't quite escape the uncanny valley (the worst is on Clancy Brown's character Hank) some of them are seamless but others are just not quite there and it was a little weird to look at.
With the motion capture technology being utilized, we have to talk about the performances as opposed to just the voice over. I would say Jesse gets the most screen time but I thought Bryan did the best job. He's good at being unfeeling and stilted like a machine would be. That's not to sell Jesse short, he's the least emotional of the 3 but he gets the job done. Valorie is also great, there's real warmth that comes through her character and she helps convey the turmoil that Kara is going through. Clancy isn't helped by the animation but he's well cast as Hank. Minka Kelly was an interesting choice but this was a different side of her and she had a lot of emotion, she was surprisingly effective as North.
With the story spanning so much time, one of the easy things to criticize is the pacing in Detroit: Become Human. The beginning of the game is a lot of setup, they're crucial scenes but it does drag a little. But I think this is in contrast to the first scene of the game which is not only thrilling but it smacks you with how serious the consequences of your choices are. So you start off with a bang but the following scenes hit the brakes pretty hard. My advice is be patient, there's lots of good stuff to come. The next is that the dialogue is a little clunky. This was a problem for Heavy Rain (the previous David Cage game for PS3 that I loved) and some of it lacks the needed subtlety and is a little on the nose. Lastly, some of the acting in the supporting cast is hammy. I'd point out Carl's son and Todd Williams as the most notable but to be fair, you listen to actors in motion capture productions talk, they have to act huge to get through the layers of CGI that will be put on top of their performance. So maybe that was the intention?
Detroit: Become Human is a game that caters to a specific group of gamers but I think its good enough to bring new people into this genre. I love games like this, where you can manipulate the story based upon your choices and the characters can branch out based upon what you want them to do. I don't think this is a perfect game, there are plenty of options but the story skirts being too conventional and the subtext of the civil rights movement is very heavy handed. But it has some really involving moments (the scene with Markus in the android graveyard was the high point, it was frightening for me), the action is good without being too hard to execute and I really liked the characters and their respective journeys. I would give Detroit: Become Human an 8.5/10 and I'll round up to a 9/10.