Play as Shelia: Hanna Grace in this fast paced FPS (First Person Shooter) where you can perform combos to take out your enemies in this story driven shooter where you must stop an evil organization from collecting 1000 year old relics and controlling the world.
AS THE GAME IS RATED M – FOR MATURE, THIS TITLE WAS TESTED WITH GAMERS OVER THE AGE OF 15.
General Gameplay
Bright Memory is a fast-paced shooter where you can chain up combos by using different abilities to take out enemies with using a combination of gunplay, energy sword and other abilities. You get a score and chain up your score with more dazzling ways of taking out the enemies. Think of a combination of the Devil May Cry, and Bullitstorm series mixed in with lots of First-Person Shooter combat. The Game Visuals for Bright Memory are very advance in its visual style. Presented in 4K, the graphics are all exceptionally clean in its design and look for the game. As the game is designed for the PC and the Xbox One Series X, it takes advantage of the more advance console and ray tracing that is shown in the game. The game graphics are easily seen, and the colors are more of a muted and cooler colors for the game. All the characters, enemies, and backgrounds are quite easy to see and honestly the game looks good on a native 4K Smart TV or monitor. Bright Memory does not offer a colorblind mode for say, however the colors are clear enough to see on the screen. In our playtesting we did encounter some graphical issues with the game but nothing to prevent the enjoyment of playing it (we will cover this more in our Family Friendly section of our review) outside of the technical issue there was nothing offensive for younger gamers to see in the game. Audio in Bright Memory is very action packed in its audio presentation. As with a shooter you get the standard weapons fire, enemies grunting, as well as background music. The game story is told via character dialog and the interaction of the characters in the game. In the game there is some mild language but nothing that would warrant concern, more like a PG rated movie. The game audio is well done and at times the music fits the level and settings, however there were some concerns with the audio during out play through (we will go more into this in our Family Friendly section) The game is presented in both 5.1 surround sound as well in 2.0 stereo sound, and either sound environment the game sounds great in. In our play testing, we did encounter some technical issues with the game sounds during a play through, outside of this, the game sounded find for all gamers to hear. Controls for Bright Memory are quite easy to learn. As the game is a first-person shooter, the controller layout is designed to be around this style of controller setting. You have the triggers that fire the weapon and aim down the sight of the weapon. The shoulder buttons preform actions, as well the face buttons are used for jumping, crouching, and other specials. The game controller settings are designed for quick response type of gameplay and this layout is great for it. The game allows you to use both your guns and a sword and the switching between them is amazingly easy for any gamer to use. The controller settings are very user friendly and easy to pick up and play. In our playtesting, we did not encounter any issues with the game controller settings and again found the game quite easy for anyone to pick up and play the game.
“More of a extended demo than a full game, Bright Memory has potential to becoming a great game for the Xbox One Series X, but with some technical and graphical issues will hinder its performance on both the console and on high end PCs”
Family Friendly
When we saw on the Xbox One Marketplace a game specifically for the Xbox One Series X, we were excited. A shooter, let alone a shooter that takes parts from other great series from the Devil May Cry with the sword fighting to shooters like Bulletstorm with the combos based on how fancy you get with dispatching enemies to a pure 4K game that took advantages of the new Series X abilities, what can go wrong? Well, first off on the Xbox One Series X the game is more of a “extended demo” or an “episode” of the game than a full game. The game itself is around 1-2 hours of gaming with some demonstrations of level types, power ups and overall gameplay. The game has a futuristic setting for the first part of the game, then it takes you to a wilderness setting both outdoors and indoors to showcase the enemies, combat, and bosses that you will face. There is several puzzle areas where you must figure out a puzzle to advance in the story and the boss fights showcase arena style of combat with the boss and additional enemies that are there to combat against you. Overall, the game is fun to play for those that love fast paced first-person shooters and combo-based gameplay. The game story because of it being more of a demo or episodic has a lot to tell but from what we can tell it will be like a standard shooter story, you as a good guy/gal have to stop an evil group from getting something old that will destroy the world. Again, this is a tried and true formula for most shooters and here this is nothing new. One of the concerns that we had during our review was the technical and graphical issues with Bright Memory running on the Xbox One Series X. The game at times will have static for the audio, and at times the graphics on the screen seems to drop in frame rate during gameplay and the backgrounds were also very blurry and creating a “tearing effect” on the screen. We have tried the game on two different Smart TVs and another Series X console and sadly with the same results. Now these are not game breaking bugs but more annoyances that may detour you from playing the game. Overall, this game is for those that love shooters and want to see what their new console can do with games like this. Just be aware that the asking price of $7.99 USD is more for an episode then a full game. The full game is expected to be released in 2021, so if you are patient enough to wait till then, it would be the best time to pick up the game. From the trailers that we have saw online of the full game, it looks fantastic and again for shooter fans, this is a game not to miss. As the game is rated M – For Mature, we did not see or hear anything that would be highly offensive for gamers under the age of 15. If anything we felt that the game should have received a T – For Teen rating as the violence in the game did not warrant a M – For Mature rating. In our special needs game testing, we did not encounter anything outside of what we covered with the game visuals, audio, or controls. If anything, Bright Memory is very special needs gaming friendly.
Closing
Bright Memory has a lot of promise to be a fantastic shooter that is designed specifically for the Xbox One Series X, however those that are picking up this game keep in mind that it is more of an extended demo or episode portion of the game than the full version.
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