Master Reboot

6.5 Overall Score
Gameplay: 6/10
Graphics: 6/10
Sound: 8/10

Interesting Story | Sound design | It's creepy

Confusing Story | Inconsistent levels | Platforming sections

Game Info

GAME NAME: Master Reboot

DEVELOPER(S): Wales Interactive

PUBLISHER(S): Wales Interactive

PLATFORM(S): PlayStation 3 PSN

RELEASE DATE(S): March 4, 2014

What happens to you when you die? Futuristic horror-adventure game Master Reboot says your soul goes digital and is uploaded to the Soul Cloud so your loved ones can visit your memories. It’s an interesting concept for sure, but does it make for a good video game?

Master Reboot tells the tale of a worker entering the Soul Cloud and the mysterious creature chasing after her through the soul and memories of an individual. The memories are quite varied in their content and scenery and this both helps and hurts the game. On one hand, you get a wide variety of places to explore, from a hospital, to a school and a playground. But on the other hand, there is not much consistency between the short levels. Sometimes you have to collect X amount of things to move on, other times you have to solve puzzles scattered about the area. The fire/ice/forest level environment combination is a well known video game troupe, and can work well when you know your main objective is “run right.”  However, it’s a problem here because I wasn’t quite sure what to do as I started a couple levels. The second part of most levels is even more vague on what to do and where to go.  Those who rage against hand-holding will definitely dig it, though.

de5a67_5a8fd7ee4fa65576496620341e110767.jpg_srz_p_1135_638_85_22_0.50_1.20_0

As you explore these memories in a first-person view, you get to encounter a creepy little girl who may or may not be an understudy from The Ring. She likes to give you the old fashioned jump scare now and then, and sometimes she even succeeds. It’s pretty creepy to see a glance of some shadow zoom by in your peripheral vision at first, but you start getting used to it as it happens quite often in almost every level. The level design could also have used a trip to the editing room because there is a lot of wasted space. I understand that part of the games objective is to explore, but a lot of the places you’re navigating seem like tacked on emptiness with cloned trees thrown about.  Combat is at a bare-minimum and the one time you get a gun, it’s only used to solve puzzles.  Most of the conflict with other characters involves running away or quick-time events.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially for a pseudo-adventure game, but an item some players might not like.

de5a67_60f47cba58e5c6c48fec71d08e9076de.jpg_srz_p_1135_638_85_22_0.50_1.20_0

The story is told via end of level cut scenes and by finding blue rubber duckies hidden in the levels. The cut scenes are done in a completely different style, which can be jarring coming from the differently stylized gameplay graphics. Each blue duck contains a note, photo, or other information that relates to who you are and who’s soul you’re inhabiting. The combination of the two can help piece together what is going on, but it can still be pretty confusing. I wasn’t quite sure what was going on towards the end, but it seemed interesting. Sometimes using clues hidden about can do a great job telling the story in games, but in this case, I feel that more could have been done to explain this complicated subject matter.

The game controls tightly, but some platforming sections late in the game can get a little frustrating as jumping doesn’t feel completely natural.  Sometimes it seemed double-jumps worked, other times it seemed like they did nothing.  A couple times I had trouble getting the action prompt to appear on interactive objects or getting weapons to hit their intended target, so some additional work could have been added there, but it wasn’t anything too frustrating. The graphics are pretty good throughout the game, though there were some odd looking textures here and there. It’s hard to tell if this was by design or not given the unique style, but I feel things could have been tightened up a little visually. Sound design ranges from atmospheric to creepy, with lots of little touches making a difference, especially when playing with a nice headset. You can even play through the game in Welsh (and even earn a trophy for it).

de5a67_9ed3f9060ae4883ba2842b7ed3598b33.jpg_srz_p_1135_638_85_22_0.50_1.20_0

THE RECOMMENDATION

I had a hard time figuring out exactly what I thought of Master Reboot. The concept was interesting, but the execution wasn’t always there, even if a lot of promise is shown. Some levels were fun, while others were frustrating.  It’s not a very long game, which is good, because it was just starting to overstay it’s welcome near the end of the game. I kept going back and forth on whether or not to recommend it, but despite it’s shortcomings, I think it’s worth checking out for fans of adventure-horror, as long as expectations are tempered going in.

 

SHARE THIS POST

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Myspace
  • Google Buzz
  • Reddit
  • Stumnleupon
  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • Technorati
Avatar
Author: Shaun Zimmerman View all posts by
Still waiting for the Commodore 128... Find me on Twitter @Zimm108

Comments are closed.