All About Binary Domain’s Robots (They Could’ve Been Anime-ish)

It’s man versus machine in the world of Binary Domain. Robotic technology has advanced greatly in 2080, but there are rules – like not making humanoid robots. Japan, the number one nation in the world when it comes to robotics, has been dabbling in gray area androids. The Japan in Binary Domain is akin to Feudal Japan where the nation is walled off from foreign nations. When the discovery came to light, Japan didn’t cooperate in an investigation.

That’s why you, Dan, and a team of international operatives must infiltrate the country and the leading company Anada Corporation which have waves of human-like robots to fight.

"The design of the robots is something we’ve done over and over from the original concept," Hiroyuki Sakamoto explained while demonstrating the game. Earlier, I watched as Dan command the UK demolitions expert Charlie with voice acting. "We were thinking the game could be more interesting with anime style robots. Next, we tried making more realistic robots, but as an enemy these weren’t as interesting. In the end, we met midway and each robot we designed is tied into their [attack] patterns."

I saw Dan shoot through robots big and small. The big ones, as you may expect, were slow, but powerful. "There is a lot of variation with robots, they come in different shapes and sizes. We did this so players can see what kind of enemy they’re fighting and decide how to take them out."

"For the most part, the enemies are robots, but you can expect other things, as well," Sakamoto teased. He was careful not to reveal what other things players will shoot in Binary Domain.

Since the team touted artificial intelligence as one of the game’s key features I Sakamoto to elaborate. "One of the main goals the team set for themselves is to have good A.I. It is still in pre-alpha and all the way up until the final version we want to work on it as much as we can so players will be impressed with it," said Sakamoto. Robots in Binary Domain will react to where you shoot them. Destroy their legs and the damaged robot will crawl towards you in an attempt to grab your legs. Blow off a robot’s weapon holding arm and the robot will pick up the weapon with their other arm. Sakamoto pointed out that the robots in Binary Domain are relentless.

Binary Domain is one of the few third person shooters developed in Japan. While the genre isn’t as prevalent there, the West is saturated with shooters. I asked Sakamoto his feelings about this.

"Yes. It is a saturated genre and we are aware of that," said Sakamoto. "Binary Domain is a challenge for us and we want people to get their hands on the game to see how visceral the game can be and that our title is a strong game even though there are other TPS (third person shooter) games on the market."