Ruiner is the story of a guy who gets his brain hacked.
He's then sent on a mission to assassinate a man called The Boss.
However, just before completing the mission, his mind is set free by a mysterious female
hacker.
Together, they then go on a quest to get revenge and to save our hero's brother, who's been
captured by the same people who took over his mind.
Now I could say that the highlight of this game is the combat.
However, in reality I'd have to say have to say that it's the world that this game creates.
It may not be original.
In fact, this whole sci-fi, cyperpunk Asian city setting's been done in games and films
for quite awhile now.
But it's a setting that does a great job of setting the right tone.
So dark, gritty violent world, dark, gritty, violent gameplay.
There's no natural light here, just red, with a gang called The Creeps running the local
underground car park and a corrupt business that seem to control the law.
But as tough as this world may appear, you fit right in into it as a quiet bad ass, wearing
a leather jacket, riding a bike and taking absolutely no bullshit.
Soon you gather an odd team of friends, who help you out as you explore the city of Rengkok-
a place where you never know what, or who, you're going to bump into next.
The city acts as the game's hub that you visit in between missions.
And sure, there may not be a lot to do here, but there is a lot of cool stuff to look at,
from the graffitied walls, to the back alley gym.
And all of these different, unique, violent, over the top characters set the perfect tone
for the carnage that awaits...
So the combat's a mix of brutal twin stick shooting, plus some close quarters melee fighting.
It's fast paced, with a focus on dashing at just the right time.
Because not only can you move quick, but you can also lose your health pretty quick too.
In fact it's kind of unforgiving because only a couple of mistakes and you are brown bread.
Thankfully, to help you out, you do have an assortment of different abilities which you
unlock and upgrade as you level up.
These are things like grenades, the ability to slow down time, the ability to hack a rival
enemy to join your side, shields.
And all of these different skills can be added and removed from the skill tree freely, without
you having to make any commitment so you're free to play about with them and have a go
at all the different powers, at any given time.
And of course, there's the guns.
These also add some variety to fights, with a whole range of different types from flamethrowers,
to lasers, to rockets, to miniguns, to ice beams, to electric guns...
However each gun does only come with one clip, so it's about killing an enemy, and then picking
up their gun to use against their friends- and this pick up and drop mentality means
that you should never get too attached to something, because it will soon run out of
juice.
Then, you'll be looking for your next instrument of death to play around with.
Oh, and one more thing- the respawn times are super quick, so it's all about picking
yourself back up and getting straight back into the fight.
OK- so it's safe to say that the game is not perfect.
While it is pretty good, it does have some flaws that I think I should mention.
First off, while I think all of the different characters LOOK great, it's a shame that their
dialogue is in text form only, so they can't SOUND great too.
Because I can imagine that a couple of the over the top performances, to go along with
the personalities, would really have fitted in nicely with the world.
I'd also say that by the end of the game a lot of it starts to feel quite repetitive.
Don't get me wrong, there are a lot unique moments- especially the boss fights.
But for the main, bog standard fights, a lot of the variety is left down to you, the player.
So, it's up to you to mix things up by switching around your skills and maybe playing around
with some different guns.
A lot of the enemies, kind of play out the same.
There's either the melee ones or the shooting ones- sure there are the suicide bombers,
the zombie like ones and a few other different types, but the majority of them do feel kind
of similar.
Oh and one more thing, while it is a nice idea, having you hold down the up directional
button to make your guy do press ups- it's not a great idea to make it a trophy for doing
it 1003 times.That's just annoying.
Anyway those are my thoughts on Ruiner.
I've got to say, it's definitely a good game, especially the music, and especially if you're
up for a challenge.
Even the normal difficulty provides plenty of tough moments.
But, with practice and perhaps a switch around of tactics, there's always a way to win.
Thanks for watching.