Astral Chain is not really a long-awaited project: it was announced at the beginning of the year for a release a few months later. Whatever, the talented Takahisa Taura, the firm's emblematic developer, is tackling an original adventure here that deserves a look. If Astral Chain is indeed a beat 'em up for the most part, it also interweaves facets of RPG and investigation that make it an attractive hybrid game - at least on paper. Here we are immersed in The Arc, or l'Arche in French, in 2078, a futuristic megalopolis made up of dozens and dozens of more or less developed regions. If life is in full swing there, trouble begins when a mysterious invasion begins: interdimensional rifts open up everywhere and the Chimeras, fearsome creatures (invisible because they come from an unknown universe) thirsty for blood, begin to contaminate the population, abduct citizens and, overall, make a rather detestable general mess. The player will therefore be able to choose to embody one of the twins, girl or boy, who will serve as protagonists for this ultra-turbulent journey. And to tackle the Chimeras, what better than to have some on hand?
CATCH THEM ALL
This is indeed the whole genius of the gameplay and the very concept of Astral Chain: having real monsters in your pay and using them directly in combat. An elite policeman newly integrated into the Neuron super division, the hero (or heroine, we repeat) is then one of the very few to be directly correlated with Chimeras controlled by technology. Literally, these filthy critters are chained directly to you, immediately synchronized with your mind to become purely and simply extensions of your arm, then called "Legions". This fusion with the enemy therefore allows you to see all traces of the enemy invasion, which normally cannot be perceived with the naked eye, and this obviously makes you an absolutely outstanding cop. As if that weren't enough, you're also an experienced fighter with highly advanced technology, so you're on your way to stopping the invader and saving humanity. Normal, what.
RELEASED, DELIVERED
It is truly once immersed in the game that we understand the whole rather innovative dimension of Astral Chain: at the same time that we attack our enemies "normally", that is to say thanks to our superb truncheon/sword/pistol, our Legion does the same for a saving face lathing. Once freed from his astral prison, which resides in a kind of deck attached to the wrist, this new pal therefore attacks the enemies of your choice automatically and, above all, it is possible to synchronize the movements at opportune moments – a equivocal blue light that will appear at the end of a combo, just after a dodge, etc. – for devastating combos. Another predominant move: the ability to chain enemies with our astral chain by manually rotating the Legion around them, then offering an effective attack opening. A localization of damage is also present with more damage inflicted, for example, in the back of the adversaries or directly in full in their noggin. In fact, Astral Chain's combat system is full of specificities which gain in depth as the adventure progresses: it would even be difficult to detail precisely everything that makes it so big PlatinumGames wanted to offer something both new and quite relevant.
THE SWISS ARMY OF THE FUTURE
For example, you will acquire several Legions, each with unique skills - the Sword cuts through and heals people; the Arc can fire from a distance; Fists is able to lift and swing elements of the scenery; the Beast can be ridden and digs up objects; the Ax protects the player in a solid bubble – to which it will be possible to assign moves, bonuses and other more than essential increases in experience levels. And, moreover, this is where a first and real difficulty comes in that comes to serve Astral Chain: its playability is in fact quite difficult to grasp. Obviously, many Beat Them All have this particularity but the Japanese title suffers from a difficult assimilation of its gameplay, the fault, in particular, of a mapping that is a little too complete and not the most logical. The key combinations are not very instinctive and the experience is enriched considerably over time, we are then served an almost indigestible amount of information which can really repel some players. Fortunately, everything can be tamed but this education is done a little by force and too long, despite the integration of a training mode which has the merit of existing. Also, the action sometimes lacks a real lack of precision that it seems essential to underline: camera problems are recurrent, collision problems prevent the desired action from being carried out correctly, the platforming phases are clumsy, even imprecise. It is not easy to establish balanced control in all areas when you want to make an adventure as rich as that of Astral Chain, and god knows that the studio has seen things big here.
JIMMY NEURON
If the fight can therefore be based on really interesting and well-executed ideas despite these obvious design problems, the rest of the adventure can boast of offering other things that are light years away from the pure fight previously. explained. Indeed, because we play a policeman, we also have to carry out the investigation a few times throughout our journey. Thanks to our Legion, the IRIS vision system and our good old chat, it is then possible to analyze crime scenes, trace leads or even question passers-by to collect information and find out why and how. Nice breaths of fresh air in the midst of heated clashes, these Hercule Poirot 2.0-style phases prove to be correctly carried out, certainly not difficult, and rather pleasant despite some weaknesses on the board. We think for example of a level design sometimes so linear that we wonder why the investigation is necessary when it is a question of simply going straight to find the culprit or of a system of cross-checking of clues not very relevant or well written. Nothing alarming, however, and this completely assumed police side allows you to breathe alongside many small side quests, often full of mini-games. Helping colleagues clear the street, bringing a cat back to its owner, stopping a pickpocket: often, the goals are not very sought after, nor rewarding and are part of the clichés but have the merit of being translated into little puzzles , puzzles or thirst-quenching skill challenges.
BEAUTIFUL FROM A FAR, FAR FROM BEAUTIFUL?
It is undeniable that Astral Chain has enormous potential which should be of great use to the future of the saga, at least if sales are satisfactory as PlatinumGames legitimately hopes. And as a beautiful string to his bow, we can easily note a licked and frankly successful artistic direction. Of course, cel-shading is a great and perfect hide-and-seek to hide the moderate power of the Switch: the company has notably helped Masakazu Katsura, an artist recognized for his work on mangas like Wing-Man or Shadow Lady , and Hajime Kimura, a young Japanese director, to form an aesthetic that hits the mark, almost always in coherent futuristic tones. Almost, yes, because if some enemies turn out to be absolutely magnificent and the bosses really impressive – we feel that there is a strong passive on Bayonetta! – others surprise with a somewhat off-topic chara-design. Fortunately, these are quite rare and do not taint the rest too much. Apart from some impressive areas, many places are quite banal (sewers, factories and whatnot) but saved by this significant graphic aspect. On the other hand, where the rub is that the title offers too many times the same environments, yet impressive at the beginning but which, by force, feel strongly recycled and above all completely reduce the surprise. This geographical repetition therefore creates a certain weariness despite the good ideas – it reminds us of a certain big beat 'em all from Capcom released earlier in the year, well – and that's inevitably a shame. Another big negative point coming to tarnish the picture: the action lacks an often obvious visibility. It's in the art direction to accentuate the lights, the flickers, the particle effects and it looks good most of the time; on the other hand, during massive clashes with several individuals, the pixel porridge is indecent. Very often, we then find ourselves referring only to the vibrations of the controller or to the sound design because we have simply lost sight of our character and our Legion in this ama that has arisen from visuals and lights! Coupled with a capricious camera, the display is then quickly overloaded and, again, we tell you that after playing on a large screen. Because in portable mode, Astral Chain requires you to squint to see something and comes close to being unreadable during major battles. It therefore seems obvious to favor the dock of the Switch, take it for granted.
A BEAUTIFUL RAINBOW
If there's one thing you can't blame Astral Chain for, it's its truly complete and all-encompassing experience. Composed of ten missions, the adventure is linked together relatively well and oozes replayability. First of all, there is a strong scoring aspect with a score given at the end of each chapter and sub-chapter; there are also the many mini-games mentioned above as well as several significant difficulty levels. In Normal mode, know that we got through the end boss (not without sweat drops, by the way, unlike the rest of the campaign which is done very well) after a big fifteen hours of game, without dwelling on our scores and not doing all the side quests. On the other hand, what a pity that the story follows only so little! With simplistic writing, ultra-predictable characters, a mute main character (in 2019, that's getting long for a game riddled with cutscenes) and unnecessary dialogue options - almost every time we're asked to choose for two answers with the same meaning but worded differently – we can't help but regret this lack of scriptwriting care. However, the universe of Astral Chain is really pleasant, its futuristic atmosphere stuffed with neon lights and technologies catches quickly and is supported by a soundtrack that is both orchestral and successful Rock: we really hope that PlatinumGames will be able to erase these imperfections to rightfully unleash all the very nifty ability of this new franchise.
