Bright Memory: Infinite Review – Finite To A Fault

Bright Memory: Infinite is an interactive, cheesy scifi action film that feels better than the rest. It boasts incredible – and wonderfully improbable – action sequences propelled by a story that barely qualifies as narrative. Infinite’s runtime is even comparable to that of some movies. Bright Memory: Infinite is unfortunately over before it can fade away. It peaks early, shows great promise, and then ends much sooner than anticipated.

Bright Memory doesn’t have a story as much as it has a series of events that just happen. You’re Shelia Tan, an emotionally wooden but capable soldier specializing in supernatural phenomena. The sky is filled with a black hole that consumes everything within its reach and causes catastrophic weather. This void is somehow connected to an ancient mystery in which an ostensibly evil organization – led by the blandest villain in years – has a vested interest. The goal of your mission is to defeat these guys and find the truth. When you’re not tangling with high-tech soldiers, you’re battling centuries-old warriors and otherworldly demons for reasons that are not adequately explained. It doesn’t even attempt to explain its events. All it does is tell you that your enemies are evil and should be killed or stabbed in their faces. Even after telling my brain that its services weren’t required for this story, I was still floored by its horribly abrupt ending. It seems that the story is about to start, but it abruptly stops. This whiplash is jarring, and I’m still shaking my head in disbelief.

I care less about the story wrapping up quickly and more disappointed that I couldn’t play more of the game itself. Because of its fast pace and smooth combination sword-gunplay, Bright Memory is exciting. Slicing apart foes with Shelia’s sword feels incredibly satisfying. You can launch them Devil May Cry style by using a parry, which deflects bullets or stuns enemies. A new upgrade lets you fire energy beams every swing. This transforms the sword into a longer-range weapon. The four firearms – an assault rifle, shotgun, handgun, and sniper rifle – feel good in their own right, and each has a fun alternate firing mode, some of which are delightfully silly. I’m not sure why a sniper rifle would also fire a sticky grenade, but I loved using it to blow apart multiple targets.

Shelia’s Exo Arm offers another fun tool, letting you manipulate gravity to pull enemies toward you, then blow them apart with an EMP blast. It is very useful for dealing with distant threats. Once fully upgraded, it becomes almost unusable (in a positive way). With a generous cooldown I was able to plunder foes on the opposite side of the map with very little consequence. Odds are you’ll obtain this power and others much sooner than later. You can find upgrade points in the game’s linear environment. In the first 90 minute, half of my available capabilities were fully upgraded. Parkour-style traversal and a grappling hook make exploration enjoyable, but the platforming challenges themselves are basic and don’t take full advantage of your maneuverability.

Bright Memory is entertaining but it’s not as exciting as the story. The action starts early. During the two and a half hour adventure, you will only encounter a small number of enemies types (yes, that’s right). Some encounters are held in a courtyard or on top of passenger aircrafts that fly into the black hole. No matter the ridiculous backdrop, confrontations eventually plateau since enemy encounters don’t get enough time to evolve. My approach didn’t change after some time, which was a shame. Although I enjoyed mixing my skills in amazing ways, I found that my approach eventually became familiar. The challenging boss fights against similarly skilled swordsmen or mythical giants provided me with the challenge and excitement I craved. Bright Memory: Infinite ended just as I’d gained a firm grasp on my basic capabilities; a disappointing payoff to its enjoyable learning curve. 

Bright Memory:Infinite is, in many ways, a long tech demo. Its jaw-dropping action, stunning graphics and enviable presentation would be a strong selling point for any platform. Developer FYQD Studio proved some killer concepts but didn’t evolve them across a more complete adventure. Short games aren’t inherently bad, but Bright Memory: Infinite leaves me wanting so much more and is full of unrealized potential.