REVIEW

The Fall Part 2: Unbound Review

by Rob Pritchard, February 20th, 2018

The concept of sentient AI has long been one of most popular narrative themes within the science fiction genre. Some of these enlightened individuals choose to live a human existence, such as the android played by Robin Williams in Bicentennial Man, whereas others may be similar to the Cybermen from Doctor Who that seek to rule over other species. The main character of The Fall trilogy, developed by Over the Moon Games, falls into the former category. After awakening to her own existence in the first entry in the series, A.R.I.D. has received the second part of her story in The Fall Part 2: Unbound.

After being forcefully separated from the robotic body that was her home, A.R.I.D, or Autonomous Robotic Interface Device, has now decided to act on her own free will instead of her programmed intellect. In order to find her previous shell, A.R.I.D must travel to various areas of a complex computer network and gain some reluctant allies along the way. The storyline reaches into the deeper aspects of breaking self denial with great effect, especially during the Red Dwarf style scene of ‘helping’ a robot butler come to terms with the fact that his owners are deceased. The five hour storyline keeps going at a reasonable pace, with several moments that will make you question your sense of morality as you help A.R.I.D in her quest.

The gameplay of The Fall Part 2: Unbound is split into three distinct types. You will spend most of your time in the Metroidvania style corridors of the network, jumping and blasting doors in order to reach the next area. The world map feels expansive, with several routes and shortcuts available once you have unlocked an upgrade to A.R.I.D’s equipment later in the game. Alongside this run and gun platforming, there is an element of graphic adventure style interaction will definitely appeal to fans of Telltale Games and Sierra Games. The only minor issue is that you are required to aim your character’s torch styled detection beam to find potential interaction points, rather than simply finding them all once you have walked into their vicinity.

After you have solved certain puzzles or used specific conversation branches, you will be forced to defeat a set amount of enemies to proceed. While this can be a fun distraction alongside the exploration, the projectile weapon that A.R.I.D. must use to defeat them feels clunky and unresponsive, especially when you are faced with a fast moving opponent that requires split second timing to eliminate. Mercifully, these encounters only lasts a maximum of twenty seconds, so you will not need to point and shoot with varying accuracy as often you might expect.

The best type of gameplay has certainly been saved for last. After infiltrating a potential ally robot, you traverse a set area within their home attempt to gain information from their surroundings using a similar control scheme to the one utilised in the corridor sections, mercifully without A.R.I.D’s project weapon to cause havoc in an unsuspecting world. It is in these sections that the Telltale Games style puzzles are given their time to shine, particularly when you are required to get the robot butler to enter a certain room, by bribing them to rescue their beloved master from an unexpected cremation.

The graphical style of The Fall Part 2: Unbound is a mixture of Tron styled 3D models and pixelated text for the speech bubbles and in game menus. The frame rate remains mostly consistent, although some of the more detailed areas do stutter slightly when the game forces you into combat mode. The minimalistic soundtrack definitely helps us to empathise with the feelings of isolation felt by A.R.I.D, with some of the best tracks showing their presence during the ally sequences. In a nice twist, almost all of the game’s dialogue has a dialogue track, with some of the best performances coming from A.R.I.D. and her self-righteous Butler ally.

Overall, The Fall Part 2: Unbound is a fun yet flawed Metroidvania platformer, with a storyline that gives an intriguing glimpse into the world of artificial intelligence. While the game may not have the best combat system, the exploration and puzzle systems make up for this during the short time you will spend with it. Despite its problems, The Fall is a unique trilogy that will hopefully not take another four years to reach its eventual conclusion.

If you are looking for a unique adventure that offers a fresh take on technology gaining sentience, The Fall Part 2: Unbound is the experience that you have been searching for.