Corpse of Discovery

What begins as a great premise quickly devolves into repetitious gaming. Corpse of Discovery bogs down with the same feel to each one of its missions, even though the landscapes of its planets are diverse and graphically pleasing. For example, in each mission, Major is searching for something in the hope that this discovery will bring a rescue crew to deliver him home. Unfortunately, this turns out to be a constant lie, with Major getting shuttled from one place to another in service to a corporation clearly serving its own interests. The problem is that he constantly performs the same tasks over and over again, without any deviation in tasks; even some of the dialogue seems to be the same from planet to planet. That makes the gameplay stale, boring, and repetitive.

It's quite apparent that the game developers wanted players to question the fabric of the game's reality, and they've done a good job of keeping everything just real enough to make the missions seem plausible before twisting it away. For instance, during some missions, Major tracks down something highly improbable, such as a rock with a tablecloth on it and an ice cream cone in the middle. Plus, Major's companion autobot further undermines his mental stability, promoting the nobility of sacrifice one moment and questioning the necessity of a family the next. Though that helps shore up the mental effects the player experiences, it doesn't do enough to improve the gameplay. This not only becomes draining, but, combined with the lack of any revelations or answers, it teeters on frustrating. The overall effect is a game that dives into confusion, evades answers, and drives home themes through repetition instead of being intriguing and fresh.