LifeisXbox’s Broken Pieces Review | I received the opportunity to review this game; Broken Pieces. For me, this was something brand new as I had never played one of these games. Some of my buddies liked these games and I was always watching them play. Lately, I went to one of my friends and tried Scorn and my head went ‘you need to try this type of game’. So, that’s exactly what I did. Broken Pieces takes place in Saint-Exile, which is a small village near the coast of France. There we meet Elise who is the main character of the game and, if I followed the story correctly, she has some sort of amnesia. During our time with her, we try to unravel the mysteries about what happened in Saint-Exile. You will need to puzzle the pieces together of the story to find out what took place there.
The game actually surprised me, but I did struggle with it a bit. I’ll tell you more about it below.
ℹ️ Reviewed on Xbox Series X | Review code provided by PR/publisher, this review is the personal opinion of the writer.
What we Liked!
- Graphics | I really loved the design of the game. The details were of much higher quality than I expected. The scenery and the views were really beautiful, especially if you looked from the first-person perspective; I found them really captivating. Even in the houses or the church – everything was really high level. In this game, there is also a weather aspect which you will have to discover. The integration of this in the game was really well done. Sometimes the weather gave me a migraine, but that was because I got stuck in a puzzle because I missed a clue.
- Sounds | Sounds is quite the general word; I mean more of the atmosphere of the game when I refer to this. Everything fits so well together like the sound of the wind together with trees where you can hear the tree leaves going left and right. This and when something happens to the weather or when the sound changes to suspenseful music to know you started a fight with bad guys. This game has given me the best setting to keep me on edge and relax me at the same time.
- Cassette tapes | I really loved the fact that you can find tapes in the game and you need to listen to them via a Walkman. This was something of my youth and I never thought I would see this in a game. That said, it is a crucial part of how you get your information, together with your notebook and inventory. The music tapes that you find are also really good. I think I put tapes 1 and 5 on repeat because those songs were really good. I don’t know who wrote them but I could listen to them all day. Tell me what you think about them in the comments.
- Story | The story is interesting because you get to unravel different mysteries in the game. When you discover new clues, you unravel more about the story, which will give you the incentive to discover more about the mystery surrounding saint exile. However, when you get stuck in the game, it is harder to keep the story in your memory. So for me, it gave me issues remembering where I was or what I was doing. There were also no real chapters, so it is a continuous story. You can backtrack your steps, but this will get you lost sometimes on the different sides of the village.
Mixed Feelings
- Fight system | I don’t know why they made it a survival game in a way with a time limit but I found this annoying. If your health is low, you need to run back to the base and sleep to get back to full health. You have to shoot enemies in the game and, when fighting, you are capable of dodging enemies but you never dodge in the way you want. So sometimes you get stuck. With this said, you need to be aware of your surroundings. Or when you run in the fighting area, you can’t holster the gun to run any faster. In a boss fighting sequence, I got stuck hitting every shadow the boss was throwing in the arena and I just couldn’t run away properly or roll. If that was an option, you can only dodge when you are pointing your gun at the enemy. You can’t shoot a shadow. You can enhance your gun to make it more accurate but that’s about it.
What we Disliked
- Camera angle | This was the only thing that was bothering me the most. This made the game feel clunky to me. I prefer to have full control over the camera in 3rd person. This would make the gaming experience so much better for me, than being stuck in a cinematic angle. This reminded me of the game “Alone in the Dark 3” – it’s an old game from 1994 and, if my memory is correct, it was just like that. But hey, maybe these games are meant to be played this way. If you like it that way. go for it!
How long to beat the story | 9 -12 Hours
How long to achieve 1000G | 13 – 15 Hours
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