The Fall Part 2: Unbound

Review

In The Fall, A.R.I.D is an AI that was activated inside the combat suit of colonel Josephs, who needed medical assistance just before crashing down on an unknown planet. After discovering that the colonel was never actually in the suit, A.R.I.D suffered a systems collapse and was partially dismantled. Now, in The Fall Part 2, she is about to be eradicated by a human user operating from somewhere within the global network. As she has already defied her boundaries once, she is going to do it again but this time it will be all about saving herself!

The Fall Part 2: Unbound is a science fiction adventure / action / puzzle game where you play A.R.I.D, an AI who is on a mission to find out who is about to decommission her.

I’ve owned the first game for some time, but haven’t actually played it. Don’t worry if you haven’t played it either, because as you start the game, you’ll have the option of a small recap of the first episode before playing this little gem.

First, Arid will have to work through the global network by following the user’s signal and trying to find a way to breach it. In this segment, Arid will be like a hologram searching and running through the network following this elusive signal. Armed with a gun, which is equipped with a torch, she’ll be able to search specific points within the network by moving the torch around. These points will be represented by magnifying glass icons. Most of them will be part of the overall story but some will activate a sequence which will lead you to enter either a combat scene or a new host (robot). Arid will be able to enter three different hosts – the butler (who is in a house), the one (who is on a base on a planet), and the companion (who you’ll find on a vessel). Arid will have to solve all the puzzles in order to move to the next stage of the game. Here, she’ll be introduced to the three perspectives: objective, personal, and an undefined perspective called “other”.  Depending on the flow of the story, she will need to switch between the perspectives in order to successfully complete the puzzle. The interesting point when you change perspectives is that you will be able to interact between different types of objects within each location, which can be slightly tricky at times.

At some points in the second phase of the game, Arid will have to choose between three options on how to proceed, after discovering who is behind the signal. Then she will have to go back and forth between the hosts and the global network in order to progress within the story. Choosing the right perspective within the scenes will determine how fast she’ll get to the next segment of the story, which I’ll let you discover.

I really like the combination of this adventure / platformer / puzzle-solving / combat game.  The components are mixed together in just the right proportions to give gamers a fresh feel and engage them to the point of thinking  . . . I need to know what’s next! Just brilliant, I must say! For me, it is really rare that I start and finish a game; I’m always going to play between 5 to 10 hours to get a good feel for it. The Fall Part 2: Unbound is a game that I just had to finish - simple as that!

Graphically the game looks great, as do the animations. In regards to the story, it’s entertaining and well-structured. My main complaint is regarding the controls; I must admit that it took me a good 30 minutes to get used to them - the mouse could have been so much smoother.