Of course, Nier Automata does have plenty of other strengths as well, both as a game and in terms of storytelling. As a game, it gives you an unforgettable, post apocalyptic world that’s very fun and rewarding to explore. A once-hyper modern city, now ruined and overrun with plant life, might not be a location unique to Automata, but it does boast perhaps the most iconic video game depiction of such a place – so much so that when Kirby and the Forgotten Land embraced just that kind of setting, it was Nier: Automata parodies people were making.
The game has lots of sidequests, many of them genuinely good, with compelling storylines that illuminate aspects of the main plot (including some heavy foreshadowing about 2B’s true nature) or otherwise contribute to strong world building. Particular songs playing after you’ve completed particular sidequests make them feel like miniature adventures in their own rights, complete with end credits themes, making them further stand out.
I also love the chip system in this game – given how your heroes are androids, you can upgrade your combat capabilities and otherwise gain a whole host of useful abilities through the use of plug-in chips, but each chip takes up a certain amount of limited total space, and you will endeavor to make use of as many useful chips as possible, each taking up as little space as possible. Basically, you want to go from powerful chips with Western Game Dev compression to powerful chips with Nintendo-quality compression. This happens not just by collecting superior new chips as sidequest rewards or finding them through exploration, enemies can drop good chips too, or even weak chips that will prove useful as long as they take up little space, since you can actually fuse multiple weak chips to produce much stronger chips that only take up slightly more space. It’s actually extremely satisfying to go from, say, a +3 ranged attack-boosting chip that takes up 13 slots to one that only takes up 7 slots, it just frees up so much space, which opens all sorts of new possibilities. It also makes exploration and even regular enemy encounters that much more rewarding.
Somewhat shockingly for a game developed by Platinum tho, combat is otherwise one of the game’s weakest points. Sure, it’s flashy and decently fun, with a handful of different weapon types on offer, but overall the combat comes across as really shallow, with very limited combos (really, button mashing attacks, Pod abuse and properly timed dodges is all you need) and different weapons of the same class generally feeling very samey. Bayonetta, The Wonderful 101 or Astral Chain, it is most certainly not. Worse still are the flying sections, which usually overstay their welcome and end up feeling really monotonous, with you just gunning down wave after wave after wave of generic enemies before one or two events of actual interest eventually occur.
Repetitive gameplay is a bit of an issue with Nier: Automata, seeing how you’re basically forced to play the first half the game *twice*, first as 2B and then as 9S. Since 2B and 9S are paired up for the vast majority of the game’s first half, this means you’ll be retreading a whole lot of familiar ground. Sure, there are some new scenes from the perspective of 9S, some other new scenes further exploring various villains and supporting characters, some new sidequests that take advantage of 9S’s hacking abilities, and eventually the adventures of 2B and 9S do somewhat diverge – but you’re still ultimately being forced to play through the same game twice.
And yet…I actually think it works. Maybe not from a strict gameplay perspective, but definitely from a storytelling perspective. Because the second half (which is actually presented as a straight up SEQUEL, and more than lives up to it) is not only full of absolute kino, but it’s perfectly set up by the way the first half is handled. At least for me, going over previous events with a somewhat fresh pair of eyes gave me a far greater sense of familiarity with the setting and the characters, a much greater feeling of understanding what was going on…and so when the “sequel” pulls out the rug from under you, it feels that much more shocking and impactful. The first couple of hours especially, beginning with the long-awaited operation to take back earth from the machines, and ending with a mind-blowing bridge scene are Peak Fiction, not only because of the content, but the way it as set up. BTW, kudos to the fanbase for NOT spoiling the defining twist, because I sure as hell didn’t see it coming, partly because I would have taken for granted that if an event like that actually happened, it would be something EVERYONE openly talked about.
Later on too, the hits keep coming, and there are so many great moments, big and small – from the delightful banter between Pod 042 and A2 (A for Ass, because she *is* effectively 2B’s rival after all) and the backstory of redheaded twins Devola and Popola to the heartbreaking depiction of 9S’s descent into madness and a seemingly innocent stretch of sidequest filler suddenly turning into an incredibly tragic horror show. Despite some necessary comic relief, it’s emotionally draining stuff, but also incredibly compelling and memorable. The first half is quite good, but it’s the second half where Nier: Automata truly lives up to the hype.
