Amy XBLA Review

She looks innocent enough.

Amy plunges you into a world where psychic powers are real, known and at least partially accepted by society. The game opens with Lana and Amy sitting on a train, making their way from a facility seemingly specifically set up to study people with psychic powers. They plan to get answers elsewhere as it's hinted at the scientists at the facility don't necessarily put much importance on the welfare of their subjects.

This has obviously rubbed Lana the wrong way and because she has a doctor friend, who she thinks will be able to give them insight into Amy's condition without the questionable ethics, they decide to escape and head there. However Amy is some sort of psychic wunderkind, so the higher ups are upset she has gone missing and all hell breaks loose. They end up besieging half a city, loosing a virus on an unsuspecting population, and killing nearly everyone just to try and recover her.


Overview
You play as Lana who has taken it upon herself to take care of, and protect, Amy. Amy isn't completely defenseless though, as she has a strong psychic affinity and gains a couple of different powers along the way. She is still a small child though and you will need to do most of the heavy lifting, attacking the monsters and figuring out how to make your way safely past the soldiers searching for you. You aren't as well equipped or prepared for the situation you've found yourself in so discretion is the better part of valor for now. You'll be required to sneak past, distract and hide from your pursuers through most of the stages in Amy. This is the better part of the game, leading to some tense moments, interspersed with some frantic combat.

The mutant has gotten a hold of Amy, bash his skull in while he's busy!

Lana isn't just protecting Amy however, it seems Amy's abilities can stop and reverse the spread of infection. Lana has been infected like just about everyone else, but Amy's aura is healing her and stopping the infection from taking hold. This is another cool idea, that leads to some tense moments where you need to send Amy away or hide her somewhere while you do something, knowing that the infection is creeping up and taking hold. If you don't make it back to Amy in time to heal it's game over.

Lana's appearance will change, and you will be able to see the infection taking hold.
Hurry back to Amy before it's too late!

Rational
The game opens with you on a train heading to a nearby hospital to meet up with Lana's friend, when it crashes at the next station. You discover things aren't entirely normal when people start turning and attacking you. You quickly find a 2x4 and get introduced into the combat mechanics. One button swings while another dodges. It's a nice mechanic when used in one on one fights, with properly timed dodges opening the enemy up to a devastating flurry.

Group combat seems to rely more on luck than skill

Where it all goes wrong is when you find yourself in a situation with more than one enemy. While you could argue you're better off running and hiding in these situations, it's not your combat abilities that make this group combat hard, but the way the camera locks on to an enemy. It gives you little to no combat awareness, and leaves you open for cheap hits you could have otherwise dodged. Couple this with sections in the game where they purposely throws you against waves of enemies and the combat becomes super frustrating  I didn't feel like I did any better in the combat the times I succeed than the times I failed, it just seemed like luck.

The game actually gives off a fairly good impression and I found myself enjoying the first two thirds of the game, but the last third completely destroys any and all good faith built by the previous two. The second last level resorts to complete stealth with being detected leading to an instant fail state, unlike the rest of the game. It also takes away your ability to dispatch any of the monsters in your way, which leaves you to trial and error your way through a level with only one exact way of completing it, which even if followed exactly still may see you retrying if one of the mutants decide to look in a place he shouldn't. After struggling your way through many, many reloads the level ends with you having to search out the key to opening the exit door while is sends an unending stream of mutants at you to deal with.

This is the end boss, hopefully I spoiled it for you and
stopped you from wasting your time by playing this game.

Once you finally beat that level and you've made it into the hospital to find your friend, you're greeted with one of the worst end bosses I've seen. I'm not sure if there is even a legitimate way to beat this guy but after cheesing my way past him you get a quick wrap up, some more questions and the game just ends. There were clearly plans to give Amy more powers down the road because her power selection wheel is massive with a bunch of slots and only two are used throughout the game. There is no resolution to the story, you never get to interact with the doctor you spent all game trying to find and the guys with guns are still after you. This game is clearly unfinished, and I'm not sure if they were planning it to be some sort of episodic series, or to release a sequel but with the reception this game has gotten I doubt any of that will pan out. This leaves the story unfinished and the game feeling the same.

Summary
While the first half of the game gives off some interesting ideas, and sets up what might have been a cool story, none of it ends up paying off and the last half of the game is filled with frustration and feels like it was hastily wrapped up. There is no resolution to be had and you are left hanging wondering what happened. It's too bad because like I said the start is interesting and there are some cool mechanics to play with. As basically a huge escort mission the game could have been immensely worse and just for pulling that off it deserves some recognition. If you're bored and pick it up cheap, there are worse ways to spend your time, but I just con't recommend this game.

It's a shame Amy turned out the way it did, but some interesting mechanics
just can't overcome the feeling that the game is incomplete.