AMY Reviews

  • Cellar AtticCellar Attic535,190
    27 Jan 2014 27 Jan 2014
    51 4 26
    A very quick synopsis of the plot is that you find yourself playing as Lana, a woman in the midst of a viral outbreak in a place called Silver City. You don't really know how or why everything is happening, but you know you need to get the hell out of Dodge. Very soon in your journey you'll encounter the game's titular character, Amy, a child who is somehow immune to whatever viral epidemic is ruining everyone's weekend. Amy is the crux of the plot, and you will find yourself holding her hand (literally) throughout a good portion of the game. Occasionally you'll find yourself awkwardly bending over to watch her crawl through some hole or airduct, and then waiting ages for her to clear some obstruction or other. Anyway, wee Amy isn't only immune to this virus; she seems to have been equipped with some sort of telekinetic powers - like sending out shockwaves or forming protective sound bubbles to keep crunchy glass from alerting your enemies - to help you as your progress.

    So, in short, your task is to escort Amy to a doctor that will presumably form some sort of cure from her freakish DNA. This sounds super, and at first blush it holds up as an intriguing and novel conceit that offers a nice reprieve from the bombast of your blockbuster gaming titles. Add in a little survival horror and a few puzzle aspects and you might think you're in for a sleeper arcade title, something like Silent Hill with a babysitting component. Well, prepare to be supremely disappointed, not to mention extremely aggravated, as you blunder your way through this game, breaking innumerable controllers, frightening the neighbors with your blood-curdling shrieks of anguish and rage, and cursing the sadists at VectorCell for tricking you into buying this putrescence.

    Let's break it down according to category.

    1) Graphics: If you played a launch title for the PS One, then you know what to expect. This wouldn't really be a problem, but, as you shall see, everything about this game combines together to make it a proverbial poop sandwich, so consider this the brick-like, Depression-era bread. [Score: 2/10]

    2) Technical Stuff: Absolutely atrocious clipping issues, and terrible AI for Amy. I can't tell you how many times that little, parentless child blocked my path, temporarily got me stuck in a corner, or ran off like a buffoon despite there being enemies around. Brace yourself as well for the worst camera work ever on a 360 title, arcade or otherwise. I don't know if the person in charge of this at VectorCell was just really inept or an asshole, but I died so many times simply because the camera couldn't keep up with my movements, or it shifted perspectives randomly after pressing an in-game switch. This is your bug-infested mustard. [2/10]

    3) Gameplay: As you may have surmised, Lana is not immune to the virus. You can fend off becoming infected, which happens over time as you are exposed to the airborne virus, a few different ways. One, you can stand next to Amy, who is not only immune but has some sort of regenerative ability that clears you of the nastiness like Theraflu. Two, you can inject yourself with syringes filled with something that totally isn't Zombrex from the Dead Rising arcade titles. This reduces your viral contamination completely. Three, at certain points in the game you will come across oxygen masks that will have the same effect as the aforementioned syringe. Obviously when you're escorting Amy around like some beleaguered soccer mom the virus is never an issue. There are, however, many times throughout the game's six chapters where you will have to send Amy off on her own, leaving you vulnerable to infection. As the severity of infection increases your screen will redden and you'll see Lana develop some gruesome looking vericose zombie veins that won't get her in an Elle photoshoot anytime soon. While becoming too exposed will ultimately kill you, the upside is that after a certain point you can effectively pass yourself off as one of the infected, shambling slyly past them like Simon Pegg. Overall, this is actually a decent part of the game, as it forces you to form a strategy and not storm through the level. The latest patch of the game actually allows you to keep the syringes you find, instead of having them mysteriously disappear from your inventory when you die, which sucked. This is only slightly moldy cheese. [Score: 4/10]

    4) Combat: Man alive. The combat, if it can be called that, is an aberration. Throughout the game you'll encounter infected dudes shuffling about with nary a care in their gooey noggins. While stealth is part of the game (and it is indeed necessary in chapter 5), you will find yourself in situations where you have to fight. You will die. A lot. Especially if you are a completionist playing on hard. The controls are so clunky and unresponsive that you might as well be playing with oven mitts on your hands. While it is possible to recognize a sort of pattern in enemy AI, you will be surprised by how spry these otherwise sluggish bastards become in combat. They constantly jump back, allowing your shoddy stick to swoop harmlessly by their ghoulish, slobbering faces. You also have the ability to dodge, but dear God is that function temperamental. I wasn't expecting the accurate dodging of an Assassin's Creed title, but here the effect is so clumsy that it's almost worthless. I say almost, because you absolutely must master it if you want to beat the game on the hardest difficulty. Pro-tip: a good method of fighting is to lure the enemy into attacking, which you then dodge, and then launch a counter-attack. Usually you can get two good swipes in before you're attacked, which is important since you can kill enemies with two bashes of a trusty crowbar, even on hard mode. It'll take about four swipes with the more common stick (seriously; it's not even a proper 2 x 4). And that's it in terms of weapons. You can't take guns from dead soldiers (or their breathing apparatus, which would have made things so much easier). Suspension of disbelief, I suppose. Oh, and occasionally you'll be treated to an execution sequence, where the hapless enemy falls to its knees and you deal the unrewarding coup de grace. More often than not this will only result in you being attacked and killed by other enemies, so it's not really a cool feature.

    Also, these aren't enemies per se, but there are shock mines laying around, no doubt the work of some nefarious prankster. You must walk slowly through their proximity fields lest you end up shocked or vaporized. You can use Amy's shockwave ability to push enemies into these on some levels, and there is an achievement related to this as well. At any rate, combat is the foulest meat known to man. Taco Bell wouldn't serve it to Hitler's re-animated corpse. [Score 1/10]

    5) Level Design: The levels look like they were designed by a Parisian tunnel rat who copped a bootleg beta of State of Decay. The situation is bleak, to say the least, and you'll wonder why poor Lana doesn't just euthanize Amy and then ride the lightning with one of the many live electric wires dangling around. This isn't helped by the poor graphics. Even the above-ground portion of the game looks cribbed straight from, you guessed it, Dead Rising 2: Case Zero. The levels are repetitive and very boring. Moreover, you will not be given any handy waypoints or blinking arrows that help you find your way. You will be given a basic objective and have to find the way on your own, or with help from handy level walkthroughs available on youtube. You can foray on your lonesome, but swallow your gaming pride and save some time by watching the video walkthroughs. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 are damn near impossible to figure out on your own without some serious trial-and-error, and with the limited checkpoints (even with the title update) you really don't want to die and find yourself repeating 20 minutes of gameplay. There are no save points either, in case you're wondering. All you can do is pray that you've reached the all important checkpoint. If not, hide your wife, hide your kids, hide your pets, because you will launch into tirade about how unfair the game is, spewing vitriol about how you're going to write VectorCell a really pointed letter about their "craftsmanship." I'm bald because of this game's saving system.

    Oh, and reloading a checkpoint randomizes the placement and behavior of enemies. Sometimes a reloaded save resulted in smooth sailing with no enemies, sometimes there was one enemy waiting for me where there was none before, and another time two enemies came running out of the dark and murdered me in front of poor, weeping Amy. So beware of that. This is your almost liquefied lettuce. [Score: 1/10]

    6) Achievements: This is why you're really here, right? That sweet, sweet chievo bling. I will tell you right now that unless you are very patient and don't mind repeating portions of this game over and over and over and over and over again, you should back away now and banish any thought of downloading Amy. Bathing a rabid raccoon is more enjoyable than playing this game. I only played the game on hard, as the difficulties do stack, so I may have deprived myself of a more relaxed gaming experience. Nevertheless, if you want the full 200g you are in for an awful time. You will be cheesed to death many times, as it only takes 3-4 hits to die. Health packs? What health packs? The final sequence of Chapter 5 alone is enough to make you punch a stranger. So, if you can stomach constantly dying and reloading, and some really unforgiving combat situations, you can earn all of the achievements in one playthrough. But there's a reason the completion percentage for Amy is relatively low. I myself just finished it today, having given up before the title update, as it was simply too difficult and I wasn't enjoying myself at all. (In case you're wondering, before the update there were like two checkpoints per level; now there are more like four or five). To end the sandwich metaphor, this is the rusty plate that will probably give you tetanus at best, gangrene at worst. [Score 2/10, or 9/10 in terms of difficulty for beating the game on hard mode.]

    Overall: A solid 2/10, or 1 star, for being a fecal sandwich so nasty a tapeworm would pass. Honestly, there is nothing redeeming about this game, except the space you'll add to your harddrive when you delete it. I wouldn't recommend playing it if it was free. In fact, you might need to be paid to play this garbage, and the sum had better be handsome and come with coupons to the spa. I wouldn't play this game again if I was guaranteed a lifetime supply of hugs from Christina Hendricks. You'll have more fun getting a sulfur colonic. You'd be better off donating your money to a charity that campaigns for Pete Rose's admission to the baseball Hall of Fame than wasting it on this dreck.

    I feel a little bad bashing VectorCell so much, as they went bankrupt back in November of 2013, but this game should be re-titled Lame-y. If for some reason you purchased it because you're a sucker for survival horror, I empathize with the agony you're now feeling. Good luck, and lock away sharp objects when you play it. Otherwise, caveat-damn-emptor.
    1.0
    Showing most recent comments. View all comments.
    Cellar AtticGlad you liked it! I've written one other review for Risen 2.
    Posted by Cellar Attic on 07 Dec 16 at 07:06
    MC PHILABUSTAThe end of chap 5 almost made me give my self a concussion out of rage!
    Posted by MC PHILABUSTA on 29 Jan 17 at 21:54
    Cellar AtticThe game is super frustrating, I agree.
    Posted by Cellar Attic on 30 Jan 17 at 03:48
  • I TRU RELIG1ONI TRU RELIG1ON195,153
    16 Jan 2012
    9 29 9
    AMY is a very easy game to do that is until you must use your brain in level 5 and thats as far as using your brain goes.
    I found this game to be very easy and not a very good story line.
    the story is based on a little girl called Amy, whom is autistic, she never speaks but she has amazingly good computer skills and can hack many computers you come across in the game.
    This story is set in December 2034 and as Lana awakens from consciousness the world around her has plunged into chaos. The survivors of the train crash she seem to be in were consumed by fits of violence, fighting each other for no reason, Roads are destroyed, Walls are crumbling, electric cables cut, and darkness abounds.

    Though still weak Lana knows she must get as far away as possible to escape the dark, as though infected by a mysterious virus, even the most lucid passer's by seem without warning to lapse into a murderous frenzy.Lana refuses to become one of them she's willing to draw on every ounce of energy she has left to begin a race against death. But the presence of Amy,a strange, apparently defenceless,young girl, forces her to make decisions that will alter there lives forever. Among degenerating humans, hideous creatures, special commandos and even a few uninfected survivors the pair will have no choice but to count on each other to escape there pursuers.

    The easy level setting shouldnt pose that much of a challenge to hardcore gamers the normal level and hard levels are also challenging but you shouldnt have much trouble beating this game.


    story: 5/10
    gameplay: 6/10
    completion time: 4hrs
    replayability 6/10 if u played on easy and you want the full 200gs only
    value:800msp 6/10 I reccomend waiting for the dotw atleast
    overall i give Amy a generous 6/10
    smile
    4.0
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