Sega’s western market targeted cover shooter Binary Domain didn’t do so well after its February 28th launch. It kind of had some big competition from another sci-fi romp.
Mass Effect 3 was released a week later than Binary Domain on March 6th, and it sold much better; selling 1.3 million units. This comes in stark contrast to Binary Domain’s 20,000 units, which are not good launch sales figures by any means.
Mass Effect is an established and popular franchise, whereas Binary Domain is a new, untested IP which looks a bit too similar to Gears of War for its own good. On top of that, marketing for Mass Effect could be seen absolutely everywhere, while Binary Domain received little-to-nothing from its publisher in terms of marketing and post-launch support.
It’s a safe bet that we probably won’t be getting a sequel, then. Unless the PC release of Binary Domain scheduled for later this month really takes off.
is the story any good? if not, i’ll pass on another shooter variant.
The story is pretty good; it’s very Blade Runner inspired but nowhere near as deep, but there’s some interesting stuff in there.
Some of the characters are pretty likeable (the French robot was my favourite) and there’s some light optional friendship/romance options depending on how you treat your companions to keep you interested in multiple playthroughs.
It’s also a longer than your average shooter these days, and it’s supes cheap now too.