The survival horror genre is nearly absent from the downloadable market. Amy appeared poised to fill that void with a title that involves heavy melee combat, a horrible infection spreading across a city, and a helpless little girl with special powers. While everything looked good on paper, the end result is a horrendously frustrating experience that will likely never be finished even by the most hardcore survival horror fans.
The story opens on a train, which is heading towards Silver City and a hospital that will have answers to what’s plaguing the little girl. Amy, the games namesake, is an eight year old girl with special abilities that has been rescued from a research facility that was using her as a human guinea pig. Players will control Amy’s guardian, Lana, as she tries to navigate her way to the hospital. An explosion happens in the distance that upends the train and knocks Lana unconscious. When Lana regains consciousness, the world around her has changed and an infection is spreading through the city.
Amy and Lana must stick together in order to survive. The infection courses through Lana’s veins and her proximity to Amy is the only way to stay alive. If Lana is separated from Amy for an extended period of time, she will become increasingly infected. Lana has a small window to return to Amy before the infection kills her. Lana can use the infection to her advantage. If Lana is infected “enough”, she will be able to walk past the zombies who will see her as one of them. The infection runs the fine line of being useful and fatal. If Lana travels too far from Amy, she will run the risk of not having enough time to return and be healed. However, the game does not provide any visual queue as to when the infection has gotten to the point of being fatal.
While Amy is necessary to survive she tends to become burdensome in a game requires the characters to remain unseen. While trying to hide or peer around a corner, Amy will walk out into the open and draw the attention of enemies. If you tell Amy to wait while you investigate, Lana will become infected and Amy will not come to your calls because she is afraid of you. So you will have to traverse your way back to her and grab her hand before she will listen to you.
While sneaking through dark corridors and walking past flesh-eating zombies is part of the game, the core gameplay in Amy is puzzle solving. Amy and Lana must work as a team to open new passage ways in order to reach the hospital. Most puzzles involve sending each of the two characters up and down via elevators, stairs, and boxes. The puzzles do not feel organic and are simply ways to extend the lifespan of the level. Furthermore, the puzzles will have you constantly asking trivial questions under your breath while you replay the same section for the tenth time. Why can an eight year old girl not climb a ladder? Why is the button to operate the elevator across the room and up a flight of stairs? Why can’t Lana slide through an opening that she can clearly fit through?
After seeing your weapon pass through an enemy several times in the first chapter, you will know you’re in for frustrating experience. The collision detection is abysmal. Lana must be squared up to her attacker in order for the strike to connect and even then you have a 50/50 shot of it actually connecting. Unfortunately, the enemies in the game do not seem to have the same issues as Lana. She will take damage from enemies that are two or three arm lengths away and the enemies never miss. When Lana is struck the camera follows her over exaggerated flailing and requires the player to attempt to fix the camera before the next strike comes. Lana will become a human punching bag until she eventually tumbles to the ground.
Amy’s checkpoint and save system is the most unforgiving system of all time. The checkpoints seem like they are ages apart and the unforgiving gameplay will have you replay certain sections over and over. Reaching a checkpoint does not mean that the game will save your progress if you choose to take a break. The game only saves progress for future play if you reach the end of a chapter. The horrendous controls only exacerbate the checkpoints flaws which will have you praying for a checkpoint throughout the entire campaign.
On paper, Amy appeared as though it would be a perfect fit for the downloadable market. Despite this preconception, Amy stumbles in almost every criteria imaginable. Even the most diehard survival horror fans should look elsewhere. As it stands, I cannot recommend anyone purchase this game.
Pros:
- uuuummmm……
Cons:
- Voice acting is terrible
- Combat is unforgiving and stiff
- Checkpoint and save system is abysmal
- Puzzles are monotonous and serve no purpose but to extend the lifespan of the game
