Binary Domain's robots to span visual divide

Sega's upcoming shooter Binary Domain is pushing to bridge the East-West divide, even straddling two different aesthetic schools with its enemy design.

"The design of the robots is something we’ve done over and over from the original concept," Sega's Hiroyuki Sakamoto told Siliconera.

"We were thinking the game could be more interesting with anime style robots. Next, we tried making more realistic robots, but as an enemy these weren’t as interesting. In the end, we met midway and each robot we designed is tied into their [attack] patterns."

Each robot is a visually distinct as possible, so players can quickly identify enemy types and react according to what they've learned of each kind's behaviour.

"One of the main goals the team set for themselves is to have good A.I.," Sakamoto said.

"It is still in pre-alpha and all the way up until the final version we want to work on it as much as we can so players will be impressed with it."

Binary Domain's backstory sees an internationally isolated Japan going against global regulations and pumping out humanoid robots.

Developed by the team behind the Yakuza series in close collaboration with Sega Europe, the game stars a team of international operatives and is expected in February on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.