ZOMG_A_RANCOR
11-17-2008, 10:23 PM
A little back-story, for those who haven’t watched the comics, or movie (don’t watch the movie, for the love of god). There is a planet that has a small mining colony set up on it deep in space performing a planet crack. A planet crack is where they destroy an entire planet to harvest its minerals and resources for use on earth. During a dig, they found a relic called a “marker”. This is believed to be an ancient religious artifact. The Ishimura, the largest planet cracker, is sent by the government to retrieve the marker and the minerals. Once on the Ishamura all hell breaks loose and contact is lost with the ship. This is where Issac and his team of engineers come in. They are sent to repair the Ishimura.
Now that we know why we are where we are, lets get into the details. First off, Dead Space is no doubt a survival/horror game, but it is quite different from your typical game in a variety of ways. For starters, there has never really been an environment as richly detailed with gore as Dead Space. From the bloody signs on the walls, to the lifeless, de-limbed bodies, the game is littered with creepy. Second is the inclusion of special “zero g/vacuum” environments. They are puzzling, scary, and challenging. Finally, and most importantly is the way you actually kill the monsters. Loading a clip into their chest works, but using one shot to rip off both legs also works, and a lot better. The emphasis isn’t put on aiming for the head, or riddling the enemies with bullets, but with tactical dismemberment.
Tactical dismemberment is the key to survival in Dead Space. When the game throws 12 enemies at you, it becomes almost second nature to aim for the kneecaps. Ripping their legs off is almost majestic as you watch enemies slam into the floor, and then struggle to adapt and right themselves and begin crawling at you with their hands. It also requires precision, as some enemies will actually explode into smaller enemies. The dismemberment in dead space is amazing, and truly innovative. This aspect alone makes the game at least worth a look.
Visually Dead Space is stunning. Space is beautiful, especially when you are hopping around outside the space ship. I actually died once from oxygen loss because I was busy staring off at the sun and planet in the distance. The environments are eerie, and very well designed. The menus are awesomely implemented into the game world, and pop up on a halo-screen in front of Isaac. This as awesome, and gives additional feel to a realistic world. There are some issues with shadows. They are a little blocky every now and again, but nothing major. The monsters are all amazing looking, and sometimes rather disgusting. You will become tired of seeing the same 6 monster types after a few hours though, and the “stronger” monsters (they are the same model, just with a black skin) aren’t anything worth noting. Overall though, the world that is created is truly beautiful and frightening at the same time.
The sound in dead space is what really sets this game a step above. While the environments are creepy, it is the sound that creates the ambience, and it does great. From the great music to the scraping/crawling noise of Necromorphs as they travel from one area to the other through vents, you are constantly hearing things that make you very afraid to stand still. The monsters also have great noises, when they come at you and die. The dialogue is cheesy, but VERY well acted, so it actually doesn’t feel half bad. The sound is rich and enjoyable. Dead Space soundtracks for all, during Halloween!
The gameplay in Dead Space is where most of the problems arise. The dismemberment is great and the over the shoulder works well and there is a nice array of weapons to choose from, although the cutter is the go-to gun. Unfortunately, everything else doesn’t meet the standards. Every mission involves you going from A>B>A>C>B>A. There is a lot of backtracking and there is NO exploration. This is a 100% linear game. This doesn’t seem bad at first, but once you reach the 2/3rds mark, it becomes to grate on you to the point of making the latter portion of the game almost unenjoyable. There is also no “quick turn” feature. This can be difficult to cope with, given the constrained hallways and maze-like rooms. The zero G sections are also tricky to navigate sometimes, and you may find yourself experiencing a “what the hell!” moment. The one good addition is that when you click in the right stick down, the game points you in the right direction, and highlights a blue trail on the ground. Awesome, as it makes the map unnecessary.
Then comes the implementation of ammo and upgrading. The suit upgrading system is brutal. Play through a handful of chapters to get a suit that allows you to carry 3 more item slots. If ammo didn’t burn so fast that you needed to fill 6 spots with it, it would be more reasonable. The upgrading of weapons is nice, allowing you to allot “power nodes” (think final fantasy X sphere grid) into your slot of choice. For each weapon, you need different ammo, which more often than not you are able to find in the 1,000’s of crates located around the game world, which by breaking each you add roughly 2 hours total to the incredibly short game. In other words, you have to hoard everything, but you are given just enough room to hoard nothing but the essentials. Survival? Sure. Annyoing? Definatly.
Overall, Dead Space is a solid game with a believable world that draws you in. Despite its problems, it should be a must play for anyone who likes to be scared. I would not recommend a buy, as it took me 9:14 to beat, and the +continue mode is limited to playing the same difficulty over and over, instead of allowing you to move up to a harder level with all your leet gear. The list of problems may seem large, but most are quite minor, and hardly noticeable while playing, and only apparent in retrospect.
Graphics – 9. This game is gory a beautiful. Some minor issues, but nothing you will care about as you gaze off into the stars while chopping apart monsters.
Sound – 9.5 The game sounds amazing. The sounds are eerie, and do a great job of sucking you in. One of the creepiest sounding games I have played.
Gameplay – 7.5 Cutting up monsters in fun. Backtracking and not being able to explore is not.
Replayability – 6. There is a plus mode, but once you beat the game there is not much of a reason to go back, unless you want to uber pwn the monsters. There are harder difficulties, but starting from scratch is tough to swallow.
Overall – 7.8 This is a great horror game with a few minor bugs and an okay story. Worth a look, but not worth a stay.
Note: Get the elite suit Free from XBL for a limited time. It opens up all 25 item slots from the beginning.
Now that we know why we are where we are, lets get into the details. First off, Dead Space is no doubt a survival/horror game, but it is quite different from your typical game in a variety of ways. For starters, there has never really been an environment as richly detailed with gore as Dead Space. From the bloody signs on the walls, to the lifeless, de-limbed bodies, the game is littered with creepy. Second is the inclusion of special “zero g/vacuum” environments. They are puzzling, scary, and challenging. Finally, and most importantly is the way you actually kill the monsters. Loading a clip into their chest works, but using one shot to rip off both legs also works, and a lot better. The emphasis isn’t put on aiming for the head, or riddling the enemies with bullets, but with tactical dismemberment.
Tactical dismemberment is the key to survival in Dead Space. When the game throws 12 enemies at you, it becomes almost second nature to aim for the kneecaps. Ripping their legs off is almost majestic as you watch enemies slam into the floor, and then struggle to adapt and right themselves and begin crawling at you with their hands. It also requires precision, as some enemies will actually explode into smaller enemies. The dismemberment in dead space is amazing, and truly innovative. This aspect alone makes the game at least worth a look.
Visually Dead Space is stunning. Space is beautiful, especially when you are hopping around outside the space ship. I actually died once from oxygen loss because I was busy staring off at the sun and planet in the distance. The environments are eerie, and very well designed. The menus are awesomely implemented into the game world, and pop up on a halo-screen in front of Isaac. This as awesome, and gives additional feel to a realistic world. There are some issues with shadows. They are a little blocky every now and again, but nothing major. The monsters are all amazing looking, and sometimes rather disgusting. You will become tired of seeing the same 6 monster types after a few hours though, and the “stronger” monsters (they are the same model, just with a black skin) aren’t anything worth noting. Overall though, the world that is created is truly beautiful and frightening at the same time.
The sound in dead space is what really sets this game a step above. While the environments are creepy, it is the sound that creates the ambience, and it does great. From the great music to the scraping/crawling noise of Necromorphs as they travel from one area to the other through vents, you are constantly hearing things that make you very afraid to stand still. The monsters also have great noises, when they come at you and die. The dialogue is cheesy, but VERY well acted, so it actually doesn’t feel half bad. The sound is rich and enjoyable. Dead Space soundtracks for all, during Halloween!
The gameplay in Dead Space is where most of the problems arise. The dismemberment is great and the over the shoulder works well and there is a nice array of weapons to choose from, although the cutter is the go-to gun. Unfortunately, everything else doesn’t meet the standards. Every mission involves you going from A>B>A>C>B>A. There is a lot of backtracking and there is NO exploration. This is a 100% linear game. This doesn’t seem bad at first, but once you reach the 2/3rds mark, it becomes to grate on you to the point of making the latter portion of the game almost unenjoyable. There is also no “quick turn” feature. This can be difficult to cope with, given the constrained hallways and maze-like rooms. The zero G sections are also tricky to navigate sometimes, and you may find yourself experiencing a “what the hell!” moment. The one good addition is that when you click in the right stick down, the game points you in the right direction, and highlights a blue trail on the ground. Awesome, as it makes the map unnecessary.
Then comes the implementation of ammo and upgrading. The suit upgrading system is brutal. Play through a handful of chapters to get a suit that allows you to carry 3 more item slots. If ammo didn’t burn so fast that you needed to fill 6 spots with it, it would be more reasonable. The upgrading of weapons is nice, allowing you to allot “power nodes” (think final fantasy X sphere grid) into your slot of choice. For each weapon, you need different ammo, which more often than not you are able to find in the 1,000’s of crates located around the game world, which by breaking each you add roughly 2 hours total to the incredibly short game. In other words, you have to hoard everything, but you are given just enough room to hoard nothing but the essentials. Survival? Sure. Annyoing? Definatly.
Overall, Dead Space is a solid game with a believable world that draws you in. Despite its problems, it should be a must play for anyone who likes to be scared. I would not recommend a buy, as it took me 9:14 to beat, and the +continue mode is limited to playing the same difficulty over and over, instead of allowing you to move up to a harder level with all your leet gear. The list of problems may seem large, but most are quite minor, and hardly noticeable while playing, and only apparent in retrospect.
Graphics – 9. This game is gory a beautiful. Some minor issues, but nothing you will care about as you gaze off into the stars while chopping apart monsters.
Sound – 9.5 The game sounds amazing. The sounds are eerie, and do a great job of sucking you in. One of the creepiest sounding games I have played.
Gameplay – 7.5 Cutting up monsters in fun. Backtracking and not being able to explore is not.
Replayability – 6. There is a plus mode, but once you beat the game there is not much of a reason to go back, unless you want to uber pwn the monsters. There are harder difficulties, but starting from scratch is tough to swallow.
Overall – 7.8 This is a great horror game with a few minor bugs and an okay story. Worth a look, but not worth a stay.
Note: Get the elite suit Free from XBL for a limited time. It opens up all 25 item slots from the beginning.
