As Promised more posts....
This comes as more of a game review. I recently purchased Dead Space for PS3, here's a nice Not Safe for Sanity link to edjucate the uninitiated (the choice of music is fucking BRILLIANT).
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/36332.html
Well, I just finished it. I must say, at no time in recent memory do I quite remember a game so absolutely nailing a genre on the head. The game perfectly emulates the greats, Alien, The Thing, Hellraiser..and even some of the not-so-greats like Event Horizon. The good thing about this game is that the developers are quite obviously aware of this, and go to great lengths to make sure that while the game evokes the feel, (and sometimes even direct scenes) from these movies, it never feels derivative.
I'm not easily scared by games, as a matter of fact the ONLY game that bears the distinction of scaring the absolute shit out of me was Silent Hill 2, I still tremble when I think about playing through that game. So straight up, this game isn't Silent Hill. I was not terrified out of my skull, but I will say that the game was able to create a sense of crawling dread, of some deep seated horror, that while not fully at the center of my experience was still effective enough to cause me a few "moments" during the game....you know, those moments where you have to take a break to get some water, and when you come back into the room you make sure to leave the lights on when you get back into the game. So in summary, if you're not easily scared by games, you'll be fine but still scared....if you're anything below that get ready for pants shitting terror.
It's not a perfect game, to be frank I wasn't particularly invested in the characters or the main story...however, I really REALLY wanted to find out what was actually going on, and that's mainly what kept me going through the game narrative wise (the final reveal was worth it). I'm not saying that the story was bad, or that the characters were bad, but Dead Space suffers from one of the more common sins of it's genre, they fail to adequately humanize the story. There were actually a couple of moments where I felt bad for a couple of characters but that was about it. It's too bad, because that's what could have turned this from a good horror story into a great one.
Visually the game is breathtaking, the developers must have looked at Doom 3 and said to themselves, "Let's not do that!!" Obviously there's alot of corridor crawling, but unlike Doom 3, each area manages to have it's own feel and flavor, it breaks things up nicely, plus they do manage to get you into some large open spaces (and even outside the ship) and then you really get to see what this new engine that EA has developed is capable of. It's pretty goddamned stunning, I'm looking forward to more games in this engine.
Gameplay is really really good, gunplay is well balanced and fluid while simultaneously reminding you that you're not an action hero, you're a mechanic, and a horror movie protagonist. You don't get to roll around and dodge or in general behave like something from a John Woo film. But it all feels right, you don't feel artificially constrained or limited. It all feels very natural and correct, and that's a hard thing to pull off, especially in a 3rd person shooter. The game can get pretty hard at times, especially until you figure out how to deal with large groups and constant waves of baddies (and believe you me you'll have to figure that out). It doesn't feel cheap like Call of Duty however. There's never a point at which you have the "endless respawn" problem that CoD does, and oftentimes you can simply charge a room and run through the door an skip combat entirely if you like. However, there will be moments when you have no choice but to stand and fight...and let me tell you the bodies will pile up. It's great though, arms and heads and legs all flying off and vital fluids spewing everywhere......it's really a delightfully bloody, gory, gut-wrenching game.
The weapon/armor upgrade system is pretty cool and allows you to choose how you play since weapons have a wide variety of effects. Ammo drops are based on what you have equipped rather than a random spread, and that's good cause there's like 8 weapons in the game, but you can only carry 4.
I will give a couple of non-spoiler hints, if you do not have your Suit fully upgraded and your Stasis upgraded by about 3/4ths of the way through the game you may be in for some frustration. Oxygen storage and Stasis duration become very important....I'm sure with the proper assortment of weapons and vacuum skillz you could ignore these upgrades...but really, why punish yourself? Also, don't' spend a dime on buying supplies, buy only new weapons/armor (and then only the ones you want unless ur an achievement whore like me) and Power Nodes. Power Nodes are key (they're what you use to upgrade stuff), forget ammo.....a big hint here, the Ripper is a great ammo conserver (though it requires some practice to use effectively). I actually purchased the DL content upgrade for the LVL 5 armor so that I could save spending money on armor in the game and just focus on Nodes.
Anyhow, get this game (or borrow it from me if you have a PS3). You can afford to be console agnostic on this one, from what I've read, there's absolutely no difference between the two console versions. I got this for PS3 mostly cause my 360 was in the shop, and partly because I like the feel of the PS3 sticks better. Their softer touch and higher bitrate (10 vs 8) outweigh the 360's greater comfort factor in my book.
In summary, this game is deeply fucked up, it's gory, it's suspenseful and it's gameplay is brilliant, only occasionally becoming aggravating in very limited segments. The story is cool (although the characters are weak) and it's absolutely gorgeous to look at. I didn't even touch on the music which is brilliant.
I LOVED THIS GAME!!!
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/36332.html
Well, I just finished it. I must say, at no time in recent memory do I quite remember a game so absolutely nailing a genre on the head. The game perfectly emulates the greats, Alien, The Thing, Hellraiser..and even some of the not-so-greats like Event Horizon. The good thing about this game is that the developers are quite obviously aware of this, and go to great lengths to make sure that while the game evokes the feel, (and sometimes even direct scenes) from these movies, it never feels derivative.
I'm not easily scared by games, as a matter of fact the ONLY game that bears the distinction of scaring the absolute shit out of me was Silent Hill 2, I still tremble when I think about playing through that game. So straight up, this game isn't Silent Hill. I was not terrified out of my skull, but I will say that the game was able to create a sense of crawling dread, of some deep seated horror, that while not fully at the center of my experience was still effective enough to cause me a few "moments" during the game....you know, those moments where you have to take a break to get some water, and when you come back into the room you make sure to leave the lights on when you get back into the game. So in summary, if you're not easily scared by games, you'll be fine but still scared....if you're anything below that get ready for pants shitting terror.
It's not a perfect game, to be frank I wasn't particularly invested in the characters or the main story...however, I really REALLY wanted to find out what was actually going on, and that's mainly what kept me going through the game narrative wise (the final reveal was worth it). I'm not saying that the story was bad, or that the characters were bad, but Dead Space suffers from one of the more common sins of it's genre, they fail to adequately humanize the story. There were actually a couple of moments where I felt bad for a couple of characters but that was about it. It's too bad, because that's what could have turned this from a good horror story into a great one.
Visually the game is breathtaking, the developers must have looked at Doom 3 and said to themselves, "Let's not do that!!" Obviously there's alot of corridor crawling, but unlike Doom 3, each area manages to have it's own feel and flavor, it breaks things up nicely, plus they do manage to get you into some large open spaces (and even outside the ship) and then you really get to see what this new engine that EA has developed is capable of. It's pretty goddamned stunning, I'm looking forward to more games in this engine.
Gameplay is really really good, gunplay is well balanced and fluid while simultaneously reminding you that you're not an action hero, you're a mechanic, and a horror movie protagonist. You don't get to roll around and dodge or in general behave like something from a John Woo film. But it all feels right, you don't feel artificially constrained or limited. It all feels very natural and correct, and that's a hard thing to pull off, especially in a 3rd person shooter. The game can get pretty hard at times, especially until you figure out how to deal with large groups and constant waves of baddies (and believe you me you'll have to figure that out). It doesn't feel cheap like Call of Duty however. There's never a point at which you have the "endless respawn" problem that CoD does, and oftentimes you can simply charge a room and run through the door an skip combat entirely if you like. However, there will be moments when you have no choice but to stand and fight...and let me tell you the bodies will pile up. It's great though, arms and heads and legs all flying off and vital fluids spewing everywhere......it's really a delightfully bloody, gory, gut-wrenching game.
The weapon/armor upgrade system is pretty cool and allows you to choose how you play since weapons have a wide variety of effects. Ammo drops are based on what you have equipped rather than a random spread, and that's good cause there's like 8 weapons in the game, but you can only carry 4.
I will give a couple of non-spoiler hints, if you do not have your Suit fully upgraded and your Stasis upgraded by about 3/4ths of the way through the game you may be in for some frustration. Oxygen storage and Stasis duration become very important....I'm sure with the proper assortment of weapons and vacuum skillz you could ignore these upgrades...but really, why punish yourself? Also, don't' spend a dime on buying supplies, buy only new weapons/armor (and then only the ones you want unless ur an achievement whore like me) and Power Nodes. Power Nodes are key (they're what you use to upgrade stuff), forget ammo.....a big hint here, the Ripper is a great ammo conserver (though it requires some practice to use effectively). I actually purchased the DL content upgrade for the LVL 5 armor so that I could save spending money on armor in the game and just focus on Nodes.
Anyhow, get this game (or borrow it from me if you have a PS3). You can afford to be console agnostic on this one, from what I've read, there's absolutely no difference between the two console versions. I got this for PS3 mostly cause my 360 was in the shop, and partly because I like the feel of the PS3 sticks better. Their softer touch and higher bitrate (10 vs 8) outweigh the 360's greater comfort factor in my book.
In summary, this game is deeply fucked up, it's gory, it's suspenseful and it's gameplay is brilliant, only occasionally becoming aggravating in very limited segments. The story is cool (although the characters are weak) and it's absolutely gorgeous to look at. I didn't even touch on the music which is brilliant.
I LOVED THIS GAME!!!