DumbSpace
Horror as a genre is pretty weak for me. I can only take so much "boo!" before it gets old, and the older I get, the less tolerance I have for empty, baseless, poorly written scare factor props. After Bioshock was released I had hopes that the industry on the whole was figuring things out and that we could look forward to a new crop of higher quality plot driven games. I guess it was outrageously optimistic to think that artists, designers and producers had actually played the DOOM series and realized its shortcomings. It was probably even more outlandish for me to assume that there would be an improvement on horror based plot driven games...especially in sci-fi. Apparently nobody has learned anything and all we have left is scary artwork. What's scarier than a room full of body parts...oh oh, i know! an entire spaceship full of body parts is MUCH scarier!
Similarly nobody has figured out that careful presentation of artwork grants it much more impact. The frame is exactly as important as the work itself. The frame in DeadSpace is the cheapest black plastic frame they could find and they didn't even matte it. Frame meets game instantly. Clearly the producer suffers from premature plotulation as within the first ten minutes of gameplay you're face to face with the standards that haunt the game. Suspense had its ass kicked out the airlock when you're suddenly face to face with the first monster of the game. The beautifully voice acted questions about "what happened here?" are answered too quickly with SCARY GODAMN MONSTER HAPPENED! It's less a mystery than a problem, and it's more problem than interesting. And when the actors finally deliver an informative line...it's poorly concepted. "It's a bio-recombinator" is delivered like you couldn't figure out what was going on yourself...or that somehow in this universe that term is so "yesterday" that they've already turned it into an acronym. But what's more pedantic than surprise monstar buttsex every time you pick up a health pack?
Oh look, it's more people trapped inside a place you can't get to where they are helpless against the scary thing and there's nothing you can do...(you can't even pound on the glass) I guess this is part of the plot. Anyone who designs games like this enjoys disneyland a bit too much. You might as well be on a tram watching dioramas of spooky horror unfold in front of you acted out with animatronics. The next ride begins in fifteen minutes, you must be at least this dumb to enjoy the ride. Where's the dumb? It's in the writing. My favorite quote so far is, "Get the thermite from the medical supply." I'm guessing those aren't hotdogs in the galley either, they're dynamite. That would explain why everything on the ship is f'ing exploding. Are you feeling non-explody, is work completely not on fire? Ask your doctor about Thermite.
It's pretty clear in the writing that they suddenly discovered an online thesaurus and went through the list of terms, "nope...not medical-ly enough...nope...not enough syllables...oh oh, intransigent! I've heard that word!" If you don't understand the terms, don't use them. Write about what you know. If you don't know what you're writing about...GO LEARN.
If all these content issues weren't enough to keep me at arms length from the experience, then the faulted UI sure doesn't help. Taking a step backwards in game UI, bringing up the inventory is slow AND it's in real time! Yes, while digging in your backpack for more health and watching the clever animated UI...the monstars get to dice you. Thank god there's a save point every five inches. In some cases the save point is on top of a save point.
Ever wax nostalgic over those old games where you had to save every five minutes and then go back and try to scrounge enough ammo like a homeless guy to kill the next monster keeping you from a health pack? Don't be nostalgic, you can have yesterday today!
Someone please tell the audio guy that whispering voices only make sense if there's someone to whisper. What could have been a genuinely creepy moment was quickly destroyed by overuse of audio props.
Also, someone please explain to the artists that not everything looks better rusty.
I've been thinking about it and have suddenly realized that what they have actually achieved here is a new kind of horror. I am continually horrified by the quality of this game and how much the general public is enjoying it. The stupider the game is, the less sound comes out of my mouth in my living nightmare. The fact that a game like this is the current standard makes me want to kill more brain cells. The art is beautifully horrific though bizarre and weakly justified...and it's the sole reason I will drag myself like a corpse through to the end. If I wasn't obsessive about finishing video games this thing would be a coaster.
epilogue:
I just finished the game. My next complaint is inconsistent ammo placement. For the first half the game I couldn't find enough bullets to kill troublesome spaghetti monsters...then, at some point I was suddenly drowning in ammo. We all know what happens when you drown in ammo...you're about to get gang raped by N monstars and/or boss of N hitpoints where N is a number slightly higher than ammo. It took two tries to get through the end boss. Not bad, but the boss was a bit too predictable, but I don't know how to improve it without making it impossible. So I'll cut some slack and just be thankful the game is over. I'm not going to buy another horror title unless it ranks 9.9. I'm just way too jaded and analytical to enjoy this sort of thing. There'd have to be some really good writing; Bioshock, System Shock, Fear...I'm looking at you. I'll never forget my four a.m. game play sessions with System shock where I was freaking out at how good the audio and AI was. But that's another story.
Similarly nobody has figured out that careful presentation of artwork grants it much more impact. The frame is exactly as important as the work itself. The frame in DeadSpace is the cheapest black plastic frame they could find and they didn't even matte it. Frame meets game instantly. Clearly the producer suffers from premature plotulation as within the first ten minutes of gameplay you're face to face with the standards that haunt the game. Suspense had its ass kicked out the airlock when you're suddenly face to face with the first monster of the game. The beautifully voice acted questions about "what happened here?" are answered too quickly with SCARY GODAMN MONSTER HAPPENED! It's less a mystery than a problem, and it's more problem than interesting. And when the actors finally deliver an informative line...it's poorly concepted. "It's a bio-recombinator" is delivered like you couldn't figure out what was going on yourself...or that somehow in this universe that term is so "yesterday" that they've already turned it into an acronym. But what's more pedantic than surprise monstar buttsex every time you pick up a health pack?
Oh look, it's more people trapped inside a place you can't get to where they are helpless against the scary thing and there's nothing you can do...(you can't even pound on the glass) I guess this is part of the plot. Anyone who designs games like this enjoys disneyland a bit too much. You might as well be on a tram watching dioramas of spooky horror unfold in front of you acted out with animatronics. The next ride begins in fifteen minutes, you must be at least this dumb to enjoy the ride. Where's the dumb? It's in the writing. My favorite quote so far is, "Get the thermite from the medical supply." I'm guessing those aren't hotdogs in the galley either, they're dynamite. That would explain why everything on the ship is f'ing exploding. Are you feeling non-explody, is work completely not on fire? Ask your doctor about Thermite.
It's pretty clear in the writing that they suddenly discovered an online thesaurus and went through the list of terms, "nope...not medical-ly enough...nope...not enough syllables...oh oh, intransigent! I've heard that word!" If you don't understand the terms, don't use them. Write about what you know. If you don't know what you're writing about...GO LEARN.
If all these content issues weren't enough to keep me at arms length from the experience, then the faulted UI sure doesn't help. Taking a step backwards in game UI, bringing up the inventory is slow AND it's in real time! Yes, while digging in your backpack for more health and watching the clever animated UI...the monstars get to dice you. Thank god there's a save point every five inches. In some cases the save point is on top of a save point.
Ever wax nostalgic over those old games where you had to save every five minutes and then go back and try to scrounge enough ammo like a homeless guy to kill the next monster keeping you from a health pack? Don't be nostalgic, you can have yesterday today!
Someone please tell the audio guy that whispering voices only make sense if there's someone to whisper. What could have been a genuinely creepy moment was quickly destroyed by overuse of audio props.
Also, someone please explain to the artists that not everything looks better rusty.
I've been thinking about it and have suddenly realized that what they have actually achieved here is a new kind of horror. I am continually horrified by the quality of this game and how much the general public is enjoying it. The stupider the game is, the less sound comes out of my mouth in my living nightmare. The fact that a game like this is the current standard makes me want to kill more brain cells. The art is beautifully horrific though bizarre and weakly justified...and it's the sole reason I will drag myself like a corpse through to the end. If I wasn't obsessive about finishing video games this thing would be a coaster.
epilogue:
I just finished the game. My next complaint is inconsistent ammo placement. For the first half the game I couldn't find enough bullets to kill troublesome spaghetti monsters...then, at some point I was suddenly drowning in ammo. We all know what happens when you drown in ammo...you're about to get gang raped by N monstars and/or boss of N hitpoints where N is a number slightly higher than ammo. It took two tries to get through the end boss. Not bad, but the boss was a bit too predictable, but I don't know how to improve it without making it impossible. So I'll cut some slack and just be thankful the game is over. I'm not going to buy another horror title unless it ranks 9.9. I'm just way too jaded and analytical to enjoy this sort of thing. There'd have to be some really good writing; Bioshock, System Shock, Fear...I'm looking at you. I'll never forget my four a.m. game play sessions with System shock where I was freaking out at how good the audio and AI was. But that's another story.