Posted in: Reviews
Time to catch up on reviews.
Dead Space can be best described as a horror game that does everything right. I haven’t been this spooked, thrilled and exhilerated all at once. This is a harsh, brutal foray into the dark and twisted creations that lurk in the vents, under the floor and on the ceiling.
Sure enough, the premise LOOKS horrifying, but how does it PLAY?
Hit the jump to find out.
In terms of gameplay, Dead Space basically took the best of what Resident Evil 4 had to offer and improved it tremendously. A third person view would normally pull the player out of the experience more than a first person view, but like RE4, the player is limited to over-the-shoulder angles, therefore giving the sensation of piggy-back riding the protagonist.
The weapons are deliciously robust, surprisingly original and brutally scientific. The game is quick to remind the player that you’re just an overly resourceful engineer, and every “weapon” in the game is essentially some form of highly advanced power tool (besides the obvious machinegun). Also, the combat system is formed mostly around “strategic dismemberment”, a term coined by the development team, and a system that works beautifully as it is gore-tastic.
On top of combat, there’s the silent-but-deadly zero gravity sequences scattered throughout the game, mostly for solving physics based puzzles.
However, not only should the highly innovative system and game mechanics shine, but the pacing is what truly makes the whole package work together in perfect harmony. Players are usually quick to fall into a pattern-recognition mentality. In Doom 3, for example, you KNEW that monsters were going to pop out of the shadows as soon as you go pick up that piece of ammo or health pack.
Dead Space comes close to falling into this trap, but saves itself from it with its incredible pacing. You never know when something is coming around a corner, or when something will pop out. The music sometimes tricks your mind into expecting something to pop out, but instead there’s nothing. Other times, enemies come out of vents that are right in front of you when you least expect it. This is what essentially pushes the game from a mediocre game with a few new ideas, to a game that was lovingly created and polished.
The only downfall was that this is what would be a classic “movie” type game—one that will be forgotten in dusty shelves after it has been played. As thrilling as the game was, and how brilliantly executed certain horrifying sequences were, it doesn’t really pull anyone back into it after the end. There’s no real clear incentive to play through again, other than perhaps a stronger suit of armor. Also, downloadable content such as the cool scorpion suit can be used from the first play-through as well, so if they wanted re-playability or download content that was worthwhile, they should have added a downloadable/unlockable weapon system to add to their incredibly diverse arsenal.
Also, it couldn’t have hurt to add more variety to the enemies as well; there were only a handful of enemy variations at most, and after a while, they became a bit repetitive.
This makes the game unfortunately feel more like a rental, or best bought at a reduced price. Think of it as paying for admission through a thrilling haunted house ride.
