 Dead Space Review
(Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC)
I'm currently suing EA Games for a new leather couch and a pair of Levi's
By LaughingMan
I believe that the Shooter genre (Both FPS and Over-the-Shoulder) has been milked to death.
Every year there's at least ten new World War II shooters, five new zombie/horror games, and seven sci-fi themed shooters. Rarely do First Person Shooters or Third Person Shooters deviate from these three genres. It's possible that it's because these three genres are 'safe' and 'marketable'. With current legislation against violent video games, what else is there to shoot besides Nazis and terrorists, zombies and demons, and aliens and robots? Anything else would create a shitstorm that would backlash against the video game publisher itself.
The only thing left for a game company to create that would be 'original' is to make a Shooter where you kill zombie Nazis in space.
That is the game you would get if you added Hitler to Dead Space.
Anyways, let's talk about Dead Space:
...
FUCKING AWESOME!
The premise of Dead Space is that you are a virtually anonymous engineer, Isaac Clarke (named after science fiction writers Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke), of a space ship crew who has intercepted a distress call from an off-world mining station. You and your crew crash land in the docking bay of the mining station USG Ishimura, a "Planet Cracker", only to find that it is derelict, save for a swarm of a zombified, alien-like monsters, the Necromorphs. The Necromorphs themselves are probably the best-designed alien monstrosities since the original Alien design by H.R. Giger. And, like every other space shooter since Doom, it's your job to survive long enough to find either safety, or a way off the infested outpost.
As I mentioned above, you are in control of a virtually anonymous crew member. All you have is a name, and up until the end of the game, you don't even have a face. Apparently I'm the only person alive who has a problem with the main character being the ONLY crew member who wears a helmet, and here's why: Having a faceless, speechless character removes any attachment I might have towards the character in question.
It's kind of like an out of body experience, but you never gave a shit about the body you were in. So you have this DRONE, this almost robotic character with no personality that you either love or hate, and no facial expressions to convey his (or even possibly HER *"Metroid" reference*) emotion to the gamer. The result of removing any 'humanity' from the main character is an emotional experience equal to a bomb squad sending in one of those tank robots into a building to disarm a bomb: they don't give a fuck about the robot being blown to hell. If a bomb sniffing dog got killed, there would be a heavy emotional impact. I guess I feel the same way about sending this shell of a man into a monster-infested space ship, which is in sharp contrast to other psychological, emotional, and mentally scarring games like the masterpiece Silent Hill 2.
But honestly, I think that is my only real rant. The rest of Dead Space is superb in almost every possible way.
In addition to the tried-and-true story of being stranded somewhere and having to slaughter your way through legions of horrific creatures, there are written and video logs of the ship's crew detailing some of the events that led up to the current state of the space station. While eerie these accounts may be, the final conclusion is a lot weaker than what I had envisioned in my mind earlier in the game. The analogy here is that it's like watching the movie of an extremely scary book: What you get isn't as horrifying as what you had imagined.
He might have been human once, but he was also an asshole. Fire away.
Dead Space's saving grace is that there is also a more personal story where you, the masked emotionally void automaton, are trying to find your wife/girlfriend/princess/whatever, Nicole, who is a member of the Ishimura's crew. During your scavenging, you'll encounter Nicole briefly, though you are unable to meet with her. There is also the insane scientist, Dr. Mercer, (*insert thunder and lighting*) who is an insane Scientologist... er, "Unitologist" who wants to bring the source of the Necromorphs, a glyphic stone called "The Marker", to Earth because he believes the monsters are 'divine'. This I'm not going to touch up on too much just because I don't want to ruin any of it for anybody.
The gameplay is surprisingly fluid for as complex as the controls seem. While they're no where near as complex as Resident Evil 5, they still require some practice. I can't recall how many times I tried to use the Stasis to slow down time or move an object but couldn't remember which button combination was the correct one, and ended up getting slaughtered by a Necromorph.
Didn't I mention that you can slow down time?
You have a refillable semi-circle-shaped gauge on the back of your suit that indicates how much of your 'stasis' is charged. With it, you can slow down time and move objects much like the infamous 'Gravity Gun' from Half-Life 2. However, unlike the Gravity Gun, the stasis is extremely weak, and you can't throw objects with any amount of force. If you were to attempt to pick up a large container and hit a Necromorph with it, it will give you a "What the fuck was that?" kind of look and proceed to tear off your head.
Speaking of getting your head torn off, there are multiple 'ways to die' in the game, each depending on the type of monster you are fighting. A typical scythe-handed monster will cut off your head, while larger enemies will tear you to bits. The most horrifyingly unique death are the disembodied heads, which cut off your head, then connect themselves to your body, controlling it like a puppet.
The weapons in Dead Space are decent, and all of them are items that were originally 'space mining equipment'. You start off with a nail-gun like pistol, then you can get a typical pulse rifle. From here on out the weapons, though powerful and fun to use, are increasingly laughable.
And the icing on the cake are the REMOTE CONTROLLED SAW BLADES called 'The Ripper'.
'The Ripper' remote controlled saw blades: The future is looking bright.
Yes, you read that right. REMOTE. CONTROLLED. SAW BLADES. What fucking practical purpose would remote controlled saw blades serve in not only reality, but even in SPACE? Are there trees in the far reaches of space? And even if there were, why the hell would the saw blades need to be remote controlled? Wouldn't that be some kind of high-risk equipment? A spinning saw disk that you can control remotely would be the LAST THING a company would ever develop (aside from Sword-Chucks) and would be the most hazardous piece of equipment a moon logging company would ever possess. I mean, can you imagine the Legal Liabilities for when one of the blades eventually goes haywire? It would wreak so much carnage that any surviving moon loggers would have a story that would outshine the most horrific story ever told by a worker at a pig slaughtering factory.
So, with this fantastic array of bizarre weaponry, how do you utilize them? The answer is probably one of the most revolutionary contributions to the Shooter genre. Earlier games, from Counter-Strike to Resident Evil 4 to Killzone 2, have all held the same basic formula for killing your enemies:
Shot in limbs = minor damage
Shot in head = heavy damage / instant kill
Instead the formula above is inversed. In Dead Space, however, if you attempt to shoot an enemy in the head, it does either one of the following: a) nothing, or b) makes the enemy more dangerous and deadly. The name of the game is to blow off the arms and legs of the monsters you fight, crippling them and rendering them harmless. The early monsters with the scythe-like arms, you blow off their legs and they are forced to crawl at you until you shoot their arms off. Shooting them in the head does little to nothing.
Tear 'em up!
Probably the most vivid example of this unique gameplay are the fat monsters, commonly referred to as 'The Pregnant'. The objective is to shoot these monsters in the limbs ONLY. If a single shot were to strike its enormous belly, the monster bursts open, releasing a swarm of miniature monsters and you will waste most of your ammo trying to kill them because they are so hard to hit. Dismemberment is the name of the game. Cut your enemy into as many pieces as possible. Again, depending on the monster you fight, shooting it in the wrong area (normally the head or torso) could only make the fight more difficult.
As I stated earlier, the Necromorphs themselves are some of the most visually disturbing creatures ever encountered in a video game. I even have to tip my hat to the Dead Space monsters over the creatures in my beloved Silent Hill series. The appearances of the creatures are the most foreign, nightmarish things the human mind could probably conjure. I wonder if Dante Allegri, writer of the infamous 'Dante's Inferno', could have envisioned horrors so perverse and utterly alien in his vision of Hell. I dare even say that Dead Space "out-Lovecrafted" H.P. Lovecraft in its "indescribable horror". Even more disturbing is the fact that these monstrosities USED TO BE HUMAN. The perverse mutation of human corpses is pure blasphemy, and it's so well executed. I'm not sure if the designers for the Necromorphs are brilliant artists, or severely disturbed individuals.
One complaint with a majority of the Necromorphs is that while they are visually disturbing to look at, their movements aren't as horrific and inhuman as some of the monsters in the Silent Hill series. Having a horrifically designed monster running at you full-bore sometimes isn't as terrifying as a monster's body twisting in unnatural angles as it lumbers for you.
This is about when I ruined my best pair of Levi jeans
I definitely give big kudos to the boss battles in the game, and I rank the final battle with The Hive Mind as one of my personal favorite battles. My only gripe is that the boss battles honestly feel too easy. Sure, I died a couple of times, but once you get their pattern down, you'll kick their polymorphic asses with ease.
The graphics in Dead Space are very noteworthy. The environments are exceptionally haunting and realistic, though not terribly fresh if you have ever played any of the Aliens video games. Characters and enemies alike look top notch, and movements is silky smooth for the most part. The fire effects are probably the best I've ever seen in a video game, and that is noteworthy in itself. The cinematic battles are well executed, and the amount of detail is definitely the best for the current generation of survival horror games (note that this review was written prior to the full release of Resident Evil 5). The menu screens and holograms are amazing in not only their appearance, but also in playing their part in the fear factor. There is no 'pause' when you access the menu; you are reloading as hordes of Necromorphs swarm in for the kill, creating a sense of urgency and panic.
The sound in Dead Space is appropriate. The buzzing of fried electrical equipment and the mechanical ambiance definitely sets the mood. The music in Dead Space is pretty epic during boss fights, but I have a big problem with the music always climaxing every time you enter a room. It's like the Dead Space developers said, "Let's make Dead Space scary by putting in suspenseful music in empty rooms!" That only works for the first 5 minutes of the game, and shortly afterwards it only becomes a continuous annoyance. As far as the monster sound effects, they're pretty good. I have no idea what an alien-zombie would sound like, but the wet gurgling of monsters as they race towards you suffices.
Regarding sound, there are a couple of interesting parts of Dead Space where there is no sound at all, thus simulating the mute void of space. It does create an unpredictable atmosphere because unless you are constantly spinning in a circle, you can't tell if something is sneaking up on you until it's too late.
One complaint about Dead Space in general is the amount of backtracking you are forced to do. Whether it's an RPG like Final Fantasy, or an action game like Devil May Cry 4, backtracking is NEVER fun (for me anyways). Revisiting areas in any game makes the overall experience feel trite and tiresome, if not just plain boring. Sure, you can add new, stronger enemies to fight, but it still kills the pace of the game. This is also why I rarely replay video games, unless the overall experience of Dead Space was so mind-blowing and utterly amazing that I actually want to relive the experience (Final Fantasy VII), or there are multiple outcomes (Silent Hill 2).
However, Dead Space does have some reasons to replay the game. Boss battles are epic, to say the least. There are also harder modes you can conquer after your first play through, but I think the only thing you get out of them are trophies and achievements, but don't quote me on that. One thing that puzzles me is why isn't EA planning on releasing some major downloadable content for this game, rather than just 'skin packs'? While the likely excuse is "We're developing the sequel", I believe that Dead Space could easily get milked for an extra $20 if the developers could make a short prequel or an expansion pack for the game.
OVERALL
A great game, and worth buying. Graphics are top notch, regardless of what system you play it on. The gameplay, while spotting and trite in a few areas, is still exciting and intense. Being forced to dismember your enemies because there are no 'quick kills' makes Dead Space challenging, and sets it apart from all others in the genre. The weapons, though fantastic and almost laughable, leave you with a sense of grim satisfaction every time you cut off an alien limb. You will also have equal satisfaction in watching many of the unique ways to die in the game.
Whether you're a horror nut, or a fan of science fiction, or you just like killing things (hopefully only in video games), Dead Space has a lot to offer gamers. I am actually surprised that EA, the developers of such tired and stale 'cash cows' like Madden and Need for Speed actually went out on a limb and created such a product. My only fear is that EA gets back into its trend of 'reselling the same product' with future sequels to Dead Space.
While Dead Space is definately going to leave its mark in video games, I can only imagine that it will also heavily influence the future of both the horror and science fiction genres as a whole.
Graphics |
9.0
|
The details sell the package. Everything runs smooth and looks amazing on an HDTV. Environments are gripping, haunting, and all around 'spooky'. Fire effects are praise-worthy. Monster design is top notch. |
Sound |
8.0 |
The ambience of the ship and the inhuman sounds of the monsters set the mood. One annoyance is the suspenseful, rising music that gets played out after the first ten minutes. |
Gameplay |
8.0 |
The gameplay is smooth and fairly easy to master. The zero gravity stages feel a little loose, however. Boss fights are original. Endless backtracking hurts Dead Space a lot. |
Story |
7.5 |
The story uses an old formula: You're stranded in an outpost that is infested with monsters and you have to find a way out. The 'truth' behind the monsters is not as epic as I had imagined it earlier in the game. Kind of a let down. |
Replay Value |
8.0 |
Unlockables, harder modes, the usual. Not a bad game to play again, but the lack of downloadable content hurts Dead Space's replayability... a little. |
OVERALL |
8.5 |
An over all great game. A survival horror game that will please any fans of Resident Evil or Silent Hill. This one is worth buying. |
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Leave a Comment
spork
07 Mar 2009, 23:22
Nice review. This game kicks ass and I hope EA doesnt get lazy on the
sequel.
LEX
09 Mar 2009, 11:15
"Moon loggers" LOL
hellsno
10 Mar 2009, 14:07
the ripper is badass! slicein' through aliens with sawblades was the
coolest thing evar!
------
11 Mar 2009, 19:33
good review
lucky777
20 Mar 2009, 02:06
the Star Trek pic gave me a good laugh. the wiimote controlling the saw.
HAHAHAHA
lucky777again
20 Mar 2009, 02:07
the 'Egotistical Cock Sucker' was a awesome touch to!
GamersThrone
20 Apr 2009, 18:55
Thanks for the Dead Space review! I hope they make a second one! This
should be the best game of 2008. Nice blog.
Kenny Farino
06 Oct 2009, 09:31
... OH GOD, THE THING. *referring to the Levi Jeans picture*
Kenny Farino
26 Oct 2009, 08:06
Dude, holy shit. I'm playing this game with my girlfriend right now (yes,
that's how the horror guy spends his time with his girlfriend), and both
of us needed new Levis.
You're right about the bosses, too. We got to the Leviathan yesterday, and
after a few tries it was a little too easy... I mean, I kept running out of
ammo as opposed to actually DYING against it.
neuromancer99
17 Nov 2009, 14:22
I have a hankering to revisit Dead Space
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