Dead Space
A VSNDaily.com User Review
Author: Buzzman
What did you love about the game?
- The Atmosphere
- The Weapons
- The Government vs. Church background
- Dismemberment
What did you hate about the game
- The wife and her story
- The side-characters
- Physical Combat
Graphics – 9
When you look at Dead Space at its core and compare it to some of the better graphically received games, they are not nearly up to par with them. Some of the areas of the ship feel the same with it’s dull color scheme and narrow hallways, but when you take into account this is a survival horror game, the picture instantly jumps to top notch.
Walking around into the darkness of the ship was scary, and when you looked around you saw blood splattered anywhere and everywhere. It looked like something just ripped right through everyone on ship and couldn’t be stopped. Countless times, if you looked at the walls, you saw farewells and words of warning that added to that great atmosphere of the game. The absence of windows and communication, it really felt like you were trapped in a lost ship in the emptiness of space.
The characters looked good in the little time you actually get to see them and even less time you interact with them. This at times felt like I was Jason from Jason X and the side characters looked like characters from that movie, and even ended the same sort of way. The big difference is Dead Space was good and Jason X was not, all due to the execution of the environment.
Sound – 8.5
Here is where it was extremely good, but also a tad bit overdone. The soundtrack was good, but it inconsistent at times. When they got it right, it was fantastic; getting chased or grabbed by something to their own tune of Jaws was terrifying. Then other times something would jump out and they would play a string instrument of some type and ruin the moment. They would have been better off having absolutely no sound other then what you make yourself. It would have added to that claustrophobic feel they had during the game. The strangest thing during the game was when you hear a woman singing a song that’s title runs by me, but while it was scary, it felt out of place here. When you truly are alone, who’s left there to sing?
One Last Note: They decided to go Gordon Freeman on us and had the protagonist Isaac be a silent hero and it did wonders for the game. Having him not talk made distanced you from everything other then the setting around you.
Gameplay – 8.5
*This is a 3rd-person survival horror game*
The actual storyline of investigating the ship and trying to escape the same fate o most of its crew is actually kind of boring, but the back-story you find along the way in the forms of audio and text logs, sets up a bigger picture that could transform into a fantastic story piece.
The first thing that jumps out is how unique the weapons and killing is in this game. All of the weapons are energy based and range from essentially shooting vertical lasers, using a circular saw at an arms length away, or you’re straight up assault rifle shooting energy bullets at your enemies. Your enemies are unique in that they don’t die if you cut off there head. You can either waste all your bullets shooting the body or place some well aimed shots at their limbs and take them apart piece by piece.
Having so many choices is required because there are so many different kinds of enemy that you need them all. Some have tentacles that can be taken off easily with the lasers, and then there is some that need a full clip to the body to kill them before they reach you. The games presents you with such a variety of monsters that are a challenge and have their own forms, it will keep you using all weapons. The game features two bosses, with one being difficult and the other being easy. One feels like a cakewalk after dealing with the first. Very satisfied with how both were done though.
If you don’t have a weapon in a time of need, they have physical combat system that lets you curb stomp your enemies or swing your in-hand weapon at them. These animations are clunky and poorly aimed. Most of the time you won’t hit what your trying multiple times and its not very powerful move, but if your able to connect you clears up some leeway for you to runaway and find something.
The dismemberment in the game is great because you can shoot the arms and legs of some monsters and watched them try and squirm over to you. Even the dead bodies on the ground present a problem for you because if a parasite attaches itself to one of them they are a bitch to defeat. That’s why whenever you see a dead body stomp off there arms and legs so you don’t have to worry about them anymore.
The save system is similar to other games in its genre. You can’t just press start and save, you have to make it to a save machine. Sometimes you’ll hate it because you just want to stop playing and don’t want to start over next time, but for the most part it gives the game a scarier tone because you wont want to die. Its more of a positive then it is a negative.
The game has “stores’ set up all along the ship that you can buy ammo, weapons, and upgrades from. It’s in no way deep because you can find credits all along the ship you can essentially buy anything you want, it would have been better served having ammo lying around and not having stores period. The other thing was the “bench”. You can upgrade your weapons and parts of your suit their and this is more RPG-like because it requires power nodes and those are hard to find and are expensive at the store. You won’t be able to upgrade everything in one play through.
Lasting Appeal – 8
The campaign will take you a good 10 hours to beat. By good I mean it will feel a lot longer then that. Once you beat the game you can go back and keep all of your stuff and try and beat it again and 100% everything. It makes some of the trophies easier if you’re into collecting them. I’d say after 2-3 playthroughs, you probably won’t touch this for awhile. A great purchase at the price it is now. (<$20)
Final Comments
Dead Space was a great addition to the genre and is the second best one of its kind on current consoles. The game feels fresh and fun to play. If you missed out on it earlier like me, give it a try. The sequel is coming out in the beginning of 2011 so the time to play is soon.
ONE LAST THING: They completely jumped the boat on Dr. Challus Mercer. *Spoilers Below*
Category Scorecard
Graphics:
9
Sound:
8.5
Gameplay:
8.5
Lasting Appeal:
8
Final Score: 8.5