DEAD SPACE
Dead Space is awesome. Survival horror where you just stomp around an abandoned space station getting the ###### scared out of you by disgusting heaps of angry flesh. The game wreaks of atmosphere, even ditching the "HUD" aspect to make the environment more immersive (something Doom3 somewhat successfully did). The weapons feel quite robust and solid, although I've only used two of them. Also the combat relates to more than just "SHOOT CORPSES" as your goal is to dismember enemies to pieces until they can't function properly.
Also, it looks fantastic, have a look at a screen from the game I'm playing now:
<img src="http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/7508/deadspace1zr5.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
100% in game, no cropping or photoshop. Thats what it looks like.
Give it a tryyyyy.
Also, it looks fantastic, have a look at a screen from the game I'm playing now:
<img src="http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/7508/deadspace1zr5.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
100% in game, no cropping or photoshop. Thats what it looks like.
Give it a tryyyyy.
Comments
The AI is well done, with 2 things sticking out. The aliens use of vents and how they sometimes play dead. The AI can be gamed of course, but is fairly well done.
If anyone is going to get this, keep this in mind: It's a 3rd person tactical shooter, not a FPS. You don't spin on a dime and such. Otherwise, it's well worth a play through.
For example, Dead Space was great game. It had nice graphics, cool game play, and a great atmosphere. But I just can't bring myself to play it. I feel like I've done it all before. It's just standard stuff like "restore this system! Watch out for something scary like a body flying across the room or something in the vent. Ok good, now go get this system back online! Great, now let's tell you a little bit about the story. After that, we're gonna have you restore a few more systems."
It feels like I've done it all before.
I even had this feeling with Far Cry 2. It's just another big open ended world with a loose story line -- much like Stalker: Clear Sky.
Maybe my tastes are just changing, but I can't really bring myself to play any single player games anymore. If it's not online, I get too bored too quickly even if I like the game.
I play it on xbox, normal difficulty, it's easy enough. Most times you can just wait for enemies to stand still, or show a vulnerable pose with limbs exposed. Other times you use the right weapon. Combine with slow-motion thingy and you got it just hard enough.
I really hated the flamethrower, it's god damned useless compared to any of the other weapons. "Oh 25 ammo, just ENOUGH to kill a grunt".
How does the forcegun work? I seem to have missed the schematics for buying it. Sacrificing a power node for locked doors seems much more rewarding then using them urself, hence not getting all weapons if you do the latter.
Being in vacuum stresses the piss out of me. First encounter with it and I managed to get killed, I couldn't jump into the airlock and kind of missed you had to walk on the exact pathway to get in, all while monsters pick limbs to gnaw on.
Just wish I hadn't wastd my credits on that poop assault gun!
I find myself going back to the plasma cutter- lots of ammo, decent damage, easy to pick limbs.
I find myself going back to the plasma cutter- lots of ammo, decent damage, easy to pick limbs.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
i beat the entire game using the cutter, I didn't even buy another weapon. When it's full upgraded, it takes most limbs off in one good shot except the real big guys.
That said... (here comes the science bit)
Most of the weapons are totally pointless. The only gun that does better than the plasma cutter (which is awesome) is the line gun (which is a destroyer of worlds!!!). The flamer takes too much ammo to do the same job you can do quickly and in less shots with the plasma or line. The same goes for the assault rifle which is shockingly weak even upgraded. The forcegun is good for knocking people back but it's lack of cutting ability hampers it severly compared to... you guessed it... the plasma cutter and line gun. The contact beam is impressive but for the time it takes you to fire a shot you could've killed them with the 'big 2' already and probably got hit less in the process. The ripper is finicky but to it's credit it's the most ammo efficient weapon in the game as the ammo stacks pretty well and you get a lot from each shot if you can control the damnable thing <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
Another thing that's irritating is the asteroid gun. I won't go into details to avoid spoiling anything but what the heck is that doing in there ruining the game? I seeethed with hatred during that section and it's silly hard to boot!
For those who haven't noticed, the game primarily drops ammo for the weapons you're carrying. This means if you carry 4 guns you're finding 4 types of ammo which means you won't have much. I played with 3 and ammo was suddenly less of a concern, my friend played with 2 guns and had ammo coming out of his ears <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
Those 3 gripes aside, the 'no UI' thing is just amazing. I've been saying games should do that for years but nobody ever listens to Gem when they're right :3
Cutting off limbs is fun (even if the collision is a lil funky) and even though I never used it as a weapon I LOVE kinesis. Stasis is a giggle too.
I'm really looking forward to number 2 (which is already in production). Here's hoping they learned the mistake they made in the weapons and avoid more compulsory asteroid guns <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
I haven't played it, but it sounds like fun (albeit short).
I haven't played it, but it sounds like fun (albeit short).<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Bland?
BLAND???
If he's talking purely about the number of enemies, fine, but frankly the number of really quite stunning set-pieces and interesting zero-gee puzzles <i>more</i> than makes up for this. How can a game in which you can freeze an enemy and then take off all his limbs with a buzz-saw be considered bland? I know exactly why yahzee didn't like this game; because it reeks of lack of creativity. The plot, game mechanics and setting are stolen from half a dozen other games and movies but, and here's the important bit, <i>that doesn't make Dead Space a bad game</i>. As he put it himself, "I don't expect every game to spark a revolution, but it could at least set off a few measly fireworks". I put it to you that zero-gee basketball is just such a firework. Everything else has been done before, but never all at the same time, and never so <i>well.</i> I'm amazed yahzee found enough things to complain about to ###### for a near-constant three minutes like he did; this game is <i>polished</i>. It seems to be par for the course for a game to have at least two or three broken gameplay mechanics or showstopping bugs these days, and its nice to see that Dead Space breaks this tradition.
To conclude, if you don't like Dead Space, you hate fun.
Hate. Fun.
Agreed, it was extremely fiddly and they made it way too difficult. The overheating was silly. <span style='color:#000000;background:#000000'>also makes you wonder what asteroid in it's healthy rocky mind would kindly wait hitting any critical systems until you actually look them in the eyes</span>
I suspect a console controller might make that whole exercise a might more challenging.
I should also mention that I greatly enjoyed Deadspace. I'm not quite done yet, I just started chapter ten which I think is the last one, and so far I've been greatly impressed. While there are a few small things I could nit-pick at but overall the game is, as has been already said, <i>extremely polished</i> The only "bug" I could honestly say would be one time I saw a corpse do a little dance in two different places on top of a moving platform, but that's not exactly a show-stopper.
Ultimately the atmosphere of the game is much more gripping and paced WAY better then Doom 3. In D3 a monster popped out *everytime* you picked up a healthpack or opened a door or some other retarded thing. In Deadspace I found that I could NOT predict when a monster would show up most of the time, and there were even a few times I expected a monster but there was none.
One of the scarier parts involved me killing a monster and keeping my eye on it in case it got back up as I opened a door which I thought was a supply cabinet, only to have one of the minion-types HOWL at me from this door which I'm only half looking at. Made me jump right out of my socks it did.
The game is just full of creepy and suspenseful moments as well as heart-pounding intensity, and in my opinion it's paced and balanced quite appropriately.
Also, there's 12 chapters :3
One interesting thing of note is that you have to use the arrow keys in order to select things from your inventory, as WASD is used for movement and strafing while the mouse is of course still aiming your view while you have your inventory/menu screens up. You get used to it pretty quick though, and since you can use E to select anything on your inventory your hand doesn't have to leave the WASD position, although it does have to leave the mouse.
Graphically I have everything at maximum, and while I'm a little curious why there's a nearly total lack of support for anti-aliasing, the game still looks great and is flawlessly smooth, it's very well optimized in my opinion.
Did I mention that the game was ball-bustingly atmospheric?
I still can't get over how well they handled the UI and inventory management system. I don't miss the usual clonky old UI of the games of yore at all, and I really really hope game developers keep up with the trend. Fallout 3 does something like this as well, the way it handles everything through your Pipboy which is essentially attached to your arm. It's a step in the right direction at least.
I wonder though, how they might try to do something like that for the next Elder Scrolls game or medieval/fantasy games of the future... I suppose you could have a stack of parchment you pull out of your backpack or something, hmm?
I do wish there was more difference between the weapons. I don't mean that there should be an obvious trend of weapons improving; I really like how the Plasma Cutter stays useful as you go deeper into the game. But, really, I don't see many reasons for using the other weapons other than "my cutter's magazine is empty and that thing is still moving" or "I'm bored with my cutter; let's try the rifle."
The lack of a HUD is really slick. It helps to make you feel like you're actually Isaac, not just the distant player in your comfy chair. A few places had me yelp in surprise--and I'm the sort of person who likes being scared when playing a game.
I don't know why we put up with ###### like this. That is the most stupid invetory interface I have heard of in a long while. Why not just give you a mouse cursor when the inventory is up and let you click on the item you want?
I would think that it reduce the impact of the immersive UI they are attempting (and succeeding at). If a mouse curser popped up suddenly when you hit your inventory, you would be reminded "Oh yeah, it's a video game."
I agree that it makes it a little more challenging for inventory management, however for a game like this I am happy to bite that particular bullet to enjoy a more immersive experience.
I just started the game on HARD. It's actually quite hard, taking 2-3 shots to make them a forum amputee. lol
Or just the hitboxes are wierd. I know I hit your shoulder 5 times! Gah!
Anyways, only got 30-60 mins in it. Hard has a lot more guys and they take a lot more damage and dish out more I'm sure. But I'm going to pass on this one.
Playing Disgea 3, Warhammer, Valkria Chronicals (epic), and Eternal Sonata (epic) and oh ya, Wipeout HD which is SUPER EPIC (must d/l some more goa/psy trance and dnb/jungle) . <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />
It's like a mix of:
Final Fantasy Tactics
Dynasty Warriors
<insert anime here>
World War 2
<cell shaded awesomeness>
<3rd person shooter>
<insert Rts here>
Haha.
As for LF's dislike of the Deadspace inventory, I personally have never liked it when UI or menus that don't pause the game use the mouse as it means I've suddenly lost the ability to look around. It feels clunky when that happens and makes me suddenly aware of the controls I was using and not thinking about up until that point :o
Given a choice I'd rather navigate menus with either WASD (in most console games it's the movement you use to navigate menus rather thant he look controls) or a seperate set of controls like Deadspace PC's arrow keys, PSO's D-pad or Counterstrikes number menus (1 through 6 to select stuff). It means you can keep a look out while you're rummaging about the menus :3
My god was i wrong. It's amazing!
I can't believe nobody mentioned the similarity to SystemShock 2 yet. DeadSpace is doing a thousand times better as "spiritual successor to SS2" than BioShock was.
While the Inventory feels a bit clunky (you can hold the middle mous button to move through it instead of the arrow-keys!), at least it has one (I'm looking at you, Bioshock!)
This is the best Single-Player game i've played this year.
Is this game credit or real world credit ?
Your avatar scares me more than Deadspace did :o
The line gun is room clearance incarnate! It even totally disables 'that thing' in a single shot (I throw stasis on it after that for good luck) :3