 |
||
|
Dead Space – Near Death Experience, Perfected! A little more than a year ago a Hamst3r from T.H.A. sent me a video clip of an interesting sci-fi/horror third person shooter aptly titled Dead Space. Both the horror/survival and shooter genres were almost in a need of a renaissance at the time, and Dead Space definitely answered with its innovative ideas of limb dismemberment, lack of a standard hud, and the focus of tried and true scare tactics used in successful horror films. Please consult your physician if you experience drop in blood pressure, nausea, chest pain, or other discomfort, as these can all be signs of a possibly fatal reaction to Dead Space. Potential heart attacks aside, this game is a must have for all horror fans with very little room for improvement.
The plot actually picks up towards the end of the entire Dead Space story as your character Isaac Clark and a small crew are rendezvousing with the downed USG Ishimura: the massive planet-cracking vessel that is the set for most of the game. The events prior to the game are explained in an awesome six part animated comic series that covers the planet-cracking, finding of the mysterious ‘Marker,’ and initial spread of the necromorphs on the Ishimura and the surface of Aegis 7. An animated film (Dead Space: Downfall) depicts how the entire crew of the Ishimura was brutally lost, while a website (No Known Survivors) further adds snippets to the overall DS saga. The story of the game itself isn’t that entirely complex when compared to the above marketing elements, as the basis of the game consists of Isaac merely repairing the Ishimura. However, as you traverse the ship bits of information regarding the necromorphs, crew, the Marker, and various people responsible for this whole mess are slowly revealed to you mostly through real time holographs—y4y for no cutscenes!!! Probably the most important aspect of this game is that the developers went out of their way to study scare tactics of horror films and incorporate these ideas into this game. They explained that it just isn’t good enough to have a scary monster randomly leap out at you—the timing of music, player emotion, and visual stimulus is key.
The gameplay and graphics are simply fantastic and definitely reinvent the concept of a third person shooter and horror/survival game. As mentioned earlier, there is no typical on screen hud, which will most likely become a trend in gaming from this point fourth. Ammo information is relayed to you via a hologram conveniently place above your weapon, while health and other details are located on the back of your player’s suit. The graphics are incredibly realistic and unique as you traverse through brightly light crew cafeterias to creepy hallways reminiscent of Ridley Scott’s Alien series. The gameplay is immensely innovative, despite its core being based on standard shooter elements. It feels a lot like Resident Evil 4 due to the over the shoulder perspective, but you learn early on that your normal shooter strategies will drastically be adjusted. These necromorphs can’t simply be killed by unloading rounds to their torso and headshots usually don’t count. Instead, you must carefully destroy limbs to slow their movement and eventually dismember them completely. The few boss battles you encounter follow the same formula, in that you must dismember one giant tentacle at a time to slowly kill off the giant beasts. As you progress through DS, the action becomes more and more frantic as larger numbers and variety of necromorphs are thrown at you. Despite the fact that your enemies are basically zombies in a sense, their AI and team strategy is impressive. Minus the flamethrower, the weaponry is really nothing we’ve seen in video games yet. Your primary gun, the ‘cutter,’ is basically a 3-point laser that can be set to a horizontal or vertical beam on the fly for accurate limb destruction. One of my favorites is the ‘ripper,’ which is a chainsaw in theory, but differs by suspending a spinning blade in front the gun—loads of dismemberment fun. The last, and probably most interesting, aspect to DS is the concept of zero gravity. As you enter a room without gravity you’ll notice debris, corpses, and liquids elegantly floating about just as they would in space. This definitely changes the combat dynamic and adds to your stress, as enemies not only appear from the floor, but the walls and ceilings as well.
Overall, Dead Space is top notch and definitely deserves the Game of the Year title. It’s hard to really think of weaknesses in this game, but I do have two extremely minor complaints. First, it is a linear shooter and doesn’t allow for much backtracking. It’d be nice to be able to traverse the entire ship if you wish, perhaps after unlocking specific decks of the Ishimura. Second, it doesn’t seem like there’s all that much point in the things you’re doing. Isaac is an engineer and all, yet your goal for the majority of the levels is to simply activate a switch or computer system somewhere—loads of fun watching a computer screen switch to “activated”! Aside from those extremely small issues, I’d be nearly impossible to find disappointment with Dead Space. The perfection of the graphics, gameplay, and story all contribute to this fantastic experience. Now all we can hope for is a sequel and the start of an amazing franchise.
|
||
