Dead Space Review
For my review style I strongly believe in “innocent until proven guilty” so to me every game I play starts at a perfect score of 10 and then based on the flaws I personally find in the game I subtract point accordingly. So let’s begin . . .
Graphics:
-Technically the graphics were amazing; definitely one of the games strong points having smooth animations, great lighting and the integrated HUD is very cool.
-There were some minor issues with the occasional monster stuck in a wall, and some collision detection problems when I clearly hit a limb and it went completely unregistered. And frankly the camera is just to close, I understand that it is for dramatic effect but being blindsided by a monster is irritating and having a close 3 person has been done great before. (RE4) (Minus 0.5 Point)
-Artistically the atmosphere was again amazing, very dark and scary, nice use of the flashlight, the writing on the walls, good monster design, creepy atmosphere, and subtle details like blood trails and canisters rolling from around the corner ahead add tension and can make the game very scary at times.
-I also thought the outer space and zero gravity segments looked and felt great; they really gave you the sense of being in a desolate vacuum.
Controls:
- Definitely my biggest gripe about the game; the controls them self are not bad but rather the character movement. It can be clunky and somewhat unresponsive at times; this game desperately needs a quick 180 feature and leaves fighting in tight spaces almost impossible. (Minus 1 Point)
Sound:
-Music is powerful and very scary it can get your heart pounding when there is not even anything happening so I found myself geeking out for no reason at all, which says a lot about how good it is. The only very minor complaint was that the Alfred Hitchcock like screeching of the music can get annoying when you are just managing inventory or shopping.
-The sound effects are amazing from the clang of your big heavy boots, the subtle sounds of monsters crawling around in the air ducts above, to the compression/decompression of air locks, and the nullified sounds of outer space sound spectacular.
Story:
-The story is decent if not a little vague at times. I felt that your background, and motivation was a little lacking; Nicole is never really fleshed out completely, was she an ex-girlfriend, ex-wife, sister, what? And the importance of the marker seemed undermined. Your objectives are largely based on something always breaking on the ship which can make the game feel a little under creative and repetitive at times. The ending is a cliffhanger and feels a little unresolved but that is to be expected in this day of franchises. (Minus 0.5 Point)
Game play:
- I played on normal mode and found the game above average on difficultly, with lots of cool graphic deaths, but not annoyingly hard. The puzzles are not hard but do cause you to look around and think a little The combat is satisfying with strategic dismemberment playing a very unique and awesome part of it, but is hampered only slightly by minor detection collision problems (particularly when using stasis to freeze enemies) Upgrading your weapons and rig (armor) seemed slow going at first but definitely picked up and was great by the end of the game. Dead Space seems to be going back to a more “survival” horror game, with less ammo, life and tougher monsters then the recent Resident Evil “action” horror games the series has become, and it feels refreshing. The staged events in the game are fantastic being some of the scariest moments in gaming, leaving you panicked and frantic.
Conclusion:
- In all this was a great game with interesting combat, fantastic sound, and great visual style. The story is somewhat lacking but this is only a minor part of the game and is easily overlooked to enjoy this scary game. Atmosphere is what this game is all about and it does it perfectly; I see it as the new bench mark in horror games and will want to play the sequel when it hits store shelves.
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