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jakob187

I'm still alive. Life is great. I love you all.

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In Space, You Don't Need Originality To Be Great

By jakob187 35 Comments

You would be a fool for trying to say that the first Dead Space was not a game that flaunted how derivative it was.  The mixture of Resident Evil 4 shooting mechanics, the atmosphere of something akin to Alien or Event Horizon, monsters that look like they walked out of John Carpenter's The Thing; in the long run, the only thing truly original about Dead Space was the story it set up, the fiction and expanded "universe" that it has created, and its innovative use of user interface and HUD.  In turn, it created one of the best games of 2008.  Therefore, it is even more surprising that the same derived stuff can be given a bit more room to breathe and a couple of tweaks and upgrades...and STILL turn out to be fucking awesome. 
 

One? Not so scary.  Ten or fifteen with sliver of health? Fucking terrifying!
One? Not so scary.  Ten or fifteen with sliver of health? Fucking terrifying!
It begs the question, though:  if a franchise that is borrowing from so many other places can actually produce two solid games like this, how the hell do other game studios fail with some of their games?  Army of Two may have a couple of newer ideas behind it (heavy co-op focus, use of aggro, etc), but it is essentially little more than a third person shooter, right?  How is it that a game like Dead Space 2...under the same publisher...is capable of being so goddamn impactful and incredible while something as simple as Army of Two: The 40th Day is kind of not so great? 
 
Funny enough, it makes me realize that three of my favorite games over the last three years did not do anything too original with their games beyond atmosphere, story, and tweaking familiar formulas: 
  • Dead Space - See all of the aforementioned information, then add in some of the most amazing audio fidelity, sound mixing, and foley work ever in a game.
  • Darksiders - It is Legend of Zelda meets every combat system in action games that has existed since Devil May Cry.
  • Bayonetta - It is Devil May Cry...with a chick...and crazy Japanese nonsensical shit...and a very open-ended combo system.
 
The amount of detail in every environment is astounding. 
The amount of detail in every environment is astounding. 
What you might find even crazier is that all three of those games came completely out of left field for a lot of people.  In their preview phases, many people wrote them off as being purely derivative and generally worthless titles.  Despite the fact that there are some who still believe that malarky, here we are...talking about Dead Space 2. 
 
What makes Dead Space 2 excellent?  It is more Dead Space.  That is all it needs.  The multiplayer is competent, and you might find a handful of people that will hold true to it like those who are still playing Singularity's multiplayer (and I am not kidding about that - I have no problem finding a game for that).  The multiplayer is not why you play Dead Space.  You are in it for the story, the atmosphere, the jump scares, the horror, the crazy shit that the story can concoct, the solid controls, the great shooting game, the weapons, the moments of despair and defeat, the moment you get to press that New Game Plus button on the menu and start it all over again... 
 
Ladies and gents, it is Dead Space 2.  You play as Isaac Clarke, you shoot the limbs off of aliens, and you curse like a motherfucker when you continually stomp that one Necromorph that decided to knock you down to a sliver of health repeatedly.  It is everything you wanted it to be and then some.
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