Haloman
Addict
When man finally does get its arse in gear and decides to start exploring the universe you would hope that the game developers and movie writers will stop using aliens as the common bad guys in their products. The way that they would have you see it is that the moment we leave our own atmosphere, aliens with guns the size of Belgium, will invade our planet or decide that we make extremely good appetisers.
Dead space is a game that agrees with the above philosophy.
Plot
You, the player, play Isaac Clark. A mechanic sent to discover what happened to the USS Ishimura, a ship sent to colonise a planet in deep space. Upon arrival you suddenly crash and are left stranded on the ship (like you weren’t expecting that).
Also upon arrival you find that as per usual in games like this the ship has been overrun by monsters who seem to view you and the people you arrive with as a viable food source (again, How unexpected). After you are separated from your group it is up to you to fight your way through the ship and follow the orders of your commanding officer who conveniently has found a safe place where he can hide and order you about.
Game play
Dead space plays like resident evil four with its third person over the shoulder gun firing. This works to the players advantage since you get to see more of the stunning (if slightly clichéd) environment. The environment in question is as you would expect, a dark dank grey industrial corridor with blood staining the walls and floors and dodgy lighting, (for once I would like to see a space ship with decent carpets and light fixtures. I mean come on did decorators become extinct in the future or something) this sets the mood for the game perfectly along with the music.
The monsters are also real breath of fresh air since rather than firing at them till they resemble Swiss cheese, like in most games, you have to maim them by taking of their limbs. The array of monsters that you varies from the annoying to the “o god I think I just wet myself” with the one thing they have in common is that they seem to love rushing toward you brandishing a desert fork.
Isaac come equipped with a decent arsenal of weaponry which comes in handy when you are trying to discourage a monster from nibbling on your vital organs. He also comes equipped with a device that will let you slow down fast moving objects such as doors and even enemies. The even equip him with a device that enables you to move heavy objects, the telekinesis module, which bears a mighty resemblance to what the gravity gun does in the half life games. (Is it me or has valve set a president with that gun?) the trade off is that you only have limited ammo and must think about where to hit the enemy and cause the most damage as to conserve your ammo.
The other innovation that dead space boasts of is its use of zero gravity. This is a good addition to the games mechanics and the game uses it well, unlike certain other games (cough--Prey--cough) that boast it.
Controls
If you are a FPS freak like I am then at first dead space will daze and confuse you but the more that you play the more it will start to make sense and become second nature. The only thing that I will complain about is that it seems that the buttons for the telekinesis and time slowdown are not to accessible if you need to get to them in a hurry.
Overall Conclusion
Now you might have read this review and arrived at the conclusion that I do not like this game. This would be a lie. Dead Space is one of my favourite games this year. It is well worth the money that you pay for it and as such is soon going to be part of my game library.
The only thing that I am getting at is that the game is not quite what they were marketing. They were trying to bill this game as a horror movie that you could play and interact with. However for the true horror fans such as my self nothing that you see in this game is anything new and the game therefore relies on the startling tactic, witch to its credit it uses really well. But what I a trying to say is that you can’t market a game as one of the scariest things on the market when it relies on startling you. (I mean I was startled by a mouse in my kitchen the other night. But just because it startled me doesn’t make it the rodent equivalent of John Carpenter or Wes Craven)
The films influences can be seen in both films and other games. Its taken stuff from films such as Alien and Event Horizon. Its gaming influences vary from Bioshock, Resident evil 4 to Prey.
Overall Dead space is your standard survival horror but done in a way that will intrigue even the most hesitant survival horror gamer (such as myself.) the only thing that weighs it down is a few clichéd story points. This said however, it is well worth forking out money for and will be a good addition to anyone’s game collection
Score: 8/10
Review written by: (only watched Alien to see Sigourney Weaver in her underwear) Haloman
Game supplied by: (he ain’t Heavy, he’s my Brother) Munkymagicuk
Dead space is a game that agrees with the above philosophy.
Plot
You, the player, play Isaac Clark. A mechanic sent to discover what happened to the USS Ishimura, a ship sent to colonise a planet in deep space. Upon arrival you suddenly crash and are left stranded on the ship (like you weren’t expecting that).
Also upon arrival you find that as per usual in games like this the ship has been overrun by monsters who seem to view you and the people you arrive with as a viable food source (again, How unexpected). After you are separated from your group it is up to you to fight your way through the ship and follow the orders of your commanding officer who conveniently has found a safe place where he can hide and order you about.
Game play
Dead space plays like resident evil four with its third person over the shoulder gun firing. This works to the players advantage since you get to see more of the stunning (if slightly clichéd) environment. The environment in question is as you would expect, a dark dank grey industrial corridor with blood staining the walls and floors and dodgy lighting, (for once I would like to see a space ship with decent carpets and light fixtures. I mean come on did decorators become extinct in the future or something) this sets the mood for the game perfectly along with the music.
The monsters are also real breath of fresh air since rather than firing at them till they resemble Swiss cheese, like in most games, you have to maim them by taking of their limbs. The array of monsters that you varies from the annoying to the “o god I think I just wet myself” with the one thing they have in common is that they seem to love rushing toward you brandishing a desert fork.
Isaac come equipped with a decent arsenal of weaponry which comes in handy when you are trying to discourage a monster from nibbling on your vital organs. He also comes equipped with a device that will let you slow down fast moving objects such as doors and even enemies. The even equip him with a device that enables you to move heavy objects, the telekinesis module, which bears a mighty resemblance to what the gravity gun does in the half life games. (Is it me or has valve set a president with that gun?) the trade off is that you only have limited ammo and must think about where to hit the enemy and cause the most damage as to conserve your ammo.
The other innovation that dead space boasts of is its use of zero gravity. This is a good addition to the games mechanics and the game uses it well, unlike certain other games (cough--Prey--cough) that boast it.
Controls
If you are a FPS freak like I am then at first dead space will daze and confuse you but the more that you play the more it will start to make sense and become second nature. The only thing that I will complain about is that it seems that the buttons for the telekinesis and time slowdown are not to accessible if you need to get to them in a hurry.
Overall Conclusion
Now you might have read this review and arrived at the conclusion that I do not like this game. This would be a lie. Dead Space is one of my favourite games this year. It is well worth the money that you pay for it and as such is soon going to be part of my game library.
The only thing that I am getting at is that the game is not quite what they were marketing. They were trying to bill this game as a horror movie that you could play and interact with. However for the true horror fans such as my self nothing that you see in this game is anything new and the game therefore relies on the startling tactic, witch to its credit it uses really well. But what I a trying to say is that you can’t market a game as one of the scariest things on the market when it relies on startling you. (I mean I was startled by a mouse in my kitchen the other night. But just because it startled me doesn’t make it the rodent equivalent of John Carpenter or Wes Craven)
The films influences can be seen in both films and other games. Its taken stuff from films such as Alien and Event Horizon. Its gaming influences vary from Bioshock, Resident evil 4 to Prey.
Overall Dead space is your standard survival horror but done in a way that will intrigue even the most hesitant survival horror gamer (such as myself.) the only thing that weighs it down is a few clichéd story points. This said however, it is well worth forking out money for and will be a good addition to anyone’s game collection
Score: 8/10
Review written by: (only watched Alien to see Sigourney Weaver in her underwear) Haloman
Game supplied by: (he ain’t Heavy, he’s my Brother) Munkymagicuk
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