now that I've finished it...
Oct. 28th, 2008 01:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solipsistnationThis might be minorly spoilery for Dead Space, but it shouldn't be too bad.
Dead Space is overall entertaining. A couple of annoying boss battles, but otherwise pretty good. I am a definitely NON-fan of video game bosses, especially ones that break the paradigm of the game-- there are bosses that you have to zap to slow them down down and then run around behind them and hit them where they aren't armored. This is a total reversal of the primary "cut off their limbs" combat style, and I found it very annoying. There's another sort of boss thingy that requires more thought and doesn't mess with the game quite as much. A good boss (if there is such a thing) should require mastery of the game's techniques rather than just soaking up damage until it dies. The final boss isn't too bad as far as this goes.
The weapons are all very visceral (as it were), and require a different style. They're also sort of redundant-- another review pointed out that you could play through the whole thing with only the plasma cutter you're given to start off, and that certainly seems true. (There's an achievement awarded if you do this, even.) Some of the weapons are distinctly ineffective in certain situations, too-- it's possible to equip yourself right before the final boss in such a way that you can't actually win the battle because the weapons are too short-range, too slow, or both. (Saw, Flamethrower, Force Gun, and Plasma Cutter without enough ammo, and you're screwed.)
Dead Space is really pleasantly creepy, and keeps up the atmosphere all the way through. There are also secret messages, and about halfway through they give you a decoder key for it. I haven't gone through to decode them, and since I'm lazy I will probably let the internet at large decode them for me and then see what they say. There are some really nice setpieces, and the sound design is great. The sudden muted echoey silence when you enter vacuum is such a contrast to the normal audio atmosphere that it almost seems louder.
There are some good scares (I know I shouted "Holy crap!" and that kind of thing more than a few times...), some interesting puzzles, creepy enemies to dismember (even if there are only a limited number of them) and aside from a few cheesy scenes, the story, thin as it is, holds together pretty well. Save points are placed intelligently, and the game autosaves at a few places (mostly before doing something difficult) without mentioning it, so even if you get killed doing whatever it is that's difficult you don't have to reload very far back.
Dead Space is also very aware of its ancestry-- there are nods to System Shock and SS2, Aliens, and even Solaris (the book by Stanislaw Lem and/or the films made of that book).
Overall, I enjoyed it from start to finish, barring a couple of annoying bits. It's creepy and gory and generally fun. Recommended.
Dead Space is overall entertaining. A couple of annoying boss battles, but otherwise pretty good. I am a definitely NON-fan of video game bosses, especially ones that break the paradigm of the game-- there are bosses that you have to zap to slow them down down and then run around behind them and hit them where they aren't armored. This is a total reversal of the primary "cut off their limbs" combat style, and I found it very annoying. There's another sort of boss thingy that requires more thought and doesn't mess with the game quite as much. A good boss (if there is such a thing) should require mastery of the game's techniques rather than just soaking up damage until it dies. The final boss isn't too bad as far as this goes.
The weapons are all very visceral (as it were), and require a different style. They're also sort of redundant-- another review pointed out that you could play through the whole thing with only the plasma cutter you're given to start off, and that certainly seems true. (There's an achievement awarded if you do this, even.) Some of the weapons are distinctly ineffective in certain situations, too-- it's possible to equip yourself right before the final boss in such a way that you can't actually win the battle because the weapons are too short-range, too slow, or both. (Saw, Flamethrower, Force Gun, and Plasma Cutter without enough ammo, and you're screwed.)
Dead Space is really pleasantly creepy, and keeps up the atmosphere all the way through. There are also secret messages, and about halfway through they give you a decoder key for it. I haven't gone through to decode them, and since I'm lazy I will probably let the internet at large decode them for me and then see what they say. There are some really nice setpieces, and the sound design is great. The sudden muted echoey silence when you enter vacuum is such a contrast to the normal audio atmosphere that it almost seems louder.
There are some good scares (I know I shouted "Holy crap!" and that kind of thing more than a few times...), some interesting puzzles, creepy enemies to dismember (even if there are only a limited number of them) and aside from a few cheesy scenes, the story, thin as it is, holds together pretty well. Save points are placed intelligently, and the game autosaves at a few places (mostly before doing something difficult) without mentioning it, so even if you get killed doing whatever it is that's difficult you don't have to reload very far back.
Dead Space is also very aware of its ancestry-- there are nods to System Shock and SS2, Aliens, and even Solaris (the book by Stanislaw Lem and/or the films made of that book).
Overall, I enjoyed it from start to finish, barring a couple of annoying bits. It's creepy and gory and generally fun. Recommended.
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-28 09:38 pm (UTC)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwTh2Pp0KBM
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-28 09:41 pm (UTC)Did you get killed by one of the tentacles from the wall? That's a pretty awesome death. "What? I escaped? *phew*" *MUNCH*
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-28 09:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-28 09:49 pm (UTC)So, Fallout 3 tonight! I'll have to take some time off from Far Cry 2 (I am only about an hour into that anyway), but I wasn't really getting into it that much. It is an interesting game, though-- there's definitely some social commentary going on in there. It's surprising to find a conscience in a game about wandering through and shooting people up in one of those pocket wars in Africa that fucks up the countries there so much...