While Dead Space™ is not bursting with originality, what it does, it does stunningly well. A text book space survival horror game, Dead Space™ takes the well worn conventions of the genre and executes them all perfectly, while adding a level of tension and drama that is hitherto unseen. It's a little shorter than I'd like, and a lot more linear than I'd hoped, but it's also a lot more fun than I'd expected.
SPOnG Score: 88%[/b]
1 WTF is it with the TM™? Am I the only person who remembers when game names were just that, names, and like albums and movies? Two entirely different games could bear the same name. In fact, one developer told us that since SPOnG was the first extensive database of video game titles on the Internet, they used to use the site to try and avoid using an already used name? Now they just trade mark them.
Now everybody trademarks everything. Bollywood actress Mallika Sherawat has trademarked her name, Barclays Bank has trademarked "Hole in the Wall" despite it being in common usage long before it came up with that ignoble idea. Trademarks were invented to prevent consumers being bamboozled into purchasing poor-quality knock-offs of products.
But in an age of brand extension, they are now used to silence critics, prevent competition, and limit free speech.
So, now we have a world where Ford exercises its right to prevent owners' club members printing a calendar with pictures of their Ford cars in it; or Starbucks uses its financial muscle to prevent Ethiopian farmers registering a trademark on their coffee. And Dead Space, well that's a trademark, but I'd feel much more comfortable if it wasn't, because I'm almost 100% sure it isn't one to protect me from accidentally purchasing the wrong game.
One more delve into Wikipedia tells me that, although the first game recognised as survival horror is Resident Evil, the conventions of the genre were previously established by Alone in the Dark. Now, any of you who have survived the horror that was the Alone in the Dark movie will have a good first-hand experience of the genre.
Finally, I learnt that SH games are typically one-player, and that the player is often armed less well than players of typical first-person shooters. Aye, there's the rub. What makes survival games, survival games is the paucity of resources. In games like Doom or Quake it is pretty much impossible to move without tripping over one pick-up or another; be it health, ammo or a new weapon that enables you to cower behind a piece of scenery and kill every enemy on the level with a single button click. In survival horror games, the tension is heightened by the fact that you are often wandering around with your energy meter in the low zeroes and only three bullets for a weapon that barely grazes your most common opponent, hoping that you discover a pick-up before an enemy discovers you.
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Comments
Ken 29 Oct 2008 01:52
1/4
Not sure if it's the same over there, but in Canada a trademark is common law, so the tm is just an intention to use it, and technically any company could register it and still take it from you. It's a nice system because it keeps away cheap knockoffs that try to use the name in the same domain, or who try to use the name to promote their own product, but at the same time a company that wanted to make it their business name could still register it (which gives them the ability to use the little with the circle around it).
PreciousRoi 2 Nov 2008 07:08
2/4
I didn't find it especially short.
I have been having a few issues with gamesave files appearing to be corrupt, most of the time I can get them to load by trying again, but its kinda disconcerting not to know if the save is any good until you need it.
And, although I'm not a ResiE/Survival Horror aficionado Deep Space addressed most of the annoyances I've had with the genre. The ammo isn't as scarce as it could be, though even with careful management I still ran into cases where I'd have to run and hide due to its lack.
I was fortunate enough to get to play this in my friends home theater setup. It was delightfully frightening, a truly worthy gaming experience on the big screen in pitch blackness with surround and a beefy sub. I'd give this game a 5-10 percent bump if you possess the right setup, its a must-rent at the least.
Currently on Chapter 2 of Round 2, played through the first time with only the cutter, very doable.
I have been having a few issues with gamesave files appearing to be corrupt, most of the time I can get them to load by trying again, but its kinda disconcerting not to know if the save is any good until you need it.
And, although I'm not a ResiE/Survival Horror aficionado Deep Space addressed most of the annoyances I've had with the genre. The ammo isn't as scarce as it could be, though even with careful management I still ran into cases where I'd have to run and hide due to its lack.
I was fortunate enough to get to play this in my friends home theater setup. It was delightfully frightening, a truly worthy gaming experience on the big screen in pitch blackness with surround and a beefy sub. I'd give this game a 5-10 percent bump if you possess the right setup, its a must-rent at the least.
Currently on Chapter 2 of Round 2, played through the first time with only the cutter, very doable.
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DoctorDee 2 Nov 2008 12:53
3/4
PreciousRoi wrote:
I was fortunate enough to get to play this in my friends home theater setup. It was delightfully frightening, a truly worthy gaming experience on the big screen in pitch blackness with surround and a beefy sub. I'd give this game a 5-10 percent bump if you possess the right setup, its a must-rent at the least.
I have such a set-up: 120inch HD projector, Mission 6.1 surround system. This may explain in part why my score was higher than the MetaCritic average, but the net result was that the game was incredibly immersive, and created a superb air of tension.
I must admit, we only have 50" plasmas in the SPOnG office, and while they are not to be sneared at, when I put Morotstorm on my home set up, it was incredible in comparison to playing it in the office. I didn't play Dead Space in the office at all...
As for the cutter, I liked it as a weapon - it worked OK in both ranged and melee combat, and did the job admirably.
I played it on PS3, and have not experienced any save issues.
PreciousRoi 4 Nov 2008 03:25
4/4
Though I haven't yet progressed very far in the Impossible difficulty, preferring to try and advance through my Hard game on Round Two, I would have liked to see a bit more randomness to the game, sometimes its all too obvious when you're safe and when you need to take a bit more care. A few more semi-random or not-quite-scripted monster appearances could have heightened the tension a bit and added to the overall uncertainty during what might otherwise be percieved as pointless wandering. Perhaps some extra content, accessible on the second playthrough, would have been cool too. More variation the the armor styles might have been nice, Suit Levels 1-5 are a bit too BioShock, but I also see why they went that route as well...Suit Level 6 looks schweet.
But I did really enjoy it...I pick the nits as we simians are wont to do, off something I care about...
But I did really enjoy it...I pick the nits as we simians are wont to do, off something I care about...