DEAD SPACE
Genre: Survival horror, Action, 3rd-person shooter
Available Platforms: PC, PS3, 360
Platform I played it on: PC
Developer: EA Redwood Studios
Publisher: EA
I’m a total horror pussy. I get scared like a little bitch at the smallest little things in games and, to a much lesser extent, movies (there hasn’t been one I’ve seen in YEARS that has truly terrified me, which is sad). Even if I KNOW something is coming it won’t stop me from letting out audible gasps of pure terror. Despite this, I still enjoy horror games to death, the scarier the better. I WANT to be terrified. I WANT to feel that dread well up inside my very soul as I walk slowly down a dimly lit corridor, anxiously anticipating the ethereal terrors that await me just a few more steps ahead. I WANT to have mini heart attacks every time something comes screaming out of the darkness at me. Some of my favourite games/video game series are horror and Dead Space stands tall among the best of them with some of the most truly terrifying moments I’ve ever experienced in gaming. The first game was my first true taste of horror gaming at its best because it was the first horror game I played solo (I normally get a friend to join me when I start a new scary game so I can have a partner to be scared with). I used to only be able to play it late at night on my dad’s laptop and I remember vividly each night would be worst than the last as I crept steadily towards the end of the game and the monsters just got ramped up more and more. To this day I still have nightmares of Dead Space’s regenerating necromorphs chasing me down claustrophobic corridors…
And that’s what this first game was all about: the paranoid claustrophobia of the game’s dark halls, the fear that the monsters can come from literally anywhere. I loved it to bits. For those who might not know, in Dead Space you are the silent protagonist Isaac Clarke, an engineer who investigates a distress signal from the planet-cracker class mining spaceship, the Ishimura. Isaac has his own motives for joining the search party however, namely that his girlfriend is on board the ship and he hopes to find and save her. However, when Isaac’s crew crash lands on the spaceship, they find that everything is already fucked beyond repair. About 5 minutes into the game things already start going monumentally pear-shaped and the game just keeps ramping up further and further with each successive chapter until all thoughts and hopes of saving anyone is kicked out the airlock and the mission becomes simply to survive and get the fuck off the ship. There are also sinister religious organizations, strange space magic/technology and conspiracies woven into an expertly crafted sci-fi horror yarn for good measure.
The enemies in this game are known as necromorphs, who are basically alien zombies that manifest in and horribly disfigure human hosts. They can’t be taken down from the usual headshots and have to be dismembered to be killed. Thankfully, Isaac has the exact tools for this and they make perfect fodder for some of the most satisfyingly brutal kills in gaming. They also adapt and change in combat depending on how they’re dismembered, for example shooting the legs out from under a standard necromorph will turn them into a faster, crawling nightmare, making them harder to deal with. They originate from a mysterious artifact called the Marker, but nothing is really explained to you about how any of it works. This is one of the biggest problems I had with the game in general. Nothing is properly explained to you about the mythos of this universe. This is made worse by the fact that I would’ve loved to learn everything! It’s never truly explained where the Marker came from or how it does what it does, only that it’s some kind of alien genetic virus that drives humans insane, is somewhat sentient and possesses a hive mind with all necromorphs. I will say though that this stuff only really comes to mind after you’re done with the game. While you play you’ll be too engrossed and/or scared to really care. The game is really great at building an absolutely palpable atmosphere of tension, sweaty dread and isolation, and fantastic sound design and well-placed enemy encounters help out with this. There’s nothing scarier than the first time a necromorph comes alive on the floor and screams murder right in your face.
The gameplay is of the third-person shooter variety, very reminiscent of Resident Evil 4. This is a good thing because RE4 was a fucking great game, another one of my horror favourites. The game doesn’t have a traditional HUD, instead relaying all information through Isaac’s in-game RIG (basically a fancy space suit); including his health, stasis (a slow-mo/kinesis power that’s also never properly explained but serves as a kind of magic/puzzle solving mechanic), and weapons’ ammo count. All communications are also shown through the RIG in a little video screen, and the RIG possesses a very useful objective marker that points you to your objective, as well as nearby save points, shops and work benches where you can upgrade your equipment. Every game should adapt this marker system because it was so awesome and innovative, much like RE4’s magic briefcase. Even viewing the map, inventory and collectible notes are done through the RIG, meaning that it’s all done in real time and you can still be attacked, which adds to the overall tension of the game. There are several classes of necromorph that Isaac takes on during the course of the game and as such he has a wide arsenal of weapons available to him, most of which is just salvaged equipment from the Ishimura, such as Isaac’s standard Plasma Cutter pistol, which is one of the best weapons in gaming and probably the weapon you’ll end up using the most because it’s just so good (think Halo 1’s standard pistol and you get the idea). Of course you have a melee attack to fall back on in case the baddies get too close or you run out of bullets. I’m sure most gamers are by now familiar with Isaac’s insanely powerfully boot, undoubtedly the strongest weapon in the game. You can upgrade Isaac’s suit’s health, air (for zero gravity/space sections) and stasis capabilities using “nodes” found in the environment, and will have to scavenge ammo, healing items and blueprints from enemies and the ship (or shops).
Overall, I have very little complaints about the game aside from the story thing. It’s a little repetitive and it drags on a little, but the satisfying gameplay and the dreadfully wonderful atmosphere make it all hardly noticeable. This really is one of the best survival horror games ever crafted. It effortlessly blends a terrifying setting and monsters, a good story with some nice twists, and some of the most gruesome, brutal violence to ever grace our screens. It’s a true modern horror masterpiece and if you haven’t played it already then what are you actually doing with life?
Conclusion: 4.5 severed limbs out of a possible 5
DEAD SPACE 2
Genre: Survival horror, Action, 3rd-person shooter
Available Platforms: PC, PS3, 360
Platform I played it on: PC
Developer: Visceral Games
Publisher: EA
This game is by a far margin my favourite out of the Dead Space series and up there with my favourite games of all time, for various reasons. While I loved the first game, playing 2 was really an enlightening experience. It’s an improvement in almost every conceivable way upon it’s predecessor. I know this opinion is considered blasphemy in some gaming circles, but it’s just the way I felt about the game. I connected with it so much more than 1, which I didn’t think was even possible.
I’m not gonna go in depth about the gameplay or anything because it’s basically the same as 1, just polished to a near-perfect sheen. Why change a winning formula, right? A few new additions include hacking and full zero gravity sections where you actually fly through space instead of being tethered to surfaces like in the first game. The story, though, is really where this game shines the brightest. It starts out 3 years after the events of the 1st game, with Isaac waking up on the Sprawl in a mental facility, right in the middle of another necromorph outbreak. He’s got scrambled memories of the time that’s past and a dead girlfriend haunting his thoughts. These hallucinations become more vivid and violent as the plot progresses and conveys a sense that you’re fighting as much against insanity as you are the necromorphs. This psychological horror element ups the ante by an insane amount and I found this game much more terrifying than the previous one. The entire game is just nightmare fuel of the highest grade. It also has one of my favourite final boss fights and endings to a game.
The creepy, dark atmosphere remained in tact in this game, at times going even further than the first game ever did with the violent, gruesome imagery. The stakes are raised considerably this time around as you’ll be fighting the necromorphs right as they’re taking over the Sprawl. Think of it as Bioshock if you will, with the first game taking place in Rapture, already fucked for a while when you arrived, and this game taking place in Columbia, with everything falling to shit around you as you try your damnedest to just survive. The game also hits you with the scare tactics like nobody’s business. There’s a sequence in which you go into a nursery and encounter the absolutely fucking worst enemies in any game EVER: baby necromorphs. Those little fuckers make me piss myself to this day, they’re my horror kryptonite. The Lurker enemies are also absolutely terrifying. They hide behind cover and come running out at you with blood-curdling screams that can make a grown man cry.
In retrospect, this was probably not a great game for the series. The focus for the series started shifting more towards intense, action-packed, cinematic sequences, which, while refreshing and ultra cool in this game, really tarnished the 3rd game where they took it too far. The game also feels a bit more open (although not by much), ditching the claustrophobic corridors (occasionally) for some more open areas of the Sprawl (and space) that bring with it a new kind of horror. Isaac is no longer a silent protagonist, which adds a lot to his character. He’s more motivated, more willing to act like a hero and try to end the necromorph threat once and for all. The game also features an actually realized supporting cast who are convincing and serve as more than just quest givers like in the first game. You really start to bond with them as the story progresses and things get more dire on the completely fucked space station. The story is more personal and that helps in keeping you motivated, and it does a better job of explaining things to you than the first game did. The game is also longer than the first, but it doesn’t drag along or feel extended, which is always a plus in my book.
There’s a multiplayer component I never touched in the game as well, for those into that sort of thing. From the opening sequence straight out of a nightmare, right to the ending credits, this game is one hell of a ride. It’s a title that shouldn’t be missed and one of the best sequels I’ve ever seen. Think AC1 to AC2, or more accurately The Godfather 1 to The Godfather 2, and you get the idea. Definitely a must play in my book.
Conclusion: 5 baby necromorph hugs out of a possible 5
DEAD SPACE 3
Genre: Survival Horror, Action, 3rd-person shooter
Available Platforms: PC, PS3, 360
Platform I played it on: PC
Developer: Visceral Games
Publisher: EA
I didn’t like the third game as much as the other 2, although to be fair nobody really did. It felt different. Not exactly less terrifying, because it still managed to get me more times then I care to admit, but it was more orientated towards pure action. Isaac just felt too powerful in my hands. He went from bumbling, struggling engineer in the first game to super soldier in the third, capable of taking on entire squadrons of elite, trained mercenaries and armies of the undead necromorphs with ease.
I played this game co-op with the same guy who ran through RE5 and 6 with me, although not the official online-only co-op because he owned the game on 360 and I owned it on PC (and I don’t own a 360), so we made do with just passing off the controller whenever we died. It took us a few months to run through the game. I think both of us just weren’t feeling it that much because the story was really a let down. It isn’t necessarily bad, it just isn’t interesting or engaging at all and it suffers from being disjointed and underdeveloped. It follows Isaac and a small crew (including the co-op partner Carver) on the icy planet of Tau Volantis, trying to stop the necromorph threat once and for all. Isaac only agrees to come along because another one of his ex-girlfriend’s – Ellie, from the 2nd game, this time – is once again missing somewhere out there in space and some crazy Unitologist guy destroys his home and tries to kill him. Isaac seems to feel how you might feel playing this game: weary, unmotivated and uncaring. By the end of the game the story just feels so dragged out and kinda dumb.
The gameplay is much the same as the first two games’, but adds an interesting crafting system. Using materials found in the environment, you can craft yourself healing and key items, weapon upgrade modules and even new weapons using blueprints found in the environment. Weapons can be upgraded with modules and attachments that change the weapon’s stats and even how it behaves. This was actually a fun addition to the game and we spent a lot of time messing around with different weapon configurations, trying to build the most OP shit we could think of. It was kind of shitty to be limited to only 2 weapons, but you get used to it after a while. One thing I loved is that they made the flamethrower an actually useful weapon this time around! The flamethrower sucked in the first two games, but in this one I used it constantly for those annoying skinny monkey things that they keep throwing at you. They also added in more action-focused features such as a combat roll and a dynamic cover system, but this is used almost exclusively to deal with the game’s human enemies. The inclusion of human enemies themselves should tip you off to what this game is: an action game with some horror elements.
The game is challenging, especially the side missions, although this is mainly due to the fact that they just throw tons of necromorphs at you. That seemed to be the basic design decision for the entire game, just throwing more and more enemies at the player, instead of designing some actually interesting encounters. The usual suspects from the old games return obviously (thank God there’s no babies this time around) with a few new additions, such as the aforementioned monkey things that scurry about and travel in ridiculously fast, screaming herds. This emphasis on having more enemies seriously detracts from the overall experience of the game however, because combat becomes more of a chore than anything, with monsters just spawning in in every single room. The game does have some really cool environments, the icy planet really adding some truly beautifully haunting new scenery, and it’s much more open than it’s brethren. I will admit to getting lost once or twice in it all and I enjoyed playing in a new setting very much.
Overall, this was just a highly disappointing game, especially as a Dead Space fan. While it introduces some good new ideas into the franchise and is still an action-packed thrill ride, there’s too much holding it back. The story is too long and uninteresting, the atmosphere that the first 2 games had is mostly nonexistent, with some good, but forgettable moments of true horror on show. The enemies and combat are repetitive and boring, and the challenge is superficial. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this game to anyone, but I will say if you’re interested then you should check it out. There’s some really good points, but some really bad points as well, so make of it what you will. Maybe co-op can save it, if you’re able to play with a good friend.
Conclusion: 3 co-op partners out of a possible 5
RANDOM MUSINGS 
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