Dead Space - Letdown of the year?

[Powder]

As a Horror fan (Call of Cthulu, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, FEAR, Eternal Darkness, completions under my belt) I cant believe the words I read.

You complain about 'shoot, shoot, run through narrow hall ways-' Well, your complaining about the basics of a survival horror game. Your complaining about their being actual survival in this 'survival-horror' game. How else would you survive against them... Throw cookies at them? I mean, what do you want from them? If you took out the 'shoot, shoot' there wouldn't be much of a scare factor. In Resident Evil 1, you shot shot and ran through narrow hallways and I bet you think that was a great game.

The reason why it is' shoot shot run down a narrow hallway' is because you cant add supernatural mind-fucks like you would in FEAR because your not dealing with that much of a mental break-down here. Plus, if you beat the game you'd understand why you cannot add supernatural mind-fucks.

Also, the 'narrow-hallway' part comes from the whole setting of the game. Your in a space ship... You expect a whole open field where you take hand with claw with a necromorph and skip down a flowery hilltop?

You want puzzles in a Horror game? I bet if they added them you'd complain about their being puzzles in your horror game.

After beating the game 3 times, the game still has some moments where it scares me and I'm a pretty hard to scare guy.

Honestly - I believe you played the game, if played on PC, windowed mode, lowest sound, lights on, and with friends.

Otherwise - To each their own.

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I'm 'uber' late on this thread. o.o;

[Sensational]

Originally Posted by Powder

As a Horror fan (Call of Cthulu, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, FEAR, Eternal Darkness, completions under my belt) I cant believe the words I read.

You complain about 'shoot, shoot, run through narrow hall ways-' Well, your complaining about the basics of a survival horror game. Your complaining about their being actual survival in this 'survival-horror' game. How else would you survive against them... Throw cookies at them? I mean, what do you want from them? If you took out the 'shoot, shoot' there wouldn't be much of a scare factor. In Resident Evil 1, you shot shot and ran through narrow hallways and I bet you think that was a great game.

The reason why it is' shoot shot run down a narrow hallway' is because you cant add supernatural mind-fucks like you would in FEAR because your not dealing with that much of a mental break-down here. Plus, if you beat the game you'd understand why you cannot add supernatural mind-fucks.

Also, the 'narrow-hallway' part comes from the whole setting of the game. Your in a space ship... You expect a whole open field where you take hand with claw with a necromorph and skip down a flowery hilltop?

You want puzzles in a Horror game? I bet if they added them you'd complain about their being puzzles in your horror game.

After beating the game 3 times, the game still has some moments where it scares me and I'm a pretty hard to scare guy.

Honestly - I believe you played the game, if played on PC, windowed mode, lowest sound, lights on, and with friends.

Otherwise - To each their own.

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I'm 'uber' late on this thread. o.o;

That's the thing though, there's so much of the "shoot, shoot" part and so little of the "run through narrow hallways". There's no anticipation, you always know that there's going to be another necromorph around the corner. While I agree that the game is great, it didn't scare me once, and I played alone, full screen, no lights and during the night. There needs to be less (And more difficult) combat, and more audio logs/writing on the walls/visual horror scenes (Guy bashing his head against the wall, corpses just hanging from a vent, etc) in my opinion.

As others have said though, the game has a few things that are really awesome. The HUD is probably one of the best I have ever seen, almost as good as the one in Republic Commando (Although I'm biased because I prefer FPS). The storyline is original, there's actual interaction with the storyline thanks to the audio logs and text logs. The immersion is fantastic.

And I say all this even though I played the game, a console game, on my PC. Which I highly recommend that others do not, you can clearly tell that the game is made to be played with a controller in your hand, infront of a large HDTV connected to a good sound system.

[Dem]

I agree with Chopstix on this one (did I just call Sensational Chopstix? I did. You want to know why? Because I think Chopstix would make a terrific nickname, but that's beside the point). However, I will once again type everything he just said, but in a less understandable way... Also, it will be quite a bit longer since I am a big fan of using many words. Words such as "Hypnosis", "Madness", "Eclipse", "Fortnight", "Candlelight" and "Cat Burglar", although I guess that final one actually consists out of two words. None of these words will actually be used in the rest of my monologue though... Maybe if one day I write a book I'll try getting all of them in... Make a long list of cool English words, we should do that... Make a contest out of it.

You complain about 'shoot, shoot, run through narrow hall ways-' Well, your complaining about the basics of a survival horror game. Your complaining about their being actual survival in this 'survival-horror' game.

What the Dino just said, too much shooting, too little anticipation (another cool word).

This game fails on both ends of the horror genre imo. You see, imo there are two main strands of horror.

First, you have the American idea of scary. If I stand next to you all quietly, and all of a sudden yell boo... You might scream like a 9 year old girl once... If I do it again... You might scream again, and then a little awkward giggle. The fourth and fifth time might still give you a scare, but it wouldnt be as good as the first one. This is (imo) what happens in most American horrors... Cheap scares. I guess that is what this game tries to accomplish... Much like the Doom games... However, if I would just stand next to you screaming, you would probably get annoyed and move to another room. And that is what the game actually managed to accomplish...

How else would you survive against them... Throw cookies at them? I mean, what do you want from them? If you took out the 'shoot, shoot' there wouldn't be much of a scare factor.

A little bit less shoot shoot would make the game a lot more scarier imo.

In Resident Evil 1, you shot shot and ran through narrow hallways and I bet you think that was a great game.

Actually, I am not a Resident Evil fan. I mean, I think the games are good, but I'm just not a fan. Remember the "me standing next to you shouting out of nowhere" example? RE is one of the few games who's actually managed to accomplish that without feeling too cheesy.

Also, the 'narrow-hallway' part comes from the whole setting of the game. Your in a space ship... You expect a whole open field where you take hand with claw with a necromorph and skip down a flowery hilltop?

Yes. After comparing the game to movies such as The Abyss, Event Horizon, Aliens and Solaris, I expect a whole open field where I take hand with claw with a necromorph and frolic down a flowery hilltop. After that we drink strawberry flavoured tea and read each other poems. Because that is exactly what happens in all the good scifi thrillers.

You want puzzles in a Horror game? I bet if they added them you'd complain about their being puzzles in your horror game.

Not sure if I mentioned puzzles, because I think that's an entirely different discussion. Not that I'm afraid of going into that discussion since I think it's quite interesting and I'm curious how people feel about it... Personally I think puzzles can be fine as long as they're challenging. Not like in Alone in the Dark or that shitty Gamecube game Requiem where you have to push clocks to uncover secret passage ways and then move the hands on a clock to a specific time to get access to some diary... I'm not a big puzzle fan, I see people playing soduku in the train, trying to impress girls... They usually don't look all that impressed. However, finding your way through a maze, a forest, an abandoned hospital... Or whatever... Finding your way in general should be a challenging puzzle for horror survivals as it adds to the feeling of being lost. I know most of them are linear as fuck, and the maps are usually not that big, but still they manage to make you feel lost. In Dead Space it's more like: hey brah, I'm lost, let me check out ma TomTom cargospaceship navigator brah.

After beating the game 3 times, the game still has some moments where it scares me and I'm a pretty hard to scare guy.

Evidently.

Honestly - I believe you played the game, if played on PC, windowed mode, lowest sound, lights on, and with friends.

Yes. You got me. I was playing it on the PC, in windowed mode so I could chat with my friends on MSN and poke people on facebook. The lights were on, my friends were all here (i have like 132, you can verify on facebook) and we were having a party! Of course I was sitting in the middle of the pink coloured room with my sound muted, playing the latest Britney Spears album (its totally hot) while everybody was dancing around me singing along with the music. There was wine, cola, beer, cheese, pindas, I think I even saw some Doritos guacamole sauce.

That's how I play my games. I thought everybody did?

[Powder]

Originally Posted by Dem

I agree with Chopstix on this one (did I just call Sensational Chopstix? I did. You want to know why? Because I think Chopstix would make a terrific nickname, but that's beside the point). However, I will once again type everything he just said, but in a less understandable way... Also, it will be quite a bit longer since I am a big fan of using many words. Words such as "Hypnosis", "Madness", "Eclipse", "Fortnight", "Candlelight" and "Cat Burglar", although I guess that final one actually consists out of two words. None of these words will actually be used in the rest of my monologue though... Maybe if one day I write a book I'll try getting all of them in... Make a long list of cool English words, we should do that... Make a contest out of it.


What the Dino just said, too much shooting, too little anticipation (another cool word).

This game fails on both ends of the horror genre imo. You see, imo there are two main strands of horror.

First, you have the American idea of scary. If I stand next to you all quietly, and all of a sudden yell boo... You might scream like a 9 year old girl once... If I do it again... You might scream again, and then a little awkward giggle. The fourth and fifth time might still give you a scare, but it wouldnt be as good as the first one. This is (imo) what happens in most American horrors... Cheap scares. I guess that is what this game tries to accomplish... Much like the Doom games... However, if I would just stand next to you screaming, you would probably get annoyed and move to another room. And that is what the game actually managed to accomplish...


A little bit less shoot shoot would make the game a lot more scarier imo.


Actually, I am not a Resident Evil fan. I mean, I think the games are good, but I'm just not a fan. Remember the "me standing next to you shouting out of nowhere" example? RE is one of the few games who's actually managed to accomplish that without feeling too cheesy.

Yes. After comparing the game to movies such as The Abyss, Event Horizon, Aliens and Solaris, I expect a whole open field where I take hand with claw with a necromorph and frolic down a flowery hilltop. After that we drink strawberry flavoured tea and read each other poems. Because that is exactly what happens in all the good scifi thrillers.


Not sure if I mentioned puzzles, because I think that's an entirely different discussion. Not that I'm afraid of going into that discussion since I think it's quite interesting and I'm curious how people feel about it... Personally I think puzzles can be fine as long as they're challenging. Not like in Alone in the Dark or that shitty Gamecube game Requiem where you have to push clocks to uncover secret passage ways and then move the hands on a clock to a specific time to get access to some diary... I'm not a big puzzle fan, I see people playing soduku in the train, trying to impress girls... They usually don't look all that impressed. However, finding your way through a maze, a forest, an abandoned hospital... Or whatever... Finding your way in general should be a challenging puzzle for horror survivals as it adds to the feeling of being lost. I know most of them are linear as fuck, and the maps are usually not that big, but still they manage to make you feel lost. In Dead Space it's more like: hey brah, I'm lost, let me check out ma TomTom cargospaceship navigator brah.


Evidently.

Yes. You got me. I was playing it on the PC, in windowed mode so I could chat with my friends on MSN and poke people on facebook. The lights were on, my friends were all here (i have like 132, you can verify on facebook) and we were having a party! Of course I was sitting in the middle of the pink coloured room with my sound muted, playing the latest Britney Spears album (its totally hot) while everybody was dancing around me singing along with the music. There was wine, cola, beer, cheese, pindas, I think I even saw some Doritos guacamole sauce.

That's how I play my games. I thought everybody did?

Just start to say I love the way you broke it down, excellent.

Even though Im not going to go that thorough in this post because I was obviously pwnt. I do have a few things to say.

With my horror games I like a lot of action and I like the combination of both the atmosphere of the game and the feeling of being surrounded by these things, once you get really far into the game. It gets the adrenaline going and it makes me easier to scare, but that's just me. Its why I loved RE and Dead Space because they put you against a lot of things (zombies, mutants, necromorphs... Whatever floats your boat) and it gives you that 'What I am I going to do' thought when your out of bullets and there's still about 4 things standing.

And yes, I am hard to scare but when I beat Dead Space the first time, I basically charged through and blew through everything with a Plasma Cutter (witch I enjoyed and hated) and sometimes I might get a wee bit to relaxed and forget somethings going to pop out at that time. The 3rd time, however, I played on Impossible. I don't recommend, because you'll die. You'll die a lot. Worse than Gears 1 Insane without COOP. You Will Die. I died so much it got me paranoid and I totally forgot just about everything and it left me basically like this: ;_;.

To me, you just seem like the type who'd enjoy a more mental horror game than an action / horror game. Something like Call of Cthulu.

But, to each their own.

[Wingman709]

I enjoyed the game. I found the story to be lacking as it felt like a combination of any alien movie I have seen before, but the game was fun to play. The sound, visuals, and pacing was pretty sweet. I enjoyed the new types of weapons as it did give it all a different feel.

I would not buy it, but its definitely worth a rental. Good game overall.

[Muffalopadus]

I really enjoyed the game. The story was pretty good if you pay attention to all those pickups.

The design is what got me - it was the best part of the game.

[Jodou]

It's clear to me that the praise surrounding Dead Space is a response to the lack of titles in the genre and had it launched against BioShock 2, Fear 2, Alan Wake, or Resident Evil 5 it would had been skipped over. Dead Space comes with your standard issue linear game-play, predictable scares, and various baddies but the story feels all too familiar and does little to make me want to keep playing. In fact, the only driving factor I had was to just beat the game and be done with it.

I wouldn't say it's so much of a letdown (was there really hype for this?) as it was generic.

[ZeroOmega05]

Yea the only reason i played it was to beat it and toss it in the return pile and another thing is the Contact beam is kinda a dumb idea if the halls are smaller then a human but overall the game did have a screwed story line