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[dennis]

My friend was at Best Buy to replace his crapped out router and picked up a copy of Dead Space for me. I started playing tonight, some time after the debates, and had to force myself to quit after completing the first chapter.

I haven't been keeping up with the games news in the past couple of months, so I'd only heard a little about Dead Space, but it's great. From what I've seen in the first chapter, there's a lot of innovation and well-executed design and gameplay. There's no constant texture popping like there is in Mass Effect, and I like how they got rid of fourth-wall UIs and integrated everything into the universe. The comparisons to System Shock 2 are going to be thick.

My friend said you have to play in a darkened room, and he's right. The immersion is pretty great, especially with surround sound (I just got a new Onkyo system). Speaking of the surround, this is one of the few games we noticed that had properly normalized audio for the surround channels. In most games, the surround levels are too high, so when you rotate the camera, dialogue always sounds too loud in the surrounds and not loud enough in the front channels.

Go pick it up!

[Spluff]

I've heard it's amazing, and have seen several comparisons to system shock, and a few to bioshock. Now if only it would hurry up and release for the PC, I'd be right.

[Storm Rider]

If Resident Evil 4 and System Shock had a baby, this game would basically be it. I also only played through the end of Chapter 1 because I am behind on school work, but the presentation is top notch (especially the sound, oh God) and the gameplay is solid. It does rely on a lot of horror tropes (seemingly dead bodies leaping up as you draw near, bad guys busting through walls, etc.), but they're executed so well that it is still very shocking.

I haven't gotten too far yet, but I am very impressed at this point.

[dennis]

Bioshock and System Shock 2 were basically the same game, so understandable.

[Spluff]

System Shock two was a similar setting, also, a lot scarier. Bioshock wasn't scary.

[dennis]

I'm talking about the gameplay and storyline. Audio logs scattered around for backstory, missions dictated to you by someone elsewhere on the ship, weapon upgrade stations, a "magic" power mechanic, an overarching deception.

I used to think Bioshock was scary. Then I played Condemned.

[Dimmukane]

I am selling my Wii (my games all magically got sold by my little brother after several months of not touching the machine) and picking this up, I think.

[Boro_Bandito]

System Shock two was a similar setting, also, a lot scarier. Bioshock wasn't scary.

Oh come on, there weren't a few moments where there was a horror aspect of the game? I mean, at least admit it was creepy beyond words hearing some crazy Splicer singing "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so..." off in the distance.

[MusicScribbles]

A lot of people like to say that Bioshock isn't scary. I disagree, personally, because to be truly scared, for me, is to get so sucked into the atmosphere that you're affected on a psychological level. Bioshock had a terrific atmosphere, and the story was quite unsettling. Of course, I'm also a sucker for these dystopia tales (Pynchon is the man.).

[Spluff]

System Shock two was a similar setting, also, a lot scarier. Bioshock wasn't scary.

Oh come on, there weren't a few moments where there was a horror aspect of the game? I mean, at least admit it was creepy beyond words hearing some crazy Splicer singing "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so..." off in the distance.

It was creepy (though not on say, the 20th time I'd heard that splicers singing), and there were a few moments that did scare me. But, on the whole, the game was not scary to me.

[est]

This is definitely a game I am thinking about getting.  Just trying to figure out if I want it for the PC or 360.

[Boro_Bandito]

Granted, the only games that have truly scared me are Resident Evil 2 and Eternal Darkness(I couldn't play Eternal Darkness after a while, had to watch my brother play it while I cuddled with my dog on the couch, same with Resident Evil only I was even younger), but I still think Bioshock was a scary game at many points, and I'm getting Deadspace if its like that only worse. Playing in a dark room with my brothers screaming like girls is appealing.

[Storm Rider]

I loved Bioshock, but not as a game that scared me. Dead Space is definitely more of a horror game, even if it borrows a great deal from Bioshock conceptually. Even during my very short playtime so far, I can definitely say that there are more actual scares in this game.

[Emaline]

So, I chickened out and put this game on easy. I don't recomend it. Its too easy. I am going to restart and put it at least on medium. I know. I'm a pansy.

But this game is great. It looks very nice, and so far the only problem I have had is the camera view. Ugh! I can't stand it. And moving the angle is a pain. I really dislike that. I also don't like that I can't get close ups of anything. But this realy isn't that big of a deal, and maybe they told me how to change it in the begining and I just wasn't paying attention. Excitedness for a game, plus work related tiredness, plus being doped up on pain killers, made it really hard to concentrate on the game. I had to give up after chapter one due to my medicine knocking me out for the next few hours.

I can definitely see the comparisons to Bioshock, and System Shock. Overly all, I think my experience with this game is going to be similar to my experience with Bioshock. I liked the game a lot, but it wasn't replacing what I was currently obsessed with(for Bioshock it was Half Life 2, for this it is Silent Hill Homecoming). Which NOT to say I dislike this game. I like it a lot. I just think this one will probably be my second choice awhile.

The game looks beautiful though. I am stunned by the technology behind it. It just looks gorgeous.

[KvP]

Okay, I'm stuck and I'm banging my head against a wall. Give me a hand if you've gotten past this point. No real spoilers follow.

So I'm in the second chapter, where you have to collect the two different components for the charge. I've gotten the thermite, now I need the stabilizers, or whatever. There's a door on the second floor that seems to require some sort of battery inserted into the wall to open. Where is the battery? I can't fuckin' find it.

[KvP]

Aaaaaaand I got past that part but now I'm stuck at the "Asteroids" part. I hate it. I hate it I hate I hate I hate it. By the time the guy says "Just a little more time!" (30 seconds left) I'm down to 5-10 hit points, and in that minigame you're losing that much every 5-10 seconds if you're doing well.

[Storm Rider]

It took me three tries to get past the asteroid part, it sucks. Right now I'm stuck on Chapter 5, there's an enemy that you can't kill for plot reasons but you're stuck in a room with it with no discernible exits (well, there are, but they're all locked, including the one you enter from) and I'm not sure what the fuck I'm supposed to be doing, or how the hell I'm supposed to get away from it. Maybe I'll try more later.

[KvP]

Are you supposed to stall for time? Stock up / buff up your stasis and avoid the thing?

[Storm Rider]

Actually, you were close. I had to stasis the guy I couldn't kill and take care of all the little guys that were with it before the door would unlock and I could haul ass.

Anyway, I'm part-way through Chapter 6 now and I can firmly say that my original perceptions of the game were pretty much correct. This game is not psychological horror by any stretch of the imagination, Dead Space is "oh god, there's a hideous, malformed alien trying to hack me to pieces kill it kill it kill it" horror. As such, I've seen a lot of 'serious' horror fans turning up their nose at it, and all I can say is that they're missing out. This game is far from the most original game in the world, it's pretty clear they just took Resident Evil 4's gameplay and then bit off as much of the Bio/System Shock environmental and thematic stuff as they could. However, it's executed so well from a graphical and gameplay perspective that it really just doesn't matter that much.

Various tips from my experience so far:

- Don't bother buying ammo, the game is pretty generous with doling it out. The real problem with regards to conservation is inventory space, as you will find between health, air, and stasis packs along with ammo for each of your four weapons, and various other items that take up space, you'll never have enough room so that you really feel 'safe'.
- Early on, when you usually only fight one or two enemies at a time, you might not see the point in using stasis on enemies, but it will be a goddamn lifesaver when the game throws a bunch of enemies at you at once later in the game.
- Right now, my weapons are the Plasma Cutter, Line Gun, Force Gun, and the Ripper. The Line Gun is probably my favorite weapon so far, it's powerful and the projectile is large and easy to aim. The only problem is, you get ammo in really small amounts (2 per drop, 6 per stack), so you can't rely on it too much. I'll probably swap out the Ripper for the Contact Beam once I get the achievement for killing 30 enemies with it.
- I really haven't found much use for the Pulse Rifle beyond taking out the swarms of tiny guys that try to jump on you; it just isn't accurate enough to sever limbs effectively. Also, the flamethrower fucking sucks, don't even bother with it.
- Unless you're running low on health packs (so far, I haven't had much of a problem with that) or need to buy a new weapon, you should be spending all of your money on power nodes for your equipment. The game is pretty good about giving you just about everything else in the environment. Also, always keep a node or two on hand instead of using them all for upgrades right away: some locked doors can be opened with them, and those areas usually contain a lot of loot, which would cost much more than the credits to buy another node anyway.

[KvP]

Yeah, I've been beefing up the plasma cutter. It's well effective on everything that's been thrown at me so far (right now, still stuck at the asteroid cannon) except the tiny little parasite dudes. For those dudes, the flamethrower is most effective.

Much as I dislike admitting it, this is just a Flood portion of Halo grafted onto Resident Evil 4. And that's fine, but yeah, only slightly more scary than, say, FEAR, which wasn't scary at all. Probably the most effective parts are those in a vacuum, since there's no sound. If you want to be scared by a game, you should probably play the marine portion of Aliens Versus Predator.

[SnhKnives]

I picked this game up for the 360. So far im in chapter 6 and loving it. The puzzles and enemies are all different and interesting. Its scary and thrilling at the same time. Im afraid the game will be too short in the end but from what ive read there is some replay value.

[MasterWaldo]

Gah. I want this so badly, but will probably have to wait till Christmas. Glad to hear its good, though. The trailer's were pretty sweet. (The Lullaby Trailer still creeps me out even though I've seen it a million times)

[Ozymandias]

I just got to Chapter 5.

My decision to play with only plasma cutter is now biting me in the ass.

As are lots of little tripod things that get int he way while I'm running for my life through a vacuum.

[Johnny C]

Guess what?

It's not too late to start playing the game properly on your first run-through!

[Storm Rider]

Yeah, I'm gonna do the plasma cutter only run on New Game+. Doing it on the first run, even on Normal difficulty, would just have been to aggravating.

[Ozymandias]

I'm going to play through "the right way" on Impossible. Streamlining achievements FTW.

[Patrick]

I only saw about 30 minutes' worth of gameplay at my friend's house (his dad works for EA, lucky fucker). But I will definitely say that I am all kinds of impressed. EA's forte in shooter games seems to really be in their battlefield-simulation work, and they do a damn fine job of it, but it's amazing to see what they're truly capable of. They really seem to have found a niche in scaring the everliving fuck out of people. Those creepy fuckin' zombies behind you, throwing shadows on the walls in front of you? Then you turn around and nothing's there? Man, 3 years ago I was jumpy as hell when I played shooters to begin with. This would've had me looking like a crack addict 3 weeks into withdrawals.

The thing I liked the most was that they completely got rid of the HUD, and that's one of the things that I was discussing with my friends while we were testing it out tonight. Having to actually take storage space into consideration is a pain in the ass, but it brings as much realism as anybody can really manage when you're making a game with evil mutant space zombies.

Basically, the rave reviews are well-deserved. It's really funny to me how you can just KICK SHIT APART.

[KvP]

The game really isn't that scary. In actual gameplay it's more action-y Resident Evil 4 than survival-y Resident Evil 1. There are a few reasons for this. Most of it has to do with the predictability of enemy encounters. Anybody who's spent a good amount of time playing games like this intuitively knows where and when enemies will pop up. There are no random spawns, and no random spawn points. If you've cleared a room there's no use being cautious until you've completed a new story objective, in which case you can expect new spawns. The vast majority of the time completing objectives presses the button on the enemy vending machine and you're hit with a few waves of necromorphs. Outside of that, you can run around at your leisure and nothing will sneak up on you or pop out. After the first hour of the game it became no more suspenseful than Painkiller. That might not be the case in higher difficulty levels, but I doubt it.

Some good exceptions were the encounters with the regenerating monster, which provided some nice chase sequences. But for the most part the boss fights are metroid-style "shoot the gaps in the armor" games, or more difficult versions of previous encounters. I really wish game designers could come up with more creative bosses than that, but they're everywhere.

Having finished the game I have to say it was serviceable, but nothing really special outside of its top-notch visual aspects and its 5.1 surround work. I was really optimistic about how the game would turn out before it came out, given the sheer amount of effort EA had put into fleshing out the setting and the backstory through a gratuitous number of comics / videos / what have you and the quality of that effort. Unfortunately, Dead Space suffers from Oblivion syndrome - the writers can't tell the difference between story and lore. All the established backstory barely factors into the game (this is understandable, given that it's supposed to have mass appeal) There's really not much story to speak of in Dead Space - the gameplay is objective-based in the worst way. After the second or third chapter the urgency becomes lost and you're restoring some vital ship system not because you feel like there's a need to but because... that's what you do in a video game. The major characters (that is, the ones you see in too-abundant Bioshock style "trapped behind glass" encounters and the ones that talk at you) are tired horror film stereotypes, and their fates are mapped in the stars. Minor characters, as explored through found audio logs, fared much better, but they weren't nearly as abundant or lovingly crafted as Bioshock's.

But the game is really fun. There's a nice progression in the equipment upgrading that keeps you occupied (I never came across a node-locked door that was worth  the price to enter) and unlike Bioshock there's a decent variety of enemies being thrown at you. I was really with it until the big "twist" towards the end of the game, which was so unsatisfying it almost turned me against the game completely.

That's all pretty negative, but the game was certainly worth the rent. Dead Space owes much of its flair and indeed, its very existence to the Shock games (I remember when it was being floated as System Shock 3, and it likely began its development life as just that), and it's fairly apparent given all the grooming EA's been doing that Dead Space will become a franchise in the Bioshock vein. Thus I can hope that the second time around they'll work out the kinks.

[Ikrik]

I just finished my first run through on easy mode.  It was uhm....easy. It was incredibly, incredibly fun...but it's easy mode is way too easy.  I'll be gunning through it on impossible mode next...hopefully it'll scare my pants off.  I scare easy and so this game usually has me at a stage of uncomfortable but it's definitely not the scariest thing I've ever seen.  It's not survival horror at all, I sell SO much of my ammo and I still trip over the stuff.  The game is relatively short (8 hours for me) but definitely has replayability.

[Johnny C]

you played it on easy

i played it on normal and literally have to steel my nerves whenever i enter a room

[Ozymandias]

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, Johnny literally turns his nerves into steel. He's like Colossus. But with nerves.

[Melodic]

I finally rented this today!

I am sort of a pansy when it comes to games. I screamed during Doom 3, couldn't play FEAR all the way through, or complete chapter 1 of Silent Hill.

That being said, I'm playing on the hardest difficulty, with the lights off and the sound loud enough to be heard by my neighbors. Fantastic.

[Johnny C]

I just beat it a short while ago.

I thought it was really good.

[Melodic]

I definitely echo the System Shock/RE4 hybrid. The monsters (at least in chapters 1 and 2) remind me strongly of Doom 3 and the Flood from Halo. I love everything about this game except that I have to pause for a 5 minute break every chapter to do something that isn't creepy.

[Ikrik]

you played it on easy

i played it on normal and literally have to steel my nerves whenever i enter a room

I just started on hard mode....yeah, I'm frightened.

[Patrick]

Yeah the dude I watched play it was playing it on normal and there were definitely lots of "OH FUCK" moments.

**SPOILERZ LOL**
I really fucking hate the part where you're doing the little "Let's play Asteroids" routine. Sterling ran across that part and everybody in the room gave it a try at least twice and nobody could fucking beat it. If it wasn't a rock sneaking past, it was the fucking gun overheating. ANNOYING.
**NO MOAR SPOILERZ LOL**

[öde]

This is such a good game! I'm more than halfway through and it's still challenging, different, and scary as hell.

[Jackie Blue]

Oh hay old thread.

I borrowed this a few weeks ago and thought it was a very satisfying and well-done piece of work.  There isn't much originality to it, but it's fun as all get-out and clocked in at just the right length to not overstay its welcome while making me want a sequel.

Also, I got through the asteroid part on my first try.  It was pretty easy.

[KvP]

Dead Space prequel coming to the Wii. It's going to be a light-gun shooter ala House of the Dead.

[mberan42]

MAN FUCK THAT ASTEROID PART AND THAT FUCKING GUN. Like 15 tries, no joke. I'm playing it on Hard - I learned that I should always play a game on its hardest setting the first go around.

I'm at the part where you have to shoot the three tenticles, capture the blow-up spore things and throw them back, then shoot the three tenticles again. I've tried to beat the dude like 10 times and keep dying 'cause I forget to use a health pack.

I've struggled with itemization and upgrades and whatnot. I've been using the plasma cutter almost exclusively, and I've run out of ammo numerous times. There have been a few scenes where I've had to run away from the aliens rather than kill them all 'cause had neither ammo nor stasis charge. So I've spent a lot of credits on ammo and health packs and almost none on nodes. I've used nodes to open doors for items rather than upgrade my equipment.

My one beef with the game is that I can't read a damn thing! The typing is so small and I don't have an HDTV, so maybe that's my problem. Once I beat it, I'll run through it again on impossible using one of those "max your achievements" walkthroughs.

All in all, a damn fun game.

[ackblom12]

Man, seriously, fuck the asteroids. I just got the game too, took me 3 goddamn tries and I had 4 hull integrity wheni finally got it.

Otherwise, This game is just about perfect. Also, keep in mind that when the Leviathan is writhing around, you can use the plasma cutter to shoot that orb in his mouth to deal damage as well if you're not having much luck with the gas orbs he's firing at you.

[KvP]

If you think the asteroids were hard, wait till you have to return to the turret later on...

[ackblom12]

Ugh... just out of curiosity, do the asteroids come in faster bursts in Insane? Cause if so, I'm gonna be an angry Dead Space player for that section.

[Ozymandias]

Nah, I think the asteroids were much, much harder than the second time you're forced to use the turret.

[Storm Rider]

Me too, actually. I thought the second turret section was much easier, I got the achievement for it on my first try.

And the Wii game being a light gun shooter is a huge bummer, if it were a Wii prequel that was actually like the 360/PS3 game (in terms of gameplay, not graphics of course), I'd be all over that.

[Blyss]

Haven't played it yet - want to.  From all accounts it's my kind of game.

 

[mberan42]

Yeah, ditto SR up there, I thought the 2nd turret section was way easier. Beat it on the first try, got the achievement, etc.

Now, after removing the radiation balls (trying to keep this fairly spoiler-free), I'm stuck in a room there with 2 of those ridiculously fast guys, one of those guys who if you shoot him in the stomach blows up and releases all those crawlers, two of the dudes with spikes on their tails and two of the 3-tentacled dudes who shoot spikes at you. I have very low ammo, no health, but full stasis and like 2 extra stasis packs. I can't exit the room 'cause it goes into lockdown. There's a store at the other end of the room, but I can't safely get there 'cause of all the dudes.

I just gotta get lucky.

[KvP]

If there's a way to keep moving around and some heavy objects around the room, use telekinesis. Not an optimal weapon by any means, but it beats melee.

[mberan42]

No, there aren't any heavy objects. There's a panel on the floor where stuff is shooting up, but I can never get the aliens to step on it and die. Ahh well, I'll get it eventually.

[ModernRonin]

NOTE: SPOILERS BELOW!!!

Sounds like you're inside the HMS Valor. This is perhaps the hardest part of the game, mainly due to lack of a store. Whatever you take in with you, is all you get. If you can't get through it (and it'd be hard to blame you), you should reload a save from before you went in, and backtrack to a store and stock up on ammo and medkits. I particularly recommend the line-gun, as it's both powerful and good in situations where you have multiple enemies attacking you at once. It's also reasonable on stasis slashers, which the game uses to try and drain you of ammo before you get very far inside.

The pregnants are particularly hard to take down well. I don't have a good suggestion here aside from use statis, and take off one arm and one leg with the plasma cutter. They'll usually die when you do this, but even if not, they'll be really slow. Much slower than if you just cut off both their legs and forced them to crawl. A no-legged pregnant actually crawls pretty fast.

If you're in the room I think you're in, it's the biggest room in the Valor. I think it was the crew quarters/bunks/whatever. I found that if I turned immediately left after coming in the door and stood with my back to the jammed door on the same wall, the necromorphs would have a hard time sneaking up on me. Mostly because of the table to my right. It forced them to come at me more straight on, and I was able to use the line gun to take down the three-tentacle little guys fairly quickly. Then some of the other guys would stay at the far end of the room (couldn't see me?) which allowed me to concentrate on the scorpion guys who were all in my face. After that, I used the plasma cutter to take down the far away guys one at a time. I think only one of them noticed where the shots were coming from, and I saw him coming in plenty of time and took him down with what little line gun ammo I had left.

It wasn't easy, and I think I had almost no ammo at the end of it, but I got through it. Good luck - like I said, this may be the hardest part of the game. I found it equally hard as the last level.