Part of the 2nd 9 days of Heck Event! Is the USG Ishimura worth visiting, or should you stay away? Of course it is! Trust me- I’m defiantly not a Necromorph!
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Year: 2008
Played on: Xbox 360
Also on: PS3, PC
Developer: EA Redwood/ Visceral
Publisher: EA
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Necromorphine
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Date posted: October 23, 2018
PREMISE
In space, no one can hear you scream. I made that up, all by myself! Like it? I do! I totally didn’t steal the tagline of some iconic 1979 directed by some guy named, I don’t know…. uhhh Ridley? Yeah.
Anyway, I bring up screaming in space because I wanted to talk about Dead Space, an excellent survivor horror game where some guy is trapped on a space ship with a bunch of Trump/ Hillary voters ( this depends on your political affiliation) and must escape from it before his girlfriend dies.
Okay, I kid. The game is really about a small group of people answering a distress call on a giant mining ship in space. You play as Issac Clarke, an engineer who’s to help… and of course, everything goes to s@#t. Once on the actual ship, Issac is separated from his companions by a terrifying creature that looks like it may have been human once. Now, Issac has to brave the horrors of the ship alone, trying to piece together the horrors that lie within.
So my love life in a nutshell, pretty much!
PROS
One of the first things I noticed when I played this is how good it looks- and how good it still looks even a whole decade later. The USG Ishimura is fantastically detailed, and feels like a ship that was lived in before… well, you know. This, of course, if made better by the dark and haunting atmosphere of the game that I can only describe as 1979’s Alien on steroids. It just smothers you- and that’s a good thing!
This is only further solidified by the absolutely amazing monster design of the creatures, known as Necromorphs. Pus ridden, organs exposed, blood dripping- this is some of the best body horror designs I’ve seen in a video game- and are defiantly no for the faint of heart! Taking notes from greats like John Carpenter’s “The Thing”, Visceral really knew how to make the player’s skin crawl with some top-tier designs that have only gotten better with age!
Thankfully, Issac has a whole lot of weapons he can use to defend himself- if he can find them, of course! Plasma Cutters, Flame Throwers, and a friggin rotary saw are just some of the tools of the trade, as Issac is, after all, just a lowly engineer. The weapons compliment a very in-depth limb based combat system, in which many Necro’s must be cut down in size. Whether it be arms, legs, or claws, you do lot of cutting. And yes- it feels good!
Another cool feature is the hud- instead of being on a fixed position on the screen, your health and ammo are right in front of you. You see, there’s a bar of light on the spine of your suit that goes down as you take damage, and ammo count is projected out of the weapon itself. This increases the immersion considerably- just flip off the lights and your set!
CONS
There’s not a lot of bad things to say about the game, if I’m honest. I guess the last boss was kind of unnecessary. Felt kind of weak, but the ending makes up for it.
You can see the influence Resident Evil 4 had on the game. That’s not a bad thing, per say, but seeing what both series became later on (talking about RE6 and Dead Space 3, specifically) maybe they should have toned down the action, just a bit. It’s still spooky and atmospheric, though.
There are also a few annoying sections of the game that felt forced in. In particular, the turret gun sections where you had to shoot asteroids that threatened to destroy the already dilapidated space ship. They just felt out of place, and more importantly, annoying.
Then there’s EA. Granted, this was one of their last really great games, in my opinion. However, it’s a tragic fact. Viscreal Games is no more- and so is the franchise. EA’s meddling no doubt killed both the series and the studio. Oh EA- Can’t you do anything right?
This is a new thing I cooked up. After seeing all the cool stuff on certain games, I thought I’d give some reviews their own interesting fact section. Enjoy! Or don’t. I’m game reviewer- not a police officer.
-Dead Space began it’s life on the OG Xbox, and was originally going to be a sequel to the seminal System Shock 2. Here’s some footage!
-While incredibly morbid, the Dead Space team modeled the Necromorphs and corpses after real life pictures of car crash and war victims
-Take the first letter of every chapter to spell out the game’s twist
FINAL VERDICT
After all is said and done, Dead Space is a great beginning of a series that sadly was cut down in it’s prime. I defiantly recommend Dead Space to anyone who wants a dark, violent, and moody sci-fi horror game, the likes they have never seen! The game is also thankfully cheap during sales (Steam’s annual Halloween sale is coming up, btw) and has even been given out for free several times.
This also brings up something about my score system. While I thoroughly enjoyed Dead Space, I don’t know if it warrants a 6 out of 7. I’m feeling more of a 5.5, really. Probably should overhaul my scoring system…. An overall good horror game, is what I’m trying to say! Now, if you excuse me, I’m going to go play the sequel. Hope I get to keep both my eyes!
Agree? Disagree? Good! Leave a comment about how terrible my taste is in the comments below!
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