OT: Dead Space

[GameSeven]

Well, I finally beat this one last night and was pretty pleased that it mostly kept my interest high through to the end. Somewhat better than, say, Bioshock where I tend to agree with those that characterize it as a couple of levels too long.

To my surprise, I even played about an hour into a second round (this game follows in the footsteps of others that let you begin a new game with the gear you ended with) in order to get a look at some unlockables. I could see playing some more to eke out some achievements (not typical for me to do but some seemingly in casual reach) down the road.

The production values were incredibly top notch throughout and the plot had some interesting revelations despite a couple of head-scratching elements. I look forward to what EA have in mind for the planned sequel.

I'd say the concept of the recent "Premium DLC" if very tacky and is one of the few things to put a minor damper on an otherwise A+ title, IMHO.

[mixdj1]

I'd say the concept of the recent "Premium DLC" if very tacky and is one of the few things to put a minor damper on an otherwise A+ title, IMHO.

I got in early on the NXE and was browsing around the re-designed marketplace last night. There were already a ton of premium DLC items for Need For Speed Undercover. It looks like EA is gonna go nuts with this concept.

[Naples39]

I finished it this weekend. Not usually my type of game but I enjoyed it a lot.

Very well done game. Great sound and environments, even if you pass through several environments twice. Acting was also very good.

Lots of great gameplay elements with the kinesis, stasis, and zero-g gameplay, aside from the simple pleasures of blowing off limbs.

Some elements of the story didn't quite click to me, and the ending was pretty cold. Lots of twists packed into the ending obviously leaving the setting wide open for future games.

I would've jumped right in for round 2, but there were some other games I really wanted from gamefly so I sent it back to resume another day.

Challenge never ramped up very much for me, minus a few very brief stretches. Granted, I will take a slightly too easy game over a ridiculous hard game any day. (I played through on medium)

[GameSeven]

Challenge never ramped up very much for me, minus a few very brief stretches. Granted, I will take a slightly too easy game over a ridiculous hard game any day. (I played through on medium)

Ditto this for me. Some of the early impressions from folks suggested that Medium was a significant enough challenge, but barring certain set pieces, the gameplay was heavier towards action than 'survival'. I'm sure the higher levels rectify that somewhat. At the same time, I wouldn't say it was a pushover. I felt you must be attentive, just rarely, if ever, 'outmatched'. The boss battles standout as brilliant spectacles if decidedly beatable.

[btmmayor]

Challenge never ramped up very much for me, minus a few very brief stretches. Granted, I will take a slightly too easy game over a ridiculous hard game any day. (I played through on medium)

Hard is without a doubt the way to go in this game. It feels perfect and keeps me on the edge of my seat at every encounter.

I LOVE this game and am sad that I'm about at the end. While Bioshock was good, Dead Space feels like a true sequel to System Shock 2. The Vita-Chambers removed every bit of tension from Bioshock and really soured me on what should have been an A+ experience (the ridiculous ending didn't help my overall impressions either). Dead Space has no problems keeping the feeling of dread going throughout the whole game. Dead Space had better win every "Best Sound" award in all of these ridiculous end of year awards articles coming in the next month. I've never played a game with better sound design.

[webdanzer]

Dead Space had better win every "Best Sound" award in all of these ridiculous end of year awards articles coming in the next month. I've never played a game with better sound design.

The sound is the huge standout for me as well. Simply amazing. Give me great sound over great graphics anyday...though the game also has some visually impressive moments as well. Love the HUD.

The gameplay's not really doing it for me at this point, though. I've rented the game and I'm only on level four, but I'm already starting to get tired of being jumped by the same type of baddies in the same sorts of rooms and corridors. Maybe it is the difficulty level (I'm on medium), but the combats seem more tedious to me than exciting. It feels kinda Doom-3ish to me so far.

My rental is up soon and I was tempted to just leave it as is, but given the praise I see here, maybe I'll re-up and press on.

Are later levels more of the same, pretty much?

[Naples39]

My rental is up soon and I was tempted to just leave it as is, but given the praise I see here, maybe I'll re-up and press on.

Are later levels more of the same, pretty much?

The gameplay gets more interesting when you start having to use stasis more and do more zero-g segments, which can be a little disorienting at first.

Chapter 5 has some of the more difficult segments of the game IMO, introducing a new, unique enemy in the game. Apart from that, by now you should've seen most kinds of enemies (I think there's 3 or 4 new ones to come), but the same old enemies will get faster and stronger as well, and attack in greater numbers.

As I said in an earlier post, on medium you are likely to find only a precious few combat sequences to be truly difficult to pass on your first attempt. By the time I had my line cutter and plasma cutter juiced up, I confidently wandered the ship knowing with some ammo I could repel most attacks fairly easily (isn't this the case with most action/adventure games anyway?). I had most of my deaths due to later 'environmental hazards' and shooting sections of the game.

Unless you are really bored with the gameplay, I would hang on to it. Even if you just consider the gameplay average, the setting and acting are top notch and make it enjoyable just to go along for the ride. The game isn't that long either (10-15 hours total depending on your play speed).

[btmmayor]

Maybe it is the difficulty level (I'm on medium), but the combats seem more tedious to me than exciting. It feels kinda Doom-3ish to me so far.

By the time I had my line cutter and plasma cutter juiced up, I confidently wandered the ship knowing with some ammo I could repel most attacks fairly easily (isn't this the case with most action/adventure games anyway?)

Thats funny because I'm having the exact opposite experience on hard and its really why I love the game so much. Like I said earlier the ease of Bioshock, a game I should have loved because its right in my wheelhouse, completely ruined the game for me. I really do believe that Dead Space is just not the same experience on the easier difficulty levels. I made it halfway through Chapter 3 on Normal and restarted because I didn't want a repeat performance of Bioshock where there was just no tension in the game.

After switching to hard I thought I made a mistake during the first big encounter outside of the shuttle real early in the game (very difficult), but since then its been fantastic. Every single encounter I have to make sure to maximize damage by taking off the limbs because ammo is extremely precious and cannot be wasted. One poorly executed fight where I have to waste ammo makes it very tense until I can finally come across containers or a store. Since ammo is so expensive I have to be careful to only purchase what I absolutely need.

The thought never occurred to me that I was fighting the same types of enemies in the same types of rooms because there is a sense of dread at every encounter when you have limited ammo and can die so quickly. Even though I know its impossible in the game, I found myself walking slowly hoping to sneak by possible encounters. It also helps that I just love the atmosphere in the game.

Web, I don't know that the gameplay varies much more than what you have already seen but I know my enjoyment of the game ramped up in the later levels. That said though, I was having fun with the game right out of the gate after switching difficulty levels. If you don't really like it now I don't see your opinion changing all that much through the later levels.

[macsomjrr]

Are later levels more of the same, pretty much?

Yes and no. Like Naples said you've got a few more bad guys (the bosses are awesome) to see including some very freakin looking dudes around level 9 that scared the crap outta me when I saw them. You're also not seeing some of those mini-cut scenes that help inch the story along. The big thing though is you're missing out on some environments that shouldn't be missed. I'd love to tell you all about them but it really ruins the story. I'm not finished yet, I'm slowly making my way through it (level 10 now) but I'm having a blast.

A cool, scary multiplayer mode would've been interesting, maybe they'll try and do that for part 2. Part of the charm of this game is its single player only style though. Makes you feel a bit more alone when you throw it in:)

[webdanzer]

I think I'm going to let it go for now, play some other games, and Gamefly it down the road (or borrow a buddy's copy, maybe ) and start over on Hard. Sounds like that might add the extra something I'm missing right now.

Thanks!

[Macca00]

2 years late to the party but I picked this up on the cheap and just finished it today. I generally hate scary/horror games (I'm a wuss) but I still really enjoyed this. Even 2 years after it's come out I still found myself very impressed with the production values. The whole in-game HUD system is simply genius.

It's been stated before but the sound design in this game is phenomenal. I almost s*** my pants on numerous occasions.

Story and gameplay were also really engrossing and I can't wait to play the sequel (won't wait 2 years to do it either)! I think I'm also going to pick up Dead Space: Extraction for the Wii.