Dead Space - EA Redwood Shores - 360

[Tebonas]

You make that sound like 10 to 12 hours is much. Its still "ouch short", just not as painfully.

[schild]

There's nothing Ouch short about it. It's the quality that counts.

See: God of War, Indigo Prophecy, Shadow of the Colossus, Portal, etc. I would rank Dead Space up with them.

Edit: YMMV, I thought it was masterful and a fantastic entry into the horror genre. A lot of people will play this game based on reviews only to find out they don't like this sort of gameplay and title. Honestly, it's the only thing that comes close to RE4 in the entire genre. RE5 better be at least inbetween these two, if not better than both because I just couldn't handle it not being that good. Also, Dead Space 2 is at least 2 years away. :(

[Tebonas]

I'll take your word for it. I loved System Shock and if it is as creepy I will buy and play it. It still will be overprized, though. Portal was short, but much cheaper.

[schild]

Eh? Someone compared it to System Shock? I wouldn't. In terms of quality, hmmmmm, the gameplay here is much better. I'd probably put them about equal, but would I really compare them? Probably not.

Also, I think Portal was easily worth $50.

[Yegolev]

Both System Shocks were FPS games, despite their relative dissimilarity.  Dead Space is not a FPS, and if you expect it to be you will either be disappointed and put off or, as I was, pleasantly surprised.  It's very much like Resident Evil 4 In Space, except it is more than that.  It's more claustrophobic than RE4, for one thing.  I actually feel like a Space Engineer rather than, say, a scientist that is much better with guns than science and shoots holes in military squads.  Then there's the UI, which I have not been able to successfully explain to Killjoy.  Personally I'd place it above RE4 in terms of quality.  It's worth $50 even at 10 hours due to the quality, although I have not finished it.

Personally I think it's not an awesome idea to equate playtime with money.  This leads to games with long, boring levels of padding.  I'll let you think of your own examples.

[Sky]

Also, I think Portal was easily worth $50.

[Engels]

Better a good 8-10 hour game for $50 than interminal bores like Witcher and Oblivion

[Tebonas]

The Witcher would be a bad example! I loved the story there from start to finish. And I was bored in exactly one dungeon.

I don't suffer from ADD, I managed to play 100+ hours games without wandering off in a random direction.

[Strazos]

I don't mind short games as long as they're awesome, RE: Schild's examples. I would at least add Max Payne 2.

[Samwise]

I'm going to pick this up, I think.  Any advantages to playing it on the PS3 instead of the PC?

[Yegolev]

I'm going to pick this up, I think.  Any advantages to playing it on the PS3 instead of the PC?

It's got a tiny bit of consolitis, just enough so you can tell it was primarily designed that way but not disruptive to the experience.  I haven't identified anything compelling about the PC version, unless you count Securom.  If I were you, I might select the system that has the best sound setup.

[Tebonas]

I decided to give it a go and realized our version is only German and French.

Anybody know if this will come to Steam at a later date?

[Velorath]

I decided to give it a go and realized our version is only German and French.

Anybody know if this will come to Steam at a later date?

I'd guess that EA doesn't put games on Steam since they have their own download service.

[schild]

Unfortunately their download service is a giant piece of ass.

[Velorath]

Unfortunately their download service is a giant piece of ass.

Yes it is.  HG:L is the only game I've ever bought through it, and I'm glad I never have any desire to play that game again.

[Tebonas]

Direct2Drive has it as well. Is that any better?

[ffc]

This game, on hard in a dark room with the sound turned up, is terrifying.  And I say that despite my high expectations, thinking the whole dismembering thing would be gimmicky, and natural distaste for EA due to its PC DRM behavior.  Dead Space's graphics, lighting, sound and clean display all combine to create a great Event Horizon / Sunshine atmosphere.   

When the first bad thing happens, the way it ducked my fire and did a waddle-sprint at me put me at about terror alert level blue.  Then something worse happens, at which point I literally freeze not knowing what to do.  Terror alert level red.  Something even worse happens next, prompting me to redo that section.  I changed my strategy to completely avoid being scared, only to result in getting scared even more than in my first attempt.  DEFCON PUTIN. 

Fantastic game.*

*Although I don't think I would enjoy it as much playing it during the day / in a bright room.

[Xuri]

I hate this game. it's got great sound, great graphics, incredible atmosphere, love the setting, etc. But I hate the way they setup the "over-the-shoulder-but-not-really"-camera. WAAGH.

[Moodah]

It really comes down to taste ... I for example absolutely love the over-the shoulder view, as it feels more natural to me than the 1st person.

1st person view always feels to me as I am "outside looking in" through a picture on the wall, and it fails to deliver the general feeling of depth and perspective. I think it is mostly due to the fact that humans have much wider angle of vision than the one we get in 1st person and the flat nature of the picture on the monitor is not able to represent the "curved" way we see. We also see ourselves doing things, our limbs moving etc.

By moving the camera slightly behind the shoulder of the character, you achieve exactly that - you get a bigger angle of vision and you get a feeling of the character movement. If you go too far out and land up in the traditional 3rd person view, then you lose that effect and get the "outside looking in" effect again.

Off course it is not 100% natural seeing yourself behind your head, but the feeling you get from it is in my opinion much closer to how we perceieve things in reality compared to traditional 1st or 3rd person views.

Back on topic - I absolutely love this game. The integration of HUD into the gameworld is one of the best things that can happen to games. I couldn't believe how such a seemingly simple thing can do wonders to immersion. I definitely want more future games to go that way. It is fairly linea if you run after the main tasks, but if you are the person who tends to wander away and check rooms off the main road, there is a decent amount of exploration involved. I think that if this game would release in lets say september, it would be one of the marking titles of this year. Unfortunately it might just go under the radar for a lot of people due to the close release of Fallout 3, Gears 2 etc.

[penfold]

Not sure if it has been mentioned yet but PC mouse problems can be fixed by turning off v-sync.

 

[Yegolev]

Not sure if it has been mentioned yet but PC mouse problems can be fixed by turning off v-sync.

Ahh... decisions, decisions.  I'll give that a whirl.  I turned off shadows and that helped a lot.

DEFCON PUTIN.

 

[Venkman]

Not sure if it has been mentioned yet but PC mouse problems can be fixed by turning off v-sync.

Good to know. I've got the PC version arriving tomorrow. Was supposed to be here over the weekend. Now I suspect it won't be until December at the earliest because my copy of Fallout 3 is waiting for me. 

[Driakos]

It's definitely closest to Bioshock.

The "stores" are essentially Circus of Value kiosks (just no creepy clown laughing at me) The controls, health kit usage, all close to Bioshock.  The suit/weapon upgrade system is kinda like the upgrade board in some FF games.  e.g. you get nothing for awhile.

I was on the fence while I was playing the game.  Do I like it?  Then I hit the first zero-g jump fight.  Decision was made.  Like.

Yes to whomever said the sound was amazing.  I've got it running through surround on my old logitec z560's 4.1 get-up (out from R/W cables 360) and playing on a Dell 24' LCD.  Lights out.  Very nice, atmospheric.  Random noises off in the distance to keep you on edge.

[Yegolev]

I'd rather people compare it to System Shock 2, but since I played Bioshock more recently I totally understand.  Not only is it more accurate, Bioshock was kinda crappy and not scary.  Too bad the RIG looks vaguely like a Big Daddy.

[NiX]

I didn't play it, but I watched my roomie play through about 80% of the game. He despises scary games and the sound in the distance shit makes me bug out. I'm sure someone watching us would have had a good laugh cause the surround sound with no lights off was creeping us both out. When you get to about the later half of the game the monsters really start to change and you have a lot of "Oh shit" moments.

[apocrypha]

Another slight necro from me.

Just started playing this a couple of days ago, on the PS3. Absolutely loving it. Scaring the living shit out of me and entertaining enough for my girlfriend to watch me play and get equally scared. Sound up, lights off, pants rapidly filling. I am a complete girly wuss when it comes to horror though which is great with this game because my (pulse rate):(£ spent + hours played) ratio is through the roof.

Graphics are fantastic. I still can't quite believe it's 720p, it's stunning. Particularly like the lighting, very well done. And the sound is fucking awesome and deeply terrifying.

Couple of minor niggles. The controls took some getting used to and I still occasionally cock it up and find that I panic in a hairy scary situation and open my inventory or trigger the "go this way" line while being gnawed on by twelvety screaming hideous nightmares. Also the time it takes some doors to open (cos it's loading the area behind them) is sometimes very frustrating, especially when trying to run away from said gibbering thingies. And, on the PS3 at least, the saves get put in a very non-intuitive order for no good reason that I can discern.

All in all though, worth every penny and good enough to make me want to check out some other horror genre games.

Edit: OK I just lopped a pointy limb off of a screamythingy, grabbed it with kinesis then shot it into the screamythingy it came from in the first place. That might just be the most satisfying thing I've ever done in a game 

[UnSub]

For those who asked, Dead Space will be out on Steam in January.

[Fabricated]

It's a ridiculously pretty game but man, I finally tried out the demo and I suck at it. bisecting some of the enemies is a pain in the ass.

[schild]

It's a ridiculously pretty game but man, I finally tried out the demo and I suck at it. bisecting some of the enemies is a pain in the ass.

Told you you played too much World of Warcraft.

[apocrypha]

It's a ridiculously pretty game but man, I finally tried out the demo and I suck at it. bisecting some of the enemies is a pain in the ass.

You get used to it very fast. There are enough lulls between fights (usually) and enough save points that re-trying a fight you fucked up badly isn't a problem unless you find that kind of gameplay too immersion breaking.

Personally I find the first weapon, the plasma cutter, is my favourite still - especially when upgraded - because it's so precise. However if your aim is really bad then you might get more mileage out of the line gun or ripper. Not had much use for any of the other weapons yet really.

[bhodi]

Plasma cutter is good.
Pulse rifle sucks.
Line gun sucks.
Ripper sucks.
Flame thrower sucks, marginally. I took this as my 4th weapon since there was nothing better. DoT damage in a game like this is stupid and pointless.

The two best weapons are the force gun (for close stuff and small stuff) and the one that charges up that I forget the name of (for longer stuff and the dog-like things with 3 tails that stick on walls, it kills in one hit). The force gun truly is the best one in the game. The only problem is things have to be right in your face for it to do damage; it does no damage at even moderate range. It will, however, kill most enemies in one-two hits if you're point blank. You don't even need to aim at the limbs.

When you upgrade the suit / your HP, it also gives you a free heal, so use that to your advantage. I upgraded stasis first, the plasma cutter a bit and then the force gun a bit, upgrading my health when I got low.

The creatures that stick to walls and throw out little seeds that sprout a tentacle and shoot things at you? Until near the end of the game, there is ALWAYS a fire estinguisher nearby. Just chuck it right at the center of the things and it kills it in one hit. No need to fuck around and waste 6 cutter rounds.

[apocrypha]

I totally the Ripper. Took me a while to get used to the range but I am mincing multiple nightmares at a time with it now. Not even tried the Force Gun yet, I shall give it a whirl now you've evangelised about it 

Oh, chargy-up gun is the Contact Beam. Don't like it myself, but probably just cos I'm crap with it.

[Fabricated]

I have no idea what the charging gun from the demo is but I think I can't use it right since a fully charged shot seems to tickle the monsters. The ripper works awesome when I can tell how fucking far away stuff is, which I can't. The pulse rifle takes like a full clip to kill anything but that alternate fire is good for a pinch.

I liked the cutter pistol myself, but the PS3's thumbsticks hate my guts.

[kaid]

Line gun is good for the aim challanged. Its like the sawed off shotgun of this game if you are shooting at something with limbs on the horizontal plane it will slice them up fast.

As for those lil hound things with the three tails I found the line gun rocks for them. The second they put their tails up one shot from the line gun lops all three off and kills them dead.

The assult gun just takes way to much ammo to kill stuff but if you are not on the hardest difficulty its probably one of the better guns for the more FPS oriented folks who aim center mass.

Honestly the gun you get right from the start is probably one of the best its very versatile and upgradeable. Once you get good at aiming at limbs this puppy is good against just about any enemy I have found.

The only thing I could think of the flamethrower as being useful against was those tiny crawly things but I just did not have inventory space to bother with it.

[Engels]

Bought the PC port this weekend of Steam. The first hour is, to my mind, simply atrocious. Just derivative doom-like crap. It gets better as you find more audio/video logs that immerse you more and now I actually think I like it and will finish it.  However, having ammo/gun kiosks scattered about a derilict station is a ridiculous immersion breaker. No amount of 'In Space this can happen!' would work for me.