I really tried getting into Dead Space

[Xeogred]

I like the original a lot, but absolutely everything about it was done already in System Shock 2 and even Doom 3.

Can't say I cared for Dead Space 2 at all honestly and I'm not sure how others do. Gave the guy an annoying voice taking you out of the experience and they just recycled every enemy from the first game, I don't remember there being much variety at all. Felt less game like and had the game-plays-itself movie like pacing to top it off. I dunno, was a disappointment to me.

Dead Space 3 is just another one for my "franchise burnout" pile. Maybe I'm getting grumpy with age, but damn it gets harder and harder for me to get interested at all about sequels thesedays.

[J T]

I've often wondered why Dead Space isn't scarier, and I think in coming up with a reply to this thread, I may have figured it out.

I think it's not a scary game because the game rules make it so that there's really no way to run away from a fight. I know I am going to have to kill the monsters. All of them. Fear is about avoidance. You only fight when you have hope. Dead Space artificially gives you hope by having gameplay that requires you to kill all enemies. If they wanted you to feel scared, then they need give you the option to run away and to take away hope of winning some battles by forcing you to retreat. In Dead Space, I know my ammo is low and I have to conserve it and use wisely, but I always know that there is a way to kill all the baddies because I'm going to have to kill all the baddies to move forward.

I got stuck at one point in that game for a long while and I just had to keep playing the same room over and over until I eventually got it right, but it really sucked all the joy (and all the fear) out of the game. It was a burdensome task to be done; it wasn't a psychological thrill. I stopped playing at that point for a few months, and when I came back it was a real chore to get through. In fact, even though I plowed through that point, I still haven't finished the game and it always sounds kind of boring to play now.

It's too bad because everything else in Dead Space is perfect. I love the visuals. The blood soaked hull of the Ishimura is a creepy place to explore and I love the dark atmosphere. One of the more subtly brilliant things about the game is that your HUD is totally integrated into the gameplay since it is all part of Isaac's suit, even the "cut scenes" of other characters and the inventory are holographic projections coming from the suit. There is no overlay, and that really helps with immersion and how realistic the environments feel. The necromorphs are really hideous creatures and scary in small doses because your brain can't quite figure out what they are without looking at them for a good while (unfortunately, the game forces you to get a good look from repetitive gameplay. They'd be scarier if you had to run). I really do like Dead Space, I just think it fails at being scary and I've never really understood why until just now.

[Xeogred]

Yeah, System Shock 2 is more intense, and the ship is constantly repopulating with enemies around. I remember running from half the fights off and on because I was that low on ammo or health. And it was fun doing that. You were off doing something somewhere else and knew there was still an enemy here or there, or never knew what else would be around the corner. You were never safe.

Doom 3 and Dead Space on the other hand are definitely designed differently.

[Menegrothx]

Not to mention that you have to manage your inventory and weapons, and your weapons can break mid combat.

[Goregasm]

dead space is stressfull but not scary. I think the only scares they use are the sudden appearance of really aggresive enemies and overwhelming combat sections, which had me pretty edgey at first but once you get used to it you can pretty much predict the scares each time before they happen. If you want a true modern horror experience you can't go past siren blood curse. I think alot of people forget about this game when they talk about the dismal state of modern horror games.

[dsheinem]

I'd rate the original Dead Space in the top 20 retail games this gen, probably. I agree with Xero on the "merits" of the sequel...

[JC48573]

there's another thing I'm very curious about the game Dead Space series. Do you guys know why they suddenly changed the design of Nicole. She looked like a Silent Hill rip off in the first game, while she looks way older in the 2nd game as if she just hit 40 or something.

Dead Space 1: this is where I feel her design it's wasted, but I definitely understand why they did it that way. It wouldn't have hurt if they simply continued to carry this design over to DS2. The only reason I can come up with is that they probably had a different group of designers working on DS2, while the key members of DS1 were working on another project.



Dead Space 2: She looks older and I think she is supposed to resemble the voice actress? She looks entirely different and lost most of her youth.



There's just that sort of inconsistency in art direction which I've seen in many games. Instead of improving it, they try something different by changing her looks and whatnot.

[elmagicochrisg]

I don't understand how virtually noone here found Dead Space scary...

I can honestly say some parts of the game had me scared shitless. No joke...

Maybe it's because I played it on a projector, alone, in the dark, on the hardest difficulty. I dunno...

I was Isaac. I was in the ship. I was alone. And I was fucking scared...

When I played the game on Impossible Mode, there were parts I dreaded doing again because they were SCARY...

One place near the end that was scary was the big hangar where they kept the marker. You had to go down, face a shitload of enemies, and get the marker to where it had to be. Fuck me...

And then there were those exploding fuckers. Quite stressed when they got close to me...

[indecks]

Dead Space 1 wasn't scary and neither was 2. I'm not trying to act like I'm this badass that never gets scared, or anything. It's just that "making a game so dark to where you cant see shit" doesn't equate to being scary.

Doom 3 did this. OOOOOH ITS SCARY BECAUSE YOU CANT SEE. How is that scary? Even stuff that jumps out of the corner isn't scary, it's completely predictable. Dead Space 2 just irritated me because the darkness made no sense. It was ridiculous. It was completely dark to where you can't see anything in the entire room - oh except for where the exit is. It's completely lit up. The space station is losing power and the light has gone dark!!! Except for the brightly button that opens the door to the next level. The ventilation system is not powering up!! Its lost power!! except for that little computer that you 'hack' by sticking your arm in and twisting.. that's perfectly lit up.

It was just dumb to me.

[elmagicochrisg]

What can I say...

I'm glad I didn't experience the game the same way you guys did...