Saturday, December 27, 2008
Dead Space (PS3) : Day 5
It's over, it's done... Dead Space is officially completed! The final two chapters really flew right by me. It wasn't because they were short, it was because at this point I was so engrossed in the story and the pacing. Three hours felt more like one... This is going to be a relatively short entry. I will not discuss plot points or major battles in this entry. You should discover these on your own. Needless to say I was not disappointed with everything I encountered. I, easily, recommend this game to anyone who enjoys action games not just survival horror. I just hope you can stomach the violence and blood. My one complaint is a wider variety of enemies.... This game has officially succeeded at coining the term "strategic dismemberment." From a hauntingly beautiful score to a well executed plot; overall this game lives up to hype. Bring on Dead Space 2!
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Dead Space (PS3) : Days 3 & 4
First of all, Snow Days, are the best days. Getting paid to stay home and play video games is a great perk this time of the year. Needless to say, with having last friday off and literally being snowed in I spent some time catching up on sleep, movies and video games...
My one and only mission friday was to get past the fabled asteroid onslaught... 35 minutes later, I whipped its ass. For this particular mission objective it's apparent you need to be both awake and prepared for some frustration. Practice, practice, practice...
After completion, I went ahead and finished off the next two chapters. The story seemed to drop out in the middle of these chapters but picked right back up. The evolution of the story continues to be well paced and executed. Along the way, some log entries can be a bit... "what?" and seems to make no sense to overall storyline. It's good for background information but nothing to further the story.
As Chapter 6 rolls around, the environments start changing up a bit. It was getting a bit repetitive running up and down the same corridors. It's also in Chapter 6 where one of the more enjoyable boss battles occurs. I was happy to see this, as I was rather disappointed with the one in Chapter 5. I won't go into details much on that, it's better that you discover these on your on.
Moving to today, Day 4...
Today I machined my way through Chapters 7 - 9 and started work on Chapter 10. At this point, I'm extremely pleased with this game in every way. The enemies are getting stronger, faster and smarter. More nodes are becoming available, making it nice to upgrade the suit and weapons. Money is a bit easier to come by, but not in abundance. It fits with the flow of the game. At this point, two thirds of the way through you're making substantial progress and finding the rewards for your efforts. As such you should be able to upgrade and building an inventory to tackle the various fights and increased intelligence of the game.
The mini-games are interesting and fun. I love the Shooting Range. It wasn't as bad as the Turret from earlier, but still had a learning curve to make you realize you have to put some effort in. It's too bad it's only a handful of rounds. EA, if you're reading this by chance... how some DLC including more of the shooting range please? The Zero-G Basketball was an odd inclusion for another mini-game... I didn't burn through that as I just wanted to play through the game as the story has completely sucked me in. Conspiracy, politics, lies, etc... This would make a great anime series (forgetting the Downfall movie for a minute) or graphic novel. It's like Alien meets 2001 meets Resident Evil 4 but carries it's own originality while still paying homage to those fantastic properties.
I have not been an active gamer in quite some time. The last game I purchased and played all the way through immediately was God of War 2 in March 2007. Dead Space is re-introducing and bringing me back to a wonderful hobby. Dead Space has everything needed to be a sleeper hit of the year. As long as the ending doesn't disappoint I see no reason why this won't be one of my favorite games. The trophy support alone has me constantly checking to see what I just earned. I do wish there were more trophies available, but hey... maybe for the sequel!
My one and only mission friday was to get past the fabled asteroid onslaught... 35 minutes later, I whipped its ass. For this particular mission objective it's apparent you need to be both awake and prepared for some frustration. Practice, practice, practice...
After completion, I went ahead and finished off the next two chapters. The story seemed to drop out in the middle of these chapters but picked right back up. The evolution of the story continues to be well paced and executed. Along the way, some log entries can be a bit... "what?" and seems to make no sense to overall storyline. It's good for background information but nothing to further the story.
As Chapter 6 rolls around, the environments start changing up a bit. It was getting a bit repetitive running up and down the same corridors. It's also in Chapter 6 where one of the more enjoyable boss battles occurs. I was happy to see this, as I was rather disappointed with the one in Chapter 5. I won't go into details much on that, it's better that you discover these on your on.
Moving to today, Day 4...
Today I machined my way through Chapters 7 - 9 and started work on Chapter 10. At this point, I'm extremely pleased with this game in every way. The enemies are getting stronger, faster and smarter. More nodes are becoming available, making it nice to upgrade the suit and weapons. Money is a bit easier to come by, but not in abundance. It fits with the flow of the game. At this point, two thirds of the way through you're making substantial progress and finding the rewards for your efforts. As such you should be able to upgrade and building an inventory to tackle the various fights and increased intelligence of the game.
The mini-games are interesting and fun. I love the Shooting Range. It wasn't as bad as the Turret from earlier, but still had a learning curve to make you realize you have to put some effort in. It's too bad it's only a handful of rounds. EA, if you're reading this by chance... how some DLC including more of the shooting range please? The Zero-G Basketball was an odd inclusion for another mini-game... I didn't burn through that as I just wanted to play through the game as the story has completely sucked me in. Conspiracy, politics, lies, etc... This would make a great anime series (forgetting the Downfall movie for a minute) or graphic novel. It's like Alien meets 2001 meets Resident Evil 4 but carries it's own originality while still paying homage to those fantastic properties.
I have not been an active gamer in quite some time. The last game I purchased and played all the way through immediately was God of War 2 in March 2007. Dead Space is re-introducing and bringing me back to a wonderful hobby. Dead Space has everything needed to be a sleeper hit of the year. As long as the ending doesn't disappoint I see no reason why this won't be one of my favorite games. The trophy support alone has me constantly checking to see what I just earned. I do wish there were more trophies available, but hey... maybe for the sequel!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Dead Space (PS3) : Day 2
"The bigger they are, the harder they fall." This certainly rings true with my next foray into the world of Dead Space. At this point I'm almost through 4 chapters of the game. Am I still enjoying it? Oh hell yes I am. The action is picking up, the spine tingling scenes and the story start really hitting some stride in Chapter 3. The story trails off in Chapter 4, but not so much in twists and turns. It's more like it's in the background so you can immerse yourself in the gameplay which at this point has been upped. Not to mention, that the AI in this game is fairly intelligent. I really like and dislike that; I'm fond of tricking enemies into killing themselves. For the first time in 3 chapters I was able to get one with my trickery but it wasn't easy. It took some real effort and excellent timing to see a Dead Space example of a "bug hitting a windshield."
One thing I'm having to learn is the Power Node Grid system. I'm not exactly finding tons of nodes nor money, so seeing the Node Grid is a little daunting. It's a nice strategy element and I do know what I want to upgrade but it feels like I'm crawling when the game is running. Perhaps this was done on purpose to keep the player on an uphill battle. A shooter that provides no challenge becomes boring to me. I am enjoying this, and I am familiar with this system. There's just so many choices of what you can do. I'm eager for more nodes to get my Line Gun fully loaded.
A couple of iffy points though. I'm currently stumped at the Asteroid Turret section in Chapter 4. This is a bit more difficult than it really should be, and is rather frustrating. I believe the control scheme for this is just odd, you're using the right analog stick to move the gun. Easier said than done. I'll try again on Day 3 when I'm a bit more focused and determined to getting past it. With it being so late and having worked over 10 hours today, I do believe I was running out of speed..
Lastly, the camera angle can be this games worst enemy sometimes. If you want to read your text logs you have to reset the camera for straightforward. You really can't be at an angle or it's just unreadable. Also, I've had a couple times when the camera drops out completely if in the wrong position and you can't see yourself and what's happening. I'm not sure why that's happening, but I've seen this in other games so it's not unusual to me.
At this point, even with a couple iffy things with the game it in no way drops my enthusiasm and enjoyment. The money spent on this game is well worth it. As long as the ending does not disappoint, this may be my favorite horror title of the year. I'm really excited to here that EA is in development on a sequel to this game as well. It really gets me motivated to finish the game and see where this can possibly go as a franchise. So far so good!
One thing I'm having to learn is the Power Node Grid system. I'm not exactly finding tons of nodes nor money, so seeing the Node Grid is a little daunting. It's a nice strategy element and I do know what I want to upgrade but it feels like I'm crawling when the game is running. Perhaps this was done on purpose to keep the player on an uphill battle. A shooter that provides no challenge becomes boring to me. I am enjoying this, and I am familiar with this system. There's just so many choices of what you can do. I'm eager for more nodes to get my Line Gun fully loaded.
A couple of iffy points though. I'm currently stumped at the Asteroid Turret section in Chapter 4. This is a bit more difficult than it really should be, and is rather frustrating. I believe the control scheme for this is just odd, you're using the right analog stick to move the gun. Easier said than done. I'll try again on Day 3 when I'm a bit more focused and determined to getting past it. With it being so late and having worked over 10 hours today, I do believe I was running out of speed..
Lastly, the camera angle can be this games worst enemy sometimes. If you want to read your text logs you have to reset the camera for straightforward. You really can't be at an angle or it's just unreadable. Also, I've had a couple times when the camera drops out completely if in the wrong position and you can't see yourself and what's happening. I'm not sure why that's happening, but I've seen this in other games so it's not unusual to me.
At this point, even with a couple iffy things with the game it in no way drops my enthusiasm and enjoyment. The money spent on this game is well worth it. As long as the ending does not disappoint, this may be my favorite horror title of the year. I'm really excited to here that EA is in development on a sequel to this game as well. It really gets me motivated to finish the game and see where this can possibly go as a franchise. So far so good!
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Dead Space (PS3) : Day 1
One look at the cover of this game makes one think this a Resident Evil in space type game. Even the back cover plays up the fact it is a survival horror game in space. Have we seen all the various incarnations of survival horror? Everything these days seems to twist on the proven formula. I had a tough choice to make. I was getting a game as a christmas present to myself. It was between Little Big Planet and Dead Space. I felt like playing something gritty and potentially awesome.
I got home, made dinner and tossed it in the PS3. From the opening cinematic I felt an unfamiliar shiver down my spine. I highly enjoy space based science-fiction titles. At first guess it's like watching a video game version of 2001 and 2010. Two movies I have loved most of my life. My comparison here is saying something, as in normal comparisons it is usually to run down some rip-off.
There is no evil computer here. It does not take long for the story to get rolling and not much longer for the action to kick in. What I like most so far is the deliberate pacing of the story and the learning curve of the controls. I'm not one who likes learning new control schemes involving the R2/L2 buttons. However, while they are important it does not feel un-natural to flip the alternate firing sequence. The mark out moments (make you jump moments) are well timed and never when you suspect. I give kudos to the musical score and composition for creating an atmosphere ripe with subtle terror and mystery.
At the end of Day 1 and almost two chapters, this game is delivering on all counts. Stunning visuals, outstanding score, excellent game play and a so far slow building story. A slow building story doesn't work for every game, but in this case, it's perfect.
I got home, made dinner and tossed it in the PS3. From the opening cinematic I felt an unfamiliar shiver down my spine. I highly enjoy space based science-fiction titles. At first guess it's like watching a video game version of 2001 and 2010. Two movies I have loved most of my life. My comparison here is saying something, as in normal comparisons it is usually to run down some rip-off.
There is no evil computer here. It does not take long for the story to get rolling and not much longer for the action to kick in. What I like most so far is the deliberate pacing of the story and the learning curve of the controls. I'm not one who likes learning new control schemes involving the R2/L2 buttons. However, while they are important it does not feel un-natural to flip the alternate firing sequence. The mark out moments (make you jump moments) are well timed and never when you suspect. I give kudos to the musical score and composition for creating an atmosphere ripe with subtle terror and mystery.
At the end of Day 1 and almost two chapters, this game is delivering on all counts. Stunning visuals, outstanding score, excellent game play and a so far slow building story. A slow building story doesn't work for every game, but in this case, it's perfect.
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