Dead Space 2 Is No Resident Evil 4

[Kopikatsu]

Aha, someone else is bothered by those helmets!

Don't get me wrong, they look really cool, but they gotta be as thin and weak as tinfoil in most places, which kinda goes against the idea of a helmet as protective gear.
It's the same thing that's been bothering me about the original Transformers cartoon from the 80s. With all those fold-out components, bots like Megatron or Soundwave would either have to weigh sixty tons while disguised, or possess the structural integrity of a soufflé (sp?) in robot mode.

You totally missed the most important flaw of Issac's helmet! Not that it's weak, but...

Issac: -At multiple points in the game- "I'm being attacked and a very pointy object is coming straight for my face! At least I have this helmet to protect me!"

-Helmet folds itself away-

Issac: #%#$%TU#@

 

[Sonicron]

Aha, someone else is bothered by those helmets!

Don't get me wrong, they look really cool, but they gotta be as thin and weak as tinfoil in most places, which kinda goes against the idea of a helmet as protective gear.
It's the same thing that's been bothering me about the original Transformers cartoon from the 80s. With all those fold-out components, bots like Megatron or Soundwave would either have to weigh sixty tons while disguised, or possess the structural integrity of a soufflé (sp?) in robot mode.

You totally missed the most important flaw of Issac's helmet! Not that it's weak, but...

Issac: -At multiple points in the game- "I'm being attacked and a very pointy object is coming straight for my face! At least I have this helmet to protect me!"

-Helmet folds itself away-

Issac: #%#$%TU#@

Damn you. Now I sprayed soda all over my screen. xD

 

[Brotherofwill]

Two slight points of disagreement.

First, the fact that people argue over the intention or meaning of something doesn't mean that it did a poor job of getting its meaning across.

Yeah I had the same feeling when I read that. I don't get how he came to that conclusion.

I get his concerns with the game (I haven't played it but can imagine what it's like), but I also disagree that a game can't move around in tone, or has to follow a strict formula. That doesn't show me the signs of lazy developers, maybe a little ham handed when it comes to horror, but not lazy.

 

[LazyAza]

Sure the helmet bugs you, never mind the anti gravity ipod sized arm mounted super gun or the time manipulation ipod sized super gun or the fact isacc carries 4 weighty tools at all times that magically vanish whenever he swaps between them and can store several hundred times worth of ammunition than objects their size ever really could.

Suspension of disbelief in dead space far extends beyond just the suit, almost everything in their universe makes barely any sense. Like all the doors that are barely an inch thick yet supposedly are air tight and have enough force behind them to sever an entire human in half on top of being designed like giant pairs of scissors.

The horror element I feel is just vicserals way of trying to be different since really all they're making is silly third person shooters same as everyone else, just with no cover and more blood than usual. Dead space is almost as ham fisted as gears of war, just with less testosterone and large black guys yelling 'wooooo' all the time.

That all said, huge fan of the series and can't wait to play another. =P

 

[mireko]

Vanquish kind of has an excuse in that the suit seems to be made of magic; everything you pick up or do is in some way a part of the suit. Everything except your cigarettes (no idea where he's keeping those).

Also worth noting: The plot of the game actually makes sense if you take it as a satire of recent shooters.

 

[k-ossuburb]

For the Half-Life thing, it's been done already, just with DOOM instead.

 

[gigastar]

And yes i do agree with one thing Yahtzee said (or wrote), the game is just inconsistent in its messages. Gameplay is a sci-fi/gore fans dream and the story just feels like it was just stapled in then revelant cutscenes added afterwards.

That is a pretty serious problem in most games, even the good ones.

Some of the examples I can think of include Niko Bellic (troublesome, angsty past vs running over hookers and shooting cars with a bazooka), Chuck Greene (concerned parent of his motherless daughter vs riding on a tricycle over zombies wearing a bra) or even Bioshock's Jack (all the deep, intellectual conflicts can be solved with a hand that shoots bees and a wrench to the face)

I believe the main problem is that designers have a hard time marring a relatable character (which most confuse with troubled and angsty) with a badass force of nature most designers want to evoke. One of the best characters in that sense was Kratos in God of War 1, until the new directors make him extra angsty and extra badass at the same time for no good reason.

It's possible that a solution is to either tone down the characters action, at the risk of making a game that is quite boring.

Or another way is to make the story optional or just ignore the it entirely. Monster Hunter games largely ignore the story before Tri, and that led to fighting stuff like...

Spoiler: Theese with little to no foreshadowing, character development or even a reason.

Theese with little to no foreshadowing, character development or even a reason.

It's also worth noting that only one short sentence of understandable dialouge has been in the entire Monstet Hunter franchise so far, 'mmm, Nice n' Tasty' whenever you cook a steak during a quest. The rest of the games dialouge are literally generic sounds that only sound when you talk to characters. Or nya's when the resident antrophomorphic cats do something stupid for the 7856th time.

Making likeable characters who do crazy awesome enough things to keep the gameplay intresting isnt entirely impossible. It just hasnt happened in a way that everybody both knows that it happened and will accept it.

 

[Kapol]

I think that the fold-helmets actually serve a very good purpose in the game. If you can't take the helmet off, then you can't lost it. Take, for example, the part where the gunship destroys the window and everything gets sucked out, forcing the main character to try to crawl to safety while being fired on. In that case, he wouldn't have time to think "Oh, I better grab my helmet before it flies out the window, never to be seen again." It's more likely he'd be thinking along the lines of 'Oh shit, run!' And losing the helmet in such a fashion would lead to not being able to go through any oxygen-free environments. While those were fairly uncommon, it still would have likely meant he would have been screwed at one point or another.

 

[Kermi]

I like the idea of foldy helmets - it's practicality was demonstrated at the end of chapter 5 when Isaac is exposed to a sudden vacuum and can engage his hlmet hands-free. For an engineer working on a space station I can see why this is useful. They made it unbelievable with too many folds. Couldn't it split into maybe three pieces and lie flush against his back instead of folding up like a fucking origami swan?

 

[DanDeFool]

The only advantage I can think of for the self-assembling helmet is fast/easy on-off, and that's really just a creature comfort.

Unless, of course, you're performing a delicate maintenance operation and you need your helmet off to be able to see what you're doing, and then the section of the ship you're working on suddenly depressurizes and you need to get your helmet on and airtight in less than a second.

Or maybe you're talking to your fellow soldiers, and you want them to be able to see your face, and then you start getting shelled by the Russians and need your helmet to detect the initial shockwave put itself back on automatically before the shrapnel hits.

Of course, if that's the case, why don't you just design a helmet that lets you do the delicate maintenance and talk to your troops without having to take off?

 

[Nieroshai]

The necromorphs being able to instaneously transform is a bit silly and unrealistic, but since the first one did it, the second had to as well or else go with different enemies altogether. So call it a flaw of the series, but DS2 had to have it and in fact DID slow it down a bit by including a transformation sequence.
As for horror, I think it works despite being genre fusions as you consider it. All the actual horror comes from the atmosphere and every part of the game where the enemies are absent anyway. The enemies are not the horror.
As for the helmet: depends on the suit. On the construction suit, I do think it's a bit unnecessary but see the next reason and keep in mind that they can't have helmets doing too many different animations. On the riot/security suits, think "cop that may or may not need to visit a vacuum." That helmet is designed to automatically create a perfect vacuum seal and only needs to withstand melee damage, and needs to be removeable by a cop carrying riot gear. As for the military suit, think about it, a lot of military gear is designed with armor but its priority is wearer mobility, therefore sacrificing some armor. The "military" Advanced Suit is a combat-ready space suit that does have extra bulk for armor but primarily serves as the above helmet. Being bulletproof isn't the primary concern, being impact-resistant is, which is aided by the articulation points having some give. Also, how is being bulletproof by virtue of armor plate going to protect you from laser weapons, which the military clearly has access to? As for putting undue weight on the neck, both the front AND the back(yes it does split in half, not just going down one side) halves of the helmet store on the TORSO. The chest compartment and the back compartment.

There you go. I may have nitpicked a little, but so did you. But at least I looked beneath the surface.

 

[Zack McSleuthburger]

Because once again, realism and practicality are totally what games like Dead Space aim for. And the game is action with a horror tone. They intended it that way. And saying that RE4 did any better job of horror is utter bullshit.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

Second, regarding the helmet thing, it's true that it would offer less protection, but modern engineers wear plastic hardhats on site. How much protection do you really need? And you're not going to misplace it, so that's nice. The fact that it's used in combat is sort of an unhappy turn of events that they probably weren't planning for when they designed the thing.

Isaac's helmet however is intended for space, where overall integrity is more important than the modern building site.

 

[Nieroshai]

He really doesn't think the folding helmet is believable? It's entirely believable. IT'S THE FUTURE. THEY CAN MAKE SHIT UP AND MAKE IT MAKE SENSE.

And does Yahtzee even comprehend how many great moments would have been ruined if Isaac had to take his helmet off manually and then hold it with his hands? That "eye scene" you mentioned? Where the heck is Isaac going to put his helmet when that's going on? Several quick time events wouldn't have worked (or had the urgency) if Isaac's helmet was just a detachable piece.

Also, about the transformation thing with Necromorphs - he does realize that when he says all the negatives about it, the VERY FIRST SCENE does everything he says the game doesn't do? Skin resists, you see the poor guy's pain when the transformation takes place on a living person, etc. This is textbook bad ranting Yahtzee. I expect better of you sir! I am disappoint.

Also I agree the the Spanish is VERY iffy in RE4. To borderline stupid levels. It shows me how much 5 years of Spanish classes can ruin some parts of a game. "A la reloj!" Pretty sure that's the game designers' attempt at saying "To the ruler" but I think "reloj" is just the classroom kind of ruler, not an actual leader. "Al maestro" would have been more appropriate I think, or at least the correct way to say "To the master" if what I have is wrong.

Fail correction fail. Reloj is clock. They are referring to the clocktower.
Just thought you'd like to know.

 

[kouriichi]

I didnt like RE4. Its not resident evil anymore ):

OT: I think that Dead Space is a "Nu Horror". You know how they have the "Nu Metal" music? Ment for a newer generation of metal heads? Its the same thing with "Nu Horror" games.

I remember back when i would piss myself playing RE2. And not because it was dark. Not because the zombies were scary. But mostly because of the fact that it was something i had never expiranced before. You could hear zombies, but you couldent see them! Because of the horrible camera angles! It forced you to eather play smart and slow, or play reckless and hope for the best.

I cant think of a single moment in Dea-Spa 2 ((yes, thats what i call it. Because its a relaxing get away from other, rage enducing games.)) that freaked me out, made me jump, or unnerved me, beside the who eye and object not belinging there thing. ((Cross my heart and hope to die ))

In short, its a new kind of horror game, for a new generation. Us "Veteran" video gamers have been through all the horror games. Weve seen theyer progression. And because of it, the newer ones just arnt as good. Because nothing is scarier then our memories of whats scary.

Also, my captcha was "Ramen abuse". That instantly makes my day.

 

[Serenegoose]

'Well, is Dead Space 2 even trying to be a horror?'

It's a fair argument.

From what I saw it said pretty clearly 'I'm a great action shooter with some creepy parts!' The box says it's 'gruesome', not scary.

The tone throughout is action shooter with creepy elements. Yeah, if shifts from time to time, that's true.... but I would have thought Yahtzee would have an appreciation for pacing and dynamics, it would be boring to have the same tone through the whole game.

People argue over the meaning of Citizen Kane. Does that make it a bad film?

Judge it on what it's trying to achieve and doing well - being a great action shooter - not on what a Resi 4 did or what your expectations were.

.

Hey, it's my viewpoint, but I didn't have to say it! Thanks, Miracle!

PS what he said.

 

[FoolKiller]

I disagree with your first point. Just because people don't agree doesn't necessarily make it a bad experience. What I take from a game is different than what you take from a game. It doesn't make the game worse.

I must agree with your helmet logic though. The suspension of disbelief doesn't mean a suspension of physics altogether. I have similar issues with breakable weapons in many cases. How is it that my samurai sword breaks after I kill a couple of zombies in Dead Rising?

 

[Revenge Revisited]

XD that helmet-folding-up thing bothers me too. Yahtzee's deffinatly right about the scariness of Res4 verses dead space. The necromorphs should have been more human and unnerving, kinda like the splicers in BioShock

 

[solidstatemind]

So Yahtzee felt the need to attempt to reinforce his stance on the first page, and then spends the second page ranting about something relatively meaningless like a fold-up helmet?

Can I ask, if you're bitching about how a helmet is "unrealistic" in a sci-fi game, shouldn't you be questioning other things, like interstellar travel, cracking a planet open to mine minerals, and various other common sci-fi elements?

This entire article really came off as being shrill and overly-fussy. I would suggest, Yahtzee, that you have your water-skis on, the ramp is ahead of you, and they have just released the shark...