Zero Punctuation: Dead Space
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
- Start date
Incase it hasn't been mentioned already, for those of you using the PC version that are having issues with really sluggish mouse controls, do the following to fix it:
1. Turn off Vsync, either in-game or in your Nvidia control panel.
This alone should fix the sluggishness, but even with the mouse sensitivity turned right up I still found it a bit too slow, especially with your weapon raised.
2. Open windows explorer, navigate to
Documents and settings/#username/Local Settings/Application Data/Electronic Arts/Dead Space
and open settings.txt. After making a backup copy of this file, locate the line which says Control.MouseSensitivity = 0.9....
Increase this number to further increase the mouse sensitivity beyond what the in-game options allow, to whatever is your preference. I have mine set to 1.3 and it feels nice and responsive, but not too fast.
There are other settings you can try to tweak here, but obviously if you do make sure you have a backup copy of the file so the default settings can be restored easily if something fucks up.
1. Turn off Vsync, either in-game or in your Nvidia control panel.
This alone should fix the sluggishness, but even with the mouse sensitivity turned right up I still found it a bit too slow, especially with your weapon raised.
2. Open windows explorer, navigate to
Documents and settings/#username/Local Settings/Application Data/Electronic Arts/Dead Space
and open settings.txt. After making a backup copy of this file, locate the line which says Control.MouseSensitivity = 0.9....
Increase this number to further increase the mouse sensitivity beyond what the in-game options allow, to whatever is your preference. I have mine set to 1.3 and it feels nice and responsive, but not too fast.
There are other settings you can try to tweak here, but obviously if you do make sure you have a backup copy of the file so the default settings can be restored easily if something fucks up.
Though doing that does help make the mouse more responsive, it doesn't get rid of the dead zone and mouse acceleration when aiming. In the end I gave up on it and used my xbox 360 gamepad.
I can't believe EA's response to the terrible mouse controls were that they are intended to be that way. Oh wait, it's EA. Nevermind.
I can't believe EA's response to the terrible mouse controls were that they are intended to be that way. Oh wait, it's EA. Nevermind.
hehe gd to see yahtzee back at doin wot he does best - slating every little thing in a game
cheers yahtzee
cheers yahtzeeWhat dead-zone? The controls seem fine to me after turning off Vsync, no different from any FPS or 3PPS with decent controls.Fanboy said:
I can see why they slowed the mouse down from a game design point of view - it does make you feel more helpless and lets face it, Isaac is in a big, heavy engineering rig so it makes sense that he isn't going to be very agile.
Unfortunately a side effect is that it does take away from the fun factor somewhat since dying because of limitations in controls that aren't your fault makes you feel cheated and frustrated. Fortunately it can be fixed, although the mouse sensitivity should've been able to be more increased from within the game and not just in the settings file. Hopefully they'll patch it.
The game doesn't read slow movements of the mouse. There is a "dead-zone" speed that you must move your mouse faster than in order to move the aimer. This is only the case in aiming mode and it makes it very hard to do precise aiming.Thirtysomething said:
Also there is mouse acceleration, so the faster your mouse movements are, the larger the distance the aimer moves.
This concept being used in Alone in the Dark (newest one) would strongly disagree with your belief. There's immersion and then there's unnecessary complication. Just saying.
Dead Space was not bad but not great either. It did feel a lot like Doom III and Prey in some respects. The anti-gravity gameplay was cool. I really disliked being locked in a room every time monsters showed up however. Part of the thrill of horror films is the main protagonist being able to escape the horror. At the very least you should be able to lure monsters into other rooms and pick them off. Too what's the point of locking all the doors for security when all the monsters come through vents, windows, and the ceiling anyways? Basically all it does is insure that YOU, the healthy human survivor, DIES.
I had to quit the game eventually around chapter 8 or so cause I just got sick of being locked in a room or hallway with everything and the kitchen sink being thrown at me. I'm not the type of person to waste hours of my life redoing levels till finally I luck out.
I had to quit the game eventually around chapter 8 or so cause I just got sick of being locked in a room or hallway with everything and the kitchen sink being thrown at me. I'm not the type of person to waste hours of my life redoing levels till finally I luck out.
Um, no, it doesn't, not for me anyway. You sure you have Vsync turned off in the in-game settings? (I think it's ok to force it through the control panel, as long as the game thinks its turned off - if not then turn it off everywhere) because what you're describing sounds exactly like the symptoms I was having before I turned it off. Try forcing triple-buffering and/or setting the prerender limit to 1, that might get rid of it.Fanboy said:
Another thing you might try is unplugging any joypads you have in, since I found mine interfered with the controls making the camera constantly rotate (it's a very old, non-analogue SNES replica, dunno if other more modern pads might cause interference but it's worth a shot). I dunno mate, all I can say is I'm definitely not experiencing what you're describing, the game controls very smoothly and responsively at all times.
Were you playing on hard? Because if you were, then you've no call to complain about the game being too hard. If you weren't, then no offence intended, but it isn't the game designers fault you're not very good at the game. At about that point on normal difficulty most people's minor complaint, myself included, was that they were selling off ammo and medpacks like nobodies business because the game was throwing so much loot around (especially ripper blades for some reason, the most ammo-efficient gun in the game). Kinda takes away from the scare factor when you have a large stockpile of stuff.MorkFromOrk said:
I kinda wish I'd started on hard now but there's no way of judging before you start a game you've never played so I like to play it safe and avoid potentially finding myself in the situation you outlined halfway through my first playthrough.
To be fair, the quarantine thing is illogical, but it only happens a handful of times. Much more often, you actually can escape the room, only to find the necromorphs will use the vents to stalk you wherever you run.
That's another thing I like about the game - there is a ventilation system that runs through each level connecting up the rooms which only the monsters can access, and there is a fixed number of monsters (i.e. no infinite respawns). If you run away and leave one in a room somewhere during a level, you can expect it'll track you down and pop out of a vent to get you somewhere down the line.
I also do not agree with Yahtzee on this one. I thought Dead Space was everything that Survival horror games should aspire to. The only thing I didn't like was the stupid shooting mini game.
And yes, the areas are drab and colorless, but that's necessary. No one in their right mind is going to be scared if you put a game in a brightly colored pink open field, no matter how fucked up the monsters may be...unless you made the whole thing scary for the contrasting elements and played off of that.
The gameplay itself was very solid. There was never a time where I said, "God damnit, the controls suck!". I loved the blue light guide that led you to your objectives, leaving me to worry not about the next objective, but rather where some monster might jump out at me.
The storytelling was also great. Yes the protagonist wasn't very vocal, at all. But really, that's not a bad thing. The "blank protagonist" is purposefully vague. That's there for immersion purposes. It helps put you inside the character, instead of you playing another character.
I don't think the review was really fair, and it faulted the game on things that are intrinsic to the genre itself. Its like bitching at Portal for having crap weapon selection.
And yes, the areas are drab and colorless, but that's necessary. No one in their right mind is going to be scared if you put a game in a brightly colored pink open field, no matter how fucked up the monsters may be...unless you made the whole thing scary for the contrasting elements and played off of that.
The gameplay itself was very solid. There was never a time where I said, "God damnit, the controls suck!". I loved the blue light guide that led you to your objectives, leaving me to worry not about the next objective, but rather where some monster might jump out at me.
The storytelling was also great. Yes the protagonist wasn't very vocal, at all. But really, that's not a bad thing. The "blank protagonist" is purposefully vague. That's there for immersion purposes. It helps put you inside the character, instead of you playing another character.
I don't think the review was really fair, and it faulted the game on things that are intrinsic to the genre itself. Its like bitching at Portal for having crap weapon selection.
I do not understand why Dead Space qualifies as "survival horror"? You find loads of ammo and health and everytime is the same procedure: you shoot the monsters in the legs and then stomp on the like you are Super Mario breaking them in pieces. It's fun the first too levels but it gets old quick.
Dead Space is as survival horror as Resident Evil 4 is indeed.
Sincerely the story wasn't that great either, copy-pasted from The Thing, Event Horizon, witha touch of Aliens. I found the voice acting also quite uninspiring.
Dead Space is as survival horror as Resident Evil 4 is indeed.
Sincerely the story wasn't that great either, copy-pasted from The Thing, Event Horizon, witha touch of Aliens. I found the voice acting also quite uninspiring.
i didn't laugh once at this review it was like telling us something we would already know when playing it.
omg, Yat is becoming bland and repetative...see what i did there If he thinks the areas are drab, he's obviously not read/played/or heard about Warhammer 40,000 (by the way thats been around a lot longer than Event Horizon..... which ripped off quite a number of books etc so don't be a hypocrite) bad yat. bad.
Good game, at least it actually lasted more than 6 hours and played better than Alone in the Dark 4 (not that hard to be honest), tomb raider, Just Cause, Army of Two, Stranglehold, condemned 2 (i went there), Vampire Rain, Jericho and that game where you throw a blade around to decapitate enemies with slowing effects again.
lets not forget the repetative game Assassin' Creed. What's weird is the plot of all the games i've mentioned are far worse and contain more repetative gameplay than Dead Space.
Yat -> flog dead horse = beginning to lose grasp with games or being very forgetful about what we've had in the past. Whereas...
the publisher was EA, so positives -> things are looking up if this is their new direction with games
it was like telling us something we would already know when playing it.omg, Yat is becoming bland and repetative...see what i did there
If he thinks the areas are drab, he's obviously not read/played/or heard about Warhammer 40,000 (by the way thats been around a lot longer than Event Horizon..... which ripped off quite a number of books etc so don't be a hypocrite) bad yat. bad.Good game, at least it actually lasted more than 6 hours and played better than Alone in the Dark 4 (not that hard to be honest), tomb raider, Just Cause, Army of Two, Stranglehold, condemned 2 (i went there), Vampire Rain, Jericho and that game where you throw a blade around to decapitate enemies with slowing effects again.
lets not forget the repetative game Assassin' Creed. What's weird is the plot of all the games i've mentioned are far worse and contain more repetative gameplay than Dead Space.
Yat -> flog dead horse = beginning to lose grasp with games or being very forgetful about what we've had in the past. Whereas...
the publisher was EA, so positives -> things are looking up if this is their new direction with games
Aaarrgghh!!! Spelling....terrible...brain....shutting down.....can't breathe.....*death*gamer_award said:aaa, Yahtzee, admit it, u love this game
You managed to loose the tiny important bit where I said "Everything else being equal". If two works of art of whatever medium are of roughly equal level in terms of craftsmanship, then I would definitely say that the work which contributed something new to the sum total of human achievement is ever so slightly superior to the work which was merely derivative of previous works. I don't see how you could reject this without claiming that invention and originality in art is redundant and intrinsically worthless.Techni said:
As for the disaster, the ship doesn't exist. It's whatever the designers want it to be. They elected to make it the usual "gunmetal brown" affair, which is the bland standard choice. (Lack of colours is scary!)
I agree with this one. I mostly agree with what you say. Not always, but you make good points.
This is a good ACTION 3rd person shooter.
But as a horror game its lacking. I've played it for a couple of hours, made it to the end of chapter 3. And I'm still looking for something to scare or even startle me. So far I've most of the times pointed out what will happen and where the monsters will come before they actually arrive.
The people who get scared from this game are either teenage nerds or are scared piss-ants who get scared from anything out on the streets.
There's no scary mood and there's nothing really unpredictable.
So, good shooter, bad horror-game, enough said.
Oh and yes, this review was funny. The people saying otherwise are crippled fan-boys who don't want to realize the truth but rather want to live in a fantasy world.
This is a good ACTION 3rd person shooter.
But as a horror game its lacking. I've played it for a couple of hours, made it to the end of chapter 3. And I'm still looking for something to scare or even startle me. So far I've most of the times pointed out what will happen and where the monsters will come before they actually arrive.
The people who get scared from this game are either teenage nerds or are scared piss-ants who get scared from anything out on the streets.
There's no scary mood and there's nothing really unpredictable.
So, good shooter, bad horror-game, enough said.
Oh and yes, this review was funny. The people saying otherwise are crippled fan-boys who don't want to realize the truth but rather want to live in a fantasy world.