Zero Punctuation: Dead Space

Agh-a-meme-knottle

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If my learned colleague finds Dead Space boring, but, as he says at the end of his review, is "still hung up on Silent Hill," then this could mean one of two things. Either he's hung up on the original Silent Hill or the series as a whole.

In his review of Silent Hill: Homecoming, he stated that Silent Hill 2 was his favorite, which suggests he means the entire series -- otherwise, he'd have mentioned 2 in his review of Dead Space. Yet his reviews of Homecoming and Origins were largely negative, which suggests he doesn't favor the series at all.

The apparent contradiction makes more sense if seen as a case of poetic license: he pretends to despise games which annoy him slightly in order to emphasize the flaws for comic effect.

Or does he mean "hung up" in the romantic sense? Is he explaining to Dead Space itself that he can't offer his heart to more than one franchise at a time?

It's possible Yahtzee Croshaw is a boy who enjoys tossing invective at the girl on whom he has a secret crush. Perhaps his harshest appraisals of games are sometimes expressions of affection.

Short answer: He might have enjoyed Dead Space more than he lets on.
 

Thirtysomething

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Ok, so I just got to the last boss in the game, and after witnessing the last few chapters I can't help but think
the whole "religion" sub-plot was a reference to Scientology.

I haven't seen that mentioned anywhere, and I don't know enough about Scientology to be sure though, but did anyone else think that or am I reading too much into it/interpreting it completely wrong?
 

Sar212

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I like your reviews, but don't agree with you on Dead Space. The game may have some repetitive parts, but definitely not enought to object to. It really depends on what is being repeated -- if you are repeating enjoyable gameplay elements there is no problem. I mean take chess or baseball -- they are both plenty repetitive, but people still come back for more of the same.

I am not a hard-core gamer, so I also care about the graphics and environments. Those are incredible here. The visuals and the sound are very immersive. The game is scary, at least to me, enough to need to take a break every 30 minutes or so. I love the feeling of dread and intensity that stays with you during the game, but don't want a heart attack! So I take a break. :)

The immersion factor is greatly helped by the unique menu mechanism. While you use menu or map, you stay "in the game". This is brilliant.

The other thing I want to mention is that the game on easy setting is very friendly to casual gamer. The control scheme is very well done, and doesn't require some ridicoulous button combinations that take forever to master. I am sure you played a game that in order to pass to another level required you to press: button A + button B, followed by left trigger, followed by scratching your right ear with your left hand, followed by three short presses of button C. Dead Space doesn't have any nonsense like that.

One thing I don't like is the map in the game -- the control is not very elegant. But there is this path finding device your character has -- press it, and there is a thin "laser" line pointing the path to your next objective. This is very elegant, and is probably useful to both, casual and hard-core gamers.

I am not a fan of EA, but Dead Space is top notch. I hope people give it a chance.
 

Sar212

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Thirtysomething said:
I haven't seen that mentioned anywhere, and I don't know enough about Scientology to be sure though, but did anyone else think that or am I reading too much into it/interpreting it completely wrong?
Absolutely! That was my first thought. I am actually surprised that they are not protesting the game.
 

Hunde Des Krieg

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BlueInkAlchemist said:
Oh wow! An original game concept about deep space and zero-gravity! ...Wait, it's another Aliens rip-off. Sigh.

Spot on about characterization. I'm not going to sympathize with someone just because I'm told to.
actually there isn't much in the game that is similar to Aliens, a movie that I know line for line. and as for sympathy, well you don't have to feel tied to Isaac to understand that the game is fun... just a little cliched.
 

solidstatemind

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I enjoyed the review (as I usually do) even if I thought that he was being overly harsh. As someone who completed the game and felt compelled enough to play it again, I think I got my money's worth out of it, and frankly, isn't that the point?

Honestly, I understand that ZP reviews tend to focus on the failures / inadequacies of a game-- that's the schtick, really. And while I wouldn't expect him to be slobbering all over Dead Space like many of the reveiewers out there, I had hoped he would've spent a bit more time lauding the positive, because there are a lot of good things in the game, and people- both the consumers who buy the game and the developers who make it- need to at least hear about what was done right, else they won't know what to keep.

(Just for the record, although others have covered it before in this forum, it bears reiteration- how they handled the HUD is brilliant, the audio production values are astonishing, and the zero-G mechanic is fantastic. Please game developers, more of that sort of thing! Just FYI: yes, I know that developers will not read the comment threads, so that statement is somewhat pointless, which is exactly why I wished Yahtzee covered those things in his review, because I know the Devs *will* watch that.)

I think the thing that people need to realize is that EA is not going anywhere, so rather than boycotting them or complaining about the blandness of their titles ad nauseum, you should probably do your best to encourage things like Dead Space, where they are trying something different, even if they only get it partly right.

And to the person who said that DS was the true spiritual heir to System Shock, and not Bioshock, I agree completely... now if we can just get EA to actually make SS3 since they own the rights to it, preferably with the same team as DS, then I would be estatic.

EDIT: I can't wait to see his Fallout 3 review. It's gotta be done-- I mean, how many sites and reviewers gave it perfect scores? (And yes, I played it all the way through. Yeah, it's a good game. Perfect? No. Freaking. Way.) Somebody has to call BS on that.
 

Thirtysomething

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Just a quick thought: Can anyone name any game that does not contain any (or very many) repetitive elements?

Just out of curiosity, please, throw out some titles you think might fit the bill - because I myself would love to check out any game mentioned if I haven't already (or refute your claim because I love arguing on the internet!)

What I really mean by this is; it might be a valid criticism to call a game repetitive, but is it one worth making? And does it mean, if you're starting to make that criticism about games, that you should start looking for another hobby?
 

pilf

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Apr 23, 2008
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Hmm i feel oddly compelled to buy the game now.

(Evil genius was a bloody good game, I just wish they'd keep with the plan of a sequel)
 

Sar212

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pilf said:
Hmm i feel oddly compelled to buy the game now.
This game is really worth it.The last time I had this much fun was when FEAR (PC) came out. But that one I need a walkthrough for, otherwise I would have never found all the things I needed. Dead Space doesn't really need it, Although I do sometimes use it just to see what is waiting for me on the other side of the door when the tension gets to be too much. Come to think of it, FEAR had a time-freeze weapon thing that is similar to Dead Space's stasis. I don't really use it as much here, but it is a great thing especially for gamers that can't push buttons fast enough.

One thing I forgot to mention is about the game "saves". I am playing the PS3 version and there are save points throughout the game and so far (I am just half-way through on chapter 7) there has always been a save point before a particularly difficult event. But what I really like is that when you die, you don't necessarily restart from the save point but most of the time it is much closer to the point where you died. So you don't have to repeat the sometimes long part between your last save and when you got killed. I hate games that make you go through the same thing over and over even though you've cleared those areas. My preference, of course, would be to save on demand at any point of the game, but if that is not possible, at least restart me close to the place I died, the way this game does. This is actually one of the main reasons why I don't finish games -- if I have to repeat parts over and over it becomes a chore instead of fun. I am not a good gamer so I tend to die lot more than I'd like. :)

I am probably not the only one who missed this, but the game has a set of tips/tutorials you can access at any time. But it is not very obvious where to find this. If you display the menu, you can navigate to the "Database" section. The database will initially show three tabs: Chapter 1, 2, and 3. That is where you see recordings and video logs from the chapters you went through. However, if you scroll to the left of Chapter 1, you will get the "Training" section and that is where you can read the tutorials. I didn't even know that this section existed until Chapter 4. The developers should change the UI for the database tabs and make the middle tab the active tab, not the left-most. That way, when you are in Chapter 1, the Database will show Chapter 1 tab in the middle, and you will see that to the left is a tab labeled "Training" and to the right is tab labeled "Chapter 2". It would be much more difficult to overlook the Training stuff that way.
 

Curses

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Nov 10, 2008
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No atmosphere, eh? The Mephistopheles could've used a few throw pillows...


(Of course, AGS doesn't necessarily allow you to unleash your inner Martha Stewart.)
 

Firia

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Hunde Des Krieg said:
BlueInkAlchemist said:
Oh wow! An original game concept about deep space and zero-gravity! ...Wait, it's another Aliens rip-off. Sigh.

Spot on about characterization. I'm not going to sympathize with someone just because I'm told to.
actually there isn't much in the game that is similar to Aliens, a movie that I know line for line. and as for sympathy, well you don't have to feel tied to Isaac to understand that the game is fun... just a little cliched.
I personally felt it strongly resembled a video game version of Aliens. You've got the envirment altertering goopy stuff, face hugger-like creatures. The flying creature may as well be Dead Spaces' face hugger. It creates the soldier creature you fight the most. That was just to name a few. Events are similar too, though they do not occure in order of Aliens, as it sounds like you might belive was insinuated in the other post. Such as when help 'Shocks' in. I'll refraim from specifics, but it's almost exactly the same result as in Aliens.

The phsycological aspects of the game (Marker religion) and effects of it on the living I felt was totally Event Horrizion.

I had these opinions in my first play through without watching this review (didn't exhist online at the time), or reading anything on the game. It was the animated comics that sold me on the game.
 

Chattermouth

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Thirtysomething said:
Just a quick thought: Can anyone name any game that does not contain any (or very many) repetitive elements?
Olli and Lissa! oh... wait.. Um, Bubble Bobble! gaah.. Forget it.


solidstatemind said:
And to the person who said that DS was the true spiritual heir to System Shock, and not Bioshock, I agree completely... now if we can just get EA to actually make SS3 since they own the rights to it, preferably with the same team as DS, then I would be estatic.
Thanks, and yeah, the DS team doing System Shock would actually be interesting. Aside from the beasts combined with the Unitology thing, the few logs (audio, not wood) that lay scattered about the ship was one of the real SS flashbacks I got from it. There was one or two that almost gave me the creeps like the SS ones used to do (Anatoly Korenchkin, anyone?). With a few more masterful voice actors like that, not to mention bringing Ken Levine in to write the story and scripts, well.. They could be on to something.

Dead Space really is technically and audiovisually impressive, no doubt about that. And it was quite spooky at times. However, for a potential SS3 I demand nothing less than sheer terror and dread, which in SS2 was handled at least 70% by audio alone.

It's funny how so many discussions end up as System Shock dreaming. System Shock 2 must be like the Jesus Christ of videogames, or something, we all hope will return one day as a messiah of immersive creativity.
 

ZippyDSMlee

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He should have said this about bioshock >>

I can;t wait till he gets his hands on FO3...oh the horror!!
 

Ann-Marie

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This game is hilarious.

[long edit is long] But really fun. I don't mind so much about characterization if the game itself is actually entertaining. It was polished to bits, which was refreshing, particularly since Gears 2 is still showing signs of debilitating glitches (already suffered from at least three myself). Although it wasn't scary, and you couldn't sympathize whatsoever with Isaac, it was still probably one of the most fun games I've played/seen in a long time and, after all, isn't that what video games are all about?
 

shiajun

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This isn't directly related to the review itself, but to the video. I was able to watch it Thursday without a hitch. I wanted to watch the video again (same computer, same browser, same ISP), but now no matter how many times I reload the page and wait before "clicking to play", the video will not load. At all. None of the older videos load either. This has happened before, but it cleared up after a few days. Now it's almost that day of the week again, and it's still refusing to play. This is a problem that has been growing and growing for a while with the ZP videos (I am not aware if it is the same with other video galleries here at the Escapist). Two possibilities: traffic is just too high for the server they're using or their video player is crap. If it's the latter, they should really be looking into some other application. If it's the former then I can't understand why they don't MOVE the videos somewhere else. Views on ZP videos just keep climbing, and it sure would be better business if the video allowed itself to be viewed more than once every fifty reloads.