Needle In The Camel's Eye 3/6/2011 - OH GOD WHAT WAS THAT Edition
by natetodamax
He's really glad you stopped by. Really, he is. It's that time of the week again! The time to release the Camel from its pen behind my shed and impregnate the Bloghara desert with my words. Or something like that. For the two or so people who actually care about my often times greatly flawed opinions, which themselves are often based on whatever insane mood I'm in at the time, I got a special t...
He's really glad you stopped by. Really, he is.
It's that time of the week again! The time to release the Camel from its pen behind my shed and impregnate the Bloghara desert with my words. Or something like that. For the two or so people who actually care about my often times greatly flawed opinions, which themselves are often based on whatever insane mood I'm in at the time, I got a special treat for you today. So I found myself with 1650 Microsoft Points on Saturday (don't ask me how I managed to get stuck with a 50, I still haven't figured it out) and was about to purchase the Dark Corners DLC for Gears Of War 2 when I remembered about Microsoft's delicious yet aggressively over-priced Games On Demand service. Curiosity leaked into my brain, and I thumbed my way over the the GoD section of the Games Marketplace and browsed the selection. Then, a specific box art for a specific game caught my eye. A game that I guess I've had a passive interest in for some time now, but never really acted on that interest for whatever reason. A game best described by quoting my reactions while playing, which mostly consist of irregular breathing patterns and occasional outbursts of "OH GOD WHAT WAS THAT NOISE."
The game is, of course, The Dead Space. (Again, with a sly little "the" placed in front of the title for added effect. I don't know what that effect actually is, though).
This blog is dedicated to...
Giorgio A. Tsoukalos
By the gods, look at his hair.
Christ
OH SHI---
The Plasma Cutter is what every video game pistol should be
"Scary" is not really the word I would use to describe Dead Space. I think "disturbing" and "unsettling" do the game more justice. Sure, there are some moments where the lights conveniently go out in a long dark corridor or room that I'm heading through and I find myself wanting to desperately get out as soon as I can. But most of the time I'm cautiously moving through the USG Ishimura at a snail's pace, listening to every sound, jumping and quickly spinning around at the clang of a falling pipe, staring hopelessly at the game's [awesome looking] inventory screen wondering whether I should drop a med kit or ammo in order to pick up a schematic for a weapon that just may come in handy at some point down the road. The whole experience so far (I've played for a little over 2 hours) has been incredible. The atmosphere that the game establishes as soon as you crash into the Ishimura is frightening in a psychological sense. Much like Bioshock, I know absolutely nothing about the location I'm in. I'm actually finding myself actively seeking out the audio, video, and text logs not because I'm a collectable addict but because I'm dying to figure out what the hell happened to all the people aboard the vessel. When a game makes me this curious about my surroundings just two hours in, you know something is being done right.
Another one of my favorite parts of the game is the lighting. Shadows are one of my worst enemies in the game so far. A swinging light may cast shadows on a series of walls and pipes, creating silhouetted figures that look like necromorphs but aren't. Likewise, the sound design is truly phenomenal. Brad Shoemaker said in his review that you'll want to play Dead Space with a big bass-heavy sound system. But really, those are just a novelty and not a necessity. The game looks beautiful on my 42" Vizio and sounds great as well, even though I don't have an advanced speaker setup.
You don't know what could be lurking in those bodies, or around the next corner. And that's awesome.
Even more, the game's pacing is just brilliant. I really appreciate that I haven't been pounded and pounded with necromorphs so far. Instead, I've probably spent more time nervously anticipating encounters instead of actually being in them. This is all fine and good, though. The game likes to have you explore the ship and go about your business without much interruption, calming you down to a level that leaves you totally unprepared when they trap you in a pitch black room with necromorphs jumping out of the walls. The use of zero-g segments and some environmental puzzling also offer a nice break following a vicious attack. I'll admit it: I'm playing on Easy. I've really only played a Dead Space game twice. I remember trying out the demo for the first one a while back and hating it (if I recall I think I ran out of ammo within 10 seconds and was completely screwed, which left a bad impression on me). A few weeks ago I gave the Dead Space 2 demo a go and really enjoyed it, but I knew in the back of my mind that if I were to get it I probably should make sure I had played through the first one. Thus, my lack of experience left me with little confidence in my ability to survive, so I chose the easy road. Strangely enough, I'm totally thinking about giving the game a go on the hardest difficulty. The thought of limping through the ship with almost no health and low ammo is for some reason appealing to me...
As I'm sitting here writing this, all I can think about is playing Dead Space tomorrow night. I've made the executive decision that I will never play this game while the sun is up, I almost did today, but opted to continue watching Lost (season 6 so far is kind of a disappointment.... I guess). The game's atmosphere and general mood is just unforgettable, and I can't believe I waited this long to play it. Chances are, I'm going to head out and buy Dead Space 2 when I get back from PAX East 2011 next Sunday.