Dead Space Review

[Skott]

Yahtzee is a funny guy but he's too negative in his reviews to take seriously as a game reviewer. Just my opinion anyway. I picked it up today to check it out after watching some game play videos. I'll play with it this weekend and see how it is.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Towards the end of Yahtzee's reviews he usually says what he thinks is the overall worth of a game, which is generally way more accurate to me than any serious review site at the moment.

 

[dj2004]

I think the game is one of the best of the year.

 

[Molondo]

Originally posted by: lavaheadache

Originally posted by: brikis98
Ah, finally, a critic I can agree with: Zero Punctuation: Yahtzee reviews Dead Space.

I guess I'm just a friggin idiot then cause i thought the game was great. Come to think of it... When I play video games my purpose is to get lost for a little while and take a time out from my stressful life. It seems like some of the people around here try to live life through video games and take a time out every now and then and step into reality just to bitch about how a game wasn't captivating enough or lacked depth or lacked originality.... sheesh. I say for $50, Dead space was money well spent. I can think of many other things I've spent the same or more money on that I was pissed about. I also thought it was great how the game shared similarities with other things that I thoroughly enjoyed such as RE 4 like controls with an Alien like story. How is this bad? All Zero punctuation did was beat up on the game for sharing similarities with other great things. Thats it... I guess everybody should hate Suzuki's new Hayabusa because it shares a lot of the styling cues form the original. Nah, great things are inspired by other great things. Dead Space was a hoot and I'm defiantely enjoying it a second time through.

I truly agree with you. People just like to dissect and over analyze everything. To me, dead space has a better plot than Half-life. Now all you fan boys can dissect that.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: Skott
Yahtzee is a funny guy but he's too negative in his reviews to take seriously as a game reviewer.

Well, he definitely exaggerates and intentionally insults things for comedic effect, but what makes it funnier is how often I agree with him. IMO, his reviews of Dead Space, Spore, Halo 3, the Witcher and many other games were absolutely dead on, even if he tends to go (hilariously) overboard at times. In fact, I tend to agree with his reviews far more than any of the "serious" reviewers out there.

Originally posted by: Molondo

Originally posted by: lavaheadache

Originally posted by: brikis98
Ah, finally, a critic I can agree with: Zero Punctuation: Yahtzee reviews Dead Space.

I guess I'm just a friggin idiot then cause i thought the game was great. Come to think of it... When I play video games my purpose is to get lost for a little while and take a time out from my stressful life. It seems like some of the people around here try to live life through video games and take a time out every now and then and step into reality just to bitch about how a game wasn't captivating enough or lacked depth or lacked originality.... sheesh. I say for $50, Dead space was money well spent. I can think of many other things I've spent the same or more money on that I was pissed about. I also thought it was great how the game shared similarities with other things that I thoroughly enjoyed such as RE 4 like controls with an Alien like story. How is this bad? All Zero punctuation did was beat up on the game for sharing similarities with other great things. Thats it... I guess everybody should hate Suzuki's new Hayabusa because it shares a lot of the styling cues form the original. Nah, great things are inspired by other great things. Dead Space was a hoot and I'm defiantely enjoying it a second time through.

I truly agree with you. People just like to dissect and over analyze everything. To me, dead space has a better plot than Half-life. Now all you fan boys can dissect that.

Obviously, to each his own. But if critics are going to go around and claim Dead Space as one of the greatest games ever, then I'm going to expect quite a bit from it. The game isn't bad - as I've said multiple times - but it is not even close to the top of my list. The illogical, unoriginal, disjointed and amateurish plot is a big part of that for me. The repetitive & uninspired level design only makes it works. The presentation, a couple of nice set pieces, and competent gameplay do redeem the game and make it passable, but there's a huge gap between passable and great.

You brought up Half Life and I think that's one of the games that did something genuinely great. The graphics, sound and gameplay elements were all pretty good, probably as comparable to other games released at the same time as Dead Space is today. Story wise, I agree that Half Life's plot was nothing special - IMO, the characters were more endearing than Dead Space, but overall, it was pretty generic rubbish. However, here is where Half Life and Dead Space differ: Half Life had level design, storytelling and scripting unlike any other game at the time. From the train ride that began the game, to the first time you see head crabs take over a scientist, to the squad tactics of the marine AI, to the lack of cut scenes (and any talking by Gordon), to those creatures that sat on the ceiling and "fish" up soldiers and eat them, it was really like playing through a movie. I had never seen anything of that sort in games before and it really changed the way first person shooters were done forever after.

Now if you're thinking "well, Dead Space did it's story telling exactly like Half Life", you're absolutely right. But nowadays, that isn't anything new. In fact, it's basically the norm. The same goes for everything else Dead Space does: it's all stuff that we've seen before many times. Again, that doesn't mean it's "bad". But without doing anything new, there is no way it should be counted amongst the all time great games.

 

[Molondo]

Originally posted by: brikis98

Originally posted by: Skott
Yahtzee is a funny guy but he's too negative in his reviews to take seriously as a game reviewer.

Well, he definitely exaggerates and intentionally insults things for comedic effect, but what makes it funnier is how often I agree with him. IMO, his reviews of Dead Space, Spore, Halo 3, the Witcher and many other games were absolutely dead on, even if he tends to go (hilariously) overboard at times. In fact, I tend to agree with his reviews far more than any of the "serious" reviewers out there.

Originally posted by: Molondo

Originally posted by: lavaheadache

Originally posted by: brikis98
Ah, finally, a critic I can agree with: Zero Punctuation: Yahtzee reviews Dead Space.

I guess I'm just a friggin idiot then cause i thought the game was great. Come to think of it... When I play video games my purpose is to get lost for a little while and take a time out from my stressful life. It seems like some of the people around here try to live life through video games and take a time out every now and then and step into reality just to bitch about how a game wasn't captivating enough or lacked depth or lacked originality.... sheesh. I say for $50, Dead space was money well spent. I can think of many other things I've spent the same or more money on that I was pissed about. I also thought it was great how the game shared similarities with other things that I thoroughly enjoyed such as RE 4 like controls with an Alien like story. How is this bad? All Zero punctuation did was beat up on the game for sharing similarities with other great things. Thats it... I guess everybody should hate Suzuki's new Hayabusa because it shares a lot of the styling cues form the original. Nah, great things are inspired by other great things. Dead Space was a hoot and I'm defiantely enjoying it a second time through.

I truly agree with you. People just like to dissect and over analyze everything. To me, dead space has a better plot than Half-life. Now all you fan boys can dissect that.

Obviously, to each his own. But if critics are going to go around and claim Dead Space as one of the greatest games ever, then I'm going to expect quite a bit from it. The game isn't bad - as I've said multiple times - but it is not even close to the top of my list. The illogical, unoriginal, disjointed and amateurish plot is a big part of that for me. The repetitive & uninspired level design only makes it works. The presentation, a couple of nice set pieces, and competent gameplay do redeem the game and make it passable, but there's a huge gap between passable and great.

You brought up Half Life and I think that's one of the games that did something genuinely great. The graphics, sound and gameplay elements were all pretty good, probably as comparable to other games released at the same time as Dead Space is today. Story wise, I agree that Half Life's plot was nothing special - IMO, the characters were more endearing than Dead Space, but overall, it was pretty generic rubbish. However, here is where Half Life and Dead Space differ: Half Life had level design, storytelling and scripting unlike any other game at the time. From the train ride that began the game, to the first time you see head crabs take over a scientist, to the squad tactics of the marine AI, to the lack of cut scenes (and any talking by Gordon), to those creatures that sat on the ceiling and "fish" up soldiers and eat them, it was really like playing through a movie. I had never seen anything of that sort in games before and it really changed the way first person shooters were done forever after.

Now if you're thinking "well, Dead Space did it's story telling exactly like Half Life", you're absolutely right. But nowadays, that isn't anything new. In fact, it's basically the norm. The same goes for everything else Dead Space does: it's all stuff that we've seen before many times. Again, that doesn't mean it's "bad". But without doing anything new, there is no way it should be counted amongst the all time great games.

I do agree that dead space is not the greatest game. I am just annoyed that they are attacking the plot as being terrible. Where as everyone is praising half-life having a good plot. The plot in half life involved you being part of a terribly gone wrong experiment, and you have to get out.

 

[Soundmanred]

It might not mean much, but it's the first PC game I've finished in a long time...

 

[hooflung]

I have the game on the PS3. I play it on a 55" Sony Bravia. I've never seen a better looking game on any platform and I am not willing to pay for it on the PC with its really crap controls to see it that much better.

I'd give the game a 90/100 overall on any platform. The PC from the anecdotal evidence of really awkward controls I'd say the PC would get a solid 83% for the game. Story is really good. EA even, strike me down with lightning for saying this, pulled off a great release with a decent prequel anime DVD and good comics. Game released in the right part of the year.

Almost makes me mad to give props to EA. Now that the short game review is up, if we are talking about the total package on the PC I'd give it a 20% because of the DRM.

 

[NYHoustonman]

Add me to those who thoroughly enjoyed the game (probably more than anything else released over the last two months).

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: Azn
Did you play the PC version or xbox? One thing I noticed is that the PC version had funky controls. Pushing so many keys just access the menu. Better PC game controller support in menu would have been nice. It took me hours just to configure my original xbox controller to make it work. The game crashes sometimes when you launch the game sometimes.

I didn't think the graphics was that great. No AA support and the textures weren't that sharp but the artwork was pretty good. Then again this is a console port like the others. Getting 130fps average I would have really like some AA at least for the PC version. I haven't even really played this yet cause I'm still working on fallout3. Dead space seems like it has its scary moments.

BTW the delay bug on the controls can easily be cured with disabling vsync in the game menu and enabling vsync in your video-card control panel.

hey we agree on something. lol. I dont understand all these comments about how good the graphics are. IMO they are NOT that great. the lack of AA was horrible looking and the in game AA just seem to make things blurry while leaving all the jaggies. the lighting and shadows are okay at best and the game has plenty of low res textures. STALKER had great indoor graphics and lighting and felt more realistic and much more creepy.

still Dead Space is one of the best games I have ever played. the controls felt fine to me with vsync off. If it was first person and had a little better graphics it would be a 10 in my book. the over the shoulder third person view was a little nauseating for me in some of the confined areas of the game.

 

[yusux]

Originally posted by: Molondo

Originally posted by: lavaheadache

Originally posted by: SniperDaws
This is the best fucking game made on the pc for ages, its well thought out, the story is good, the graphics are good, it doesnt get boring it just gets better and better the more you play it.

The Game deserves to be GOTY 2008 without a doubt. Crysis and that pile of shite Far Cry 2 can goto the back of the queue.

I mostly agree with you. Dead Space had me up late for a whole week. I loved every minute of it. Now I'm loving it again... this time with the military suit and maxed out weaponry(btw the ripper maxed out is bad ass!!). I bought Far Cry 2 and Dead space the same day. I installed FC2 played for an hour or so and lost interest. After having nearly shitted myself and panic attacks while killing necromorphs with the ripper, a case of malaria and some ordinary weapons was doing anything for me

I am only in chapter 4, do the power nodes come more available as i progress through the game? Right now i can't see my self upgrading anything at this pace.

up Pulse rifle, but not too much, then up either stasis or other weapons, the Force gun altfire is very good crowd controller and the Industrial Saw isn't bad too, and always save the game before you do any big decisions

 

[Pepsei]

i love dead space, this is a surprising hit for me since it almost fell under my radar until my friend recommended it.

this brings back the old memory of playing another similar game with great story, System Shock 2.

the third person view took me a while to get used to, and imo, the only drawback for me.

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

This was one of the best games I've played in a long time. I saw the ending coming from a mile away, but otherwise the game kicked ass. The graphics are amazing, it runs well, it's pretty polished (didn't run into any game-stopping bugs, just some ragdoll crap), the weapons are really fun, and the enemies are pretty creepy at times (they can get tiresome after the fifty millionth time that quarantine is called and they rush out).

 

[Liet]

Originally posted by: rumpleforeskinThe controls were the biggest let down for me, mouse input seems delayed and felt like it had a certain inertia to it. After 30 mins i abandoned the keyboard and mouse for my game pad and things progressed alot better. prehaps a future patch could address the PC input problems as i would have much prefured a mouse to the analog stick.

This is because while the devs would like you to believe they spent plenty of time making this a PC game... they didn't. Instead, the console analog controller code was left in Dead Space, and mouse input is simply run through this code. That's why it's necessary to boost sensitivity to the maximum AS WELL as disabling V-Sync if you want controls that even approach precision.

I think it's a good game and agree with most of the points in the OP's review. Clicheed and unoriginal story. Gameplay has some shining moments, but the atmosphere and graphic design are interesting enough to make you want to see the game through to the end.

Forgot to mention: There were a good amount of serious technical issues for PC users. Besides the ridiculously sluggish controls, there were numerous crashes.

 

[LumbergTech]

Originally posted by: Liet

Originally posted by: rumpleforeskinThe controls were the biggest let down for me, mouse input seems delayed and felt like it had a certain inertia to it. After 30 mins i abandoned the keyboard and mouse for my game pad and things progressed alot better. prehaps a future patch could address the PC input problems as i would have much prefured a mouse to the analog stick.

This is because while the devs would like you to believe they spent plenty of time making this a PC game... they didn't. Instead, the console analog controller code was left in Dead Space, and mouse input is simply run through this code. That's why it's necessary to boost sensitivity to the maximum AS WELL as disabling V-Sync if you want controls that even approach precision.

I think it's a good game and agree with most of the points in the OP's review. Clicheed and unoriginal story. Gameplay has some shining moments, but the atmosphere and graphic design are interesting enough to make you want to see the game through to the end.

Forgot to mention: There were a good amount of serious technical issues for PC users. Besides the ridiculously sluggish controls, there were numerous crashes.

I think the story actually had some ok parts to it, but the dialogue didnt expand on it enough, simply put there wasnt a full story..

also , i think that the story itself really wasnt the point, you are supposed to have a visceral experience where aliens are trying to rip your goddamn face off, its more of an action style than a soap opera although it does have a bit of that in it

i think how you rate the game highly depends on how you view games..which i know would have most people saying well no shit..but

if a game impresses me on a technical level (such as interesting use of physics or enemy behavior) i have a hard time not rating it a bit higher, if it does something i havent seen that gets it a lot of points and makes it harder for me to care about its other flaws, there is no such thing as a perfect story and i think largely that most of the criticisims of the game come from a highly idealistic mindset that is basically never appeased..

the game made me think about how i would feel if i was in that scenario, and i would be more focused on living than on worrying about other shit..

when my life is threatend i certainly won't be sitting around trying to think about the story behind how i got there until after my ass is safe

 

[Liet]

Yeah, I should've been more clear. The story wasn't great, but it didn't need to be because, as you said, the game was about survival, and the story wasn't intended to be mind-blowingly deep. The gameplay was good enough to carry it. I did enjoy it a lot, despite the incredibly annoying technical problems I had.

 

[Coldkilla]

The game was good play through. I played it right after I beat Silent Hill 3 and didn't find Dead Space to be 'scary'. Perhaps thats not what they were aiming for, but I guess it came across well enough..

 

[fallenangel99]

I enjoyed the game (although I only played for a couple of hours). The presentation was neat and unique to me. Got sick of killing the same monsters over and over (like any FPS i guess)

 

[Liet]

That's another thing... It wasn't really scary, but that's fine. If I ever need a game I have to stop playing after 30 minutes, I'll turn to FEAR. Jeez, can't even think about it without cringing.

 

[skace]

Played through on hard - loved the hell out of it. I'd say Dead Space was scarier than FEAR though...

 

[Liet]

We'll have to disagree there... FEAR was the only game that I had to stop playing sometimes. Dead Space had some creepy moments but I didn't feel the same sort of constant high tension. I think FEAR nailed the pacing between combat better. Sometimes you wouldn't have actual combat for 10 minutes, but they'd be some of the most high-strung tense 10 minutes of a game.