Dont they look promising? :D
Gameplay-9/10
Win
-strategic dismemberment
-node upgrade system
-zero gravity and vacuum
-wide range of quests and enemies
-some creative weapons improvised from non military tools
-deep story
Fail
-some buggy zero gravity navigation
Visual-8/10
-the most scary,violent and bloody game
-huge amount of environmental details and variety
-replace all gui into a realtime hologram system
-well designed enemies
Fail
-buggy physics interactions
-bugged vertical sync that wasnt patched
-lack of real anti aliasing
I almost forgot about this game after my first few hours of playing this excellent game ended in fustration due to low frame rate and sluggish controls.
However with the announcment of dead space 2, it sparks my interest all over again and i decided to get back into the game 2 years later only to realize my problem have not been patched. A quick search online isolated the problem on the buggy vertical sync but massive screen tearing occur during intense light flickering.
If its any other game, i probably would have just give up and stop playing. But this is different, the amount of gore, violence and the most immersive horror atmosphere ever reproduce on a game with a deep story connected to it. Its so good that you know there will definetly be sequels coming in, and as rare as it can get nowadays, a new francise is actually born.
A horror game relies on atmosphere and this game done it all right. You play as an engineer isaac and hes neither a super soldier from doom nor anything close to it. It is shown in his sluggish movement and lack of fantastic acrobatics capability. And in a horror game that has enemies swarming at you in various shape, sizes and speed, its a massive difference in how you approach this game. Up the ante further, this game is in third person with totally no in game gui other than options to adjust or quit the game. What that replace it is a realtime hologram system for items, quest objectives and weapon ammo. You also have a more traditional HP bar but it is displayed at your spinal cord. This realtime system means u may get attack while reading quest or accessing your items which make this game feels more realistic and makes you think twice before accessing your items in the midst of battle.
Now to the juicy part why we love horror games, the gore. Instead of using headshot to kill kill traditional zombies, spacefaring zombies can still operate without their cranium intact so the best way is to dismemberment limb by limb till they bleed to death. While they come in small numbers at the start of the game to let you enjoy this satisfying killing mechanic. But once you progress deep into the game, be ready to see limbs fly as you panically unleash your ammunitions blindly. To aid you, your suit possess stasis technology to slow objects or zombie down.But chances are, one surviving zombie with broken legs crawled up to you in the midst of confusion and stab you right in your groin. If your hp reaches zero, the strategic dismemberment is displayed on you too, sometimes even meeting worst fate then you could unleash on the zombies, like grabbing your head and tear it away with your spine still intact with your skull. Of course, there are some gorgeous moments for your failure to prevent zombies reaching your temple of god. One delicious example, is tearing away the zombie baby clinging to you with his umbilical cord, smash his head on the ground and kick him away like a soccer ball. The average joe attribute of isaac is shown in close combat too as he behaves in pure rage and fear rather than calculative destruction of a seasoned soldier.
The atmosphere, gameplay and gore is enough to make this a great game but the developers went a step further with a deep and engaging story. Starts out like the other more common horror genre but the game take its time to slowly reveals the web of conspiracy that creates the nightmare you ended up. But it is narrated through conversation and text recording, giving you a glimpse of chaos of the outside universe while being trap in your prison of zombies.
However this game is not without its shortcoming. Most notably is the one i commented at the start of the article. Theres also the lack of anti aliasing for the pc version, with the usage of blur shader to smooth out aliasing which degrades the overall visual quality. The physics system is also pretty primitive and creates numerous glitchy moments which spoil the realism of the game. While the game recreates zero gravity and vacuum moments very well, traveling through a zero gravity area is a pain. You have to right click then press space to jump around as your suit would stick to a surface like a lizard. But many logical area that suppose to be accessable is not available due to a incomplete waypoint caculation of the game itself.
But i m pleased to announced the shortcoming does not spoil the overall experience of this excellent game. Chances is you have completed the game long ahead of me, but by any chance you miss this game, give it a try. But be warn, this game is not for the fainthearted.
My favourite toy!!
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bigger
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