Edward 1Dead Space 2 expectations
May 17th 2010 23:04
Dead Space gives a nice tilt-of-the-hat to the horror game genre. Will the sequel do the same?
The setting and reveal of the main character’s face in the second trailer of the sequel gave me doubts. But I was proven wrong before.
My first impressions of the first Dead Space weren’t good. At a Supernova convention in Sydney, a large, black, enclosed booth sits near the entrance of the centre, giving off a feeling of mystery and intrigue. Unsuspected geeks walked into the pitch black encasing, greeted by two LCD screens ready to play the first Dead Space trailer. The main character, Isaac Clarke, gets killed in several ways by aliens coming out of the dark for two minutes. I walked out and can’t help but shrug at what seemed to be another Doom clone. I might have panned the trailer, but I picked up the comic book because Ben Templesmith was also at the event and is an awesome person.
Fast forward to its release, where it may have taken inspiration from Dooms atmospheric setting, it also has taken the gameplay of Resident Evil 4 as well. But Dead Space is more than a Resident Evil 4 clone. It has taken the controls from its obvious inspiration and twists it into a horror game worthy of its own name.
Each part of the space ship the first game is set in, Ishimura, is brought to life by many small, but very detailed visuals hinting the crew’s fate. Intriguing back story expanded in its own mini comic book series and an animated movie. While in the game, several audio logs, a nod to Doom 3, develops the story.
The developer, Visceral, know how to keep the player entrenched into the game’s world. Implementing mechanics from several key games in the horror genre’s history and a feature rarely used by other horror games, but should be a staple: Its real-time inventory screen, a hologram popping in front of the player used to check information, playback audio clips and gain access to inventory. It can be terrifying when you’re forced to open up the screen to find the right health pack while a monster is jittering its way towards you. Many moments in the game are high tension, and showcase a character which gives a nod to Resident Evil 3’s “Nemesis” monster. It unfolds its tale like a third person Half Life game. The game’s precise controls take a few hours to get fully used to, with most death scenes contributed to human. Switching weapons are as easy as hitting a D-pad direction, and aiming at the regenerative aliens is a breeze when the hands aren’t shaking.
Now that the sequel has turned its ugly head in the form of two trailers, do I expect more of the same thing? For what Dead Space was made out of. Yes. And I expect it to play like the swan song of the horror genre its predecessor is.
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