Deadspace: Well, what about it?

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Unfortunately, I’m currently deep in Rochester, Minnesota far and away from the excitement and bother of having a cable modem. In fact: I’m currently online at the blistering speed of 46K per second, and that’s not quite fast enough for me to make this anything else than a quick text only mini-review. Seriously.

Whats that you say? You could easily post pictures on a 56K modem? Maybe. But this is not only an office, but my 16 month old nephew’s room. Ah I see you nodding your head now, truely this is a den of horror and intrigue and my visit must be brief.

There is noise, clamor and drool involved. Lots of drool. And moo-cows. Lot’s of them. I’m on a farm in fact. Talking about DEADSPACE.

DEADSPACE, by in large, lives up to both the ideas spouted by it’s creators and my hopes as to what the game would be. It’s less survival horror than one would think -for a time- and then, as you progress and both ammo and life become hard to find accessories, it becomes survival horror in truth.

The story line is one both new and old: You, the protagonist, the average joe, on a routine mission to wherever when things go completely and utterly FUBAR. Trapped. Harried by monsters/demons/terrorists/zombies/space zombies/demon zombies or whatever. Limited health. Even more limited ammo. Constraining limits and slots as to what you can carry. Been there. Done that.

However, DEADSPACE shines in both how it takes what could have been boring and tiresome and makes for both a great story (so far at least) but an excellent pacing that will have you commiserating with the few survivors left. In short, you are the worlds only surviving plumber in a constant race against some of the worst shit ever. Someone flushed one hell of a papertowel.

Issac, the protagonist has some hope, he has the best collection of sharp, bladed energy tools this side of EVIL DEAD; he has the stomping charisma of a mosh-pit punk, and the power to turn the air around his enemies to glue. He has magnetic boots.

Weapon wise, almost everything you find or buy in the game is really a tool for mining. There is only one true gun in the game and it eats through ammo like crazy. The rest of the devices are pretty much left up to you to find a favorite with, and sicne everything in the game can be bought, sold, upgraded, dropped, and sold again your best bet is to find a few favorites and concentrate and upgrading them into something badass.

Enemies are a horrorshow themselves; as varied as the contents of the human body, since they are pretty much made of nothing more than messily dismembered former humans. Did I mention that some of them can reanimate human corpses as you play, along with the enemies you leave behind? Whoops. PROTIP: Stomp. Dismember. Purge EVERY BODY YOU COME ACROSS. They are not your friends, they are potential problems at this point. Every corpse you leave may come back, give the enemy NOTHING to work with. I spent my free time throwing bodies into fire, space and pushing them into doors to make sure that the damn infector life-form had to come at me instead of those juicy meat tidbits.

I haven’t enjoyed such a huge menagerie of enemies in years. It feels like the designers had the most fun in not only finding death animations for Issac himself (there’s at least 50 ways to die in the game, each uniquely animated), but that they had to make the alien life you fight as varied as possible. Necromorphs stumble blindly towards you, they run, slither and flip through the pipeways, they build humans into sentry stations, infest walls, leave traps, possess bodies into faster more deadly versions of themselves, each one has a unique instant kill they can use on you if you get to close. They are as varied as evil itself.

This game is fun. It’s fun to find better ways to slow enemies down and kill them more throroughly, it’s fun to see they hired decent voice actors to make the cutscenes interesting, it’s fun that you can use the enviroment in a hundred ways to kill, your foes, it’s fun to hear them scream in slow-mo, it’s fun to recognize traps and set them off early, it’s even more fun to rip off an exploding arm and fling it into a crowd of them and watch the whole mob ignite in a firestorm. It’s most fun to push a necromorph into a misfiring medical laser and watch him (or her) get instantly dissected. And the gravity plates. Oh man, when you get them to walk on one it’s tough not to giggle manically at the carnage that ensues.

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Just picture some raw meat okay? Now kick that meat into traffic. The game can be that great.

Is it scary? At first I didn’t think so, but as the game progresses, the ramping up of atmosphere fills you with sheer dread of going forward any longer. Every weapon becomes a last ditch effort to just PUSH THEM BACK OH NO I’M OUT OH SHIT OH SHIT! and you’re back running with a gibbering mob of disgusting beasts on your trail. But the game is so fun to play that you keep on tracking, I lost 4 hours alone just having a blast, even when I got stuck or lost. You literally don’t care that the game is pretty linear, because you keep unlocking more and more of the ship and the atmosphere itself? EA did themselves proud on this one, this makes up for at least half the Madden output that torments humanity to this day. From the HUD-less screen to innovative weapons and enemies themselves; from the tiny details that matter, like rivets and the slow pulse of your breath in your helmet when you step into zero-G, the game drips concern and care with the enviroments. Advertisments that set the tone of the time period and small details like personal effects and notes are everywhere, the way the menus in-game work is absolutely great, bringing you more in-touch with the protagonist. And best of all? You have to think. Should I upgrade this over this? What’s more important right now? More slots for ammo or more power? What gun is best against this enemy? Should I slow him or him down? What can I do? What can I use in this room to save that one crucial shot for last? What? Where? How?

DEADSPACE makes me feel awesome, both in it’s smooth controls and satisfying presentation. It’s not perfect of course, but I’m already planning how next I want to tackle playing it. It’s fun, pure and simple.

I could go on for hours. I’ve loved this game from second one, I’ve told everyone I know they should play it, rent it, whatever. Just for those small visceral moments that blossom (like the bloom of blood in water) into some of the most engaging gaming moments I have ever had.

Check it out for one thing only if you must: using the futuristic equivalent to a rotary saw to systematically decimate a possessed infant monstrosity enough that it sails into space, wailing.

Fuck this game is awesome.

- Tenno

Posted by Tenno