A few days ago I received Dead Space (PC) in the mail as a gift from a friend. I know I am a bit late to the party, but I must admit I had very little interest in this game when it first came out. Generally speaking, I dislike overly creepy games or ones containing excessive amounts of graphic gore. However, I have been slowly branching out and trying games I once considered creepy, and this one came highly recommended, so I decided to give it a go.
I am approximately halfway through the game, and so far my impressions of it are pretty good. The first thing that caught my attention was the visuals. I was surprised how good it looked and ran on my aging PC. The textures and details are top notch and very well done, and I have not had a single hitch running the game. The controls are also very fluid and handle well. It somewhat reminds me of Resident Evil 4 and 5 with the camera and handling of weapons, although I must admit the Dead Space system seems a bit more polished and improved. Overall, I am impressed.
One thing contributing to this, and by far the part I love most, is the interface. There is no constant HUD on the screen with character information. Instead, all information is displayed visually within the world itself. Player health and stasis status are visually represented on two areas of the character’s suit. Weapon ammunition is displayed on the weapon itself when it is readied by the user. Everything feels like part of the world around you, and it works very well.
If the player needs to access more complex features like the inventory or map, it is all displayed in virtual panels in front of the character, never visually removing you from the world you are in. You can still pan the camera while these displays are up, and to put it simply, it just looks cool.
Despite being halfway through the game, I still find myself impressed with the interface the most. It is great to look at, and works so well with keeping the player involved in the world and not feeling like it is a video game. It is far from perfect though, as the inventory system feels slightly inefficient with the key setup on the PC, but otherwise it is fairly enjoyable.
I guess it seems weird to write a post just about the interface of Dead Space, but it is extremely rare to come across a game that implements this type of system this well. Other games that try often end up with clunky results, or just remove elements entirely and replace them with regenerating aspects (health, ammo, etc) that do not require any real visual implementation.
As for the game itself, I am curious to see where it ends up. The level of creepiness has dipped down quite a bit and I hardly notice it anymore, although the gore seems a bit excessive at times. The gameplay is fun though, and I am enjoying the weapons quite a bit. I absolutely love the line gun when multiple enemies are close together in front of me. <3
3 Comments
Wow, that really looks nice. I picked Dead Space up for $15 on a steam deal (sorry :p) but still haven’t gotten around to playing it yet but this has given me a good reason to give it a shot.
Question, what are you using on the website for that video?
It is worth a shot if you have some spare time. It gets a little predictable at times, but it is a solid game overall. Granted, I have yet to complete it, so I cannot speak for all of it yet!
For the video, I use a Wordpress plug-in called Hana FLV Player. It is fairly nice, and I enjoy it more than simply uploading to Youtube and using their player. I feel like I have a little more freedom using my own, and it just looks a bit more clean and simple. Website for it is:
http://wpmarketing.org/wp-plugins/hana-flv-player/
I played it on PS3, and agree completely that it is a good game. What I like most is that DS reminds me somehow atmosphere of Alien movies. Mixture of mild horror and good action.