[kav]

Does Dead Space live up to its recent hype? Please vote in our poll once you've played enough of the game to judge it, and leave some comments in this thread.

[sdb123]

I've voted Excellent for Dead Space.

This game took me by surprise, for some reason it had slipped under my radar; tbh it has been released in one of the most difficult times for 360 owners as there are so many top titles being released.

It's not as scary as has been made out however the game always manages to keep you on the edge of your seat due to the claustrophobic nature of the environment and also the clever lighting and shadows. The soundtrack deserves special mention and it excels on a well set-up surround sound system.

The only negative for me at the moment is a nagging doubt about the longevity of the game following completion.

Fantastic single-player fun.

[noisecrime]

Same from me an excellent game.

Overall impressions are of a very tight game in terms of gameplay, with stunning well detailed environments, ranging from claustrophobic corridors to vast open areas (this ship really is big!). Shadows and lighting are superb, as well as HRD (High dynamic range) which for once is used to great effect due to some extreme light sources in the game, enough that when playing in darkness I almost felt like i needed to shield my eyes!

Gameplay is suitably tense and should offer even the most hardened of players a few jumps. However its nowhere near as scary or terrifying as marketing would lead you to believe, unlkess you of a nervous disposition

The guns are varied, although fun to try out, its hard to beat the default plasma cutter (when upgraded). The focus on dismemberment in order to kill the enemies works very well in practice, requiring a cool head and much more calculated approach.

The plot is as ever cliche, yet another organism in space taking over bodies of the dead type thing. However its got a good level of depth to it, which along with some embellishments makes it engaging enough for a game. The mixture of text, audio and video logs really help to tell the story, although it was all to easy to lose focus on them as more pressing issues such as survival always took priority.

The puzzles are simple but inventive, as is the RPG element. Norhing to get overly excited about, but enough to make you think about what your doing or deliberate on what you spend your credits on.

There are a few niggles. I still don't believe there was any gain in making the inventory and other screens non-pausable, although it didn't hinder the game as badly as I thought it might since you only ever needed to access it in danger if you wanted to boost your stasis supply. The asteroid shooting and to a lesser extent the second time you have to use the same gun seemed grossly miss-balanced, where luck is the deciding factor. The release of a bonus free suit download was good on the surface, but it can only be replaced with a higher value suit, either the one you can buy for 200MSP or the military suit you get for completing the game. Which means once you put it on you wont be able to upgrade its initially impressive 10% armour, but which is insufficient by the end of the game.

Overall though a great game, easily as enjoyable as say BioShock, but perhaps with a little less depth and more focus on killing. Defiantly worth a rent if not a buy. It may be short on replay value unless you want to go for the 'one gun' achievement, or feel like trying 'Impossible' difficulty (only unlocked once you beat the game first) and that really is hard.


Who the heck gave it a 1 the instant the thread came up?

[kav]

Originally Posted by noisecrime

Who the heck gave it a 1 the instant the thread came up?

dub007, who judging by his posts seems to be your garden-variety console-biased fanboy, therefore he took it upon himself to spoil the poll. Pathetic really, but what can you do?

[Deputy Dawg UK]

Not finished it yet (Chapter 8) but up to now absolutely excellent even considered o/s but diificult when not quite finished it !!!!

[jim_is_ere]

Best game played this year for me.

Normally trade games once I finished them, but with Dead Space I think I will be playing through again to get all the achievements

Cheers

Jim

[rio1981]

Four chapters down for me so I won't put a score in yet but it's great when you know there's a game that looks good in trailers, and you look forward to, and then it delivers on all counts.

Fantastic use of visuals and sound to create a nice/horrible (delete as applicable!) atmosphere, a decent story - and also refreshing that it's an enjoyable game that isn't a sequel.

I'm a complete coward when it comes to films and games, so this game has me on edge pretty much all the time! And I met my first Brutes last night, and consequently cacked meself...

This is one that I will definitely give multiple playthroughs. So far this game is a 9, after the next 8 chapters we'll see whether that changes...

[shagaboopon]

Originally Posted by kavanf1

dub007, who judging by his posts seems to be your garden-variety console-biased fanboy, therefore he took it upon himself to spoil the poll. Pathetic really, but what can you do?

Ban them for consistantly acting like a tit, or send 100's of console fanboys over to ruin his precious LBP, Resistance 2 and Killzone 2 review threads. Personally I'll take another option which is name and shame the pathetic fanboys in the first page of every thread they vote in and hope one day a mod will bother to act on them.

In other news, I read a magazine today that gave this a ten so will be interested in your comments guys as I'm partially interested in this now.

[noisecrime]

Originally Posted by shagaboopon

Ban them for consistantly acting like a tit, or send 100's of console fanboys over to ruin his precious LBP, Resistance 2 and Killzone 2 review threads.

The odd thing though, from a quick glance of his posts is that he's never once commented on Dead Space on either console forum, its just like out of the blue he decided to hate the game.

[Slyboy]

Loved the game, completed it after 4 very long days (well more like nights really) from playing from 9pm until 2 or 3am!!.

So good that I completed it at 2am (and had work the next day) but immediately had to restart and play through the first two levels again with all my good weapons just for fun.

Its a good length - for me probably about 20 hours gameplay or so. Will also play through this multiple times on different difficulties just for fun.

This could possibly be game of the year, although my current fav is Rock Band.

[lord-dudester]

game of the year for me so far...

i really enjoyed playing this from start to finish. excellent story, visuals and a soundtrack delivery via dolby digital better than any game before it ever

only downside, its a little short, if you get right stuck in you'll finish it in under a week

highly recommended

[Munkey Boy]

Originally Posted by noisecrime

The odd thing though, from a quick glance of his posts is that he's never once commented on Dead Space on either console forum, its just like out of the blue he decided to hate the game.

Without wanting to turn this into the dub007 hating thread, I'll just point out that people who are spotted as consistent spoilers do get infractions, and when the average score is calculated in the stickied review thread, spoiled votes are removed.

Great game by the way, too early to vote for me, but excellent so far!

[kav]

Shagaboopon, although I haven't gotten far myself, I would highly recommend this game. View is TPS a la Gears, which I didn't like at first, but only because I'm so used to FPS's. Visuals are top-notch, including some amazing strobing effects with flickering lights, etc - major epilepsy warning!

Sound is absolutely amazing, and really makes the game stand out. I'm playing it using my new X1 headphones and it is scaring the bejeebus out of me! You can really get immersed in it by knocking the lights out and turning the volume up - though it's not doing my heart any favours!

Although you can treat it as a shooter, it also helps to play it tactically, and often you will find yourself getting killed over and over until you work out a certain strategy to taking a group of enemies out. Again, this makes it stand out from your average game.

I haven't voted on it yet, and won't until I've finished it, but I know it's going to get a good score.

[shagaboopon]

Originally Posted by kavanf1

Shagaboopon, although I haven't gotten far myself, I would highly recommend this game. View is TPS a la Gears, which I didn't like at first, but only because I'm so used to FPS's. Visuals are top-notch, including some amazing strobing effects with flickering lights, etc - major epilepsy warning!

Sound is absolutely amazing, and really makes the game stand out. I'm playing it using my new X1 headphones and it is scaring the bejeebus out of me! You can really get immersed in it by knocking the lights out and turning the volume up - though it's not doing my heart any favours!

Although you can treat it as a shooter, it also helps to play it tactically, and often you will find yourself getting killed over and over until you work out a certain strategy to taking a group of enemies out. Again, this makes it stand out from your average game.

I haven't voted on it yet, and won't until I've finished it, but I know it's going to get a good score.

I think this is going to be one for the xmas stocking as I'll have plenty to keep me occupied till then. I love Rock Band and Guitar Hero but combined with Force Unleashed, Lego Batman, Gears 2, Fable II and maybe LBP I think I'll leave it as a present given I'm very hard to buy for.

[kopchoir]

Senational game really is a joy to play best single player game i have played in a very long time

[dng007]

I voted a '9'.

An absolutely superb game, and like others - it took me completely by surprise, not having really read anything much about it prior to buying.

Graphics and sound are superb - great fun playing in the dark with headphones on! Personally can't think of anything negative to say about it at all. Loved the weapons. The sound was great. Loved the varied environs. The first time you go through an airlock in to vacuum and the way the sound of your footsteps and weapons firing changes is great.

Definately one of my favourites this year.

[PaulieBeef]

When I first saw the videos for this game on marketplace, I thought "Well, that looks a bit naff. Probably one to avoid", and thought no more of it. However when all of the good reviews started to come out I decided I'd give it a go. And am I glad I did - this has been one of my favourite game experiences this year. I loved everything about the game - the atmosphere, graphics, setting, and the sense of sheer terror as you're walking down darkened corridors with your finger constantly holding LT to keep your gun at the ready. Can't really come up with too many negatives with the exception that it's a bit derivative (resi evil, bioshock, aliens, event horizon - as others have mentioned) - but when you look at the quality of the sources from which it's been derived, it's certainly no bad thing! 9/10 from me (9.5 if there were half measures!).

[CAS FAN]

Originally Posted by kavanf1

dub007, who judging by his posts seems to be your garden-variety console-biased fanboy, therefore he took it upon himself to spoil the poll. Pathetic really, but what can you do?

God knows what folk think they achieve by spoiler voting . All it shows is a) they are a few slices short of the full loaf or b) they really have no real idea of what makes a good or bad video game.

Not sure how there's any console specific fanboyism going on here either. If that's the intention then I guess that point has also been missed by the voter as this is a cross platform title, which is good on all platforms I believe.

Anyway, looks a great title this so i'll have to pick it up once the festive season is over. There's an overwhelming amount of 9/10's and it's the consistency of voting that impresses me here. I'm sure that if this game had it's fan following (like a Gears or Halo) then about half of those 9's would turn into 10's.

[rio1981]

Finally got around to finishing this yesterday, a brilliant experience all-round.

A great setting with tons of atmosphere, a good story and terrific enemies too. I've traded it now whilst it still holds good value but I might pick it up again on the cheap in the future for another run-through.

Top marks for me, 10/10, can't fault it

[funkyspider]

This completely passed me by on release, just borrowed it and I've got to say it's excellent.

Anyone who loves the atmosphere of Bioshock will enjoy this. It's got the same feeling of tension - but very cleverly there will be several rooms you can walk through without incident, then all of a sudden some hideous creature will leap out at you with perfect timing accompanied by a superb music score soundtrack. I'm not generally a fan of music in games, but its very well produced and like all the best horror movies contributes to the tension beautifully without being intrusive to the gameplay. The sound in general is very well produced and its great in 5.1 with just enough eerie noises from the rear speakers to fully immerse you.

Slow to load off DVD it really speeds up whe you install it on the HDD. When you get killed you don't have to restart from miles back, which is nice. The right stick click to guide you by drawing a laser type line along the floor can sometimes spin you round a bit strangely, but its an idea I've not seen before in a game and works really well.

Im sure I spotted it quite cheap (for a recent release) on hotukdeals website, and it's well worth picking up at the reduced price.

As for the poll spoiler on this thread - what a complete arse. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I'd be surprised if anyone genuinely rated this so low.

[Crovon]

I picked this up on release but then had to sell it as I needed funds. I never got the chance to finish it, until yesterday.

It came through from lovefilm and I thought Id give it a fair crack and try to get it done.

Fantastic is all I can say!!
Possibly THE best, SP survival horror game I have ever played, and Ive done all the resi's throughout history and various other spinoffs etc.

The graphics are truely beautiful at times, the lighting, the atmosphere and the sound - simply stunning!!

Please, if you are a fan of the genre, then it would be criminal to miss out on it.

Roll on dead space 2.

[Maxcherry2]

Great game. Play it with the lights off and the surround cranked up a bit and you will I promise you will nearly S#~t yourself! Very scary at times.

[jaymcphee]

fantastic game in my opinion! so many jumpy bits its unreal. not bad for an EA title, you would have thought capcom had made it if it wasnt for the big EA symbol haha

[Tetlee]

Originally Posted by jimihifi

Fantastic is all I can say!!
Possibly THE best, SP survival horror game I have ever played, and Ive done all the resi's throughout history and various other spinoffs etc.

Fantastic game indeed, THE best though? Better than Resident Evil 1?

For some reason poll seems to be closed now but I would have voted a 9/10 for this game, great game which only falls short in a few areas(really don't like live inventorys, even if they are supposed to add to the tention, also you can't help but find it a bit predictable, but hard to avoid after playing so many survivial horrors I suppose).

Atmosphere was great, guide line generally great, but could also be a right pain when needing to run or when it would spin you in the opposite direction when you didn't want the camera to move. All in all great game though, now I can move on to Alan Wake and see how that compares

[vincechu]

I have to say that this is a good game, i would have given it a 7/10. It does get pretty scary at times, but eventually i found it predictable and later found it began to bore me.

[_mike_]

brilliant game! i play it from time to time and it still does shock me ..5.1 mandatory

9/10


currently playing 2nd round with the Level 6 suit and running maniac with force gun and contact beam .. flamethrower is not efficient unless you play on easy difficulty

wonder if someone can recommend any of the DLCs? i am fancy the military pack as its a nice add on for the military suit and upgrade the damage of all weapons ..might beusefull when trying to beat the impossible mode

Dead Space DLC: A Guide - The Original Dead Space - Dead Space: EA Forums

[ineedamonk]

Originally Posted by _mike_

brilliant game! i play it from time to time and it still does shock me ..5.1 mandatory

9/10


currently playing 2nd round with the Level 6 suit and running maniac with force gun and contact beam .. flamethrower is not efficient unless you play on easy difficulty

wonder if someone can recommend any of the DLCs? i am fancy the military pack as its a nice add on for the military suit and upgrade the damage of all weapons ..might beusefull when trying to beat the impossible mode

Dead Space DLC: A Guide - The Original Dead Space - Dead Space: EA Forums

Impossible difficulty isn't really all that tough. I managed to do it with a level 2 suit and using just the plasma cutter. Using the one weapon probably helped as any credits I had I just spent on ammo so I didn't run out and power nodes to max out the cutter, it's easily the best weapon in the game imo. That's it really, ammo is the only real problem as you go through it pretty quick compared to other difficulties 'cause the limbs take 4 hits to break on this one.

[quarry2006]

So it's not at all "samey" from level to level then? I've always been put off getting this game based on the free download, it just didn't do anything for me although I've been told it's not indicative of the game as a whole.

[Satsui_Ryu]

After buying the game at launch - and several times since - I finally decided to get stuck into Dead Space a few days ago. Even after all the praise it's received over the last two years, I've found that the game has still managed to go above and beyond my expectations.

The pacing, storytelling, atmosphere and action are all superb. It feels like a real quality game, and one that I've enjoyed from start to finish - even if it did take me two years to get past the first chapter.

9/10

[Civildrone]

One of the 1st games which i really thought wow, and couldnt stop playing, a bit like mass effect if you know what i mean. not too scarry as ppl put it across but has its moments. Variety of weapons, nice storyline, another 5/5 game