I’ve been rather slowly playing through Dead Space on my iPhone, which I’m enjoying. Mini-review: The controls are awesome (although not without limitations due to the phone’s small size); the sound, including voice acting, is many notches above anything I’ve seen for iOS. My only criticisms are first that the monsters don’t look quite as good as the protagonist, whose suit is rendered beautifully; and second that these are some well-behaved monsters, patiently waiting until I’ve hit a button before popping up out of nowhere and attacking en masse. It takes me out of the game a bit. Seems like the pacing could be a lot more organic than that.
Anyway, I’ve got an Xbox 360 mostly collecting dust and I’m wondering if it would be worth the $15 or so to pick up Dead Space. But there’s a caveat: I’m a terrible scaredy cat. My SO calls it an overactive startle reflex, and that’s putting it perhaps too clinically—if, say, I’m cleaning dishes and she comes up behind me to say something, it frightens me enough to yelp. Cheesy haunted houses turn me into a quivering child. So I’ve not had a lot of success playing through frightening games like Resident Evil. (Closest I’ve come is Eternal Darkness.)
But I’ve looked at reviews of Dead Space and for some reason I really want to play it. Do you think I can force myself through it? I’m thinking that doing this sort of thing might help with my irritating fearfulness. (Any related experience with that is of course welcome, although I suppose this isn’t the right forum.)
It also might be relevant to note that I’m really pretty terrible at games. The last game I played all the way through (and thoroughly enjoyed, by the way) was Batman: Arkham Asylum, which I conservatively estimate took me about twenty or so hours. That seems to be double or triple the average. Games I’ve given up in frustration include Saboteur, which I had been looking forward to, and Modern Warfare 2 (about two-thirds of the way through—I’m especially bad at first-person shooters, I suppose).
How big an investment is 15 bucks for you? DS is one of the best horror games I’ve ever played, but a lot of that horror is due to surprise moments. You’ll often find yourself walking back through a corridor that you are certain you just cleared only to have another monster get a jump on you through the ceiling. Cheap? Yes, but also very effective. There is also a fair bit of third person shooting in stressful situations where taking your time for careful aiming is impossible. All in all, it doesn’t seem to be a game you’ll enjoy, but then again, how much is $15 anyway?
By coincidence, I’ve just started playing Dead Space myself (yes, the first one, I’m late to the party). I’m about three levels in. So far, there is indeed some surprising stuff, loud things jumping out and going “RAAA, I’M A MONSTA!” The thing is, most of these moments, at least so far, are pretty easy to see coming. As in, “Oh look, a save point, I must be about to be jumped.” I suppose it’s intense for some folks, but so far at least, the scares seem pretty well telegraphed. At least, if you’re as familiar with the genre as me…
As a follow up, I did indeed pick up Dead Space over the weekend. I’d heard how scary it was – a friend could only play it during daylight, she claims – but it’s surprisingly … well, docile isn’t the right word, but something like that. The scary parts are when you’re forced to go through the dark, but the game usually provides a pretty healthy amount of light.
Dislikes: inventory management, ugh. And the asteroid shooting, which took me probably five or six tries just to barely squeak through.
It starts off scary because the music and the lighting is very horror-movie-ish, but you get used to that after a while and then it feels like a normal third-person shooter. Good fun, though.
Got through Level 5 tonight, and I’m not spoiling anything when I say that watching a 20-second death animation as a horrible beast graphically rips me apart loses its “punch” and frankly gets tedious and irritating after banging my head against the same section half a dozen times.
Lots of monsters jumping out from behind doors etc. But the really creepy parts are where you come across survivors (medical clinic bay suicide anyone?) shudder
After frustrating myself by routinely accidentally calling forth stasis, I looked up a stasis-recharging cheat – if you’re playing on the Xbox it’s xyyxy from pause. Without that, the scenario I assume you’re referring to would been really irritating.