Feeling quite alive in Dead Space

Today I completed the Sci-Fi horror game Dead Space, and with it, conquered my irrational fear of scary video games. I kinda wuss out sometimes. Stuff makes me jump. Sounds make me look around like I am being hunted. It's spooky, OK? Either way, I challenged on, beat it, and more importantly loved it more and more the further I got. There were an incredible number of things that went really well in this one, and in a year where it had to stack up against GTA IV and Fall Out 3, not to mention Gears 2, Dead Space will be passed over by too many. Read this poorly written review, and please give the game a shot.

We can begin with the story. I love the world design and the notion that humanity has developed ships and fleets that roam the galaxy tearing apart planets to harvest them. The whole "derelict space craft with aliens on board" is over played a bit, but as Dead Space's story develops and you learn more about what you encounter, you become enthralled in the religion, technology and people the game thrusts upon you. So while it started fast and kept a moderate pace of story content, the final few chapters (12 total) really ramped up the excitement of discovering your protagonist's fate.

The art and aesthetics are where this really becomes a gem. Blood, destruction, blood, guts, blood, flickering lights.. and you get it, blood. It is everywhere and its not over done, but done just well enough to make you imagine each scene's occurrences before you arrived. The sound design is phenomenal, and possibly the single best effect of the whole game. The things you hear that are just sound track merge so well with the sounds of creatures and machinery you interact with, that you struggle to tell if you are currently being hunted or are safe. The game manages to never make you feel truly secure, always keeping you on your toes, never rewarding you with a sense of security after a battle. Ya know how in old cartoons if a door or boulder or anything in the scene were going to be a part of the animation, it had a different color or look than the backdrop? You could tell what was part of the foreground and not the background. Well in Dead Space, you can't. It merges into one freaky world audibly and visually so well.

Some of my favorite aspects of the game were its HUD design and weaponry. All menus, controls, maps, video dialog, all come up from a holographic projection in your suit. With your character set slightly off to the left in third person, your suit projects navigation, inventory and weaponry to the right of the screen. Once you master an amazingly simple control scheme, the game moves fluidly and you feel as if you really stand in the ship, running for your own hide. The weaponry is a strong suit for the game because they did not just arm you with machine guns, rocket launchers and lasers. Managing to turn mining equipment into powerful weapons, and give you the ability to upgrade them as the game moves on, really added to the helpless non-soldier feeling of your character.

Dead Space does have its fall offs. You never really feel much emotion from or for the main character. No voice, face or personality makes him hard to connect to, particularly in respect to his love interest on the ship. I found out late that you have the ability to go back and read his journal, but it does not help as much as is needed. The other major gripes are the times the game tries to be something it isn't. Playing basketball and asteroids is not the strong suit of Dead Space, but they included it to break up the story I suppose. For me, it just ruined the flow.

In the end, the game got almost everything right. Fresh weaponry and inventory ideas, unrelenting pursuit and fear, the morbid quiet of outer space. Dead Space comes up huge, and is worth every childish scream that made me feel like a lil girl.

Score: 5 out of 5 headless floating corpses dripping blood all over my TV screen.

Mega Man is a real prick

Mega Man taunts me. I wrote that Dead Space was scary? How about a tiny 8-bit demon who laughs at you in your sleep? I think my "gamerscore" made me too cocky, or maybe the ease of games these days is to blame, but my 10 year old self would be ashamed. Mega Man 9, the "reboot" of the series on XBLA and PSN is old school hard. Rendered in beautiful 8-bit video and sound, it makes you shrink 2 feet (well for me 0) and act like a kid again. The game triumphantly brings back all the nostalgic habits of your retro gaming past. Button mashing, edge of your seat screaming at the TV, cookies and Mountain Dew... yum. Every Mega Man game to me from 1 to 5, was really just the same. Yea, new bosses or gimmicks, but puzzles run together and themes kind of get stale. It was what it was though and you played for the joy of the familiar. That past day is so old now, it really isn't familiar, but a friend I am happy to reacquaint with now that winter and video game season is setting in.

5 out of 5 "I'm never getting far enough in this game to rate it"'s.

In about a month I'll be writing my top five albums of the year again. I have been pondering what I really liked, what I missed, because honestly I know I've missed a bunch no longer being around radio operations. I try and listen to several different indie feeds and I know when my favorites of the genre are performing anew, but obviously some will slip through the cracks. I need to fill up on a few new tunes before my plane rides this holiday season kick up. Suggestions are much appreciated.

And now, several fractured thoughts from a tired mind: Personally, I am really excited to get home for Thanksgiving. Shit has been weird around these parts lately. I've had struggles at work, however I am in a happier and much more productive mode now. Stress is still high but I think I have evolved and am dealing with it much better than before. Training wheels have rusted off kid. Personal life continues to baffle me. Hockey season ended with a heroic playoff drive and victory, but now I'll be on the shelf for awhile so I can heal my back. And let us just say, outside of "Mickey", boy have I hit a cold streak.. ouch. Guess I need a hair cut. I really wanted to finally move downtown into this loft right next to Camden yard, but nothing was available in the size I wanted; the waiting shall continue. Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind was on to something I think. I would like a cheeseburger. Maybe a coke... eh lets make that a beer. Happy Sat night all.

Gametober Part 2

Wow! I've been on the blogosphere for 4 days and already I'm my own rating system! Not bad for a weed growing out of the cracks in the internet. As Jason alluded, it is in fact that wonderful time of year when big name games just flood onto the market and extract us from such menial processes as work and school. God bless Christian adaptations of formerly pagan holidays!

Fable 2 - It's worth noting that I played the original Fable, while Jason did not. With that said, some of what he said is true of what to expect. The game tries to give personality to nearly all of the NPCs you encounter by assigning certain attributes to them (prudish, flirty, stuck up, straight, bisexual, gay, ...), it's a neat idea, but very few of them seem to matter worth beans. My main beef is they talk to you way too much. By halfway through the game, I had a flock of followers in every town harping on me to either consummate my existence, or give them a ring so we can "properly" consummate my existence. A lot of the in town chatter you hear walking about is amusing in the whimsical way Fable handles all of it's jokes, but it's all drowned out by the repetitive leaches attending to you. I did like the handful of main characters that were given real dialog. As for the main character, it's not quite fair to critique his/her development through the story as he's supposed to be your avatar. Ya know, it is called a ROLE PLAYING game. If you can connect through the type of blank slate character, the story progression's not bad. Some positive notes: the combat is 1000% better than the first game, the dog offers an amusing companion by not being overdone, and the quirky humor still hits when it's not forced down your ear canals.

Despite that this review is carrying a bit too long, I need to point out the interesting social experiment Fable 2 has presented. When I take on a game like this with all it's moral decision making, I play through the first time as the hero I'd like to be. Given the radical nature of the choices presented, he's usually a pretty virtuous guy. This being Jason's first good/evil game (Mass Effect doesn't count), he sank to levels of vileness I hadn't even thought possible. He bought up entire towns only to jack up the rent on every piece of property, then slaughtered the people for complaining about having nowhere to live. If Lionhead has any means of monitoring in game activity, I'd think he holds the record for fastest trip to pure evil.
Score: 0.6 out of 1 Me *


Dead Space - I haven't played Dead Space and don't think I plan to. With that said, Jason's a wimp and wouldn't hack it on a monster infested space ship.
Score: 1 out of 1 Me for every time it makes him question his sanity *


Gears of War 2 - While Jas and I did beat this in two sittings, it was an effort to do so. The campaign mode is a very solid length. There's a few areas that stretch a little long (particularly some of the vehicle parts), but I think it delivered. The story tries. It falls into a pretty Hollywood groove with a grim side as the game warrants. Same personalities in same situations, enough said. The horde mode will soak up some time (it's basically just non-stop combat in an open level) and I may try to wade through the multiplayer a bit for a change. Prepubescent hate-mongers be damned!
Score: 0.7 out of 1 Me *

Left 4 Dead (Demo) - I hate zombies more than any other person alive. Don't doubt it. Blasting through a city infested with them with three other people who you NEED to depend on is claustraphobic and freaky. I found myself playing the group mom trying to keep everyone on our team clustered together. You just don't know when something will snatch you away to be strangled, clawed, or just overwhelmed by the disgusting horde. Valve did a great job making the team gameplay work and the atmosphere always put you on edge, yet I have to agree with Jason. I don't see the appeal lasting. Unless the different levels offer very different experiences, it looks like a pass.
Score: 0.5 out of 1 Me *


Rock Band 2 - I'm not big on the music game genre. I played a friend's Guitar Hero a few years ago a handful of times (usually with drinking involved) but I was never sold on it's lasting ability. Recorded music is great to rock out to, but learning music to me does not entail memorizing button patterns. Still, I was convinced to pick up RB 2 by another friend so we could play online. Online bands work well, though it would be nice if you could switch instruments without exiting and rejoining. The career mode has lots of options to help keep you progressing, and it's nice that friends can help you along over Live. The guitar play hasn't changed since the first GH, so it's solid. What I really love though is the mic. It feels like just the right difficulty so that if you know a song and can reasonably alter the pitch of your voice, you can do pretty well. I have NO singing experience, and yet I can belt my way through Carry On My Wayward Son on expert. Throw in a hefty track list, endless downloadable content, and Eye of the Tiger, and you've got a winner in my book.
Score: 0.8 out of 1 Me *

Fallout 3, Far Cry 2 and Mirror's Edge to come!

"Masquerading as a man with a reason"

* I had to make an adjustment to the rating system. It just didn't feel right having a possible 5 Damman's running around.

The new eleventh month is Gametober

Oh it has been a long time since writing. And lo and behold what happens when I venture away from my blog for too long? A Damman goes and grows out of the cracks…

So lately life has been a whirlwind. I suppose when you step away and look at two months in any scenario, it will amount to an excess of thought and feelings, but these two months felt like more. In a situation where you’ve found your life void of security, lacking definition, and where once you felt solid, you are now weak; escapism is a fantastic thing. And so a month where I thought I would lose my job among other things, gave way to the greatest video game month in history. Thank god for virtual worlds.

It began simply enough with Fable II. A fantasy RPG truly allowing you to be someone else, I had a lot of high hopes for this. Driven more than it should have been by the desire to co-play with Damman, I grabbed this one on day of release. The multi-player proved buggier than Castle Crashers and wholly unsatisfying. The game provided a few days of exploration and then I dove into the story and was greeted by the worst character development and ultimate ending I have experienced in a decade. Much was made of this title being the deep, thought provoking game of the year. What it was, is an example of how off track and horrible a game can be when it relies on gimmicks. Here is a hint Lionsgate; Dog equals less than Awesome ending.

Score: Two out of Five Dammans.

That same trip to the store for Fable produced an unexpected purchase. I felt rich that day for reasons I have none. I managed to put down a copy of Armoured Core (for you Canadians) and pick up a copy of Dead Space. As Damman wept over the loss of reality in me rejecting a giant robot game, I dug into the most terrifying experience of my video game life. In all honesty, I never played Silent Hill, Resident Evil, or anything remotely shock inducing, except for maybe Phantasmagoria like 15 years ago. Dead Space kept the lights on for the first few nights, and it hunts me. I sit there now on chapter 5 of 12, not wanting to turn it on. I don’t want to walk down the hallways and look behind me, I don’t want to watch my air run out as I flee baddies, I don’t want to play a game and be scared into finishing it quickly. My gosh though, do I want to see it’s sights, not hear it’s sfx in the volume of space, and feel the design of the world. It is an arty masterpiece, redefining sensory involvement, but at times, it is off track. Judging solely on 6 hours of play, I cannot rate this total experience, but I rate it based on enjoyment … and fear.

Score: Four out of Five Dammans.

Fallout 3 came out in the middle of all of this, and honestly, it is going to be ridiculously awesome. All I have done is escape from the vault and walk out into the nuclear disaster of D.C. and I stopped. I cannot approach this until all else is at rest. I want to be as dedicated to this as I am to my nose.

Score: Five out of Five Dammans for anticipation.

Red Alert 3 is as campy as they get. I bought this for two reasons. My brother and I have a bond going back to before we had a bond when it comes to RTS games. Red Alert seems to have always been there. I remember him first introducing me to the concept when C&C first came out. And then there are the cut scenes. Oh I love the cut scenes. Ironic that last night as Medium and I lay the first campaign to bed, the cut scene is what ultimately KO’d my super computer. Somehow my PC was now convinced that a floppy drive was needed to boot my system. After fixing that little annoyance, I eagerly await claiming the Statue of Liberty back from the Soviets. Spasiba Comrade. The game play may be a bit faster than it should be, and the units are farther from reality than I would have liked, but overall, it is what RA is.

Score: Three out of Five Dammans.

Gears of War 2 is kind of like Nickleback. Frat boys and teenage girls will flock to this one and pollute the message boards and online community with thoughts I do not want to hear. This is the same crowd that forces me to unplug my headset while playing Halo. The quality of story in the media is lacking, but the professional polish is what it is. That all said, Damman and I plowed through this in marathon session part 1 and 2. I enjoyed it greatly and that probably says more about me than I hoped. The story, and ending, leave me kind of chilly, but oh my, does horde mode warm me up. That sir, is not sketch.

Score: Four out of Five Dammans.

Finally, Medium, Damman and I tried out Left 4 Dead last night in 360 demo form, and while I was first overwhelmed with hope and excitement over the promise of this, I left our session dulled. It felt too one dimensional. In a way this was Wolfenstein 3D all over again. I knew where to run, where to point, how to use my one of two guns. Any gimmicks that were there did not save my opinion. I cannot rate it as just a demo, but I think I’ll pass on this one.

And so, the story goes, November became Gametober, and the wallet screamed in agony, while the hearth rejoiced.