For Halloween I thought I should play a spooky game! Here are my thoughts -
-Easy mode is great. You are fairly loaded with ammo and the things don't require many shots to put down or slow them. I ended up selling 80% of the ammo I found and fully upgraded my 3 main weapons and rig. Ready for NG+! Never, lol
-800 bajillion jump scares / scare chords. Is in your face with the horror but also can build tension fairly well. The game definitely needs more moments of Horror with a capital H, but is generally content to just be more spooky.
-LOVE the upgrade system! Your armor looks great, it gets more and more plating added onto it, pretty strongly implying that it's for engineers who work in more dangerous environments, rather than a combat suit. Weapons also upgrade, but they're pretty standard in their 'trees', more damage, reduced reload, etc. It's a nice power progression though! You feel pretty Badass at the end of the game.
-Each chapter is a litttttttle samey. Arrive via train "Hey fix this thing here... OH SHIT THIS OTHER THING IN OTHER SECTION NEEDS FIX GO DO!" Rinse repeat. It has a nice ending that subverts this, the whole last chapter taking place on a planet beneath the ship.
-Story is solid enough..? Characters talk through glass panels a bit too much with you, the 'twist' with Nicole is solid and well telegraphed, Kendra seems almost relatable? I actually was crazy! I do wish Isaac would've emoted a bit more, either with gestures or grunts or something..?
-Enemy variety could use a bit of work, Black Variants were neat at first but don't seem anything more than an extra sack of hit points. The 'bosses' were solidly okay and that's about it, haha.
-VERY strong art and lighting design. The ship is definitely 'samey' as I mentioned before, but it still looks great as a horror setting.
-Easy mode is a godsend. The game is tense enough even with so little threat to the player. I spent a lot of time just using melee attacks to try and deal with the anxiety, that helped a lot I think.
-I was super invested in the game, that surprised me! I spent most of the week just wanting to sit down and keep playing it. Resident Evil is changing me!!
I don't reeeeeally feel like changing these bullet points into an actual writeup, so forgive me!!! I am now most of the way Dead Space 2 so I wanted to get a finalized version at least out so I can finish the second one and not have my thoughts mix too much. On the whole, I think Dead Space is an excellent TPS and uses its horror extremely well. It's not something wholly unsettling or horrifying, it just wants to be a cool monster movie with shit jumping out at you from the dark, while also being a pretty cool sci-fi setting. The 'planetcrackers' is just a great idea. With the focus on shooting limbs rather than just headshots, it gives it a unique twist on direct gameplay as well. Doing Resi 4 proud, even when Resi 5 and 6 don't hahaha...
-Easy mode is great. You are fairly loaded with ammo and the things don't require many shots to put down or slow them. I ended up selling 80% of the ammo I found and fully upgraded my 3 main weapons and rig. Ready for NG+! Never, lol
-800 bajillion jump scares / scare chords. Is in your face with the horror but also can build tension fairly well. The game definitely needs more moments of Horror with a capital H, but is generally content to just be more spooky.
-LOVE the upgrade system! Your armor looks great, it gets more and more plating added onto it, pretty strongly implying that it's for engineers who work in more dangerous environments, rather than a combat suit. Weapons also upgrade, but they're pretty standard in their 'trees', more damage, reduced reload, etc. It's a nice power progression though! You feel pretty Badass at the end of the game.
-Each chapter is a litttttttle samey. Arrive via train "Hey fix this thing here... OH SHIT THIS OTHER THING IN OTHER SECTION NEEDS FIX GO DO!" Rinse repeat. It has a nice ending that subverts this, the whole last chapter taking place on a planet beneath the ship.
-Story is solid enough..? Characters talk through glass panels a bit too much with you, the 'twist' with Nicole is solid and well telegraphed, Kendra seems almost relatable? I actually was crazy! I do wish Isaac would've emoted a bit more, either with gestures or grunts or something..?
-Enemy variety could use a bit of work, Black Variants were neat at first but don't seem anything more than an extra sack of hit points. The 'bosses' were solidly okay and that's about it, haha.
-VERY strong art and lighting design. The ship is definitely 'samey' as I mentioned before, but it still looks great as a horror setting.
-Easy mode is a godsend. The game is tense enough even with so little threat to the player. I spent a lot of time just using melee attacks to try and deal with the anxiety, that helped a lot I think.
-I was super invested in the game, that surprised me! I spent most of the week just wanting to sit down and keep playing it. Resident Evil is changing me!!
I don't reeeeeally feel like changing these bullet points into an actual writeup, so forgive me!!! I am now most of the way Dead Space 2 so I wanted to get a finalized version at least out so I can finish the second one and not have my thoughts mix too much. On the whole, I think Dead Space is an excellent TPS and uses its horror extremely well. It's not something wholly unsettling or horrifying, it just wants to be a cool monster movie with shit jumping out at you from the dark, while also being a pretty cool sci-fi setting. The 'planetcrackers' is just a great idea. With the focus on shooting limbs rather than just headshots, it gives it a unique twist on direct gameplay as well. Doing Resi 4 proud, even when Resi 5 and 6 don't hahaha...