Dead Space proves how your state of mind can influence your enjoyment of a game. When I first played it, I fucking hated it so much I quit halfway through. Six months later, I tried it again and loved it.
The first half especially is very effective at keeping you on your toes. By the second half, the game's overreliance on jumpscares means that the fear factor is completely lost - but ah well, what game can maintain true fear throughout? Amnesia: The Dark Descent came close for me, until I finally looked a monster in the face and saw how fucking ridiculous it looked, and after that it wasn't quite so scary anymore.
But back to Dead Space. Despite the way the game eventually attunes you to the fight response - by the end chapters I was actually chasing after enemies, yelling, "Come back here and let me kill you!" - the first half is definitely a scarefest, especially because of how well-used the strident soundtrack is. I walked instead of ran because I didn't know what could be around the corner. That's a pretty big accomplishment for a horror game in my book.
The game is pretty easy on Medium difficulty, and the challenge I set for myself was to keep my money above 100, 000, until the endgame where I bought the Level 5 suit and became a walking arsenal. I'm also pretty sure you can go through the entire game with only the most basic weapon - the Plasma Cutter - if you're so inclined. I used just the Plasma Cutter and the Pulse Rifle for the entire game. I bought the flamethrower for a bit, then sold it because it was useless. I really recommend sticking to just those two weapons for your first playthrough.
The use of stasis, which lets you put objects and enemies in their own personal bullet-time, was novel and fun. Not so much for telekinesis, because it was mostly just used for objects that in real life you could just fucking pick up normally WHY ISAAC WHY DO YOU DO EVERYTHING THE HARD WAY, and the game's physics engine doesn't take particularly kindly to you half-assing anything with it. Or 75%-assing it. No, you have to make sure everything is perfect before you tentatively let go of the telekinesis button. I have some other issues with the Havok physics engine - the game just seemed too proud to be using it, EVERYTHING had it enabled, and it just gave rise to silliness at quite a few spots:
This game looks great and holds up even today. I particularly liked the batlike monster that transforms corpses into necromorphs - basically zombies with Marfan syndrome. Gameplay-wise, the final boss was uninspired, incredibly easy and the game overstocks you with absolute BUNDLES of ammo that you don't need for it, but by God it looked good.
The story is weak as hell. Almost every single chapter is a fetch quest in disguise: "We need to go to X, but for that you need to go repair Y," and it's literally by-the-numbers - get rid of 6 radioactive balls, destroy 4 poison spewers, so on and so forth. The main villain, the red herring, and the plot twist are all identified from the very first chapter of the game. Isaac being a mute protagonist didn't help - I know he is supposed to be an avatar for the player, but I just don't agree with it. A silent, passive main character means that most of the story doesn't happen to you, it happens around you. By the time the game introduces characters you'd heard about in audio logs earlier, you've forgotten their names. Also, because the characters are so fond of using big science fiction words, 90% of the time I had no fucking clue what I was doing. Thank God for the waypoint finder telling me where I needed to go. Onwards, Isaac! You silent motherfucker.
The biggest problem I had with this game was it's so goddamn loud. I had to turn down the audio settings several times because otherwise I was pretty sure it'd tear my laptop's speakers out. The monsters roar SO annoyingly. Funny thing is, I praised Silent Hill 3 for being loud, because it wasn't compressed-loud like this game. In the late 2000s, there was a 'loudness war' where bands would deliberately fuck up the mixing on their albums thinking loud is good. Dead Space wins the loudness war by a country mile.
Regardless! I did really enjoy this game visually and gameplay-wise, and its issues weren't all-encompassing for me; they didn't ruin the experience. Despite its flaws, Dead Space accomplishes its stated goal of being, "Resident Evil 4... in SPACE!" with style and panache. The developers of The Callisto Protocol should take notes.
The first half especially is very effective at keeping you on your toes. By the second half, the game's overreliance on jumpscares means that the fear factor is completely lost - but ah well, what game can maintain true fear throughout? Amnesia: The Dark Descent came close for me, until I finally looked a monster in the face and saw how fucking ridiculous it looked, and after that it wasn't quite so scary anymore.
But back to Dead Space. Despite the way the game eventually attunes you to the fight response - by the end chapters I was actually chasing after enemies, yelling, "Come back here and let me kill you!" - the first half is definitely a scarefest, especially because of how well-used the strident soundtrack is. I walked instead of ran because I didn't know what could be around the corner. That's a pretty big accomplishment for a horror game in my book.
The game is pretty easy on Medium difficulty, and the challenge I set for myself was to keep my money above 100, 000, until the endgame where I bought the Level 5 suit and became a walking arsenal. I'm also pretty sure you can go through the entire game with only the most basic weapon - the Plasma Cutter - if you're so inclined. I used just the Plasma Cutter and the Pulse Rifle for the entire game. I bought the flamethrower for a bit, then sold it because it was useless. I really recommend sticking to just those two weapons for your first playthrough.
The use of stasis, which lets you put objects and enemies in their own personal bullet-time, was novel and fun. Not so much for telekinesis, because it was mostly just used for objects that in real life you could just fucking pick up normally WHY ISAAC WHY DO YOU DO EVERYTHING THE HARD WAY, and the game's physics engine doesn't take particularly kindly to you half-assing anything with it. Or 75%-assing it. No, you have to make sure everything is perfect before you tentatively let go of the telekinesis button. I have some other issues with the Havok physics engine - the game just seemed too proud to be using it, EVERYTHING had it enabled, and it just gave rise to silliness at quite a few spots:
This game looks great and holds up even today. I particularly liked the batlike monster that transforms corpses into necromorphs - basically zombies with Marfan syndrome. Gameplay-wise, the final boss was uninspired, incredibly easy and the game overstocks you with absolute BUNDLES of ammo that you don't need for it, but by God it looked good.
The story is weak as hell. Almost every single chapter is a fetch quest in disguise: "We need to go to X, but for that you need to go repair Y," and it's literally by-the-numbers - get rid of 6 radioactive balls, destroy 4 poison spewers, so on and so forth. The main villain, the red herring, and the plot twist are all identified from the very first chapter of the game. Isaac being a mute protagonist didn't help - I know he is supposed to be an avatar for the player, but I just don't agree with it. A silent, passive main character means that most of the story doesn't happen to you, it happens around you. By the time the game introduces characters you'd heard about in audio logs earlier, you've forgotten their names. Also, because the characters are so fond of using big science fiction words, 90% of the time I had no fucking clue what I was doing. Thank God for the waypoint finder telling me where I needed to go. Onwards, Isaac! You silent motherfucker.
The biggest problem I had with this game was it's so goddamn loud. I had to turn down the audio settings several times because otherwise I was pretty sure it'd tear my laptop's speakers out. The monsters roar SO annoyingly. Funny thing is, I praised Silent Hill 3 for being loud, because it wasn't compressed-loud like this game. In the late 2000s, there was a 'loudness war' where bands would deliberately fuck up the mixing on their albums thinking loud is good. Dead Space wins the loudness war by a country mile.
Regardless! I did really enjoy this game visually and gameplay-wise, and its issues weren't all-encompassing for me; they didn't ruin the experience. Despite its flaws, Dead Space accomplishes its stated goal of being, "Resident Evil 4... in SPACE!" with style and panache. The developers of The Callisto Protocol should take notes.