Never have I felt as on edge while playing a game as during my late night play sessions with Dead Space.  EA’s Dead Space was originally a game that was under my radar due to the simple fact that it was surrounded by so many top tier games when it was first released during holiday season of last year.  I had vowed to eventually bring it back to the forefront and I’m thankful that I did because it has blow me away from start to finish.

With a generic name like Dead Space one would think that this is simply another space marine FPS game cast from the same mold as Halo 3 and Gears of War 2.  But you’d be sadly mistaken if you were to make that assumption because Dead Space’s world has more in common with Bioshock than either of those two games.  Both Bioshock and Dead Space adhere to an eerie ambiance that permeates every moment of the player’s experience.  Whether it’s the story or the world itself you’re immersed in a experience rather than playing through one like you would in the former two games.

Survival Horror Done Right

In Dead Space you’re put in the shoes boots of a ship engineer (glorified custodian) named Issac that is tasked with slowly activating the various areas of a huge ship that you’re currently stuck on.  Along the way you uncover a huge conspiracy that may or may not be the cause of the ghastly creatures hellbent on throwing a wrench into your plans.  Since you’re an engineer you’re equipped with weapons that are pretty much futuristic tools that work perfectly to lop the lim

bs off of your would be assailants.  You will also be outfitted in a suit that can be upgraded and has the handy features of being able to pick up items using a telekinesis type power and slowing down enemies or machines (which sorta kinda makes sense in weird way while dealing with the huge engines on a spaceship).

Dead Space achieves what many survival horror games attempt to and that’s the simple act of being scary.  It does so by making sure the player is as immersed as possible in the game by limiting the amount game-yness that can be experienced at any given time.  Your health, power, and ammo can all be seen just by looking at your character.  All your in-game menus are also shown in teh form of a holographic display that appears in front of your character but only has depth when you look at it the hologram is paper-thin if you rotate the camera around your character which is a really slick effect.  You’re also constantly surrounded by moans and groans as you move throughout the levels which keeps you on edge even as you’re sitting in a room that’s obviously empty.

There’s not much else I can say about the game really.  It’s a fantastic ride that can be predictable at some points but utterly satisfying during others.  I loved the fact that about a quarter of the way into the game I had learned to hold up my gun whenever entering rooms which saved me being caught off guard like I suffered through the early parts of the game.  My constant vigil only helped immerse me into the game and made the experience all the more enjoyable.  I’d suggest Dead Space to anyone that is looking for a truly satisfying action horror game, also I’d suggest checking out the animated movie they released in tandem with this because there’s a lot of back story that may not be a necessity to enjoying Dead Space but does help flesh out the story.

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I may be in the minority but I played the original Gears of War strictly for the single player experience (Coop Campaign included).  Whenever I attempted to take my play online I was constantly met with players that were far superior and would be able to 1 hit kill me without me getting a single bit of enjoyment out of the experience.  The single player though was a nonstop thrill ride that was just pure dumb fun to play through that got way too much criticism because of it’s balls to the wall ridiculous story.

Gears of War 2 ups the ante in ways that absolutely had my jaw dropping as I moved through the single player campaign.  In many ways the game feels like you’re playing the original but I soon realized that this was not a bad thing.  I instantly fell back into the stop and pop state of mind needed to play the game.

Bigger Badder More Bad Ass (Actual lead designer quote, thank you Cliff!)

There’s no time wasted when it comes to dropping you into the action in Gears of War 2.  You’re almost immediately put through events that far surpass any of the firefights you experienced within the original Gears of War.  You’ll be poised with fights against creatures that were bosses in the original game yet are mere side enemies whose only purpose is fodder for your turret gun. Brumaks, Corpsers and hundreds of Locusts surround you at all times and this happens within minutes of starting the game.

The game continues to move you through dynamic environments that range from underground caverns to wasted cityscapes.  There’s even a level plays like an old 2D action sidescroller game (ala Contra) that takes place inside a huge creature with all the blood, viscera, and muscles shown with almost nauseating realism.  Your adventure also leads you underground to the Locust’s (main baddies in the game) home turf where you duke it out with literally hundreds of their kind.  Yes there is a lot that is reminiscent of the original but there’s certain sections that are gorgeous to look at which can be a headache when you’re caught off guard by an enemy that’s caught you sightseeing.

I’m sure that I’m not the only gamer out there that felt the original Gears of War’s story was a bit laughable and its sequel sometimes follows in its footsteps. This doesn’t meant that the game is devoid of worthwhile story arches but these sometimes truly dramatic sections are  juxtaposed to expletive laden action sections that are littered with great one liners like, “We’re gonna whup your mamma’s ass. Whoo-!”  If you’re willing to take it at face value you’ll soon see that Gears of War 2 provides you with exactly what you would want in a summer action movie and that’s a simple story line that has just enough realism strewn through  to ground the outrageousness that the rest of the ride gives you.

Multiplayer

While the Gears of War matches are for the most part the same but there’s two modes that I’ve played the most since I purchased the game a few months ago.  Those two were Meatflag and Horde modes.  In Meatflag you play a game that is Epic‘s version of Capture the Flag and basically plops a living person as the flag and each team is attempting to dispatch and carry this “meatflag” to their side of the map, this mode can be fun but eventually can get tiresome.  The real part of multiplayer that has legs is the Horde mode which  puts you gets against waves of enemies that get progressively harder.  These two modes alone are what have made the Gears of War 2 multiplayer far superior to the original game’s by far.

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I was checking out Twitter this morning when I came across this article from Planet Xbox360.  I agree with most of the points Ivone Alexandre has written about in the article but there are a few that I feel are a little off point. Yes, last year’s tops games were for the most part sequels but they were as good and in some cases better than their predecessors.    Here’s the sequels that were part the 10 Top Selling games of 2008:

1. Grand Theft Auto 4 – Amazing story, and almost perfect recreation of NYC.
2. Call of Duty: World at War – Not a bad story and the online multi-player is almost as good as COD4.
4. Gears of War 2 – May have surpassed it’s predecessor in story, gameplay, and multi-player.
6. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock – Perhaps the only shameless cash in?
7: Fable II – Peter Molyneux possibly paying off most of the promises he made regarding the first one?
8. Rock Band 2 – Boxed awesome, ’nuff said.
10. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 – Ok, maybe the other shameless cash in.

Ranking Courtesy of NPD

I am quite fearful of the over saturation of the market with humdrum sequels but if they’re quality experiences that only help flesh out the original world like some of the games listed above, why not?  Sequels no longer have to be farmed out to subpar 4th squad developers who’s primary purpose is to reuse assets with as little story as possible stringing together the events of the original game with the new narrative.

2k Marin is NOT some inexperienced 2nd stringer hoping to make it’s name by riding the Bioshock “gravy train.”  They’re a group of extremely competent individuals who have for the most part been under Ted Levine’s tutelage for quite some time and I trust Ted’s choice of handing the reigns over to them.  I look forward to Bioshock 2 for the simple fact that my first visit to Rapture was one of the most amazing experiences of my gaming career, here’s to my return trip hopefully being just as good.