As technology progresses, it seems that it has become more and more difficult to create a truly frightening video game without back stepping into the old mechanics that made those few classic examples the terrifying experiences the way they were. In comes Dead Space, a brand new property from EA Redwood Shores that attempts to modernize the game play without losing that scary feel.
Dead Space places the you in the role of Isaac Clark, an engineer sent, along with a team of two others, to the USG Ishimura, to repair a broken communications array. Upon arrival it is discovered that all hell has broken loose on the Ishimura and it is up to Isaac to set things right. Right from the opening cut scene, Dead Space provides an incredibly oppressive atmosphere. Not only does the environment look as though something terrible occurred, it feels wrecked and distraught. Bodies line the halls. Messages scrawled in whatever was available to write with plaster the walls. The aura of death and defeat runs rampant. Redwood Shores successfully crafted a terrifying environment for you to experience. Unfortunately a few problems cause Dead Space from being anything more than an tension filled shooter. It makes no attempt, beyond the ambient music that plays within chapter ten, to twist thoughts. There is no "messing with your head" moments. Any sort of "horror" that Dead Space provides is through cheap, creatures jumping at you, moments. Even the oppressive feel of the environment trails off in the last third, as most of the environment are well lit killing any sort of attempt to frighten you. Any tension left at all is due to the constant fear of running out of ammo and health packs; even this eventually subsides if you can properly manage your in game currency.
Where the true greatness of Dead Space resides is in its game play. Breaking away from the "aim for the head" mentality in most games, Dead Space requires you to utilize its Strategic Dismemberment strategy. In which you must cut off limbs in order to do the most damage. While at first this proved quite difficult, after the first hour I found myself cutting off limbs with ease. It also does a good job of introducing a new enemy about each level to stave off repetition, throwing in the occasional boss fight or turret sequence for good measure. The almost RPG elements as you use the power nodes to upgrade your suit and character add nice depth to the story and allow you to grow stronger with your enemies. The true difficult lies in managing your ammo and stasis meter; which is Dead Space's form of bullet time, a bullet time gun, if you would, allowing you to slow down the targeted enemy or rogue slamming door. I ran in to countless encounters in which I would fire my last shot, use stasis and attempt to melee enemies to death before the ripped me limb from bloody limb.
One thing Dead Space did not skimp on is the gore. Enemy gore: limbs are dismembered and blood pours out of the stumps as they still claw after you. Dead body gore: countless bodies of the once living crew members and enemies are waiting, ripe to be stomped on and ooze more blood onto the ground. Your gore: any time you die you watch as you are ripped apart, blood spewing everywhere as you body sickeningly crashes to the ground. Dead Space certainly is not a tame game in any way. It helps set the tone for this hell hole and sets the bar high for gruesome deaths.
All this adds to the immersion factor. From the menus that are all shown in real time holograms projected from Isaac's suit, to the countless tables filled with items that you can crash into and send scurrying across the floor that all display in real time physics, it all makes Dead Space feel like a real world, not just a game environment to run through. Even the weapons, with the exception of the machine gun, are all mining tools that Isaac has repurposed to fight against the necromorphs.
Dead Space is not a bad game at any moment. It is just not a particularly frightening one. It has its own merits: good controls, fun game play, and addictive upgrading. It also has a decent story with a nice turn of events at the very end. I urge you to give Dead Space a fair chance.
Isaac Clarke of Dead Space fame has appeared in many games, both as a playable character and an Easter Egg. Have you played them all?
Dead Space recently received a popular remake that was faithful yet constructive, and the original BioShock is also deserving of this treatment.
No it doesn't need it. It was remastered in 60 fps last gen and still looks and plays great. Would be a waste of time, money and resources imo. It's games from 3 or 4 gens back that could use the remake treatment.
There have already been 7th gen remakes of games already
Dead Space in particular already proves that just because a game looks good on original hardware doesn’t mean it cant look and play better
Agreed. Remasters already happened and still look n play fantastic. DS was a different animal. It needed a remake, Bioshock doesn't NEED it. Infinite Remastered for example is extremely viable even today. What we do need is Bioshock 4. Rumors that equated to zip. Where is it? Ken really blew the pooch as well. Left to go do what? He was inspired by Tell Tale or something and went off to become irrelevant. Nice. And Bioshock Vita was scrapped. Fantastic.
Bioshock 4 is definitely still in development. News trickles out about it every couple of months.
And Ken's next game (Judas) looks great from the teaser trailer.
Yeah. Pretty much. I understand why they did it with TLOU to coincide with the show but certainly it didn't NEED a remake desperately. Obviously u are trolling and expect me defend anything Sony but idgaf about all that. I say what i feel is the truth.
Just like TLOU i wouldn't be upset if Bioshock received a remake but it doesn't desperately need it. I'd probably even play it bc like TLOU, i love Bioshock, but in these aren't identical scenarios either. Ppl kill ND for TLOU Remake yet it wasn't even their project originaly. It started as a potential Uncharted remake and passion project via Visual Arts and was passed to Bend i believe? ND took over bc the project obviously wasn't where it needed to be. And yet they still had Factions and possibly TLOU 3 in development as well. Bioshock has been dormant for a decade bar the remaster. Rumors of a sequel haven't materialised. A remake without a sequel would be disappointing. TLOU Remake is more tolerable knowing sequel/spinoffs are in development. Like i said, dif situation.
It's not all about looks only
Tweaks to story
Tweaks to characters
Improvements to gameplay
Original bioshock have the worst puzzle solving system and can get frustrating quickly
The last part you said I agree COMPLETELY!!! Game companies need to mine games from the Sega Saturn, PS1 and N64 days and even the Dreamcast, GameCube, and PS2 days to give a full update to. I know those would require more work, but there are PLENTY of gems from those days that people would LOVE to play again or for the first time with a facelift!!! I know I would.
The games that need remaking are.
Resistance fall of man.
Motorstorm.
PS5 would produce something special.
There's been such an advancement in tech since the PS3 days. It would be awesome. DAY 1 BUY for me.
I would kill for Resistance 1-3 Remake/Remaster. Same with MotorStorm series and Killzone series. Man, I loved my PS3. Can we also get the Metal Gear series and rescue MGS4 off the PS3? There is a rumor of MGS3 getting a remake. One of, if not my number 1, favorite game of all time.
On topic, I played Bioshock like 6 months after release after hearing from everyone and their mother how incredible it was. I know I will be in the minority on this, but I couldn't get into it. I think my expectations were too high. Totally my fault. Maybe I should give it another chance...
Agreed, Killzone as well, but Sony has no interest in the future of those IP. It won't happen. If they cared about Motorstorm they wouldn't have axed Evolution. The last remaster from a dead studio "Wipeout" was exceptional yet nobody supported it. Even with a free VR inclusion. If ppl want these remasters...actually support the ones that release. Medievil same thing. Ppl cried for Demon's Souls Remake, The Last Guardian, Shenmue 3 and the sales didn't match the cries. None of these games sold as u would imagine given the internet pleas for these titles over a decade or more. DeS Remake did alright but given the circumstances it should've sold better. 92 Meta, PS5 launch exclusive, stunning visuals, and the first of the genre in an age where Eldin Ring will push 30 million units. Yes, DeS is only one platform but still.
I do agree mostly with what you said.
I bought killzone,2,3. Did not like 4 other then it's graphics.
I bought infamous 1,2. Second son never did it for me apart from again the graphics, so parts were good. But world felt too empty. Probably needed a PS5 to do it justice.
Bought all the Resistance and Motorstorms, those games were awesome. They 100% need a remake.
PS3 was just an awesome machine, I know it was a pain to develop for, but it had some many titles that I loved.
I really enjoyed the Bioshock series, the first 2 were best. Very good games.
As for Demon souls.and the souls series in general. They never have had massive sales. I think because they are very hard games. we are talking a million or less. I think the remaster did 1.4million.
Motorstorm pacific rift did 1.4million PS3.I think.
Hopefully some of them will come back.
I would love this
Expand on the lore
Incorporate Bioshock Infinite and Bioshock 2 plot lines
Add room rooms or maybe even an extra area
Maybe new plasmids
Give Jack a personality and add voice acting, it worked for Isaac. Jack did speak at the start of the game so adding onto that and giving him convos between Atlas or Ryan would be great
Man could you imagine what bioshock would look like in ue5 with full raytracing, phwaaarrrhh.
Twinfinite: “While the lore of the Dead Space franchise is overflowing with iconic sci-fi horror influences, it’s fair to say that not all of the games in the beloved series were created equal. In fact, the disparity in quality between them is surprisingly as vast as the vacuum of space. So, with all that in mind, here’s our ranking of all the games in the Dead Space universe.”
