Dead Space not as scary as it claimed?

[Spots]

Fix-the-spade said pretty much what I wanted to say. Very little suspense, too-obvious audio cues, excessive "surprise" moments (not very surprising due to obvious audio cues), super-frequent save points.

The polite way to describe Dead Space's plot development is a 'homage' to Aliens, System Shock 2, and every other successful scary scifi book, film and videogame. Less polite would be to say that it copies every successful scifi horror/thrillier's tropes wholesale with little inventiveness of its own until too late in the game.

I didn't really buy the 3rd-person angle, either. For one, it felt more like I was following an armoured bodyguard around and all the aliens were attacking him instead of me. Secondly, on a 4:3 monitor the guy occupies the left 1/2 of the screen which was just downright frustrating. Like trying to play a videogame through a slightly ajar door.

On the other hand, Dead Space's zero-atmosphere and zero-G moments were fresh and great fun. I'll give it that. Lots of suspense and freakiness from fighting in those environments.

For a really suspenseful, tense and scary game, System Shock 2 has to be my #1. Fantastic audio design, a tense atmosphere you can cut with a knife, some real stomach-churning plot twists, and not a single scripted monster-in-the-closet 'surprise'.

 

[DazZ.]

Dead Space wasn't overly scary because I was too aware I was playing a game, and quite a generic one at that.

I mostly play FPSs and 3rd person is defiantly less immersive for me. I find Doom 3 scarier than Dead Space, and even that's just the same corridor/bit of outside in space whilst things jump out at you formula.
[small](except the spider like creatures, they did scare me but that is just me and not really anything to do with the game. Exotic pet shops terrify me...)[/small]

Plus the controls felt abit clunky, I was playing on PC and its obviously made for console but 3rd person controls aren't as fluid in my opinion, thus breaking my immersion.

 

[Pandalisk]

Did anyone else have a heart attack when entering that room that made a horrible screaming sound like a train in a tunnel?

 

[BolognaBaloney]

I didn't find it scary at all, the only game I ever found to be truly frightening was Condemned 1

Really? I mean the game had atmosphere out the ying yang, but scary? Hmm. Not really. The only thing that threw me off about it was the length. I beat it the same session I popped the disk in. I thought: Good, I mean great even in parts, but what the heck was with the ending?

Yeah the ending was pretty dodgy.

 

[Vash108]

At first it was a little jumpy but after you have seen all the monsters tricks and the amount of ammo you had it kinda lost that feel.

 

[wgreer25]

It wasn't the enemies that were scary for me, but the tense, oppressive atmosphere of the ship itself.

Broken, fuel spitting engines, creepy swinging spaceship skeletons, ominous holes torn in walls, flickering lights, the endless black distance in the metro stations...

I thought it was really well done.

I completely agree.

I can't think of a recent game that has created such a good atmosphere. The visuals are amazing to say the least and couple that with superb sound design. Plus all of the little details (zero-G, no sound is space, no O2 = no flame thrower, no HUD) all added to the emersive quality of the game.

I agree with others that most of the scary moments were in the first 3 chapters and then it went straight into action/shooter with a creepy enviornment. I was more "scared" playing the game on insane difficulty due to slight ammo rationing, but still no major ammo rationing.

However, I dissagree with all of you that think it should be FPS. Jesus, this isn't Halo. Everything doesn't have to be a FPS. You need to see your character and especially what is being done to him. Even with 3rd person, things crept up behind me all the time (my sound system would alert me of that).

For a new IP, I think this game was briliant. It didn't have anything super new, but it took may subtle elements and put them together beautifully to create of the most emersive games I've played in a while.

 

[Smogster]

The ending on dead space **Spoiler** Where your girlfriend jumps on you at the end scared the life out of me
Also if you want a scary game try silent hill

 

[MiracleOfSound]

It wasn't the enemies that were scary for me, but the tense, oppressive atmosphere of the ship itself.

Broken, fuel spitting engines, creepy swinging spaceship skeletons, ominous holes torn in walls, flickering lights, the endless black distance in the metro stations...

I thought it was really well done.

I completely agree.

I can't think of a recent game that has created such a good atmosphere. The visuals are amazing to say the least and couple that with superb sound design. Plus all of the little details (zero-G, no sound is space, no O2 = no flame thrower, no HUD) all added to the emersive quality of the game.

I agree with others that most of the scary moments were in the first 3 chapters and then it went straight into action/shooter with a creepy enviornment. I was more "scared" playing the game on insane difficulty due to slight ammo rationing, but still no major ammo rationing.

However, I dissagree with all of you that think it should be FPS. Jesus, this isn't Halo. Everything doesn't have to be a FPS. You need to see your character and especially what is being done to him. Even with 3rd person, things crept up behind me all the time (my sound system would alert me of that).

For a new IP, I think this game was briliant. It didn't have anything super new, but it took may subtle elements and put them together beautifully to create of the most emersive games I've played in a while.

Couldn't agree more.

To me this game was just perfect in so many ways.

The visuals and sound are the best on the 360 bar none. The character models, both human and necromorphs, were wonderfully animated and built.

The soundtrack was brooding and intense, the boss battles MASSIVE, the atmosphere creepy throughout and the gameplay was technically flawless except for one or two broken on-rails sections.

It was the best new IP I've played in years.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

I, in fact, was frequently spooked by headcrabs jumping on me in Half-Life 2 when I could not see them. I think the whole 3rd person aspect of Dead Space may take away from its fright-appeal. And once you've seen a deformed space alien once, the fear factor disappears rather quickly. Then it's all about the shock and suspense. I think "startling" was the real tag they were going for.

That's why extraction is in first person.

 

[Dale Cooper]

First 2 or 3 levels were great then it turned to shite after that.

Jump scares and that's it.

 

[Amethyst Wind]

The scariest I've ever found Dead Space was yesterday when, after not having played the game for 6 months, I downloaded and played the demo.

My thoughts went something like this:

Tum tee tum tum, okay I'm in a room, don't really remember this room, kinda loud, is that an engine giving out all that noise? Oh there's the monsters, okay, I got thi-HOLY SHIT! Did they always move that fast? Fuck, what were the buttons again? Aagh! Where'd that guy come from? Didn't hear him coming, stupid engine. Okay they're getting kinda close now, better back off a bit...FUCK WHERE DO I GO? I don't know this stupid room! Sod it I'll just run around until I get some space-AAGH! A bigger one! Shit shit shit die die die!

So, even though I've clocked Dead Space pretty much completely, I was scared and tense the entire 5 minutes I was playing that demo as I had no idea where I was or how to survive, and there were ammo limitations.
No doubt if I got the full game I wouldn't be freaking out like that but I think if you're looking to jump at Dead Space, just play the demo.