EA Shows Off Dead Space 3 Kinect Commands

[Abomination]

Everyone has already mentioned the huge obvious points of redundancy and slower response time, but that is not my main issue.

There is one (and quite possible only one) thing Dead Space does right: Immersion. I've played both Dead Space games and while I found them lacking in most departments I really enjoyed being immersed due to the lessened UI and fluid controls. This however completely ruins that. You used to be Isaac, desperately fighting for survival. Now when I'm supposed to scream "Reload" I'm just some douche on the radio giving Isaac orders. Any thing that takes unnecessary and redundant paths to simple things throw me out of the experience, but this is just the worst I've seen in a long while.

They didn't even set the commands to something you'd say in character. That would be hard to do, almost impossible, and that is why they shouldn't have bothered with this distraction at all. This system is at best clunky and an immersion killer. At worst, it won't even work properly.

It's like they're completely missing the entire point as to why Dead Space II was considered good. It was an adventure in insanity and horror with bouts of frantic combat. Sure the "oogie boogie boo" monsters jumping out of predictable vents became a bit routine but I really enjoyed the QTEs in the game, they did feel really frantic and desperate.

Now they're trying to turn it into... another FPS? Because that's exactly what the market needs, EA. MORE FPS games. To compete with the massive market of Call of Duty and Battlefield. Because competing with those is a bright idea. Just like how competing with World of Warcraft is a bright idea. But wait, you're competing with YOURSELF. You are spending millions upon millions of dollars to introduce redundant crap that makes one of your games more like another one of your games - THAT DIDN'T SELL WELL.

People who want to buy Dead Space III will already buy it because of its setting and story. I don't think a SINGLE person saw "Oh wow, Kinect voice activated commands for my PTSD engineer! Gonna buy that!"

 

[The Last Melon]

What's that drinking game Yahtzee suggested? Take a drink for every voice command that couldn't have been replaced by a regular button press, and then drive home afterwards?

 

[DanDeFool]

You see, the reason they can get away with this "better with Kinect" BS without getting slapped with a false advertising suit is because they never tell you exactly what they're comparing the Kinect experience to.

While saying the game is "better with Kinect than just playing with an ordinary controller" might be debatable, if you instead say "better with Kinect than trying to play using only your feet", suddenly there's no argument to be had.

 

[Lucane]

Well to me this sounds better geared to new players, anyone who takes a while to learn button mapping, people who "can't" hold/use a controller "normally" so it opens up opportunities for new kinds of players to be more competent further into the game.

Though for the more hardened players it seems it would only be a benefit (due to the time lag) to use V.C.s when in a panic, can't find the right button(s) or the voice commands don't effect fine aim shooting or other wise permit dual/multi actions to occur outside of the usual one button command at a time. Like if you are shooting and say "revive partner" you continue shooting uninterrupted where as hitting the "A" button pauses the firing.From the little I've seen in the video I think it's more likely the same in-game action whether saying it or hitting it but multi- button commanded skills could be quickened this way if the V.C. is utilized well.

And maybe all the work on mapping out the Kinect Voice Commands in a variety of languages can be sectioned off and easily be reused in future projects making this like more like buying a car and paying for parts down the line instead of paying for the bus everyday.

 

[knight steel]

I'm not getting this game but it got nothing to do with kinect (but that gives me even more reason) but because the have cut content out of the campaign for those would can't play with other (can't afford xbox live-have zero real life friends who like horror/games)

This THIS FUCKING PISSED ME OFF but that's not what really made me rage but instead it was when one of the director was asked this he laughed and basically said he didn't care and that they should just shut up and get friends then. As such i hope this game bombs terribly!

 

[ASnogarD]

Would work better with the PC, if they took a fraction of the time they took making Kinect rubbish semi work to sort out the PC controls... simple things like rebind keys to mouse buttons, or sort out the mouse controls on DS 1... nah spend months ensuring the stupid thing can understand 'reload' in Swahili with a Boston accent mimicked by a Japanese player instead.

I have both DS 1 and 2, love them both but cant really play DS 1 after getting used to the improved mouse control on DS 2.

DS 3 is not a instant buy, going to wait for reviews and lets plays before I put up the cash... if I can play it like DS 2 (solo experience with a creepy but interesting background with some fun shooting mechanics... they can leave the QTE's on the clipping room floor though, worst part of the experience), I'll get it but if its a generic FPS with a DS skin then no thank you.

... oh and EA, dont pull that PC aint getting the DLC crap again, and DEFINITELY do NOT pull that patch that simply hands every weapon to the player at the first store crap.
That was just plain moronic.

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

I'm just waiting for this to turn into another Steel Battalion.

Same here. In fact, part of me wonders why Steel Battalion didn't react to you cursing at it. Perhaps it would have qualified as a game then. Maybe even functional!

 

[Coreless]

I guess I should join the whine club that seems to always follow any announcement about any EA games latest features because that is the thing to do nowadays but I'm not. I really don't see anything negative with this at all especially if you don't even own a damn kinect but I guess that doesn't stop people from sh**ing all over them for adding it (which I am sure they had very little choice in the matter and are just trying to make the most of it). It really is amazing that people actually get offended by the very idea of a game developer using Kinect lol.

You know, 10 years ago people would have looked at what they are doing with this game and said "Man, these guys are really pulling out all the stops to make this game as good as they can" but it seems those days are long over. the gaming community looks at developers today as either complete crap or just tolerable crap that is one small action away from being sentenced to death. Its too bad to, because Visceral is a good developer but because of EA they wont get any of the praise that they deserve.

 

[Metalrocks]

sure, i usually do that by saying "reload" to reload my weapon.
even when i dont have a xbox and this kinect, which i hear only bad thing off, i would never use it even on my pc. buttons are still faster then yelling out what i want. besides, i dint even bother to get part 2 since part 1 was boring and repetitive.

"do what you usually do". bulls***.

 

[Milanezi]

Yeah... Sure... "You can scream 'I need ammo!'", Heck you can scream that at the headset can't you? Or does that STEAL ammo from you buddy? Anyway... No, just, no.

 

[Riobux]

You know what? I am actually really happy this gimmick was introduced for Dead Space 3. Not because I hate the game, I'm very apathetic towards it, nor because I enjoy it, since I don't plan to buy it. Just because this will lead to ceaseless hilarity as you have friends in your room yell "FIND OBJECTIVE" just as you go up against a creature. Well hilarity that ceases in a room splatter with blood, with the phrase "FIND OBJECTIVE" written on the wall in said blood over and over again.

 

[Kurt Cristal]

Because everyone figured out a long time ago that the Kinect's only good features were the voice commands so we're going to have to stick it out until they make a voice-command peripheral when they come to their senses.

As said though, traditional headphones. No need for a specific peripheral, just use the Mic in the headset the player has plugged in instead of Kinect. In doing so, voice commands work over all platforms instead of just on the Xbox as well. There is honestly no reason to use the Kinect exclusively for this other than plastering it on the box.

I was being a tad satirical there. Yes, adding voice commands to the standard microphone/bluetooth for Xbox devices would be a good solution. But why do that when you can MONETIZE IT? Har. That's what I was getting at. They won't choose the sensible option.

 

[Samantha Burt]

"(Come on) get up!" instead of "Revive team mate"
"Where are you?" instead of "Find partner"
"Take some ammo" instead of "Give partner ammo"
"Switching over to my"/"It's time for"/"Get ready for the" [Insert weapon name here]

Didn't R6 Vegas 2 do what you're suggesting, what 5 years ago? And with the standard platform mics, not some fancy motion sensor thing, too. It's amazing how much effort this industry puts into stagnating itself.

 

[NLS]

"(Come on) get up!" instead of "Revive team mate"
"Where are you?" instead of "Find partner"
"Take some ammo" instead of "Give partner ammo"
"Switching over to my"/"It's time for"/"Get ready for the" [Insert weapon name here]

Didn't R6 Vegas 2 do what you're suggesting, what 5 years ago? And with the standard platform mics, not some fancy motion sensor thing, too. It's amazing how much effort this industry puts into stagnating itself.

Yeah, I remember trying that out. Don't remember much about how well it worked though. But what I do remember, is that even Unreal Torunament 2004 had it almost 9 years ago, but with the same kind of robotic "DElta. Cover.. me." or "Beta. Attack. Objective". What I'd really like to see though, is voice commands that actually feel like you're in the action yelling out in desperation, and not trying to command a tank crew through radio 5 kilometers away. It needs a lot more polish than it's current state, not only on the technical side of voice recognition, but also when it comes to actually immersing the player with commands that sound believable.
This is what I want to see, and even though the Kinect may somewhat have improved the voice recognition slightly on the technical side, the implementation is still far away from *THAT* feeling of being in the game.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

First a stupid Co-op mode and now useless motion controller faff, best put Dead Space out to pasture with a boot to the skull. With what they made Insomniac to to Overstrike, I'm really seeing why people hate EA with a passion.