Poll: Was Dead Space scary?

[evilartist]

I jumped at a couple of bits where the aliens poped out of nowhere and shit myself when undead Nicola jumps you at the end but apart from that it wasn't scary as such

Meh, I don't consider "jumping" as scared. That's just getting startled; that can happen to anyone. It's an instinctual reflex of self-defense, not genuine fear. I get startled occasionally, but I don't get scared of monsters, or dark quiet corridors.

 

[IanBrazen]

No, it was no scary (for me), but it was for other people. But some people are scared of balloons, others are scared by rats and people jumping while saying '''Boo''.
Dead Space is bad gave as a HORROR game, but if it's called just a shooter, then it's a good game. See, if the game tries to be scary, but is not, then it's not a good game.
When i went in the game, i didn't even think that it is a horror game (played at friends house) and i wasn't scared, i thought it was better than average shooter (that's a good thing).

Well said.
I remeber reading about the first Dead Space, the goal of the Dev team was to make the "scariest game ever"
So being a huge survival horror fan I was pumped.
but when I got it I was very disappointed.
They should have just tried to make a awesome shooter.
It is awesome but I think it could have been more.

As to make it more scary: Loosing your weapon/ammo and then turning the lights off, spooky music and then having a new horrible high health enemy that you can only see by it's eyes, but it acts like a ghost. You must then get through some maze of corridors with it appearing and other things/images popping up (non enemy, but scary) in between light flickering.

That sound fuckin awesome.
Email that to the Dev team.

 

[Georgeman]

Nope, I didn't find it scary. And to be blunt, it was sometimes unwittingly hilarious. For example, I would know that a monster appeared because I heard that supposedly "surprise!" sound. The monster, however, wouldn't be there yet. Any kind of suspense, terminated.

Personally, I think that the best horror is the subtle, mindfucking one. But, Dead Space was neither.

Edit: Hm, I already suggested above that a bit of subtle mindfuckery would work, but let me give an idea. How about leading the player to a monster without any kind of fanfare and without any kind of lighting? As the player tries to restore the lights to the place or find some lighting equipment, the monster attacks him/her every once in a while and the player will have no idea where it came from and will either run like a scared little girl or shoot the shit out of everything like he/she is Rambo or sth. And then, just like Rambo, he runs out of ammo! Oops!

 

[Disaster Button]

It was more jumpy than scary I feel. It didn't really create much of a scary atmoshpere but it did have its moments.

I think the next one's planning to focus more on the atmosphere than just jumpy spots.

 

[reg42]

The ZP on Dead Space said it best, DS doesn't scare you, it only startles you.

 

[flaming_squirrel]

Unfortunately I've become completely desensitized to horror, but I can imagine if you were new to that sort of thing it would be quite scary.

 

[Captain Schpack]

Spoiler: OP

I was on the john reading the GI article about Dead Space 2, and I just learned that a lot of people were truly frightened by the first game.
Some could only go half an hour before turning it off, I knew people were scared, but not that scared?
Im not trying to sound like im a bad mofo who never gets scared, because that is very far from the truth, but I was not scared, not once throughout the entire game.
I came close at the beginning when the monster was chasing me, but once I got my gun, i was pretty much unstoppable.
It was like putting rambo in a room full of zombies (this was on normal too.)
Now Im not trying to say the game was bad, quite the contrary, Im really looking forward to the sequel, im just saying I wasn't scared.

How about you folks, were you scared?
If not, share with me a few ideas on what you think they could do to really make it scary.

Here is a short one I had.
Your outside, in space, running along the ship.
You lost your weapons and your low on health.
you look back briefly to see the horde of necromorphs getting closer and closer, but all you hear is your ragged, panicked breath using up the last of your oxygen.

Any ideas?

A Cookie to you sir, for you have ninja'd my thread idea.

I played it. In the dark. Twasn't scary. All it did was startle really, like "oh, snap. didn not see you *slice*"

 

[IanBrazen]

A Cookie to you sir, for you have ninja'd my thread idea.

I played it. In the dark. Twasn't scary. All it did was startle really, like "oh, snap. didn not see you *slice*"

By all means give me your take on the subject, I really would like to hear it.

 

[MetaKnight19]

I thought it was scary at times, like when that giant arm rushes around the corner and you have to shoot it before it kills you, but then again Dead Space is the only survival-horror game I have actually finished. But I find Condemned 2 a hell of a lot scarier, especially in the dark.

 

[one eyed monster]

I was on the john reading the GI article about Dead Space 2, and I just learned that a lot of people were truly frightened by the first game.
Some could only go half an hour before turning it off, I knew people were scared, but not that scared?
Im not trying to sound like im a bad mofo who never gets scared, because that is very far from the truth, but I was not scared, not once throughout the entire game.
I came close at the beginning when the monster was chasing me, but once I got my gun, i was pretty much unstoppable.
It was like putting rambo in a room full of zombies (this was on normal too.)
Now Im not trying to say the game was bad, quite the contrary, Im really looking forward to the sequel, im just saying I wasn't scared.

How about you folks, were you scared?
If not, share with me a few ideas on what you think they could do to really make it scary.

Here is a short one I had.
Your outside, in space, running along the ship.
You lost your weapons and your low on health.
you look back briefly to see the horde of necromorphs getting closer and closer, but all you hear is your ragged, panicked breath using up the last of your oxygen.

Any ideas?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/333-Dead-Space


follow the link and it shall answer all of your questions...

 

[TimeLord]

I jumped at a couple of bits where the aliens poped out of nowhere and shit myself when undead Nicola jumps you at the end but apart from that it wasn't scary as such

Meh, I don't consider "jumping" as scared. That's just getting startled; that can happen to anyone. It's an instinctual reflex of self-defense, not genuine fear. I get startled occasionally, but I don't get scared of monsters, or dark quiet corridors.

I never said jumping was scary :S

 

[squid5580]

The ZP on Dead Space said it best, DS doesn't scare you, it only startles you.

Frankly that is the best I can hope for when it comes to horror. i have spent to much time watching horror movies and playing survival horror games that I have become unfortunately desensitized to it.

 

[Supreme Unleaded]

No it wasnt scary, it was the jump out and scare you scary, which isnt real fear, its just jumpy.

I guess sometimes it could be scary from anticipation of whats going to ring your neck around the next scary but eventually you get so used to it that it loses its effect.

 

[TransMando]

Sometimes when stuff jumped out at you it was startling, but I wouldn't say that's an uncommon quality in a lot of games that are trying to catch you off guard.

 

[dreamtime]

The vacuum-sections, where you couldn't rely on sound, could get quite tense. But otherwise it was kind of like your run of the mill horror-flick. Cheap scares and unoriginal plot. Too bad, since it was overall a very well-designed game.

 

[UsefulPlayer 1]

I never played so I'll ask you guys.

Resident Evil 4 was a great thiller/scary game for me. Would Dead Space give me the same experience? If so, then I really should look into buying it.

 

[BaldursBananaSoap]

Nope. Penumbra scared me, Silent Hill 2 scared me, Theif's cradle level scares me, but giving me loads of ammo, an arsenal of weapons and loads of predictable closet monsters does not.

 

[twostripe]

dead space has the same flaws as a lot of horror games
at first when you dont know whats going on ite freaky to have those weird munsters chasing you and jumping out of vents
but later in the game when you know wat your doin and the enemies tactics havent changed it switches from jumping out of your skin when one thing leaps from a vent behind you to mowing down hoards of bads that charge straight at you like retards with whatever youv decided your fav weapon is