I mostly agree with you, that wasn’t really what I was implying. I do think that controls like that often add to Japanese games, but Dead Space’s controls are fine for what they are - they just highlight that it’s an action game above all else. There’s about 20 times as much combat in Dead Space than in Siren or Silent Hill.
Resident Evil 4 is a different matter, but then that game featured wide open spaces and huge crowds of slow enemies. Those controls worked because you had to employ a more measured approach to combat, whereas in Dead Space the focus is always ‘how do I kill this thing in front of me as quickly as possible’. So yeah, the controls work, but because I’m always in control I never feel scared.
Heheh. So in my case, if I’m not always in control, I get reminded I’m just playing a game and it ruins my immersion and I can’t get scared anymore. And you’re never scared if you feel like you’re always in control. I wonder if they can ever make a game that can scare us both?
It’s not just the controls though - it’s the full suit of armour, powerful weapons and predictable monster closets!
I think if they made a game where you played a weak character who controlled responsively to show quick thinking on feet or something, that might work. I basically don’t think EA were going for anything beyond superficial jumpy horror with Dead Space, even though the atmosphere is really well-done.
I couldn’t find a non used copy locally so I need to order it off amazon…unfortunately Trials happened and I can’t seem to not play that game to no end. I fully intend to play Dead Space eventually though, and I’m sure it will scare me silly, as I am a giant pansy as well. :)
Well, merry, be sure you make the best of your fortunate situation of being a pansy while playing the game. Play it at night with the lights off and the sound turned up and let the game scare you silly. Dead Space worked so well for me because of the great atmosphere it conveys through its sound design and tension filled corridors. As a modern, videogame sequel to Aliens, it’s the very definition of something that works best in the dark.
Dead Space is maybe not as scary as something like Silent Hill or Fatal Frame, but it’s a fair bit scarier than Bioshock, which…I don’t want to say Bioshock wasn’t creepy at -all-, and I don’t want to say they weren’t aiming for it, but I don’t feel like Bioshock set out to be a horror game, as such. Dead Space definitely does.
I’m half an hour or so in, and a bit underwhelmed to be honest. Doesn’t look that great, clumsy-feeling camera-body relationship, very (so far) limited gameplay. Does it pick up?
From what I recall, yes, considerably Alistair. It makes me wonder if you are playing it on the PC, which is what I did. I think the control scheme on the PC (camera, movement, interface in general) was very klunky by comparison to what I heard the XBox version was. It took some getting used to, but the struggle to control your movement precisely actually ended up adding tension for me (turned the tide a bit more in my opposition’s favor).
I think too, that my early experience with the game may also have been like yours, i.e. either underwhelmed, or thinking that I wasn’t going to enjoy the game as much as I had thought. But, since I’m a game finisher, I stuck around and am glad I did, one of the best games I played in the last year! So, I think it will grow on you…
Yet another example of me playing a game all the way through not the way it was intended to be experienced! Yet, it didn’t hurt immersion, I figured clambering around in a space suit was supposed to be a bit awkward…
I saw the v-sync bug earlier in this thread I think, which was great. Maybe I should try a controller… I’ve started to think of the camera as kind of independent of the character - I just move the view to where I want it and ignore the fact that the char slides into some different position in the shot as I look around. Looking forward to getting back to it now though. It’s tiding me over until ETW is patched…
Anyone kow how the hell I change weapon? Currently I open the inventory, use the cursor keys to move to weapons and the weapon I want, and prod it till it does something. The control list suggests 1 and 2 to move up and down weapons, but they don’t seem to do anything. What am I missing?
Hmmm, from memory (a bit vague but should help) - I had this same problem initially in the PC version. Despite the fact that those are the first two weapons you have, I don’t think the PC recognizes them as 1 and 2.
When you have your inventory open, see where your weapons are positioned, I believe you can pick them up and move them around on the “clock”.
I think weapons are such that the 12 o’clock position is your “1” weapon, and then going around clockwise, 3 o’clock is your “2” weapon, etc. - but check it out as my memory might be faulty - so you can move your flamethrower to your “2” position if you’d like.
You’ll probably find your plasma cutter is your 1 position, and your flamethrower is your 3 or 4 position - so you actually can switch weapons but not by hitting 1 or 2.
Good grief. Yes that was it. You need to scroll down on the key bindings to see that 1-4 are used, rather than 1 and 2 for up and down as it suggests at first glance. And indeed, my second weapon was put in ‘3’. How can you mess up weapon switching?
There are no hotkeys for air or stasis recharging…? Er…
But the really weird thing, is the camera. As you move the mouse, it orbits around a point to Isaac’s right, and he stays in the left of the screen. But the thing you need to look around with respect to… is the thing you’re trying to keep alive that’s carrying the guns! Not the point next to him. So as far as I can tell, moving your view 90 degrees around with respect to Isaac actually takes different amounts of mouse movement depening which way you’re looking! Am I right? I actually feel a bit queasy at times.
