Dead Space = Hype

You know… I’m typically not a “hype” person. I don’t like ads, and I intentionally ignore them. If I take an opinion, it’s gotta be from a real person. And, even then, I reserve judgment on everything until I try it myself. And all this noise coming from EA about their new survival horror game is cacophonous.  So, here’s the deal:  Dead Space = Hype. 

Yeah, I get it. Dead Space looks awesome, and it’s got some new ideas in gameplay… oh wait, no it doesn’t. Tell me one thing in this game that hasn’t been done in the previous generation of consoles. Sure, it’s got “strategic dismemberment.” That’s a new concept, for sure. Except I’m pretty sure I remember doing this on the original Xbox in Halo against the Flood: shoot off the arms and they can’t attack. Yes, you could riddle the Flood with bullets until they don’t stand up, but something tells me it will work similarly for Dead Space.

I admit, that's a cool shot.

The altered gravity environments have been done, too. Old-school Asteroids had a 2D version. And Dead Space really doesn’t even have a truly weightless character. Isaac Clarke sticks to the ground, walls, or ceiling with magnetic boots. Okay… but essentially the effect on the gamer is that the world reorients the walls, and your character is always “grounded,” even on the ceiling. If I can remember back accurately, Prey did this almost two years ago. Granted, Prey was silly; variable “down” gave the game the effect of a gory fun house. The floating debris will help with Dead Space’s illusion, but, again, it’s been done.

And doesn’t everyone look at this and think: “Hey, a new Resident Evil! Cool! Oh, wait, it’s not Resident Evil?” The feel of this game is exactly like a lonely Resident Evil: over the shoulder view, intentionally poor lighting, and bloody dead things everywhere.

The game may still be good even though it’s not innovative, but I highly doubt that it will be nearly as good as other games that come out this year.  Not to mention names, but Fable 2 comes to mind. But, for all the hype, it needs to do something unique to make me love it. Otherwise, if it simply fuses all the other game concepts well, it will just be a “good” game… not a 9 out of 10 or better. Good is fine, but definitely not worth the hype.