Dead Space game review
Test: Dead SpaceAs the first horrific foray of Electronic Arts, Dead Space will have aroused worried but also intrigued looks from a whole fringe of gamers who are won over to the cause of pixel hemoglobin. Developed by the dads of The Simpsons the game, this mix between the blood red action game and the survival-horror goes away to mimic some cinematographic and video game monuments by transposing its action to a place that is at least isolated because it is located thousands of light years from Earth, the USG Ishimura. A place like any other to die ...
Survival horror and space is not a story from yesterday. However, there are ultimately few softs that have used and abused this environment, which is nevertheless conducive to the feeling of loneliness, confinement and thereby suffocation. We can nevertheless cite a nice Overblood on PSone, an execrable Dino Crisis 3 on Xbox, the mystical Echo Night Beyond or the forgotten and very reworked Run Like Hell on PS2, whose similarities with Dead Space are numerous. In short, the developers' first good idea was to drop the blue planet to flee to untapped horizons, at least on New Gen and PC in the area that interests us here. Uninhibited vis-à-vis violence, openly gore, trash and shocking (for the most puritanic souls), this journey towards horror will have successfully passed its first challenge by giving birth to envy in the heart of the player .
Cleverly articulated around a multimedia project comprising episodes of a flash series and an animated film coming out on November 05, Dead Space thus benefits from its release from an established background. Moreover, we will note in passing the lack of taste consisting in marketing Dead Space Downfall after the game while the animated film revisits the events preceding those narrated in the game. Anyway, Electronic Arts had the departure chosen to do everything to make the universe of its offspring consistent. If in the end the scenario is not very original, we will salute the efforts of the scriptwriters who have stuffed the adventure with audio, video or written messages while teaching us a little more about the reasons for this tartar of scientists and other passengers having one fine day formed the crew of the gigantic spacecraft USG Ishimura. In the end, if the winks at Aliens are not lacking, we will rather situate the story of Dead Space halfway between that of Event Horizon, Sunshine and 2001 The Space Odyssey in terms of borrowing from a mysterious monolith which has been quoted extensively because it is at the center of the intrigue. Spread over a dozen chapters, or a dozen hours of play, the story intensifies hour by hour, the suffocating suspense going crescendo as we glimpse bits of truth.
It will therefore not be completely surreal to draw a parallel between Resident Evil 4 and Dead Space whose rise, graphic prowess and moments of anthology follow the same upward curve. In fact, playing Dead Space amounts to completely immersing yourself in an unhealthy, gloomy and dangerous world, very dangerous even if you choose Normal or Hard mode. However, devs have opted for a certain accessibility in the sense that you will always have the choice of using a light beam to know where to go. In addition, the well-placed save points and check points will also avoid unpleasant round trips. We navigate in all serenity by focusing mainly on the confrontations and the few puzzles that are there only to stimulate one or two neurons little involved in what is happening on the screen. On this point, and apart from a search for objects to use in a specific place (an immutable classic), we will most often have to use our powers of stasis (to slow down an enemy or specific object) and telekinesis in order to spawn a path. Nothing really stimulating but in absolute terms it is not a problem at all because what we are looking for above all is elsewhere.
EA understood this and suddenly focused its efforts on the survival aspect. So do not be asked to pick up all the ammunition lying to the right and left or to buy it in the stocks of the ship. The latter, scattered all over the place and taking up the principle of chests communicating the first Resident Evil, will allow you to store your superfluous objects, sell them and buy various items like weapons (as long as you have previously recovered the diagrams of the machine), ammunition, care kits or even more advanced combinations. Knowing that these will influence the number of locations in your inventory as well as your resistance to attacks, you will agree the interest of such a purchase. In addition, you will find in several places work plans to improve your weapons. To be able to use this tree of evolution, you will need to have in your possession points of force, essential to increase the attributes such as the capacity, the damages, the reloading or the speed of a weapon. Note that these points of strength, to find at the option of your wanderings, will also be used to open rooms that mostly close healing items or ammunition. In short, this little customization aspect is an excellent thing and greatly encourages you to dig into every corner of each chapter.
From a visual point of view, Electronic Arts also came out with honors. In addition to stunning graphics quality and dazzling light effects, how not to praise the find of displaying the inventory or any video message, like a hologram, on the right of the screen, the character being confined to the left? A very nice way to divert the HUD especially as our life gauge and stasis are represented by a pipe and a small fluorescent device in the back of our suit. By cons, remember that when you navigate in your virtual bag, or display the map and your goals, time does not freeze. Avoid in the middle of a fight especially since it is a shame to note that the 180 ° turn has not been planned. Isaac may move quickly, it is often frustrating not to know more quickly what is happening behind our backs, especially during 1 to 10 fights behind closed doors. However, our weapons are very effective from the start and between a machine gun, a cutter, a flame thrower, a laser slicer, the massacre continues at the rate of laughter a bit sadistic. Because yes, Dead Space could have been validated by the Marquis de Sade and Vlad Tepes reunited as this EA production is not in the lace.
We can even sneer at the antagonism displayed on the back of the box evoking tactical dismemberment. And yet, that is what it is all about because to get rid of the creeping abominations, you will have to aim not at the head but at the members of the monsters. Suffice to say that the weapons described above take on their full meaning and having a circular saw launcher quickly becomes obvious here below. Knowing that each weapon has a secondary shot, practical or fun depending on the case, we rejoice like a kid in front of this unpacking of bloody flesh as much as we are the instigator. A real amusement park straight out of hell in which or will also find passages in space or in zero gravity. In the first case, it will often be a question of going fissa before your oxygen supply reaches the critical threshold. In the second on the other hand, it will rather be a question of finding your way, the top can become low and vice versa. Here, you only need to point to where you want to go and then press a combination of buttons so that Isaac takes a leap, the camera then changing angles to reposition itself behind your avatar. This allows me to tackle the question of the gameplay which turns out to be excellent except for the point mentioned above as well as a card that is not very readable. Apart from that, no camera problem, the interface is well thought out and aesthetic, the easy-to-access upgrade system and quick access to weapons, allows you to be reactive.
Suffice to say that with Dead Space, Electronic Arts inflicts a masterful slap on Capcom by making equal play with them on a ground usually occupied by the Japanese. Beautiful, violent and wonderfully synthesizing the best of horror cinema and that of video games, this title never falters to offer the player an unforgettable experience. No point was left abandoned, the experience is total and without any concessions. We will not be surprised to be transported by a soundtrack counting among the most fabulous ever heard in a video game work. From a range of realistic sound effects to a perfect sound quality, through stunning quality symphonic music and a very good French dubbing, our ears quiver at the sound of this debauchery of strident strings, powerful brass instruments and howls in the distance. It was enough to bring Dead Space to the rank of absolute masterpiece by placing it in the pantheon of the most significant achievements of this year.
The notes
Graphics 18/20
With an incredible gallery of monsters, excellent modeling and sumptuous plays of light, Dead Space poses like a game of intoxicating beauty. In addition, we will praise the graphic designers who have succeeded in proposing different environments within a huge ship, something that Capcom had not succeeded in doing in Dino Crisis 3. Finally, note that the passages in zero gravity or in the 'space offer original, dreamlike and even stunning sequences.
Gameplay 17/20
The absence of HUD benefits Dead Space unlike what had been done in Alone in The Dark. Everything is aesthetic and above all functional except for a card that is difficult to read. Camera problems are absent, directing Isaac is a real pleasure even if we regret that it is not possible to make a rapid 180 ° turnaround. Finally, the customization of our weapons and the purchase of items are synonymous with large carrots, which greatly encourage us to search long and wide each level.
Lifespan 14/20
12 chapters make up the main adventure. To have finished, in Normal, the first six in as many hours, we can count on a lifespan of 10 to 12 hours approximately. In addition, we will only rarely be blocked since the puzzles generally require only the use of one of our two powers to be solved. Finally, the developers have included a kind of guideline telling us where to go if you never know where to turn.
Soundtrack 20/20
Perfection does not exist and yet the EA teams in charge of the Dead Space soundtrack seem to have found the formula. Suffice to say that the immersion owes a lot to the work of sound artists who have done an amazing job. The sound effects are numerous and the sound rendering, flexible depending on where we are, is of impeccable accuracy. Add symphonic music of incredible delicacy that adapts perfectly to what is happening on the screen as well as a French dubbing concerned and you get a work of dazzling hearing richness.
Scenario 13/20
Borrowing from Event Horizon, Aliens, Sunshine, 2001 and games like Run Like Hell or Doom 3, Dead Space multiplies winks and tributes for an unoriginal but involved result. Indeed, if the scenario has the airs of deja vu, the quantity of audio and video messages brings a real consistency to this deformed universe to which the animated film Dead Space Downfall should offer some revealing narrative elements. On the other hand, we regret the Gordon Freeman syndrome synonymous with dumb heroes. Not very credible and above all very frustrating during a face-to-face conversation.
A poem made of tripailles, primary fears and unhealthy jubilation. Here is what Electronic Arts has written for us and if reading the work is intended to be traumatic, it is nonetheless intoxicating. The illegitimate son of several feature films and video games, Dead Space acquires independence from the first minutes of the adventure. Coiled between a real maturity, an esthetic violence, a prodigious soundtrack, multiple discoveries and passages of anthology, the title of EA impresses on all levels. Projected into a dark and unhealthy universe, the player will not stop pushing the doors to move forward while dreading arriving at the end of the adventure. Beautiful paradox born of a quality achievement and a project mastered from start to finish. Low hat.
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