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Dead Space 2: Still Creepy!
adytum
The Inevitable RiseAnd FallRegistered User regular
The Inevitable RiseAnd FallRegistered User regular
Dead Space is a horror franchise created by the good folks at EA and Visceral Games. So far, there have been five games released in the series: Dead Space for the 360/PS3/PC (released October 2008), Dead Space: Extraction for the Wii (released late September 2009), the download-only Dead Space: Ignition, released on XBLA and PSN (also as a preorder bonus for DS2), Dead Space for the iPhone / iPod touch, and finally Dead Space 2 for 360/PS3/PC (both released January 2011). Beyond the games, other works in the franchise include: the animated films, Dead Space: Downfall and Dead Space: Aftermath; the novel detailing humanity's first interaction with a Marker, Dead Space: Martyr; and the graphic novel depicting the final fate of the Ishimura after Isaacs's escape, Dead Space: Salvage.
PC Players: turn off V-sync to get your framerate above 30
DS2 INFO: It's out!. Get it now!
So Isaac isn't having the greatest time. While he did successfully extinct the tar out of the necromorph menace on Aegis VII and got away physically intact, he's a bit high-strung from the knockout combo of PTSD, loss of his girlfriend, and the lingering mind-warping effects of the alien Marker, and has wound up a psychiatric patient aboard The Sprawl, a massive, city-sized space station near Saturn's moon Titan. Drifting in and out of consciousness, he awakens to find that the station is overrun with those goddamned necromorphs - truly there is no rest for the wicked nor the highly capable. Isaac must fight his way once again through the entire biomass of a spacefaring society, only this time, he's got some help...
Now, to the other individual games, spoilered to keep this post somewhat manageable (updates to this OP incoming for Ignition and the iPhone game!):
*Bits and pieces of this OP stolen shamelessly from 043's and Fawst's previous OPs.
DEAD SPACE (with included mini-faq if you need some plot refreshment or are just plain confused)
PC USERS TURN OFF V-SYNC - otherwise Isaac takes your input as a suggestion and mostly just looks at things when he feels like it (ie mouse lag). Also note that the game seems to be hard-coded around having a frame-rate of 60 FPS or less. If you are a PC user with a solid rig and still have profound control issues (ie the mouse sensitivity seems dreadful), you should look into forcing v-sync through your video card's control panel. You can do this manually with Nvidia cards by adjusting the the 3D settings for Dead Space (dead space.exe) and making sure Vertical Sync is Forced On. ATI users need to download Rivatuner and use its D3D Overrider to force v-sync. Thanks to Olivaw and Ninja Snarl P for the heads up here.
043 wrote:When the USG Ishimura (a Planet Cracker class mining ship) reports system failures throughout, and no more contact is established, the Concordance Extraction Corporation (CEC) sends the USG Kellion, thinking some simple COM problems are to blame.
Kendra, Hammond and Isaac Clarke (the player; who's girlfriend is stationed on the Ishimura) arrive with a bang, quickly discovering that whatever brought her down wasn't exactly mechanical failure. And that it needs to be taken care of before they can ever get home.
You play the role of Isaac, the engineer of the party, who generally remains silent and maintains his love of repairing various ship systems even as the shit hits the fan repeatedly around him. Gameplay is very similar to RE4 and RE5, with bits of other classics thrown in for good measure (System Shock 2, anyone?), and takes place over 12 separate chapters.
This game nails atmosphere. The entire experience is crafted to keep you unsettled, nervous, and very likely terrified throughout the extent of the game. Shadows of enemies behind you that eventuate into nothing? Check. The constant, overbearing sounds of a creaking metal ship which may or may not actually be space zombies crawling through the vents and stalking you? Check. Blood and bodies drifting through the harshness of open space? You better believe that is a check.
043 wrote:But what does it look like? Spoiler'd for HUEG!
Mini-FAQ (spoiler'd for size and for the fact that SPOILERS AHOY):
Q: What is the best weapon?
A: The Ripper. On this point no dissent will be tolerated...
...but actually, all of the weapons are useful when used and upgraded correctly and it mostly comes down to preference. Except the Flamer. Don't even bother with it unless you just like you're enemies to be on fire when they tear you to pieces.
Q: I wish there was an easy way to heal without going into the menu. Like maybe a button?
A: There is. There's a button for it. Y on 360, Triangle on PS3, bound to Q by default on PC. Unfortunately no such option for Stasis and Oxygen...
Q: This PC version sucks and I hate it because Isaac is slow to respond like a Canadian, eh?
A: Turn off v-sync under Visuals in the Options menu. No more input lag!
Q: So, about this Unitology stuff...
Q: So then the Marker is...
Q: What are necromorphs?
Q: Oh the ending has me aflutter with possibilities!
Q: One of the later chapters is a gaping black hole of plot!
Q: Why in the everloving hell were any people in that craphole of a star system in the first place?
A: The Ripper. On this point no dissent will be tolerated...
...but actually, all of the weapons are useful when used and upgraded correctly and it mostly comes down to preference. Except the Flamer. Don't even bother with it unless you just like you're enemies to be on fire when they tear you to pieces.
Q: I wish there was an easy way to heal without going into the menu. Like maybe a button?
A: There is. There's a button for it. Y on 360, Triangle on PS3, bound to Q by default on PC. Unfortunately no such option for Stasis and Oxygen...
Q: This PC version sucks and I hate it because Isaac is slow to respond like a Canadian, eh?
A: Turn off v-sync under Visuals in the Options menu. No more input lag!
Q: So, about this Unitology stuff...
A: It's a religion started about 200 years before the beginning of Dead Space, when an alien obelisk known as a Marker was discovered on Earth by L. Ron Hubbard. Earth government at the time did not want word to get out about there being extraterrestrial life, and it is heavily suggested that the discoverer was assassinated to hush him up. Unfortunately, this made him a bit of a martyr for the little cult he had started in the meantime, and it blossomed into a full-blown religion focusing on human transcendence through death. The Church is now appropriately rich and influential, which when combined with batshit insane fundamentalism means good times are sure to occur. And who could forget the ominous sounding "mausoleum ships"?
Q: So then the Marker is...
A: An alien artefact discovered on Earth. Well, the one in the game is actually a man-made copy. It suppresses the spread of necromorphs around it (hence the DEAD SPACE) and has the ability to influence the minds of people near it. Usually for the worse - we don't know if that's because it is an imperfect copy or if Markers just like people acting like shithouse rats when they are around. We do know that it just wants to BE MADE WHOLE AGAIN, or in actual non-crazy speak, it wants to be down on Aegis VII on its pedestal.
Q: What are necromorphs?
A: The reanimated flesh of the dead crew of the Ishimura, horribly twisted to make them good at making more dead crew. Why would they do this? Well, the necromorph species seems to involve a few things going on at once: a bacterium form, which was created artificially when it was discovered that the Marker contains its genetic instructions and that seems to turn dead flesh into creepy crawlies; it also attempts to change the environment to something suitable for the species. There are also massive necromorph growths which seem to be the results of that goal, along with a Hive Mind that may or may not have been around from the very beginning.
Q: Oh the ending has me aflutter with possibilities!
A: Word of God (Visceral Studios) is that Isaac survived. So whatever you want to think about Nicolo-morph (hallucination or one last necro to curbstomp), Isaac is still cocked, locked, and ready to rock in the sequel. Or maybe it was all a dream...
Secondly, Kendra is a twat and I liked watching her die. But she died so that we may know that the Earth government is filled with people just like her that hate the idea of the Marker, Necros, and research into them becoming public knowledge to such a degree that they're willing to do just about anything to cover it up, including sending an entire ship of incompetent marines to kill everything and everyone with fire. Which leads us to...
Secondly, Kendra is a twat and I liked watching her die. But she died so that we may know that the Earth government is filled with people just like her that hate the idea of the Marker, Necros, and research into them becoming public knowledge to such a degree that they're willing to do just about anything to cover it up, including sending an entire ship of incompetent marines to kill everything and everyone with fire. Which leads us to...
Q: One of the later chapters is a gaping black hole of plot!
A: Yup. A single necro, not of the type that infects people, takes out an entire military ship sent to chill in the system earlier and wait for shit to go down. Better still, the government knew shit was likely to go down, warned the ship of it, and still a single necro in an escape pod fucks an entire ship of marines. The less we think about this, the better.
Q: Why in the everloving hell were any people in that craphole of a star system in the first place?
A: The Ishimura was there planet-cracking. Cracking planets. Mining. Making money. This was illegal, however, because the government marked the system OFF-LIMITS earlier. The government did this because it had been doing research with its copy of the Marker and lab-created necros there, and decided that it had seen enough at some point and left it there. Later, during the the preparations to tear off a piece of the planet the size of Australia, the CEC found the Marker, people started going insane, necros come out of the woodwork, and the the Marker was brought up to the ship. Did I mention that Unitologists had infiltrated the CEC and staffed much of the Ishimura purposely with their ranks? Anyways, a shuttle with necros crashed into the Ishimura, and the rest is fairly self-explanatory...
DEAD SPACE: DOWNFALL
043 wrote:Dead Space: Downfall:
An animated prequel to the game, Downfall tells the story of the Ishimura before the Necromorph infestation. It is expected to release on DVD and BluRay on October 28th.
Bonus features include:
- Two exclusive codes for the game.
- Deleted scenes.
- Soundtrack.
- And a digital copy for BluRay owners ONLY.
You can probably get this pretty cheaply nowadays. For the most part, it provides some context for the events occurring prior to those of Dead Space on Aegis VII, although all told there isn't a lot in it that you can't figure out from the game itself. Haven't seen this myself, so I'm just passing on what I know. Feel free to elaborate in the thread!
DEAD SPACE: EXTRACTION
A Wii shooter-on-rails (and now a Playstation Move compatible bonus for early adopters of Dead Space 2 on the PS3), Extraction is a direct prequel to the original. You actually play several characters over the course of the game, and interact with several others, including Nicole, Isaac's girlfriend. It's honestly a good game, so if you have access to a Wii I highly recommend it (it should be dropping in price precipitously as it sold terribly, probably because it had this boxart:
If you don't have access to a Wii, you can watch the game being played all the way through on youtube. You can also just read my quick and dirty synopsis below:
You start out as a worker on the colony on Aegis VII after the Marker has been uncovered. Everyone around you goes crazy, you fight back, only to discover at the end of the chapter that you are in fact the crazy one when you are killed by security personnel. One month later, you take control of the chief of security on the colony that is now overrun with necromorphs and insane colonists. You manage to reach a shuttle to the Ishimura, but not before finding a 20 year-old woman named Lexine Murdoch and one Dr. Warren Eckhart. When approaching the Ishimura in the shuttle, you are fired upon by the ship's guns and crash land into the ship, where you are captured by the ship's security forces. Nicole examines your group of survivors, while the ship is quickly overrun by necros. Shooty stuff occurs, and you take control of a worker in the hydroponics section of the ship who meets up with the rest of the surviving group. We find out that Eckhart is a Unitologist, and the worker is killed by a necro as he flees the scene. You regain control of the security officers, the group decides that the only way off the ship is on an executive shuttle, and they split up so that one part can disable the automated guns (so they aren't shot as they attempt to leave) while the other preps it. Eckhart reveals that Lexine is significant to the Unitologist's plans before he is killed by a necromorph. More shooty stuff occurs, and the three remaining members of the group (Lexine and the two playable security officers) make it into a shuttle and take off. As they leave the ship, they hear the transmission from the Kellion but cannot respond. Suddenly, a necro attacks...
We do know that Lexine plays a part in the sequel, so the attack may not be real. In any case, she is special because the Marker has no effect on her.
We do know that Lexine plays a part in the sequel, so the attack may not be real. In any case, she is special because the Marker has no effect on her.
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Registered just for the Mass Effect threads | Steam: click ^^^ | Origin: curlyhairedboy
I'm not in the PS3 list.
You are looking at such a person right here.
your tears, delicious, etc.
Registered just for the Mass Effect threads | Steam: click ^^^ | Origin: curlyhairedboy
Xbox | x Dredgen Yor x |
Link me to the post and I'd be happy to!
I'll probably revamp the whole OP tonight so it's pretty.
Godspeed, Ironsides.
Ending spoilers.
"What?"
Hey, I have a blog! (Actually being updated again!)
3DS: 0860-3240-2604
The number of badass moments you can have in this game is awesome. Ran into a room earlier, black necro drops to my right, explodey arm necro drops to my left. Take out the black necro quickly, use kinesis to rip a spike off of him, spin around and send it through the head of the other one, which flies back and is briefly pinned to a window. Window blows out, decompressing the room, and I manage to squeeze off a shot just in the nick of time to hit the emergency lock.
Plink. Trophy unlocked.
Shitty Tumblr:lighthouse1138.tumblr.com
Your RIG is red. It's red.
Your RIG is now red!
Shitty Tumblr:lighthouse1138.tumblr.com
Isaac, we're all gonna buuuuurn for what we did to you.
Feel free to let me know (specifically) what you want in the OP and I will add it.. tomorrow.
I bought Dead Space today for $20 to play once we are done our initial run through at his place so I can get the achievements too. I also have Dead Space 2 coming in the mail today or tomorrow (along with Zombie Dice). Sucks that Marvel vs Capcom 3 comes out next week. Poor Dead Space 2.
Tumblr | Twitter | Twitch | Pinny Arcade Lanyard
[3DS] 3394-3901-4002 | [Xbox/Steam] Redfield85
I guess I'll try starting a new game and see if I can trick it into thinking I have save files again.
(edit) Nevermind. Turns out the "My Documents" folder and the documents library are two separate things.
BSCHKT"Isaac! I'm really thirsty here. I need you to reactivate the tram system, make your way into the morgue, find my coffee cup, head back to the canteen (the one nearest the engines), divert power to the all-purpose matter recombobulators, then find a replacement hydration matrix to get them working again. I think I burnt out the last one.
What's that? No, I'm sweet enough. Just milk."
After my first degree, I worked with schizophrenia sufferers and other folks with mental illness for several years, teaching life skills and helping them cope with their symptoms at home so they could be reintegrated into the community instead of remaining institutionalized. I've lost track of how many times I've had to hold a man down because he's having a psychotic break and is trying to bite me, throw stereos at other clients, and destroy everything in the building. They had to reinforce the walls after a while.
I know it can happen anywhere, anytime, with absolutely no fucking warning. That is why telegraphing Nicole was so absurd. Then again the difference between reading about mental illness and understanding it are two very different things - Visceral did some homework but not enough, imo.
Anyway, great gameplay, but not scary, just ham-fisted. I won't shit up the thread with this discussion any further.
Now, for something less controversial - the soundtrack CD is cool. I'm going to use it for ambient Hallowe'en sounds this year. But there is one track so out of place it gave me a chuckle the first time I listened to the CD - anyone who owns it knows:
I immediately thought of Bricktop. The idea of him and his boys on the Ishimura is amusing.
Have you seen Snatch Wars?
Probably NSFW, because of swearing
Spoilinking because, you know, don't want people getting fired.
edit: Apparently the linking part doesn't work.. will try to fix that!
Nevertheless, that video is awesome.
This made me snort coffee at work.
Actually one thing that Hammond says in the game which is genuinely funny is when they find out that the captain is in the morgue, and that his status is "Deceased"
Hammond reacts to this news with "What?! .... How?"
Oh I don't know.
Meningitis, maybe?
edit - I mean yeah it turns out later that he was stabbed in the eye by his doctor, but still. On a ship full of corpses, being stalked by thousands flailing sythes on legs. Being shocked that someone is dead is a tiny bit nieve.
To be fair, as the captain, he should've had the longest health bar (at least five times that of the average crewman) and access to the biggest gun. And I doubt necromorphs are smart enough to easily learn his attack pattern.
Steam / Origin & Wii U: Heatwave111 / FC: 4227-1965-3206 / Battle.net: Heatwave#11356
Needless to say, I meant Deceased.
God I wish I could go home and play Chapter 5.
I wasn't trying to correct your spelling, I thought you thought Kendra said he was diseased is all.
If you have the capability to livestream chapter 5, please do so.
He charges £4.99 for 5 minutes, though.
It will be worth every penny.
Besides, people would probably just get frustrated watching me play. I am extremely cautious when going around corners and walking down corridors.