Genre:

BUY

The original Dead Space introduced us to engineer Isaac Clarke, an outer-space Gordon Freeman with an even gorier monster problem. Though his journey was long and rough, Isaac was able to battle his way out of the spaceship from hell and into an uncertain future. Dead Space 2 picks up more or less where the player left off; Isaac has no idea where he is or how he got there. He only knows that he’s back in the bowels of hell, on a strange ship, and he needs to run. This is where Dead Space 2 drops us off, and for the next 8-10 hours, never lets us rest.

Get away from me!

The gameplay in Dead Space 2 is, pardon my pun, out of this world. It’s truly unbelievable how easy they’ve made the controls for the player. While there were a few times I was panicking and kept using health packs that I didn’t need to, overall the game flowed beautifully. The same weapon selection is back from the first game, and honestly I’m glad they didn’t tinker around too much. Something about the 3-laser sighted Plasma Cutter makes me feel safe; like I could remove a fair amount of monster limbs before they had a chance to get to me. There are relatively few games that I’ve beaten and wanted to restart again immediately, but despite the challenges of the final boss battle, the minute my screen hit the ‘Game +’ menu I was ready to get back into things on a harder difficulty. Overall, I’d say the actual gameplay of Dead Space 2 was pretty close to perfect. Of course there were areas that presented more of a challenge than others, but getting through them requires the player to simply think about the challenge differently.

I could go on for days about how fun Dead Space 2 is, but I’d much rather go on for days about how much it scared me. If you played the first game and weren’t scared at all, that’s fine; neither was I. Dead Space 2 plays like it was developed by a system of computers that was powered by full-grown adult nightmares. I am not exaggerating when I say that on my first time through, I spent roughly 80% of it with my gun drawn, inching slowly forward. Whether they’re manipulating shadows and light, making noises and movements just off-camera, or hinting you’re about to be attacked, the game keeps the player on the edge of their seat nearly the entire game. I’m no stranger to the survival horror genre, and this game had me making sure I didn’t play it before I went to sleep.

Gross.

The beloved Necromorphs from the first game are back, but this time they really flesh them out and give them some depth. Within the first 5 minutes of gameplay, a guy who is talking to you is attacked and transformed into a monster right in front of your eyes. Some may call showing the process depraved, but I loved that the developers didn’t shy away from confronting the player so graphically. There are even more disgusting parts later in the game that I don’t want to spoil for you (I hope you’re not squeamish about eyeballs), but some of the game’s best moments come from the subtle scares, like when you first witness the exploding babies in the nursery, or when you meet the raptors in the church – an encounter that ranks in my Top Ten Most Stressful Moments in Gaming. The game also added an interesting element of tunnel-crawling this time around, which fits with the environment while at the same time delivering a brand new level of claustrophobia.

I don’t know how many Xbox 360 games have gone this route, but Dead Space 2 is the first game I’ve owned that has spanned two discs. They give you one hell of a lengthy romp through outer space for your money, which I appreciated. Though at times the story itself seemed a bit jerky (“hurry up and meet this person! Okay, cool – now go meet this other person!”), it was a satisfying tie-in to the first installment. Again, I don’t want to give too much away, but the driving motivation for Isaac Clarke in the first game is back again. Well… kind of.

At times, the original Dead Space suffered from a clunky inability to distinguish between something that’s “challenging” and something that’s “unbearable to the point I don’t want to play anymore”.  Fortunately this was fixed with its sequel, and I never found myself faced with an insurmountable obstacle or an area that wouldn’t let me pass until I honed my cat-like reflexes and ability to memorize a level. Dead Space 2 masters the fine line between thrills and challenges, and rewards the player in key moments of desperation. It doesn’t fall for the same tired mechanic of “no ammo = survival horror”, but instead trains a player on how to manipulate what they find into something that will help them stay alive.

Like I explained earlier, Dead Space 2 had me completing the game and then jumping right back in for more like a darn fool, so I feel like it would be redundant of me to emphasize just how critical this game is for your collection. The folks who made it know what they’re doing; they know how to make a game scary but playable, disgusting but manageable, and challenging but worth it. Dead Space 2 is truly scary, truly twisted, and amazingly fun.

BioWare and Visceral Games (both part of EA) are working together to bring the “Ser Issac of Clarke” heavy armor set to Dragon Age II. You’ll have to have Dead Space 2 for it to work, since the instructions are included with copies of the game.

Those instructions come with a download code for the armor, which won’t be useful at all until Dragon Age II releases, but at least you’ll have it ahead of time.

Visceral Games have announced that they have new apparel and other Dead Space goodies. Visceral Store has all the Dead Space and Dante’s Inferno merchandise one could want.

The Pulp Comic tee is available in Woman’s sizes and Visceral has promised that more Woman’s options will be on the way.

For Dead Space fans that want something extra special, Visceral is selling the Dead Space Rig backpack. The backpack will only be on sale starting Monday the 13th through September 23rd. The bag will sell for $108.00 with a $40 refundable deposit. With the pre-order, customers will get a Dead Space 2 tee shirt designed by Art Director Ian Milham and 3 exclusive Mini Dead Space 2 lithographs. You can go here to pre-order your Rig backpack.

Enjoy the trailer of the newly announced

Visceral and EA have released a teaser trailer, titled “Dementia,” to bring you up to speed. (It’s embedded below.)

Not only that, but http://www.deadspacegame.com/ has been uploaded with “shiploads” (their pun, not mine for a change) of new content about what’s gone down since the massacre aboard the ship, including a memorial as well as wallpapers and an audio log.

Enjoy the trailer!

See, I wasn’t kidding about the cool part!

Anyway, the panel takes you behind-the-scenes of Dead Space, and features key Dead Space team members like Steve Papoutsis (Executive Producer), Rich Briggs (Producer), and Ian Milham (Art Director). The new Isaac suit will also be making an appearance! The ultimate goal of the panel? Getting you ready for Dead Space 2.

You might be thinking, “That’s not fair! That means only the people in the room will be completely ready!” Ah, we disagree. Visceral Games is streaming the entire panel! Come back here at 1 p.m. Eastern/10 a.m. Pacific to see the complete panel. (Don’t despair if you come here after that – the panel may have been recorded for your pleasure.)

Live TV : Ustream

Abandon all hope for original gameplay, ye who enter here.

Rating: M (for violence and male and female nudity)
Players: 1
Genre: Action/Hack-n-Slash
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Visceral Games, Artificial Mind and Movement
Release Date: February 9, 2010 (NA)

RENT

You know that dream you have where it seems so awesome, that it ought to be a movie? And it’s not until it’s done and a day passes that you realize that – whoa, it already is one? Maybe that only happens to me, but the simile is still apt.

Dante’s Inferno is like that. It’s a fantastic idea that starts out beautifully executed until you finally get to a point where you wonder if you’ve seen it before. And the thing is, if you’ve played any games in this genre before (specifically a series starring a certain Kratos character), you have seen it before.

The game is inspired by the first book of Dante Alighieri’s classic epic poem, titled “Inferno,” if you didn’t know that much already. The similarities are as follows: Each features a guy called Dante, who goes to Hell and hangs out with Virgil. There are still nine circles of Hell, and they stay in the same order.

Mmm! Giant worms!

However, since this is a video game, well, Dante needed some sort of motive. This comes after changing the premise a bit. In the original, Dante’s traipse around Hell was intended as a giant metaphor representing Dante’s difficulty in finding the right way to salvation – that is, Heaven. In the reworked plot, however, Dante is a soldier who doesn’t quite understand how a tattoo works (he’s actually sewn a crimson cross into his skin) with some sins in his past. He finds his beloved Beatrice murdered, and decides to go after her through Hell or high water. (Okay, there’s actually no high water involved. Just Hell.) He opens the Gates of Hell, and he goes off on his way to rescue Beatrice from Lucifer. (As far as the real-life Dante goes, he never actually married Beatrice, just admired her from afar until her death.)

As far as gameplay goes, it’s fairly standard. One button for heavy attacks, one for light. You get Beatrice’s Magictastic Glowy Cross for a completely unlimited basic magic attack that holds its own throughout the entire game, and other magic types are funded through your Mana bar.

Oh, hey there, you sweet little...oh dear.

Of course, it’s not limited to just that. Some combos are unlocked via a two-branch upgrading system. On the left, your “unholy” attacks, on the right, your “holy” ones – you purchase attacks on each side with the souls you get from defeating enemies. You unlock different levels of each branch by choosing to punish or absolve your enemies. You can also choose to punish or absolve the Shades of the Inferno, which amount to famous figures (like Pontius Pilate or Attila the Hun) scattered through the nine levels that you also choose to punish or absolve.

Punishing is, nine times out of ten, very simple. Absolving involves either a lot of button-mashing (for common enemies) or, in the case of the Shades…a rhythm game. A rhythm game that eats 30 seconds of your time and is only really good for getting extra soul currency.

After all that absolving, are the holy powers much more awesome than the unholy ones? That answer is a resounding no. You’d think that with the holy powers, Dante could skip through Hell like a schoolgirl on a hopscotch board, going all “the power of Christ compels you!” on the evil spirits and tortured souls. Nuh uh. Doesn’t happen. Holy powers aren’t any cooler at all. So, really, there’s no reason to choose one path over the other. If there had been some kind of reward or punishment for choosing one path over the other, this mechanic might make more sense, but as it stands, it’s completely pointless. You have to both absolve and punish to get anywhere. (I personally chose to absolve most of the shades, because with the little bit of backstory they give you, I was usually able to rationalize my decision. “Oh, sure, you cheated on your husband, but he sounds like a big meanie, so I don’t blame you.”)

In addition, you also occasionally get to ride giant beasts. They, like Dante, have two main physical attacks and an unlimited magic type. Swing your arms or stomp the tiny things in front of you, or blow fire at them. Occasionally, a monster tries to take your ride away from you, but all it takes to ward them off is some more button-mashing. You get to the top of them via a series of quick-time events, and QTEs show up at least once per boss fight, so get used to them. (The pink square button is pretty difficult to see due to not enough contrast between the pink and grey, so also be prepared for that.)

The environments start out strong. Climbing on walls of the Damned is freakishly creepy, and Lust is beautifully designed, with fornicating figures all over the place and holes in the wall that greatly resemble female anatomy. Greed is practically made of gold.  By the time you finish Wrath, everything just starts to seem…dark. Each area from then on has about one distinguishing feature, and the rest is just dark stone. (A river of blood is one standout.)

One of the best design features, aside from the early levels, comes in the form of 2D animated cutscenes. These start out happening fairly frequently, but unfortunately don’t show up nearly as often by the end of the game.

I can't imagine why people like this screenshot so much.

The traditional computer-animated cutscenes are freakishly beautiful and detailed. In one early scene, I found myself staring at the tiny hairs on Beatrice’s chin and nose, rather than fixating on her naked breast (which is probably where they were wanting me to look). Speaking of nudity, there is quite a bit in the game, in both the traditional (Beatrice and Dante) and nontraditional (Cleopatra has unbaptized babies coming out of her nipples) sense. If that offends you at all, it’s probably best that you steer away. Also, the amount of violence in this title goes without saying. There’s a Circle of Hell called Violence, for Paradiso’s sake.

One thing I noticed is that the level design gets incredibly predictable very quickly. Entering a somewhat larger room with two narrow exits? You’re about to get locked in and face a swarm of enemies. Is that fountain difficult to get to, or slightly out of the way? You’re going to find a special item. After a couple of hours, I found myself predicting my predicament out loud and getting it right about 95% of the time. There are a couple of surprises, but nothing that made me reevaluate the way I was classifying rooms. The puzzles you run into are never difficult, just fairly frustrating. You’ll likely come to dread the sequences that take you from one Circle to the next – the rope-swinging and spine-descending just gets old after a while.

At the end of the day, I can see why they needed to release this game in February. There’s something very similar coming out in March, so why challenge it in a head-to-head? However, for being the first action title based on classic literature (unless we’re counting BioShock’s obvious Ayn Rand inspirations), this is possibly the best way to do it. The way that Hell is structured provides the perfect setup for a game, and if they’d executed it in a more original way, this would definitely get a Buy rating from me. If you’re just looking for a hack-n-slash action title, though…well, you’re better off waiting for God of War III, even though Dante is pretty good. It’s just not excellent.

I hope this ushers in a slew of book-games. And not just games-based-on-movies-based-on-books, either. I want Jane Eyre and Don Quixote. How exactly those will work, I’m not sure, but based on what Visceral’s got going here, I think it can be done.

Developer: Visceral Games
Genre: Action, Horror
ESRB: M (17+)
Number of players: 1
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Release Date: February 9th, 2010

BUY

Killing time while waiting for God of War 3 to release? Itching to feed your hack and slash needs? Maybe tired of the FPS right now? Might I suggest picking up Dante’s Inferno, ASAP!

Dante’s Inferno is loosely based on 14th century Dante Alighieri’s poem Divine Comedy. You take control of Dante as he returns home to discover that his father and fiance are brutally murdered. There he  sees the soul of his fiance, Beatrice, be taken down into the depths of Hell by Lucifer. In an attempt to free Beatrice’s soul he chases her to Hell where you guide him through the Nine Circles of Hell – limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud and treachery.

While on a quest to save Beatrice you, Dante, realize that this quest is more than saving her from the grasps of Lucifer but to also face his own sins and redeem himself.

Watch as I include some in game footage, talk about the mechanics, the great elements, and some added bonus cut scenes in end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geXc4f4kwSM

Dead Space

For the last few weeks job postings have all but confirmed that Dead Space 2 is in the works for Visceral Games. Now, EA has officially confirmed that the title is in development for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

Dead Space 2 will be developed by Visceral Games and will star Issac Clark.

“Like so many gamers worldwide, we love the Dead Space franchise and are very excited to announce a new game in the series,” EA’s senior VP and group general manager Nick Earl stated.

The game’s executive producer Steve Papoutsis added: “We’re thrilled to jump back into the series, making the next chapter in Isaac’s journey. The infection continues to spread throughout space and our hero Isaac Clarke is the only person able to contain it.

“There are still loads of Necromorphs that need killing. In Dead Space 2, not everything is exactly as it seems. Expect plot twists that will surprise you and a huge cast of twisted, disgusting monsters that are sure to scare the daylights out of you.”

EA has announced that the demo for Dante’s Inferno will be available for free this month. What’s interesting to note is that the Playstation 3 demo comes out 14 days before the Xbox Live demo. The demo will be on Playstation Network on December 10 and Xbox Live on December 24.

For the demo, players get introduced to the story and what happens to Beatrice getting a small glimpse into Dante’s journey through the levels of hell.

“The world of Alighieri’s Dante’s Inferno is such a rich, detailed, and often alarming universe, that all of us at Visceral Games put our hearts, and dare I say souls, into creating something truly intense and exciting,” said executive producer Jonathan Knight. “We hope gamers enjoy this tease of hell, and come away from the experience lusting for more when the game comes out on February 9.”

Very interesting surprise from Visceral Games. While Dante’s Inferno may not be out until February 9, 2010, gamers will be able to play the demo this December. The “Gates of Hell” demo is the entire opening level of the game.

In the demo, players will experience the fighting mechanics and take on Death.

“Our main goal from the start of this project has been to create a journey that will make gamers truly feel like they are going through hell,” said executive producer Jonathan Knight. “The demo will give everyone some insight into how we are treating the story and a taste of the gameplay. And with nine more circles of hell to explore once the game comes out in February, we are literally just scratching the surface.”

The title has not been rated yet and is due out in North America on February 9, 2010 and in Europe on February 12, 2010.