Brütal Legend

Game-O-Meter: 8.0

Platform: Xbox 360

Date Beaten: 10/17/09

Time to Complete: About 12 hours

Brütal Legend, after all these years, is a game that proves that Tim Schafer still has it.  But I will warn players, this game is very different from those in Schafer’s legacy; and the action-brawler-adventure-open world-RTS may not be for everyone–especially less tolerant gamers.

Personally, I find myself gravitating towards games that aren’t exactly “the norm” these days, so the disparate gameplay styles didn’t really bother me.  In fact, because each of the styles (open world, RTS, brawler, driving) were simplistic in their implementation, I felt that this game could handle all the uniqueness that it offered up.  None of the gameplay styles forced you to be a master at them, which I think is good when so many ideas are thrown at the player.  Conversely, though, if you’re going into this game looking for a deep combo system, excellent squad-based combat, or killer driving gameplay, you won’t find it.  The gameplay is a vehicle for telling the story.

In terms of the story, I have mixed feelings.  The overall story design is really cool, and the premise works very well.  Also, the voice acting is top-notch across the board.  But as the story moves from plot point to plot point, it often feels disjointed–as if scenes were cut.  Often, the story required players to fill in gaps with assumptions about motivations and even sometimes about plot points.  While this was somewhat confusing, in the end, the story made sense (except for one thing that I won’t mention due to its spoily nature).

Like many other reviews have already mentioned, the metal aspect of the game was top-notch.  I’m a very mild enjoyer of heavy metal, but this game awoke the beast.  I found myself digging out my old Metallica and Black Sabbath albums after playing Brütal Legend.  A soundtrack to this game (while a licensing nightmare) would be awesome.  I could go on and on about all the metal landmarks and characters, but let’s just leave it be by saying that they rocked from dusk til dawn.

However, while there are plenty of side missions to do in the metal-infused overworld, they get very repetitive very fast.  There are only about 5 or 6 variations of these side missions and I got bored with them.  Definitely do several of them though, because the rewards you get are worth it in the end.  Leveling up your ride and your character’s skills/buffs is very important for the final battle…

Like most games, the final battle seemed a bit poorly balanced.  I found myself having a really tough time with it, and it took me about 5 tries (I want it to take me about 3 tries to beat a final boss).  I thought about other players who may not have explored the overworld as much as I had and therefore wouldn’t have found as many solos to use in the stage battles.  If I hadn’t had certain solos, I don’t think I would have been able to beat the game.

All in all, Brütal Legend was well worth the price of admission, but Schafer’s best work it is not.  The gameplay supported the story very well with the different styles making contextual sense.  The combat felt good.  The driving felt good.  The stage battles felt good.  But the voice acting, story scenarios, and character concepts were great.  If you go into the game knowing you’ll have a good time if you let go of expectations, I think you’ll really enjoy this game.  If you’ve built it up in your mind as something that’s going to change your life fundamentally, well then, it’s your own fault that you won’t enjoy this game.  Brütal Legend is a good game.

Continue rocking on.  Over and out.

Defense Grid

Game-O-Meter: 7.5

Platform: Xbox Live Arcade

Date Beaten: 9/7/2009

Time to Complete: About 10 hours

Defense Grid is a tower defense game with a sci-fi theme. Unlike most tower defense games which are cutesy or for whatever reason difficult to take seriously, this game tries to take the tower defense genre in a more “mainstream” or “gamer-friendly” direction. That’s not to say that gamers don’t like cuddly ninjas or fantasy warriors, but this game ups the ante in terms of realism and special effects and somehow seems more legit or tangible because of it. Mind you, the game is not really realistic, but the developers went for a more realistic presentation, albeit sci-fi in nature.

Like all good tower defense games, this sucker is addictive and infuriating. When you beat a level and you’ve kicked tons of alien ass, you are amazed that you only got a silver medal. But the difficulty of getting golds isn’t disheartening and it doesn’t feel cheap. It’s exciting to think you could do better.

There are many ways to play and beat each of the 20-ish levels in the story mode of the game and your skills definitely improve as you play through. Even seasoned tower defense gamers will find a good challenge in this game. And if the story mode isn’t enough, there are tons of extra challenges that unlock. Replayability? Right here.

My biggest complaint with the game is that there aren’t more towers to build. In terms of towers, there’s pretty much the standard tower defense units and nothing really innovative on top of that.

The innovation comes in is through the core protection mechanic where aliens don’t just have to reach the goal of the level (your core bank), but they have to then leave the level carrying your cores. Most tower defense games just have the enemies moving through the environment to the end. In this game, destroying aliens carrying cores toward the exit becomes a priority. Often, the aliens enter and exit in the same place, which is totally awesome because the aliens need to come back through your already fortified areas. But here’s the catch: if an alien drops a core, another alien can pick it up before the core (slowly) returns back to the bank. If you smoke an enemy right near the exit and there are new enemies coming in, one of the new enemies might just grab the core right near the exit and bail. This type of core juggling gameplay is a fantastic addition to the genre.

Also, there’s a massive satellite laser you can use a couple times per level that introduces a “Hand of God” mechanic which is cool.

On top of all of that, the flying enemies don’t follow the same path as the ground units and when they grab a core, it’s unrecoverable even if you shoot them down. So the flying enemies are scarier than the normals.

All in all, this is a really fun game. I definitely recommend it to fans of the genre. It’s not the best I’ve played within the genre, but it’s definitely hangin’ out at the pub on a Saturday night with the best.

Continue rocking on. Over and out.

Metal Gear Solid 4

Game-O-Meter: 8.0

Platform: PS3

Date Beaten: 8/11/2009

Time to Complete: 22:43:55

While this game has scored very highly, I am convinced that Hideo Kojima, in all of his maniacal genius, has lost his mind.  I sincerely doubt that I’ll play another Metal Gear sequel.

What’s interesting about reviewing Metal Gear Solid 4 is that I’m really reviewing the craft of the game more so than the game itself.  The thing is, this game is unbelievable.  The amount of content in this product is legendary.  The gameplay (what little of it there is) is very good.  The production values and overall presentation are phenomenal.

There WILL be spoilers in this review.  Jump down to the last 2 paragraphs if you don’t want to be spoiled.

Metal Gear Solid 4 was kinda fun.  But it was fun in the same way that watching a train wreck is fun.  I found that I was more often than not, just playing so I could see what insanity unfolded next.  From Raiden’s chin to marriage proposals in the middle of firefights, my mind was constantly reeling with absurdity.  Playing MGS4 felt like an exercise in maintaining sanity as your mind melts away while the events presented to you make less and less sense as the game continues.

The gameplay is pretty standard Metal Gear Solid fare.  Sneaking and shooting feel great.  The only thing about combat that’s a little wonky is the hand-to-hand stuff.  Still, though, as far as controlling Snake goes, I have very few complaints.  It’s the story that kicks you in the confusion balls.

I swear there’s about 6 hours of gameplay in this game.  The rest of the 22+ hours are cutscenes. By way of example, I had to save and quit right before the endgame.  I asked a friend how far I was from the end of the game and he said that I had about 15 minutes of gameplay and at least 3 hours of cutscenes ahead of me.  He was not kidding.  I timed it.  It was MORE than 3 hours of cutscenes.  And that was just the end sequence!  Between missions, there’s usually a 30 - 60 minute briefing cutscene.  In the middle of missions, there are multipe cutscenes of varying length.  This game is essentially an interactive movie.  You play the action parts, and Kojima plays the drama parts.  And if I haven’t mentioned it already, Kojima has lost his mind.

Of course, going into MGS4, we know about Kojima’s failing sanity, so this game just reinforces what we already know.  Accepting and embracing the insanity is definitely the way to embark upon this experience.  If you can do that, you will marvel at the Eastern European segment that turns sepia tone and changes up the gameplay.  You will freak out when you return to the Shadow Moses scenario and the game actually becomes the PS1 game–4:3 aspect ratio, graphics, level design and all.  The fact that Snake has an iPod (not some knock-off made up music player–an actual iPod) that you can import your own songs onto and which controls exactly like a real iPod will bend your reality.  The Psycho Mantis sequence will tickle your nostalgia glands.  The fight between Raiden and Vamp will melt your logic capacitors.  And the first time you see Big Boss, you’ll do a big ol’ WTF!  And the final approach to the endgame in the microwave tunnel is simply amazing–through gameplay, they literally make you feel some of the pain that Snake is going through.

Metal Gear Solid 4 is filled with jaw-dropping moments that keep you guessing as to what will happen next.  Because of this, the game is a success.  However, if your tolerance for the absurd is low, this game is 100% NOT for you.

In conclusion, Metal Gear Solid 4 is a spectacle to behold.  It is a marvel of its craft.  It is one of those action games that throws so many plots and plot twists at you while maintaining the action so you don’t realize that it makes no sense whatsoever.  Now, yes, I know that some people (AndyTron, I’m looking at you) can untangle the story and make all the Metal Gear games make sense, but these people themselves are not mere mortals.  Metal Gear Solid 4 is not a game for the general public.  It is a game for hardcore gamers who like their action over the top, their stories completely insane, their heroes bad ass, their villains nefarious, their women sexy as hell, their humor sophomoric, and their cutscenes long.  Very long.

I can’t really recommend MGS4 as a game.  But it is one of those life experiences that I think every self-respecting gamer should have.  It is completely acceptable to watch someone play it.  Heck, play it on Easy Mode.

Shadow Complex

Game-O-Meter: 8.5

Platform: Xbox Live Arcade

Date Beaten: 8/21/2009

Time to Complete: 12:02:23

THIS IS THE METROID GAME WE’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR SINCE SUPER METROID!  Except it stars some dorky-lookin’ frat boy instead of a sweet lookin’ space bounty hunter in full body armor who turns out to be a totally hot babe.  Mind you, this game is great.

Shadow Complex fills a void that’s been gaping wide open since 1994 when we all beat Super Metroid.  As a side note, it was Super Metroid that got me back into gaming since my lapse in the late 80s.  Few know this.  Spread it around the internetz.  Back to Shadow Complex.  If you haven’t figured it out yet, Shadow Complex is a 2.5D exploration/action game that obviously takes its inspiration from Super Metroid.  Do not think that this means it’s some me-too rip off.  Oh no.  This is a great game.

There’s something about the type of game that Shadow Complex is that makes it so satisfying to play.  The action is very easy to wrap your brains around, as are the controls.  The rewards are frequent and are mostly meaningful additions to your character’s growth–seeing your character turn from the aforementioned frat boy to an armored bad ass who’s invincible while standing still is just the best.  The graphics are great, and the majority of animations really set the bar high for similar games that should definitely follow in Shadow Complex’s footsteps.

The tuning of when/where/how you obtain your power ups is fantastically done.  Hats off to the level designers for figuring out how to weave cohesive gameplay/progression into the pretzel-knot world design that is standard in these types of games.  I like to think that I could do it, but I’m not so sure.  The thought of trying is mind-boggling.

Even though the flow of the game is almost perfect, the difficulty just right, and the action rewarding, Shadow Complex is not without its flaws.  The biggest of which is probably the imprecision that feels buggy when aiming into the background to get baddies not on the 2D foreground plane.  Mind you, even though this is the worst of the issues, it’s really not that bad.  Going into the experience knowing that this can be frustrating will prepare you enough to let it slide with a roll of the eyes as you restart from the last save room.

In addition to the 3D aiming issue, I found that the items I found (more often than not) weren’t super useful in combat.  My regular gun was almost always enough to get by.  This made the missiles, grenades, etc really only useful during boss battles and made them feel more like blue/red/yellow passkeys rather than awesome additions to my arsenal.

Also, I could have had the game go on longer.

I found the military theme and overall story of the game somewhat predictable and devoid of a lot of creativity, but the gameplay WAY more than made up for those feelings.

So, I’m trying to think of more things to say about this game, but really, the bottom line is this: The game is damned fun.  If you enjoy fun, buy it.  it’s worth the $15 by far.  I mean, I could go off on each individual weapon/item, but I don’t think that’s necessary.  The one and only reason you shouldn’t buy this game is if you play solely racing games, sports games or JRPGs.

Did I mention that it’s like playing a new Super Metroid?  Yeah.  I did.

Continue rocking on.  Over and out.

Since I’ve been playing (and beating) more games than I have been writing up beaten reviews, I’ve now got a backlog to deal with–and you’ve got a long blog post to read.  However, I’m keeping these reviews relatively bite-sized.

Art Style: PiCTOBiTS
Game-O-Meter: 8.0
Platform: DSi
Date Beaten: May 2009
Time to Complete: ~8 hours

This Art Style game breathes new life into the falling tile puzzle genre.  With clear goals and simple gameplay, fans of experimental and fresh design should definitely buy this game.

The Goods:

• Great music
• Simple, yet intuitive design
• Deceptively challenging
• High production values
• Rewarding feedback for playing well

The Bads:

• Sometimes the touch resolution (or whatever you’d call it) of the DS Touch Screen thinks you’re touching in a slightly different place than where you think you’re touching.  This can lead to mistakes that nearly cause you instant death in the later, more challenging levels.
• In the later levels, there is very little ramping up before the difficulty overwhelms you.  This is a minor pacing issue, though, and really not that big of a deal since once you make it that far in the game, your skills are greatly improved from when you first started.

Whether you typically enjoy puzzle games or not, this is a very worthwhile purchase.

Ninjatown
Game-O-Meter: 8.0
Platform: DS
Date Beaten: May 2009
Time to Complete: ~16 hours

Peggle
Game-O-Meter: 7.5
Platform: Xbox 360
Date Beaten: June 2009
Time to Complete: ~4 hours

Rhythm Heaven
Game-O-Meter: 8.0
Platform: DS
Date Beaten: July 26, 2009
Time to Complete: ~4 hours

The worthy sequel to Rhythm Tengoku (GBA) amazes me with how much gameplay they can squeeze out of the ultra-simple mechanic of tapping the Touch Screen.  Like its GBA predecessor, which primarily used the A Button, this game throws contemporary practices (like deep controls) in the faces of game developers worldwide.  Rhythm Heaven keeps it simple and keeps it fun.

The game is basically a collection of mini-games, some which are better than others, of course.  Practically all of them have their own charm and I’d wager that whether you consider yourself hardcore or casual, there’s something in this game for you.

Being a music/rhythm game, it won’t speak to everyone, but with such fundamental simplicity it’s a breath of fresh air in this day and age of complex controls.

Continue rocking on.  Over and out.

7.0

Platform: Xbox Live Arcade

Date Beaten: 5/17/09

Playthrough Time: 3 hours

Space Invaders Extreme for Xbox Live Arcade offers pretty much the same experience you’ll get from the equally good DS version, which I also beat and gave the same score to.  I assume that the PSP version is similar–and I won’t be buying it.

While this is a good game, and all games should be reviewed and scored on their own merits, I can’t help but draw comparisons to the DS version.  I was tempted to score this game lower than the 7 that I gave to the DS version of the game, but I would only have done so because I’d already played it and felt that this version offered little to nothing more.  Be that as it may, this is a great revival of a solid franchise–much better than Space Invaders Get Even for WiiWare, which I will probably never beat.

From the power up system to the music interaction to the great graphics, this is a solid product.  If you like the idea of retro-revivals, you should probably pick this game up.  Unless of course, you’ve already played one of the other versions.  If so, feel free to pass this up.  There’s not much new here.  The new features are the online multiplayer (which is pretty dull to be honest), and the background musical visualizer made by Jeff Minter–a legend in video game music interaction (a fact that I don’t really understand as I don’t find his work particularly intriguing).

I know this is a pretty weak review, but I’ve already reviewed the game for the DS and can’t really think of anything new to mention.  It’s pretty much Space Invaders, only more extreme.

Continue rocking on.  Over and out.

4.5

Platform: WiiWare

Date Beaten: 4/26/09

Playthrough Time: 3 hours

Crystal Defenders R1 tricks you.  It tricks you into thinking it’s going to be a deep (and arguably great) game because it’s got the Final Fantasy license attached to it.  It tricks you into thinking that it’s going to super fun because it’s of the Castle Defense genre, which more often than not offers amazingly addictive gameplay.  It tricks you into thinking there’s going to be a story attached to it through speech bubbles and (very mild) characterization.

After buying the game and beating it in one sitting, getting perfects on most levels, I couldn’t help but wonder why this game was even made.  And then it dawned on me.  The Final Fantasy license has turned into one of those licenses that allows for crap titles to push massive amounts of product.  Because of the pedigree of the license, fans will buy ANYTHING.  This happened with Star Wars, Tomb Raider, and Resident Evil, among many others.  But as with each of those examples, fans won’t fall for it forever, and then the franchise will have to be reinvented or saved.  I expect more from you, Square Enix.

If you wanted to do a spin-off franchise, you could have done something in the same genre as Crystal Defenders, with many of the same mechanics, but with more depth and story–something like the Chocobo’s Dungeon series or Chocobo Tales.  These games pander to a more casual audience without losing the quality that was lost in Crystal Defenders–a title that seemed rushed to market with little thought put into any aspect of the game.

Mind you, there are some things about this game that are good.  But they are only good.  Nothing about this game is great.  The different characters (your crystal defenders) work fine. The enemies do what they are meant to, although they are largely uninspired.  The screen layout, while functional, is clunky and feels like it was designed for a cell phone screen.  Oh wait, it was.

Crystal Defenders was originally released for the iPhone, and that version had at least three times the depth and content as R1 (which stands for Round 1, apparently) and retailed for the same price!  Presumably, Square Enix is going to try to milk another 800 Wii Points out of us for R2, and then again for R3, when Wii owners will finally have the full version of the game  (and be $16 poorer than their iPhone gaming counterparts) .

Being that the Beaten Games Game-O-Meter uses a 10 point scale with 5 being average, this sauce is weak.

Continue rocking on.  Over and out.

7.5

Platform: Wii

Date Beaten: 5/2/2009

Excitebots is a marvel among games.  At least for me it is.  Here are the reasons:

1. I don’t really like racing games

2. I don’t really find the designs of the bots interesting

3. I don’t like the 2D art direction of the game very much

4. I don’t care about sports mini-games integrated into my non-sports game

5. I don’t really care for gimmicky control schemes just for the sake of being Wii-ified

Excitebots does all of the above.  And for someone who likes really none of that, I found myself marveling at the fact that I absolutely could NOT put this game down.  I didn’t even have to try to “look past” the aforementioned issues.  In fact, I started to love them ALL.  I couldn’t wait to see what the next bots looked like as I unlocked them.  After beating the game, as the credits rolled, I caught glimpses of bots that I hadn’t seen before and was excited that new bots existed.  I got into throwing pies at floating clown heads during the race even though it made no sense whatsoever.  And the tamborine.  Very nice.

This sort of transcendence above the noise and past the expectations is exactly the kind of thing that inspires me as a gamer and as a game developer.  The team over at Monster Games made a ton of decisions I never would have made, owned them, honed them, and arguably perfected them to the point that someone like me kept coming back for more.  And more.  And more.

I think that what it comes down to is the simple fact that this game is very fun to play.  Excitebots will not change your life.  It’s not trying to be edgy or meaningful or hip.  It is trying to put a smile on your face, which it excels at nearly every minute of play.

Excitebots has some of the same issues as its predecessor, like fuzzy controls and mildly annoying music (mind you, it’s much less hard on the ears in bots, and you can now turn it down).  But the developers knew that the bots can be kind of difficult to control, so they made the courses big enough, the jumps crazy enough, the goals easy enough so that the floatiness in the controls ends up feeling cool rather than imprecise.  In fact, the game only really feels unresponsive for the first few minutes you play it.  Once you learn how to control your bot, it feels pretty natural.

I think my biggest complaint about the game is the economy.  I want to be able to buy more for my stars.  I got S Ranks in nearly all the races on my second try, and most others on my third.  Since you gain stars by racing, and I didn’t feel the need to race tracks over and over again to improve my grades, I didn’t have a lot of stars after beating the game (when you unlock most of the expensive bots).  Paying 1,000 stars for a new paint job seemed just a bit too dear, and the whopping 250,000 stars for a bot’s alternate “costume” is just uncalled for.

As such, there’s not a lot of incentive for me to keep coming back to the game after having beaten it, since the next goodies that I want to buy seem unattainably far away.  I will remember this game fondly though, just like I did the first, and will definitely buy another version if they make one.

Oh, and the Wii Wheel works just fine.  In fact, I prefer it for this game.

Continue rocking on.  Over and out.

5.0

Platform: PS3

Date Beaten: 4/4/2009

Playthrough Time: 3 - 4 hours

Burn Zombie Burn is one of those games that tricks you into purchasing it by lauding its co-op feature, but then doesn’t let you make any progress while playing co-operatively.  In order to play a level in co-op, you have to make it to that level in the single-player campaign first.  Beating levels in co-op will not unlock the next level.  I have a huge problem with co-op games that work this way.  The main problem is this: If I’m going to play through the game with a friend, I want to be honing our skills together.  The thing that happens with the unlock-everything-in-single-player-first set up is that by the time we can play the game together, player one has mastered all the skills and strategies, creating a huge difference in skill levels between the two co-op parties.  One player will always drag the other down, and the one that’s good will always be frustrated because the team is not excelling due to the new player’s learning curve.  God, it sucks.

However, I did buy the game, and it has a few very fun mechanics to it, hence my beaten review.

The idea is very similar to Robotron or Smash TV.  You are going to be overwhelmed by wave after wave of zombies and you have to survive until the last wave is done.  Sure, you can just kill zombies by shooting them, but the real way to play the game is to set as many zombies on fire before you start poppin’ caps.  The more zombies that are burning, the higher your score multiplier, so every kill becomes worth more.  Watch out, though.  Burning zombies hurt you and turn to ash.  Obviously, you don’t want to run into a mob of burning zombies, and likewise, you don’t want the zombies to turn to ash either, because then they don’t contribute to your multiplier.

This mechanic weaves a resource-management aspect into this crazy action game in a way that feels fresh and borderline ingenious.  However, that’s where this game stops in terms of ingenuity.

The rest of the game is either average or sub-par.  The interface, while functional is just that.  The level design and system design is very standard if not totally uninspired.  The aiming mechanics are just not good.  Robotron controls would have been much better for this game.  Mind you, I’m glad someone tried to get away from the Robotron control scheme, but if you build a Robotron clone, one really should ask oneself if changing the control scheme is a good or bad idea.

In summary, the zombie burning/multiplier mechanic is cool and works well.  Beyond that, you’re lookin’ at a game that just screams “average”.

Continue rocking on.  Over and out.

7.0

Platform: Wii

Date Beaten: 4/4/2009

Playthrough Time: 2 - 3 hours

Hey world!  The Wii is PERFECT for rail shooter/light-gun style games!  Let’s see some more!!!!

House of the Dead Overkill could have easily been another weak sequel attempting to milk an old and arguably crusty license.  But then again, it could have been a hilarious, B-Movie-inspired, raunchy, gorefest with an orgy of co-op and a flair for obscenities rivaling any Quentin Tarantino film ever.  And the ending.  Holy.

Here’s the thing about Overkill.  Apart from everything being completely over the top, the game is not great.  It certainly is good.  And if you like light-gun games and want to laugh your fool ass off at the story and great writing, you should pick this game up.  If you want your zombie shooting to be more on the serious side of things, stick to the also good Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles (Beaten and reviewed at 6.5).

However, even though the game itself is kinda weak, right down to the alternate modes you unlock as you go, it is one of those rare cases of the sum equaling more than its parts.  I can’t recommend this game enough.

Just blur your eyes when you know you got that headshot and the zombie’s brains didn’t explode like they should have.  Learn to live with the somewhat laggy targeting reticle.  Let go of what you want the game to be and let yourself be amazed by what it actually is.  Because regardless of whether you think it’s good or bad, and whether you like it or find it horribly offensive and/or disgusting, it certainly will amaze you.

Continue rocking on.  Over and out.

8.5

Date Beaten: March 2009

Playthrough Time: 16:24:42

Thank god EA is FINALLY putting that insane amount of money they have towards non-licensed, non-sequel games! Dead Space is one of those games that just goes to show you that this industry is full of talented and imaginative people that can do really awesome things with the right support from their employing companies.

In the beginning, Dead Space makes you feel like you’re living through one of the Alien movies. The game’s start was so eerie and foreboding that I couldn’t play at night. Mind you, this wore off as I continued playing and the game became a more standard action game (certainly with a creepy vibe) rather than the space-based survival horror experience I thought it was going to be. And this is not to say that the rest of the game didn’t have me on edge, but the game’s set up is where the fear really shone through.

The combat in the game was a lot more strategic than other action games these days, and the entire dismemberment feature (which seemed like a gimmick at first) really made me think about how and when I was using my ammo/weapons. The development team did a fantastic job of inserting strategic gameplay into what they easily could have made into another cookie-cutter 3rd Person shooter. Thankfully they seem to share the same opinions as I do about samey 3rd Person shooters of late. EA saw an opportunity to change things up a bit and it worked out wonderfully. I was always using my brain in the firefights, right to the end.

Also, the inclusion of “leveling up” the main character’s equipment helped to give me a sense of ownership over the protagonist. Character customization is a surefire way to engage players–better yet, make the customizations visual. Dead Space allowed me to upgrade Isaac’s equipment in meaningful ways while giving me visual feedback for the enhancements as well. As my character grew more powerful, he also looked cooler and cooler.

And speaking of looks, the main character and ship design was amazing. Pair these elements with a deft lighting touch and appropriate-looking special effects, and Dead Space is a great looking game.

As much as I enjoyed the game, it is not without its flaws.

Sometimes, close-quarter combat became annoyingly unclear as to what was going on and what to do. If I hadn’t been trying to earn the melee achievement, I may not have minded this, but I found myself taking way more damage than it seemed like I should whenever I got up close and personal with the enemy. So, essentially, the melee moves end up feeling useless. Mind you, I believe that they were put in there to be used as a defensive tactic, but still…

Towards the end of the game, I found myself hoping that each chapter would be the final one. The game ended up being less exciting by the end, and I wish that it had been about 2 hours shorter. I think that a lot of this came from the fact that you’re pretty powerful, and you’ve figured out all the tactics for each enemy type by then. It no longer seemed like a challenge. I was just going through the motions.

There were also some frustrating parts that seemed like the designers were just out to get me. These things didn’t seem to make as much sense in the Dead Space world as they do in a “video game”, if that makes sense. But these were few and far between.

The biggest flaw was the game-breakingly difficult “mini-game” mission that had you in control of the Ishimura’s asteroid deflector cannons. One of my pet-peeves in games is when a new gameplay mechanic is introduced and they make it unbelievably difficult. If I were a controller thrower, I would have broken one of my controllers on this part of the game. I know people who had to get friends of theirs to help them with this section. It put a sour taste in my mouth and made me want to stop playing the game. When I’m playing games, I don’t want the game to make me want to stop, you know?

I didn’t specifically mention the sound, but the majority of it was excellent. Some of the voice acting was lame, but that’s par for the course, sadly.

If you like science-fiction, video games, quality products, and are looking for a way to get more than your money’s worth, go pick this game up. Even at $60 (in this economy), Dead Space is worth the price of admission. And when you make it to that difficult part I mentioned earlier, rest assured, the game is worth struggling through it.

Continue rocking on.  Over and out.