TItle: Dead Space Developer: EA Redwood Shores Publisher: Electronic Arts Music Composed by: Jason Graves Writers: Warren Ellis, Rick Remender, Antony Johnston Release Date: October 13, 2008 IntroductionIn 2008, Visceral Games (then known as EA Redwood Shores) released Dead Space to the reception of accolades from all corners of the gaming community. The title set a new standard for cinematic horror in the world of video games, particularly that of science fiction. Now, almost a decade and two sequels later, it seems past time for a second look at the world of Isaac Clarke and his endless battle with both the alien Necromorphs and the demons inside him. The game handles perfectly on most modern PCs,and can be picked up from Steam for a mere 19.99$, a price well worth paying if you're looking for a fresh horror experience (presuming you haven't heard of or played it before, of course). Of course, like all great horror games, Dead Space is best played at night, in a dark room,, alone and with headphones on. With that in mind, let's begin. StoryDead Space takes place in the relatively far future, where humanity's hunger for raw resources has driven us to build massive starships known as 'planet-crackers' equipped with enormous tractor beams that allow them to rip sizable chunks out of a world's crust in order to harvest its materials wholesale. You play as Isaac Clarke, a voiceless and largely faceless engineer assigned to the USG Kellion. The game opens with you and your small crew of your even smaller ship being sent out to Aegis VII to answer a distress call from the planet-cracker USG Ishimura. This choice of making the protagonist an 'everyman' in the tradition of Half-Life's Gordon Freeman gives Clarke an extra layer of humanity and gives his situation all the more weight. He is not a soldier by any stretch of the imagination. He's just a guy trying to survive in the face of what rapidly turns out to be a very complex and terrifying situation. Isaac also has a love-interest, Nicole Brennan, who was stationed aboard the Ishimura as its medical officer. His efforts to discern her fate while staying alive himself also help to make him a very human and engrossing character despite his being mute and hiding behind a high-tech welding mask for almost the entirety of the game. Upon arriving at Aegis VII, Isaac and the rest of the Kellion's crew become stranded aboard the Ishimura, which is hanging dead in space over the barren planet. Of course, 'dead' doesn't mean 'empty'. Not five minutes after disembarking their wrecked shuttle, Isaac and his friends come face to face with the remains of the Ishimura's crew, who have died and then been reanimated in twisted, sickening monstrosities known as Necromorphs. These vicious creatures waste no time in slaughtering most of the rescue party, leaving Isaac largely on his own and virtually unarmed against a vessel full of nightmares that is falling apart around him. This quickly establishes a scene, a conflict and a sense of urgency that many games would dismember themselves to have. Dead Space's opening is an excellent example of good cinematic storytelling in a video game. The main characters are immediately introduced, with various subplots being established in just a few seconds while the player looks on at some stunning scenery, all while avoiding the trap of overwhelming the player with information. Over the course of the game, through video and text logs, as well as superb visual storytelling methods, Isaac and his surviving friends tease out enough information to reveal that the trouble aboard the Ishimura began when the planet-cracker's crew found an alien device called a 'Marker', which just happens to be the centerpiece of an in-universe religion known as Unitology (which is an obvious, but well-executed and good-natured dig at Scientology). The inclusion of this element of Lovecraftian mysticism and cosmic horror help the story attain a new dimension of horror beyond the grim and gory one. It also makes the universe that much cooler to dig into. Every character is well-acted, with incredibly solid writing backing up each and helping maintain a level of immersion that many AAA games strive for, but which few succeed in capturing. If it weren't so dark, Dead Space is a world I feel like I could live in. After the discovery of the Marker's existence, things don't initially change all that quickly. Isaac's priorities remain focused on staying alive and escaping, which is great, since it makes it that much more powerful when events take a turn for the worse and some great plot twists bring the big Macguffin to center stage. The lurking inhuman horror of the Necromorphs also pairs up well with the insidious subplot of insane or duplicitous humans that Isaac also finds himself facing later into the plot. The finale is awesome with some strong final twists to both the heart-strings and the narrative, bringing everything to a close very neatly. It is for this reason that I feel Dead Space, more than most other games, would actually work quite well as a movie, if handled properly. Certainly, there is a vast depth of lore that would have to be cut, but the game is so cinematic that it truly feels like some parts could simply be cut and pasted into a film with no loss in texture or flavor. GameplayDead Space also shines bright in the area of gameplay. One of the biggest differences between it and other horror-themed shooters is its unorthodox method of combat. Due to their undead nature, Necromorphs shrug off fire from most conventional weapons. Not even head-shots are a guaranteed kill, which is why Isaac is armed with an assortment of high-tech power tools which can be used to take apart his enemies limb by bloody limb.This focus on 'tactical dismemberment' has made the series stand out, and was one of its great selling points at the time of its release. No other series before or since has seen fit to copy the idea to my knowledge, making Dead Space possibly unique in the genre of action-horror and potentially beyond for its creative decision. Of course the system isn't perfect. Your equipment and weapons can be upgraded using power nodes hidden throughout the levels. All your tools have secondary functions as well to expand their utility, but this doesn't stop a lot of them from feeling somehow under-powered and very situational in terms of usefulness. Isaac also has some sci-fi techno-magic on his side in the form of his Stasis and Kinesis modules, the former allowing him to temporarily slow down enemies and objects while the second acts as a form of technological telekinesis, allowing him to grab items from far away. Both play a part in solving the various puzzles that serve as pauses in the game's well-crafted pacing, though requiring players to upgrade Kinesis feels like a redundant move in terms of design. The puzzles themselves are also relatively clever, and work as good breathing periods between combat segments. I will add that the zero-gravity segments feel a bit like a cheat, given how they simply consist of Isaac leaping from surface to surface rather than, y'know, floating around in zero-G. Despite its unique brand of combat and clever puzzles, Dead Space can still be boiled down a single rule: If it's ugly and wants to hug you, shoot off all it's limbs. Then stomp on it for good measure. Repeatedly. Enemy variety is also among Dead Space's triumphs, with each foe presenting different threats requiring different solutions, while leaving enough room for flexibility so that the player doesn't pigeon-hole themselves into a single play-style. One good example is the pregnant Necromorph, a gravid and repulsive foe that spews nasty, clinging smaller creatures all over the floor if you shoot it in its swollen belly without thinking first. The later game introduces even stranger adversaries, which keep the experience feel fresh and terrifying when combined with the game's excellent encounter design. Overall, Dead Space may lean towards horror in terms of design, but it still manages to present a strong experience as a third-person shooter in its own right. Sound & DesignDead Space remains unique in terms of visual styles, even after all these years. The game's color palate emphasizes brown a lot, which can seem tiring, but at the same time, it helps lend an odor of decay to the Ishimura and the other environments. The design of the enemies is also remarkably gruesome, with the developers admitting that they drew on images of people suffering from burns and car crash victims as inspiration, a valiant and nauseating sacrifice in the name of creativity, since it's adds a special and very visceral (Ha, see what I did there?) kind of body horror to the Necromorphs and the unsavory growths that come with them. It takes a special kind of dedication to spend months looking at the most awful, stomach churning imagery in the name of building something new and unprecedented. Almost in-game information is displayed via holograms projected from Isaac's suit, which prevents you from stepping outside Isaac's world and separating yourself from his situation. By adding this new dimension of immersion, the game makes everything feel that much more real. Sound is also a great factor, though unlike many other titles, darkness doesn't play as much of a role in making Dead Space scary. Most scary games rely on your not being able to see the monster and great audio design to inspire dread in players, but Dead Space takes somewhat of a different route, what with being partly a shooter game. Its methods rely on the uncertainty of your safety in various situations, since it works quickly to establish that no place is truly safe, with Necromorphs popping out of wall and ceiling vents like Ellen Ripley's worst nightmare, while in other situations, all you'll hear is some scuttling noises as unseen, undead predators stalk you. At the same time, it works to starve you of resources, especially on higher difficulties, which helps engender a feeling of powerlessness. Isaac is, after all, just an engineer, and reality isn't so kind as to leave convenient caches of power-tool components lying all over the place, even if it is on a mining ship. In fact this can sometimes go a bit overboard when you find yourself surrounded by enemies time after time and rapidly running low on ammo and exits. There's a difference between a fun challenge and irritating limitation which Dead Space sometimes crosses, but to its credit, it doesn't happen all that often. Of course it's also important to note one of the most crucial design elements of the game which actually bridges the gap between visual immersion and gameplay, is the lack of a heads-up display. Most shooters will simply display everything you need to know right on your screen, on the basis that you're wearing a high-tech helmet and there's no need to play coy. This works for first-person, but third-person games are different. By placing the camera outside the player character, you both increase the sense of agency, but decrease the amount of immersion if you just stick read-outs all over the screen. Dead Space beats this by having all the information you need to know incorporated into the universe itself. Ammo displays appear on a holography pop-up emitted from the weapon you're holding. In place of cross-hairs, your tool will also emit targeting lasers you can use to gauge your aim. Meanwhile Isaac's health is displayed as a blue segmented bar on the back of his RIG suit, making everything immersive and non-intrusive. It's a really ingenious move, and while not perfect, does a lot to decrease the problem of suspension of disbelief. Final VerdictSo where do we stand? After all this time, does Dead Space still hold up? Yes, I feel that it does. It's age in no way makes it less scary, or its story any less enthralling. The story of a scant few survivors trying to outlast an inexplicable and deadly catastrophe is a classic, and is simply made stronger by the well-played human elements and subplots that are laid into it. Sure, the visuals might be a little dated, but the art style and amazing level design somehow makes it feel four or five years younger than it actually is, with the complex environments and level designs looking and feeling just as nauseating and fear-inducing as they did when the game debuted. Furthermore, the gameplay still stands out as unique and challenging, especially when played with a controller, which is guaranteed to inhibit your accuracy in a panic, thereby adding to the difficulty and scare-factor of the experience. It's a title that every horror-fan should play at least once, and which deserves to be remembered as one of the great thrillers of video gaming history. Minimum System Requirements
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TItle: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Developer: Platinum Games Publisher: Konami Digital Entertainment Music Composed by: Jamie Christopherson Release Date: February 9, 2013 IntroductionOver the years, the name of Metal Gear Solid has become synonymous with some of the best stealth games on the market, pitting players against highly intelligent AI in an effort to sneak past or subdue foes.Metal Gear Rising departs from this established pattern in a big way, leaving the espionage behind in favor of hacking and slashing foes to bits with a high-tech katana. This has irked many fans of the franchise, but I feel this is because they fail to appreciate the game for what it is. Metal Gear Rising was never intended to be like the other entries in the Metal Gear series. As such, it stands on its own as another triumphant entry in Platinum Games' lineup, which already reads like a top-ten list. Not only did these fools bring machetes to a sword-fight, but they have no idea who they just decided to piss off. Close your eyes folks! Raiden's about to get extremely graphic. It's important to note that Revengeance is best played with a gamepad. The controls include an unalterable acceleration feature that makes it far easier to play using console controls than a mouse and keyboard. That's not to say it's impossible to use PC conttrols, just much more frustrating. Some combos can be difficult to execute without a joystick.If you're interested in it, you can pick it up on Steam for $29.99. The PC version comes with all the DLC as part of the package, saving the need to make any extra microtransactions; another bonus for those who dislike such things. StoryMetal Gear Rising puts you in the cyborg body of Raiden, a.k.a. 'Jack', a character who first appeared in Metal Gear Solid 2 and was the recipient of a large quantity of negative feedback from players at the time, who viewed him as whiny, irritating and just plain unlikable. Metal Gear Solid 4 saw his return, this time as a mechanically-augmented ninja capable of fighting hordes of two-legged robotic Gecko tanks with nothing but a sword. This radical effort to try and make the character cool again was met with mixed reactions, but on the whole was a success. Revengeance continues this renovation, upgrading Raiden further and putting him in the employ of a PMC seeking to help fix up the world after the events of MGS4. The prologue opens with Raiden and his employers riding in a limo with the president of Abkazia, whose army they have been training to respond to the proliferation of cybernetics (a major element of the plot). Shortly afterwards, the presidential convoy is attacked, and the president kidnapped. I won't spoil what happens, but things do not go well, and Raiden is quickly drawn into a very nasty conspiracy that threatens the world's newfound political stability. At it's heart, Revengeance carries much of the same campy identity of the rest of the MGS franchise, but with an extra touch from Platinum Games, who have campy down to an art style. In fact, those who have played Vanquish, another of Platinum Games' titles, may be able to spot some elements that were recycled, but in a good way. Revengeance also does a good job of cutting back on the infamously long cutscenes Metal Gear Solid is known for in favor of delivering background and plot in a more immersive manner, which I will discuss later. On the whole, Platinum Games manages to deliver an immersive and quirky universe that's fun to dig into, and large enough that you'll be doing just that for quite a while. GameplayOf course, where Revengeance really shines is the gameplay. As Raiden, you'll have access to a variety of grenades and a couple ranged weapons, but your mainstay is your high-frequency sword, a katana capable of cutting through more or less everything you encounter in your environment (except cats; don't ask why). Raiden's combat style is aggressive, almost reckless, relying on his ability to simply outpace his opponent's ability to react and his power to execute zandatsu, a move where he cuts an enemy open and steals their energy, recharging himself completely, health and all. Zandatsu is tied to Raiden's Blade Mode, a meter charged by landing normal attacks which slows down the world and provides an adjustable aiming-plane for precise cutting when activated. This allows you to hit the red squares that are targets used to trigger zandatsu moves, or cut the armor off tougher foes. You can even dismember some bad guys strategically if they're giving you trouble and you're feeling particularly sadistic. Successfully completing an execution fully restores your Blade Mode meter, allowing you to chain executions together for bonus points. This is important, since your combat performance is rated after every battle, granting you points which you can spend as currency between missions to unlock a variety of costumes, abilities and upgrades. Combined, these mechanics turn Revengeance into a wild, high-speed cage match where you must balance your spatial awareness with managing your health, and where every kill counts spelling the difference between glorious victory and ignominious defeat. If you're nimble and skilled, you can overcome resistance without being hit even once. The whole system feels extremely empowering and rewarding, and at the same time, extremely risky. It's quite enthralling. Blade mode slows everything and everyone down so you can aim your sword-strokes properly. Quick and precise cuts are the key to victory...and a fat wad of bonus points. Of course, there are downsides. The focus on action means that stealth gameplay is kept to a minimum, and in many cases simply feels like a tiring add-on. Raiden is fast, and forcing yourself to slow down to sneak past foes is disruptive to the game's flow, though on the upside, you are never forced to do so except for optional objectives or bonus points. Also, many of Raiden's huge number of moves are better executed when playing with a gamepad, where use of a joystick and a lower number of buttons tends to make you less likely to mess up on the more complex and fancy attacks. It also really helps in regards to the blocking system, which requires that you hit the key to raise your gaurd at the right moment while simultaneously orienting Raiden's blade to anticipate incoming strikes. Thankfully enemies telegraph their attacks with a glowing red-eye effect before lunging, and the game includes a feature that helps those playing on a mouse and keyboard with getting their swords into position, making it a bit more forgiving. This would all be fine and dandy were it not for the camera. Throughout my playthrough, I felt the greatest enemy I faced was the somewhat erratic and almost homicidal way the camera gets yanked around in the middle of fights. Other times, it's like it's refusing to cooperate and just won't stay fixed on the enemy you're targeting. Occasions where this becomes noticeable are low in number, but when it happens it can make you want to tear your hair out in frustration. I simply avoided use of the camera lock-on, which saved me a whole lot of grief once I got used to manually directing things. Sound & DesignRevengeance's soundtrack is an impressive affair. It's mostly a mix of electronica, vocal pieces and 'butt-rock'. The best bits are the boss fight themes, all of which are memorable and make the characters they're attached to even more interesting. In fact, the boss fights could be said to be one of the strongest parts ofRevengeance's makeup. Every single one, despite playing somewhat minimal antagonistic roles in the story apart from certain exceptions, plays completely differently and is a joy to fight.The well-crafted challenge they offer is equalled only by the sense of accomplishment you get from beating them. I found myself going back again and again, mostly to see if I could do better, but also for the sheer fun of the battle, with every successful parry feeling hard-earned and every wound being just another lesson to take in, rather than a punishment. VR missions allow you to earn extra points for purchasing upgrades while honing your skills with Raiden's abilities. It's a great way to add more life to the game and challenge yourself to reach new heights. You can access them whenever you like from the game's main menu. The art style of Metal Gear Rising is also worthy of note. Despite going in such a vastly different direction from the rest of the franchise, I never felt like I had stepped outside of the same universe Solid Snake occupied, even though I'd never played a Metal Gear Solid title. The whole thing never truly broke my suspension of disbelief, even when it got completely over the top and I found myself fighting things like robotic wolves with railguns mounted on their backs. The game's sense of spectacle and the 'cool factor' of it all simply allowed me to gloss over the nonsense and enjoy everything as it came. Final VerdictMetal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a great game, even years after it's release. Like most of Platinum Games' titles, it's just a blast to play. The game has a lot of replayability too, with a vast quantity of unlockables and extra time-trial missions to keep you occupied long after you finish the main story and DLC segments, both of which are included in the Steam version. Again, I'd recommend getting a gamepad if you want the best possible experience from this, but if you choose to play with a mouse and keyboard, it's up to you. That said, I absolutely recommend checking it out. If you love third-person action games, this is one title you don't want to be without. Minimum System Requirements
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- Operating System: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 or 10 Processor Capacity: 3.3 GHz DirectX: Version 9.0c RAM: 2GB Hard Drive Space: 25 GB --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- TItle: TOXIKK Developer: Reakktor Publisher: Reakktor Engine: Unreal Engine 3 Release Date: September 9, 2016 IntroductionToxikk is, at its core, a nostalgia trip; a window to an era when the arena shooter was king. It's a game that touts its focus on skill and speed as its defining characteristics and largely rejects innovation in an effort to recapture the supposed glories of decades gone by. If you're looking for something new and wild, look elsewhere. But if you're out for something fun to do killing time or are a hardcore purist made cynical by an endless parade of copycats, then you might find what you're looking for here. The game is available on Steam comes in two parts: a free version containing a limited number of maps and minimal character customization, and a larger full version which costs $14.99. As the store page states, there are no competitive disadvantages for just playing the free version, but like the days when games would release free shareware demo versions before full release, you will be limited in terms of variety. It's important to note that Toxikk has little to no story, much like the games of old it seeks to emulate. There is a campaign mode, but it's little more than a series of preset matches against groups of bots with a paragraph of text to justify it. There's a loose meta-narrative present, but it's of little concern and adds nothing to the experience beyond some basic narrative premise to justify guys in space marine armor shooting each other to bits. Personally, I had no issue with this since it's not what the game's about. However, if you like a little more story to your gun-play, you'd best look elsewhere. Toxikk's heart is in its shooting, not it's plot-building skills. GameplayOf the various games Toxikk draws on for inspiration, Unreal Tournament (specifically Unreal Tournament III) is the most obvious influence. Every gun has two firing modes and fills a specific role. Player movement is flexible, with omni-direction double-tap dodges to keep your enemies guessing and your reflexes sharp. For those new to high-mobility shooter concepts like lift-jumping and even double-jumping, the game comes with an extensive tutorial. Toxikk also incorporates an experience system that totals up points earned by executing kill-streaks or other actions after each match. The more experience you earn, the more customization options you unlock.This serves a double purpose of providing a sense of player progression and to help separate newbies from more experienced gamers in the matchmaking system, which is always important. No one likes to get mowed down by a hardcore keyboard warrior the first time they try the game; it's just plain discouraging. Toxikk has two kinds: the quick and the dead. Thankfully you can train against computer-controlled bots in customization solo matches until you feel you're ready to take on real players. The free version comes with four game modes, all of which are renamed version of the standard arena-shooter fare. You've got death-match (re-titled 'Bloodlust'), team deathmatch (i.e. Squad Assault), capture the flag (with an energy cell taking the place of a flag) and king of the hill (where holding more locations gains you more points faster, with the goal being to hit the score limit first). The maps feature vehicles depending on their size or design, with some basic choices including a mech, a multi-person Humvee clone and a deadly VTOL aircraft. There's nothing surprising about Toxikk's gameplay (except potentially the very under-powered shotgun, but then there's not supposed to be. As stated, nostalgia and simplicity are the game's big selling points. Unfortunately, the multiplayer of the free version is severely restricted in terms of what you can and cannot do when it comes to playing online. You can't host a game, or browse server lists, and can only join games at random based on ping, using the game's auto-connect function. This is a major incentive for those that want to run their own server or play with friends to buy the full version, which is fine, since those people will likely prefer playing against their more experienced fellows, rather than simply dropping into a public match where you could be playing alongside anyone, which as any gamer worth their salt knows is either potentially very good, or very, very bad. DesignWhen it comes to visuals, Toxikk is very much the baby of Unreal Tournament III. There are no evil onion-domes in its architecture, but the characters are the same generic, 'roid-boosted super-troopers, and the environments inevitably bring to mind the same lighting and level design over and over. This is no fault of the game's developers (probably) since Unreal Engine 3 games undeniably share the same DNA when it comes to looks. Given how closely Toxikk already mirrors the third Unreal Tournament, however, it's impossible not to see the similarities, no matter how hard the makers might have tried, which is not good for the game's identity. In my opinion, if you want to recapture the glory days of shooters, you should try to do it while establishing your own identity as best you can. I'd also like to lodge a complaint about the menu design. Something about it simply rubs the wrong way, though whether it's the excessive reliance on the keyboard to select options when between matches or the overall animation and visual clutter, I can't say. Despite being built on a graphics engine almost a decade old, Toxikk still manages to look drop-jaw gorgeous, and runs very smoothly on most modern machines. There's not much to say about the sound either, other than that it does its job of 'being there'. The guns feel like your usual sci-fi stuff, and the music is pretty much all electronic. I don't blame it for not challenging expectations, given it's aimed at a very specific audience, but then I would also argue that's part of what made Unreal Tournament 2004 so good, with its ludicrous diversity in terms of venues and music to frag by. Would anyone today dare to try and set a no-holds-barred, fifty-frag limit death-match to a sweeping orchestral piece? I think not. In any case, all this adds up to is mediocre visual and auditory experience. I won't berate the creators for using a last-gen engine, since being new and improved is not what the game's about. I would've liked it more though if they had gone a bit more crazy with the level design. It's one thing to embrace what you know works in an effort to recapture fun times gone past, and another entirely to be able to build on contributing to the experience in a way that doesn't completely break the mold you're trying to fill. Final VerdictAt the end of the day, Toxikk achieves what it sets out to do quite well, providing an authentic retro-shooter experience for the dedicated fan of old school arena combat. It's a welcome distraction if you have a passing interest since it costs nothing to play, and a ton of fun if you can have friends who are interested enough to purchase the full version and play alongside you. The core of the multiplayer shooter genre has always rested in its ability to deliver engrossing online cooperative and competitive play. Toxikk focuses on keeping that experience simple, with no loadouts, no player perks and no pay-to-win incentives, just like it used to be. Furthermore, the game is linked to the Steam Workshop, which allows players to submit all sorts of mods, including model packs, custom-made maps and mutators. This provides a huge boost to the game's replayability, since so long as the community and your enthusiasm survives you will most assuredly virtually never run out of new things to try. I won't say I'm nuts about it, but it's definitely worth giving a chance if only for the potential memories it might help you might relive. Minimum System Requirements
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I'm a blogger. I review games, mods, or whatever else I feel like, and voice my thoughts for your entertainment (and my portfolio). Reviews
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