TItle: Quake 4 Developer: Raven Software Publisher: Activision Music Composed by: Clint Walsh Release Date: October 18, 2005 IntroductionBack in 2005, crowds cheered wildly at QuakeCon in response to id Software's unveiling of the fourth installment in the Quake franchise, a series that arguable helped birth the modern 3-D first-person shooter. The mixed reception of Doom 3 the previous year had left fans in a bit of a sulk, and they were eager for something to take their minds off the failings of the attempted reboot. Now, with the unfortunate benefit of hindsight, it's accurate to say their hopes were misplaced. Quake 4 might've impressed on release, but time has been less than kind to this unfortunate corridor-shooter. Now, to be fair, Quake 4 was not the sole product of id Software, who enlisted the aid of Raven Software to help in production. That said, the game still bears the marks of the studio's ill-fated efforts to take its biggest money-makers in a 'more realistic direction', to quote Kevin Cloud in his appearance on the documentary 'Doom Resurrected' by Noclip. While the developers are to be applauded for trying to step outside the box, the failure of Doom 3 should've served as a clear sign to the team that trying to capitalize on the Quake brand in a way that failed to properly honor the series' roots was a bad, bad idea. But I digress; Quake 4 is available on Steam for 14.99, though you can generally grab it for much less during QuakeCon season, when the annual sale is on. Take my recommendation and wait. That way you're more likely to get your money's worth. Storyid Software has never been strong in the story department. John Carmack, one of the studio's founders, is known for saying 'Story in a game is like a story in a porn movie. It's expected to be there, but it's not that important.'. Obviously he's not entirely correct, or the Mass Effect trilogy wouldn't have become one of the most popular sagas of all time, but he's not entirely wrong either. The 2016 reboot of DOOM had very little plot, yet it was delivered in a tongue-in-cheek, slightly humorous and campy manner that made it fun and a decent garnish that sufficiently added to the stellar gameplay while never eclipsing it. And that's OK! Some games aren't about the story. Unfortunately, while Quake 4's story has about the same level of complexity as most of id's other titles, it doesn't have good gameplay to fall back on, and it isn't very well-executed or presented to boot. The plot hearkens back to the franchise's second game, which pitted the player against the Strogg, a cybernetic alien species which has invaded Earth in a plot to harvest humanity for the creation of an organic power source known as 'stroyent'. in Quake 2, the player finishes the game having not only taken down the defenses of the Strogg homeworld, opening it to a counter-attack, but also having killed their leader, the Makron. Quake 4 picks up immediately afterwards, with human warships warping in to deliver some righteous ass-kicking to the evil half-machine aliens. Hey, wait a minute...I've seen this movie before! The asteroid hits Buenos Aires, right? You play as Matthew Kane, certified badass of the Space Marine Corps, who in the best tradition of id's protagonist never speaks, and has the emotional range of a block of wood. Granted, people get attached to Gordon Freeman of Half-Life fame and he's virtually the same, but he has the bonus of being an everyman character which makes him much more relatable. Kane is the a cookie-cutter individual with little to no history and no purpose except to shoot things until they die. Again, this wouldn't be a bad thing, were it not obvious that Id was obviously trying its hand at a more cinematic Quake, without grasping the lessons of similar games like Half-Life. The writing is also pretty poor, at least in regards to what the developers were hoping to achieve. The first twenty seconds made references to Starship Troopers, Babylon 5 and The Outer Limits. Granted, not everyone's going to pick up on that, but it only accentuated the cliches for me, which continued to roll in non-stop for the remainder of the game. I also got the feeling that there were things that had been cut for time or the sake of pacing which shouldn't have been. For example, in the opening cutscene, Kane's dropship is shot down, crashing on the surface of Stroggos where he drifts in and out of consciousness while people fight on around him. I expected this to be followed by a sequence where you get trapped behind enemy lines and need to fight your way through. Instead, you simply wake up next to your squadmates, who send you on your merry way. Said squadmates are also about as interchangeable and dull as your guns, which I'll get to in a bit. My biggest gripe with the story is the execution of the big plot twist that comes about halfway through. It wasn't much of a surprise to be fair, given it was advertised as a selling point during the game's marketing stage, but it was full of potential nonetheless. During a mission, Kane is captured by the Strogg and taken to one of their medical facilities, where the full scale of the alien menace is laid out as he is 'recruited' for lack of a better word, awakening on a conveyor belt transporting captured humans through a sickening assembly line that transforms them into cyborg soldiers like the ones you've been fighting the entire time. The whole thing is chock-full of body-horror, made all the worse (or better, depending on your views) by being forced to watch everything you go through happen to the guy in front of you first. It's a shocking, grisly turn of events, and at the end, I found myself wondering if this meant I might have to fight my fellow marines now too. Of course, I should've known better than to expect such literary creativity. In another cliched turn of events, Kane's control implant never gets activated, a rescue party arriving in the nick of time I dun told you not to hire that shifty surgeon Jake! Did ya even check his credentials! Gosh darn, now we gotta go find yer damn liver! See boy, this is why you don't employ a guy with more limbs than degrees! Now, this is the part I hate more than anything, because from here, it all just becomes so blase and boring. You fight your way out of the Strogg medical facility and return to your ship. The doctors give you a quick examination, with zero ethical dilemmas about taking you apart being raised, followed by a jaunt to the briefing room like nothing's wrong. The other people on the ship barely seem to notice your repulsive transformation, espousing one-line reactions before going about their duties. It's so frustrating, not because id isn't good at writing, but because they tried so hard to be different and failed so monumentally. This from a guy who actually sort of enjoyed Doom 3's plot, which I've often heard scathing remarks about. Perhaps things might've been better if this wasn't one of their staple series they were trying to experiment with. As DOOM proved last year, and Dead Space before that, once you create a franchise with a set tone and style, people don't react well to change. Granted, if anyone could've gotten away with it, Quake could have, given until Quake 4, none of the games had anything to do with one another from a storytelling standpoint. Still, they were shooters, based on blazing-fast action and shooting many bullets, and they were famous for it, to the point of earning spots in the all-time video-game hall of fame. In a way, the real issue might not have been the series identity now that I think about it, but the studio identity. It just goes to show when you're good at something, people tend to have very narrow expectations, and react poorly when they're challenged. GameplayOf course, at its core, the real issue is the gameplay. Quake 4 does do some things right, with multiplayer hearkening back to the good old days of Quake III: Arena, where you ran, you shot, you died, then repeated. No loadouts, no perks, just pure and simple shooting. Unfortunately, there is reloading this time though, which feels somehow alien in a game trying to be as fast-paced as Quake 4. Again, it's part of the studio identity. Until Doom 3 and Quake 4, the only reloading any id game ever featured was shoving fresh shells into your double-barreled shottie. Doom 3 got away with it by focusing on a slower pacing, given it was a horror game. Quake 4 doesn't have that excuse to lean on, and it gnaws at the experience like Nidhogg on the roots of Yggdrasil, disrupting the very roots of the experience. That said, the shooting is much more satisfying than Doom 3's. It's not perfect mind you, but at least they get the shotgun right. Even now, years later, watching a Strogg marine cartwheel into the wall after swallowing some buckshot remains a very satisfying experience. Gibbing enemies (making them explode into meaty chunks) doesn't quite have the same 'oomph' unfortunately, but I'm willing to put that down to engine limitations. Of course, while the guns are cool, they don't really get a chance to stand out from one another, all of them eventually feeling like shiny death-hoses that you point at foes till they stop moving. The Nailgun and the Hyperblaster are probably the best example of this, with both firing non-hitscan, high-damage projectiles that feel as though they're almost identical in function...almost. The industrial environments are great, but they get old fast. Not even the spicing of human torsos plugged into machinery that turn up later can really make up for it... The extremely cramped level design makes most of the heavy stuff feel pointless, much like it did in Doom 3, and I found myself never once compelled to use the game's BFG (it's called the 'Dark Matter Gun', but anyone familiar with id knows it's a rose by any other name), save at the end, where it pretty much trivialized the final boss. This is actually a problem that's persisted through many of id's works. where the player finds themselves in possession of a super-weapon, yet almost never feels compelled to use it, because the need is simply never there. They solved this magnificently with 2016's iteration of DOOM, and it's just a shame they didn't think of it sooner for Quake 4. Another thing I'd like to complain about, which I also feel was solved in DOOM, is the false sense of progression. Throughout the game, you'll run into techs who upgrade your various boomsticks in ways that range from useless, such as making your Hyperblaster shots bounce around (nope, never really saw the point of that) to awesome, like giving your Nailgun a scope mode where it fires seeking bullets. The unfortunate truth of this system is that it either feels lazy, like 'Why didn't it just do this from the start?', or pointless. There's no effort involved, no searching for secrets in the level's nooks and crannies. You don't feel like you've earned anything, and while it makes the guns stand out from one another a bit more, it's not by much. Sound & DesignThe sounds of Quake 4 are far from impressive. A lot of the ambiance and noises are obviously recycled from Doom 3, which I don't totally hold against the developers, but a lot of other stuff sounds like it was taken directly from the public domain. I have to struggle not to criticize every little thing, given that this is now a very, very old game from a very different time, but it's just too easy. There are nice flashy set pieces that fall short of compensating for the annoyingly familiar corridors you continually waltz through, while the excessive use of darkness makes the overall atmosphere feel like it's borrowing too heavily from Doom 3 (though you do get a gun-mounted flashlight this time...but only on your Machinegun. So close, id, so close.). It does lend itself to an oppressive, industrial atmosphere, amplified by the Strogg habit of grafting human body parts into machinery like the cover of a Front Line Assembly album, but it's not hugely scary, not after the first time. Sometimes it's like id intended to make Quake 4 into Doom 3's faster-paced, action-packed brother, but got the execution wrong, with an excess of monster-closets. Here we see the USS Patton coming in for a landing. You go here twice in the entire game, and I'm pretty sure after the second jaunt, it gets blow up. That's okay though, because everyone on board is a meaningless drone anyway. The A.I. is also pretty boring too, though again, I feel tempted to put this down to engine limitations. Enemies take cover and tend to gang up, but that's as complex as they get. Maybe I've just been spoiled by F.E.A.R., which came out around almost the same time. Regardless, with all the ammo you inevitably get weighed down by, the whole thing becomes a bit of a chore. It's no wonder that id had to sell out to Bethesda Softworks in the end. I've also noticed the game suffers some nasty visual and audio bugs on newer machines running Windows 10. There's nothing I can really say about that, given that Windows 10 is unkind to a lot of older games, and the bugs only show up when I played on my new machine, but still, it's a sign that the inevitable wall of incompatibility is rolling towards Quake 4. Final VerdictOverall, replaying this game years later with a more critical and experienced eye has been...enlightening. I used to think Quake 4 was a lot of fun, but in retrospect, the think I enjoyed most was the art style, since I'm into cybernetics and weird stuff like that. It was creative and my experience limited, so naturally I thought good things about it. It's only now, with my critic's eye, that I see what turned so many people off to it. If you're a completionist, an avid retro-gaming fan, or just looking for a quick and easy way to relieve stress, go for it. If you're seeking something a bit more meaty though, I suggest looking elsewhere. This is one alien invasion story that's outlived its welcome. Minimum System Requirements
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TItle: Dead Space 2 Developer: Visceral Games Publisher: Electronic Arts Music Composed by: Jason Graves Writers: Jeremy Bernstein Release Date: January 25, 2011 IntroductionOf all the games in the Dead Space franchise, the second, Dead Space 2, is widely held as the best of the bunch. Developed by the newborn Visceral Games, the second entry in the series took the lessons of the first game and improved on them on a scale that few sequels ever accomplish. It's no Mass Effect 2, but that's an unfair comparison to make in any case, given the different themes Dead Space runs with. Regardless, it's a vast improvement, and despite being almost seven years old at the time of this writing, it remains a fun, exciting and spooky experience. You can pick it up on Steam for $19.99, where it comes bundled with a bunch of integrated extra material that was originally only available as paid downloadable content, such as extra RIGs, weapon variants and more! Of course a lot of other DLC isn't available or supported for the PC version, but having looked into it myself, I can safely say you're not missing anything by getting this edition. The scares are just as scary and the combat is just as gory, so don't listen to anyone who says it's better on consoles. StoryFor those new to the universe of Dead Space, a handy synopsis of the original's plot is immediately available from the main menu, and provides a rapid means of catching up for those who need it. Isaac Clarke, protagonist of the first game, is once again the hero, with opening scene placing him in a government-run mental ward, where he has been kept for the past three years, wracked with guilt over the death of his girlfriend Nicole on the Ishimura and haunted by the lasting mental scars of his contact with the mysterious Red Marker. Of course, it's not Dead Space without Necromorphs, and this time the game skips most of the build-up, with Isaac's unlucky rescuer getting skewered and infected right before Isaac's eyes seconds into the plot. The initial chase scene as Isaac flees the ward, with Slashers bursting out of cells and other creatures lunging out of side passages while he struggles with his straight-jacket is heart-pounding, and is an excellent example of what sets the second Dead Space apart from the first. Where the original relied on dread, a heavy, oppressive atmosphere and a somewhat slower pacing, Dead Space 2 is like the second half of Pitch Black, where horror is still present, but takes on a more 'thriller' vibe. The game's no less scary of course, and while the action is more intense, it retains a uniquely Dead Space vibe that no amount of shooting sequences can detract from. The whole plot of Dead Space 2 ties very heavily into Isaac's decaying grip on sanity.The first quarter of the game places you at the mercy of two unreliable narrators; Stross, a mental patient from the same lab Isaac was held in, and Daina, partner of Isaac's unlucky would-be rescuer, who seems trustworthy, but quickly begins to project the sense that she has a hidden agenda. This battle of trust is overlaid on the fact that the Marker pattern in Isaac's brain is taunting him with hallucinations of his dead girlfriend who mocks and degrades him for his guilt over his self-perceived involvement in her demise on the Ishimura. A heavy emphasis on eye imagery also helps set up the player for one of the most knee-knocking and nail-biting end sequences I have ever seen. On top of that, Isaac has to fight to stay alive in the midst of a massive Necromorph outbreak while at the same time being hunted by the forces of EarthGov. This layer cake of lunacy is delicious, and makes for a rich, engrossing experience Hey baby! Long time, no see! Hey, I was meaning to ask you this question about that thing you said last time we spoke on th--OH GOD WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR FACE!!!? Of course, there are some things that could've been done better. The involvement of the followers of Unitology (an in-universe religion rooted in the worship of the alien Markers) only lasts for a small portion of the game, and the game's primary antagonist seems cartoonishly two-dimensional at times. It's not until the last few minutes of the game that he gets any kind of real characterization, which is unfortunate, given how hard he seems to be trying to kill Isaac. Despite this, all the actors make stunning performances, including Isaac himself, who now has a voice despite being mute for the entirety of the first game. Normally when a silent protagonist gets a voice, it doesn't go well, but Isaac is an exception, and comes across as a genuine human character with problems you can relate to. His voice actor does a great job of conveying the sense that he's an everyman hero, an engineer caught in the midst of extraordinary events. It's a great performance that only adds to some already-great writing. Overall, the whole plot works well to retain the sense of Lovecraftian mystery of Isaac's situation while balancing it on top of a heavier diet of action than his previous adventure. Its human and sci-fi aspects still stand strong even today. GameplayDead Space 2 retains much of the play-style of its predecessor, with all the old weapons making a comeback, though many now have new alternate fire-modes that make them less situational and more versatile than in the previous game. This is refreshing, since while Dead Space had a creative and brutal arsenal, only the Plasma Cutter ever seemed to remain usable throughout the campaign. New weapons make an appearance as well, with my personal favorite being the viscerally-satisfying Javelin Gun, which when fully upgraded shoots yard-long spikes that can then be triggered to electrify and explode impaled enemies. Furthermore, as if it wasn't enough fun nailing thing to other things with a high-tech nailgun, the game vastly improves on Isaac's Kinesis power, letting him grab and toss all sorts of environmental objects to stun or kill attackers. This includes ripping the bone blades off of slain Necromorph Slashers, which can then by launched like a spear. There's nothing quite as satisfying as turning the enemy's weapons against them, especially when that weapon is part of their own body. The game also introduces new enemies, which mix with the old roster in a remarkably well-crafted system of encounters that strive to test your tactical flexibility. Chief among these are Stalkers, crafty, almost alien-looking creatures that, as their name implies, take a stealthy approach to fighting you. They hide behind crates and attack in a hit-and-run fashion, working to unnerve you with their whale-like vocalizations while peeking out occasional to confirm your location. Another is the Pack, which is among the more controversial of the game's already gruesome creature designs. These nasty critters are made from the adolescent and pubescent humans that fell to the Necromorphs, and charge at you in large numbers with bald, child-like faces set on lanky pale bodies with razor-sharp claws. They serve to occupy and distract you from the more heavy-hitting enemies, weighing you down in a frenzied dog-pile of death whole a Slasher or Leaper winds up for another attack. Of all the things you could find humping your leg when you turn on the lights, this is probably among the absolute dead last you'd want to see. Luckily, your armor is childproof. Dead Space 2 also introduces a multiplayer component known as Outbreak Mode, where two teams of four human players compete against a third team of Necromorphs and each other in a race to complete objectives before time runs out. The mode contains much of what you'd expect to see from many modern multiplayer modes, with outfits, weapons and boosts to existing abilities locked behind a level-progression system which awards players for completing objectives and killing enemies in matches. It's mostly defunct now, having never been hugely popular to start with, but it does make an interesting addition to a game that is chiefly action-horror. It's not without its own element of terror either. As a Necromorph, players can use vent-access to ambush other players, making matches a tense affair, with environments seeming overtly hostile at every turn. Again, it's not going to win any awards, and it never did, but it is an interesting experiment in trying to expand the series' repertoire from a single-player focus. Sound & DesignDead Space 2's art design is probably one of the best things about it. Despite being five years old at the time of this writing, it looks better than many other triple-A games, with its careful application of lighting, its butter-smooth frame-rate and its jaw-dropping scenery all well up to spec. Its a testament to what good environmental design can do for a game over the long term. Furthermore, the environment itself again feels like a living character, even moreso than the Ishimura of the first Dead Space. The game takes place on Titan Station, otherwise known as 'the Sprawl', a veritable city in space made from the ruins of Saturn's titular moon. Text, audio and video logs all lend a bit to fleshing out the lore and helping with puzzles, but most of the character of the world comes from the visual and auditory storytelling you experience as you progress. An excellent example is the segment after Isaac's harrowing escape from the secure government wing of the station's hospital at the game's opening. Once outside the facility, he ends up in the Cassini Towers apartment complex, where he bears witness to the full-scale madness of the Necromorph outbreak sweeping the station. Panicking crowds flee from the swarm of the risen dead, while others lock themselves in their homes in fear. The sounds emanating from the sealed apartment units are like a window to the apocalypse. A man threatens to shoot anyone who tries to remove him from his home, while across the way, an abandoned infant screams and cries for a mother who isn't there. Overlaid on this is an unusual amount of ominous Unitology imagery, with bloody alien writing that was established as the Church's calling card in the original Dead Space scrawled all over the place in blood, hinting that the area might be thick with members of the pseudo-religious order. The Sprawl is full of some magnificent vistas for you to admire. You know what else it has? Thousands of angry Necromorphs hankering for a bite of your tender flesh. This kind of artful design is a thing to be cherished, as it so rarely appears in games these days. Like the first game, Dead Space 2 is heavy with metaphors. It even continues the series' tradition of spelling out a message in an acronym composed of the first letter of each of the game's chapter titles. The sound and voice acting also shine, with the Necromorphs providing suitably creepy and disgusting audio cues. It also features one of the earliest forms of dynamic musical cues, with the various creatures all having signal sounds and themes equipped with dynamic triggers to help synchronize the soundtrack with the scares. It's simply amazing, and deserves to be appreciated since many developers today still use the same techniques. Final VerdictDead Space 2 is to Dead Space what the later Resident Evil titles are to the first (though without the silly over-the-top convoluted plot). It's a take on a similar scenario, but compensates for the lack of that special first-time scare you get from something original and terrifying with an increase in the action. While it can't truly capture the spine-tingling terror of that first time on the Ishimura, it still handles itself well, with a dread-filled atmosphere, a rip-roaring pacing and plenty of gruesome action in between. It also plays off the last game in a novel and heart-breaking manner, with Isaac's emotional struggle serving to make him a very human and fragile character despite his swearing and zombie-stomping abilities. I actually feel it outdoes the first game in many areas, and for that reason, I highly recommend it, both for fans of horror and action. It's rare a sequel does so much to improve while staying original. It deserves appreciation; your appreciation. So what are you waiting for? Put on your RIG and m̲͔̮A̞̝̰̺̘̖͔k̵̬͍͈̳͉̻̬e͇̦̠͕̙̹̮ ̼̼͖ͅu̪̠S͙̼̬͝ ̡͍̠͓̙̣w̹̗̝̭͠H͚̹̖̦̖O̧̰̹͙͇̪̤͖l̝e̬͖! Minimum System Requirements
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- Operating System: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 or 10 Processor Capacity: 2,8 GHz DirectX: Version 9.0c RAM: 2 GB Hard Drive Space: 10 GB --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 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
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- Operating System: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 or 10 Processor Capacity: 2,8 GHz DirectX: Version 9.0c RAM: 1GB Hard Drive Space: 7.5 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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