First Impressions: Dead Space 2 (PC)

I've started Dead Space 2 twice.  The first time, I made it 1h48m in then discovered that the Dead Space 2 game sold through Steam comes with three DLC packs pre-installed, which I did not know about, although it does not contain the Severed DLC which is a standalone prequel to Dead Space 2; Severed was apparently only released on PS3 and XBox 360 with no word as to a PC release.  The reason I restarted was because I had thought that all of the free items in the store (as a result of the DLC weapon/armor packs) were supposed to be there and I equipped myself to the teeth right before a mini-boss fight.  I would rather not play the game that way, so I started over with the intent of only buying items from the store as they become available in-game.

Always be wary when the best items for sale are free.

Dead Space 2 is fun at the present.  There are a number of jump scares with necromorphs bursting through walls or environmental elements springing to life as you walk by, minding your own business.  There are a number of modifications from the original Dead Space that I feel like I have to come to terms with in order to fully like this game.  

The first major change is that the game is no longer told in separate chapters.  In the first game, each time you boarded a tram to a different part of the USG Ishimura, you began a new chapter and you knew what your objective was.  In DS2, at least up to chapter 4, you are following the guidance of a voice on the other end of your radio as you make your way through Titan Station (built around the remnants of Saturn's moon Titan) with no clear break between chapters.  I recall seeing a "Chapter 2" pop up at one point, but I have not seen anything to denote that I had entered a chapter 3 or 4.  I personally liked the individual chapters as part of a larger whole that made up the first game as well as the mobile game.  The current less structured narrative makes me feel like I am just going from one area to another and killing hordes of necromorphs along the way, because that is what you are supposed to be doing in a video game.

"Oh hai dere!"

I do like the present variety in necromorphs compared to those in DS1.  It would make sense too (does it really!?) that not all off the mutated/transfigured humans would look like the same sprinting blood thirsty brute.  You are on a space station that is full of residential living areas as well as industrial, religious and private sectors so the population is going to be different, which is something that I appreciate.

Maybe it's just me, but so far, I am getting a very Bioshock feeling from wandering around the Titan Station residential and commercial areas.  It could be due to wandering through living quarters and that a space station with super-security-gorilla-glass would be somewhat akin to the glass used in an underwater city and the necromorphs are more perverted than the splicers, but they are still often sprinting monsters that jump out and want to annihilate you just because you have a prettier face.  The point is, I don't want to be playing Bioshock, I want to play the sequel to Dead Space and I am not getting that feeling with only four hours in.

A physical representation of a Marker that size is never a good thing to come across in this universe.

I was talking to Conklederp the other day about this and I decided that I am going to reserve my final judgement of the game until after I reach the end.  I am still enjoying the game, despite how I have sounded through half of this article and I am also interested to find out if I have been intentionally mislead and that my impressions of the game will change later on.  I am also interested to see how the previous stories from Dead Space: Aftermath, Ignition and Mobile all fit together and how they are presented, if at all, in this game that is a cumulation of all of those individual parts.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
I Awake From Madness

Dead Space: Chronicle of the Red Marker. Chapter 1

No, there isn't some new Dead Space game/add-on/DLC called "Chronicle of the Red Marker," I just liked that title for what I'm going to be covering, which are materials in the Dead Space universe that deal with the finding of the Red Marker on Aegis VII and the results thereof; not including the first Dead Space game.  These all include the Dead Space (Comics),  the Dead Space: Downfall and Aftermath animated movies and the Dead Space: Extraction and Ignition games that came out on systems that I do not have access to.

As I have stated before, I'm a sucker for games in a series, specifically games that take place in the same universe that belong to a series and the universe in the Dead Space games is no exception.  After playing the first game, I fell in love with what was being shown to me as well as what could just be glimpsed upon far in the horizon.  Upon discovering that the first game takes place in the middle of the current chronology, I wanted to start in the beginning, ignoring the fact that Dead Space: Martyr, the novel by B.K. Evenson which begins with the finding of the Black Marker on earth and the origins of Unitology was published in 2010, two years after the first game that started it all came out.  The chronology for Dead Space is all over the place.  Starting in 2214 (Martyr published in 2010), another Marker "found/created" in 2295 (Catalyst published in 2012) and compiling in 2508 when the games start (released in 2008) as well as the comic (published 2008) and the animated movies (released 2005 & 2011).

These two articles look to review/analyze/mumble about the stories that revolve around the Red Marker that is omnipresent between Dead Space and Dead Space 2.  In order to not make this article as cumbersome as it first was, I have broken it up into two separate posts with this first post covering Dead Space (Comic) through the first animated film, Dead Space: Downfall.

Dead Space (Comic) takes place in the days leading up to the "outbreak" in the mining colony of Aegis VII.  The story was written by Antony Johnson and the artwork was done by Ben Templesmith.  I bring this up because while I did not find any fault with the story, it was the artwork that I ultimately found confusing.  

The story however was very well told.  Because this story is told in print, it allows the tension to build without jumping right into a necromorph outbreak.  I also enjoyed that the "corruption" that you see a lot of in Dead Space starts out as an anomalous annoyance and only once its possible connection with The Marker is made is it too late for anyone to do anything about it.

In the introduction, there are bios of the main characters along with a brief histories and thumbnail of what the character looks like.  Now I will be the first to admit that I tend to forget characters' names in a story that is chalk full of main characters (it took me a couple of hundred pages and reading the family trees to keep characters separate while reading A Game of Thrones).  There are even two sets of characters who appear similar to their respective doppelganger.  Cortez and Natalia: both are women of about the same age with shoulder length dark hair.  Sciarello and Carthusia are both slightly overweight men with short hair and glasses.  Maybe I am just a bad person, but I had a hard time keeping these people apart, especially with the artwork not being as consistent between chapters.

It basically boils down to the art style.  At times it seemed like the artists had a general image of what the characters were supposed to look like, but then given free reign as to how they wanted/could modify said characters.  I know this is something that can be pretty common in the comics industry, but I found it a bit distracting, especially when trying to keep characters straight.

Dead Space: Extraction is a Wii and ported PS3 game that I am unable to play due to my lack of a video game console post 2001.  Rather than try and find an emulated copy of the game, one designed for motion controls (although using the mouse would work just as well), I looked to youtube to find a single longplay video or one broken up into watchable segments.  Thankfully I was able to find a series of six videos of the PS3 port from World of Longplays and major kudos to them for having no talking or commentary of any kind.

I enjoyed that Dead Space Extraction took place at around the same time as both the comic and Downfall (below), but that it took the story from a different point of view with different characters.  The thing that I loved about what this game did, was that your first character is not the main character, but it plays it off like he's going to be another Isaac Clarke from the first game.  Throughout the tutorial level, you witness hallucinations from a point of view mode.  At the end of the chapter, your character is killed by C-Sec officers (police) and as your hallucination fades/breaks, you see that the necromorphs you were killing where in fact C-Sec officers.  You immediately wonder how many of the creatures you killed throughout that first level were actually civilians and if there were in fact any necromorphs at all.

The game takes you through the Ishimura up the the point when the USG Kellion (the ship Isaac Clarke is on) arrives, although contact is not made, possibly due to debris and what not.  The only problem I had with the story (as well as the parallel story in Dead Space: Downfall) is that the characters cannot be too successful in making their way through the USG Ishimura since the first game takes place in the same space, so there have to be some monsters left over and all of the items cannot have been picked clean.  But continuity aside, it was a fun game to sit back and watch someone else play for just under six hours (multiple sittings mind you)

Dead Space: Downfall takes place shortly after the events in the first Dead Space (Comic).  The animation style I think is what made it a little odd for me. If you've seen EA's animated film Dante's Inferno, the tie-in to their not-too-successful video game, then you'll know what I'm referring to.  If you haven't seen it, picture what you think of when it comes to traditional Japanese animation.  Now take that image and stretch it out a bit so all the characters look a bit lanky. Somewhat similar to Ninja Scroll, but less refined somehow.

Storywise, I enjoyed what I was presented with.  The story primarily takes place on the U.S.G. Ishimura, although the movie begins with the discovery of the Red Marker on Aegis VII (you know the place) with the events leading up to Issac and company arriving at the Ishimura right before Dead Space starts up.  There was no overlap between Downfall and Extraction which is somewhat expected since Downfall was released a year before Extraction, but I really would have liked it if there had been some mention of people, just to keep the feeling that the Ishimura was a single united ship.

This is where I shall leave you for the weekend.  Chapter 2 (on Monday 4/13) will cover three  of the four storylines that bridge the gap between Dead Space 1 and 2.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Soon I'll Be Knocking At Your Door

Second Impressions & Review: Mirror's Edge (PC)

Whew!  Finally finished that game and it only took me nine hours, which is a bit less than I was expecting, but honestly, I am just glad that I am not being shot at by any more of the police.  As I did with my review (of sorts) of Dead Space, I do not plan on putting my my standard "Full Review," but instead my thoughts about the game and hopefully, I will not be repeating myself from what either myself or Dr. Potts have already said.

First off, Mirror's Edge was a very fun game with the level of fun being conducive to a couple of factors that I have worked into a handy dandy flowchart.

That is pretty much about it.  While I was indoors, I noticed that a lot of the levels were puzzle heavy., needing to figure out where to jump and how to get to where I am supposed to be going held a certain level of interest, but I quickly felt confined and claustrophobic.  I wanted to be outside, in the open smog-less air of The City.  Being indoors also meant that there was a good chance that Merc would call you up on your earpiece radio to let you know that there were some Blues on their way and they did not look like they were in the mood to exchange pleasantries.

One level in particular I had an increasingly difficult time with.  If you would rather watch how the level was supposed to be played, you can watch it here, otherwise you can finish reading about how I could usually manage a few jumps before I had to revert to watching the video to figure out where I was supposed to go next.  Considering how much of the game, by this point, has the player conditioned to look for red as a way of letting you know which way to go or to "jump off of this thing to go over there", the inside building portion of Chapter 8: Kate became the antithesis of fun even though there were no Blues in this portion of the stage.

The fighting in the game I also felt that I was never able to get a good grasp with.  Even just watching Faith in the loading screens made me feel that I was doing something drastically wrong when it came to hand-to-hand combat.  I always felt that I should be that adept at taking out Blues, but I ended up being very clumsy with my punches and attempts to disarm. Oh yes, while being shot at because those bastards were hardly alone.  Often times I would "simply" take down a guard, take his gun then play Mirror's Edge like I would any other FPS action shooter and take out the guards before going back to running.  With hope, the trailer from this year's E3 has hinted to a more streamlined and less annoying (meaning someone who sucks at the hand-to-hand combat) attacks and takedowns for Faith to execute.

As you can tell from the flowchart, any level where I was outside and not being shot at, I felt that the game excelled here and I would have really liked an entire game of just going from Point A to Point B.  I wanted more of that.

Another aspect of the game that I found semi-intriguing and liked was the use of animation for the cutscenes.  At first, the difference between the in-game landscape and the cutscene animation was a little jarring, but ultimately I liked it.

There was cutscene of sorts at the end of the game involving two characters that used the regular in-game graphics and not the stylized animation  and while I feel that that worked for the flow of the stage, I felt like I was missing the look that I had become accustomed to over the course of the game.  But, since the scene happened in the middle of a level, I understood the reasoning behind the decision.

At some point while playing, I did find out that there was a DLC map pack that EA Games released, but it looks like it is only for 360/PS3 owners and (maybe?) for people who bought the game through Origins as opposed to Steam.  This is sad because an obstacle course (without Blues) is something that I would love to play with, but I am not about to spend money on a console to buy a game (I already have) to then buy DLC.  I am not that hard up for a $4.99 DLC but I hope that sometime similar is included in the retail PC release of Mirror's Edge 2.

I think if I chalk Mirror's Edge up to a great "first attempt" then I feel there is a good chance that the sequel, when it is released in April 2016, will be spectacular in the strictest sense of the word.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Looking For Something To Believe In

E3 2014: New & Improved 2014 Edition!

Not to be all self deprecating, but if you're looking for up-to-date information about the 2014 Electronics & Entertainment Expo, you're probably in the wrong place.  Dr. Potts and I, while very avid fans of video games and other geek/nerdy/fun related activities, I would be hard pressed to say that either of us have our finger on the pulse of the video game and related industry.

Presently, if you want to find out about all things E3, you could head over to the official homepage or to Gamespot's, I'm assuming, up to date listings of things going on.  Even the Humble Bundle people are getting in on the action and for the three days that the convention graces the southern region of California.

Wait a damn minute!  E3 doesn't start until tomorrow (Tuesday June 10th), "officially," yet EA Games is doing a "special" conference right now.  Microsoft, Ubisoft, Sony and EA are hosting conferences throughout the rest of the convention (Thursday June 12th) while Nintendo will not be present, but instead have a live digital presentation, similar to their presentation last year.

The Wikipedia page for E3 has a current list of games that will be presented, but on E3's page for live video feeds starting tomorrow, there are, presently, three "Unannounced Game," so there "might?" be additional games added to this list later on in the week.  So, similar to what I did with last years article post-E3, these are the games that, on first glance, I am pseudo-excited to find out (more?) about from this years convention.

• Alien: Isolation (PC) - The Creative Assembly
• Assassin's Creed: Unity (PC) - Ubisoft Montreal
• Batman: Arkham Knight (PC) - Rocksteady Studios
• The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (PC/ 3DS?) - Nicalis
• The Evil Within (PC) - Tango Gameworks
• Game of Thrones (PC) - Tell Tale Games
• Lords of the Fallen (PC) - Deck13 Interactive / CI Games
• Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor (PC) - Monolith Productions
• Mirror's Edge 2 (PC) - EA Digital
• The Order: 1886 (PS4) - Ready At Dawn / SCE Santa Monica Studio
• Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call (3DS) - Square Enix

Yes, an iteration of  Super Smash Bros. is going to be presented by Nintendo, but the couple of times that I've played SSB, I wasn't impressed and I didn't have a lot of fun, so I will join the very small minority of Nintendo fans and not be interested with this game.

There are probably more games that I will have an interest in, but this was only after a cursory glance and run through.

That's really all I have for you all today.  I might do a pseudo-half-assed recap on Friday, or I might so something else completely expected.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Instrumental

First Impressions: Mirror's Edge & Bioshock 2

Dr. Potts has already talked a bit about Mirror's Edge so I won't go into a whole lot of detail about the game, just my general thoughts after having played for just about four hours.  And last month (technically in March), SneakyTiki got me Bioshock Infinite for my Nameday so that influenced me to have a go at Bioshock 2 and after five hours, I would like to talk at you about it.  Yes, I ended a sentence with it.  Again.

I can fully understand the appeal of this game as it fulfills one of the core reasons why I play video games: Mirror's Edge allows me to do something I cannot do in real life.  

Presently, I have played through the tutorial and, I think, the first four levels.  The tutorial threw a lot at me, almost too much for my liking.  I agree with Dr. Potts that Portal does a better job of introducing the player to game mechanics and I feel that the tutorial stage should have been a whole series of levels and not just a series of jumps (good, now you know that one), wall climbs (now you know that one), falling rolls (good, you didn't die, moving on) and wall-to-wall jumps (did you accidentally make it up the wall and not really know what you did, that's okay, moving on).  And that's just dealing with the terrain.  You are also given a very rudimentary crash course in assailants, disarming said assailants and avoiding them.  The tutorial/training course takes maybe 10 minutes and at the end, I feel like the game expects that I now have a firm grasp on being able to complete the game.  Not true, at least in my case.

So far, I get the impression that the game is broken up into sections.  First, there are the sections where you are chased by Blues (coppers) and shot at extensively by them and helicopters.  I somewhat understand them being included so that the player doesn't linger and they add a sense of urgency to get through the stage.  The down side is that I am not having fun.  I feel like these stages I could play in any first person video game and are not special to Mirror's Edge.  The other sections are chase stages, where you have to get from point A to point B while following someone who is just a hair faster than you.  There is still that same sense of urgency, but instead of being shot at, you run the risk of losing sight of your target.  This is what is keeping me playing the game, to have the chance to free run through a level with the only threat of death being my own stupidity as I jump a fence only to fall thirty flights down and hear by bones shatter and body splat as it greets the pavement.

One very interesting thing that I had to do with the game was lower a lot of the video settings.  This game came out back in 2008 and I would like to believe that my laptop is capable of running a game that was released four years before  the components were created could handle the graphic requirements.  Initially I had "everything" turned up to max (except Anti-aliasing which was at 2x), but I began experiencing sever lag whenever I was being shot at by more than one source.  The skipping/lag became so bad that I was unable to time my jumps, which is a rather important ability in a game that centers around parkour.  I then went back into the settings and turned down texture detail and graphics quality to medium and was forced to turn off anti-aliasing and "phy sx" support.  I can now play the game while being shot at by five coppers and a helicopter without having to worry if the game is going to start skipping as I approach that highlighted red board leaning haphazardly over the side of the building leading me to that other building across the street and two stories down.

Oh, and lastly, I have noticed, perhaps not too surprisingly, that I get motion sickness after playing for about 3o minutes.  The effect is more pronounced when I play on my laptop, but on the TV, I can play for about an hour.  So there's that too.

I won't talk to much about Bioshock 2 as I ended up talking more about Mirror's Edge than I had planned and I don't feel like editing down or breaking this up into two posts.  In short, I am very much enjoying Bioshock 2.  I have played about five hours and after the initial disorientation at the beginning, I am having a lot of fun.  I enjoy being back in Rapture and once I figured out that the prologue takes place before the first Bioshock and then the rest of the game begins after those events, I was able to enjoy the game even more.

What I find interesting, is that I had a preconceived notion/impression that Bioshock 2 received bad reviews.  That people did not like taking control of a Big Daddy, that the gameplay was redundant of the first game, that the story did not offer anything new to the world of Rapture and that the game needed a constant internet connection all played towards the game being a disappointing followup to the masterpiece that was the first Bioshock.

As it turns out, at least according to Wikipedia, Bioshock 2 was actually a very good game that expands on the universe.  As is the case with any game, there are going to be negative reviews so maybe that was where my pre-playing impression originated from.  So it turns out I am not as alone as I thought I was going to be by stating that I am currently liking what Bioshock 2 has offered in the way of story, game play, voice acting and music.  It feels good to be back in Rapture.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

While I Look Around For My Possibility

Special Headline About That Game That Everyone Cares About

Film at 11.

So apparently there's this game that either is coming out, is already out, or maybe it's in beta; or maybe it just finished beta as is released, in which case see the second point above.

Titanfall.

It's a game that's getting a lot of talk on some of the gaming sites that I visit.  My opinion about it is one that may end up driving away some of our demographic, but I have no interest in the game for one main reason: mechs.

I've never been a fan of mechs of any kind and I can't readily explain why.  First off, let me clarify.  I've never been a fan of humanoid mechs.  Transformers, and GoBots are their own entities and not directly controlled humans when in their humanoid/battle phase.  I never was into Robotech despite being five years old when it came out and already loving Transformers and Voltron. . . although I guess Voltron are considered mechs, but only humanoid when in their assembled phase.  But, they're not *humanoid* mechs, I think is where the distinction is for me.  Pacific Rim though is I feel a bit of an anomaly, party because I liked it, partly because Guillermo del Toro directed it and lastly because I don't feel that it took itself too seriously.

Basically, the point I'm trying to make, is that Titanfall holds no interest for me.  I agree that the game looks very pretty, and that the premise can be appealing, but that's about as much thought as I am willing to give the game.  Even the free-to-play pseudo-looking clone Hawken, no interest.

Don't get me wrong though.  I don't think the game looks "like a piece of shit" or that it will be/is a terrible game.  That it has bad mechanics or no storyline or that the character development is a step below that of My Little Pony.  It could have the greatest science fiction story of the last 50 years, but because a lot/most of the gameplay/story? revolves around mechs, for whatever reason, I just am not interested.

I guess I didn't need to dedicate an entire post/day to say that I have no interest in a single game, as that would be like also saying that I have no interest in any of the Madden or NCAA football games.  I'm also not interested in the Call of Duty or Modern Warfare series of games.  I guess I'm just not a conventional FPS war buff.  Didn't Starcraft have mechs?  Maybe that's why I didn't get into that game?  Actually, the real reason why I didn't get into Starcraft  was because I thought a lot of the buildings looked very similar and I didn't want to go through the mental anguish that Warcraft I & II (IIx) put me through, albeit a sort of fun and entertaining mental anguish (more on mental anguish on Friday).

That's really all I've got to say.  So, if you're a fan of Titanfall, which is a high possibility that you are, please don't hate me too much for not being at all interested in a game that you yourself might love.  While we do not agree on everything, let's just maintain our mutual love of video games.

Happy Saint Paddy's Day.


~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
I Know Always That I Am An Outsider.

First Impressions: Plants vs. Zombies 2 - It's About Time (iOS)

What!?  I know right?  When did PopCap come out with Plants vs. Zombies 2?  I hadn't even heard anything about this game until the PvZ game on Conklederps Kindlefire downloaded an update to PvZ and the color of the icon changed, which prompted me to open the game and that's when I saw it, an add for Plants vs Zombies 2: It's About Time.  I heard a fair amount of parent company EA Games' mockup of their Modern Warfare series, Garden Warfare, which is a 3rd person shooter from the most recent E3, but nothing about this.  The game was mentioned on PopCap's Twitter back on June 26th of this year.

As it turn(s/ed) out, PvZ2 was released worldwide yesterday.  Yes, yesterday as in August 15th, 2013.  I didn't know that until a minute ago when I double checked the wikipedia page.  So now that that's established, lets get down to the game.

PvZ2 still feels like the original, which is a very good thing, because that's the game that I fell in love with.  My first concern when seeing that this game was coming out (saw as in four days ago), I was afraid that the new plants (you know they had to add new plants) would be less plant like, as in you couldn't tell what plant they were supposed to be, like most of the new Pokémon after the first generation.  That unfamiliar plant above is called the "Bloomerang," and while not too obvious as to what type of flower it is, I can forgive that because the Bloomerang is pretty cool.  It fires up a boomerang petal down the row hitting up to three enemies and then flies back, hitting them again.

Now, there are a lot of things that PopCap did right with this new iteration in the PvZ franchise.  First off, as you can tell from the above, they kept the game the same.  You still plant plants as zombies come towards you.  The level above is one of the conveyer belt levels while in most you still want your row of sunflowers in the back. A recent addition to the game play is Plant Food (that green leaf icon at the bottom of the screen).  Plant Food is earned from green glowing zombies (like the cone wearing zombie in the upper right).  Plant Food will give individual plants a bonus/upgrade, depending on which plant they are used on.  Sunflowers give you extra suns, Wall-nuts gain an extra level of protection (metal armor), Pea Shooters will fire a barrage of peas taking out nearly an entire row of zombies.

As in the first game, plants are unlocked during the course of gameplay, although in PvZ2, there's a world map that's somewhat reminiscent of Super Mario Bros. 3.

So, Ancient Egypt you ask?  If you go back to the title of the game "It's About Time," is a nice pun, admitting to the fact that it's been 4 years since the first game came out, and because the game involves time travel.  True, a lot of the zombies are the same in Egypt as they are in present day, but there are some minor variations, such as the Ra Zombie who tries to absorb suns when the appear on the screen.  Presently I am only on the 4th level in Egypt, but there are a total of 24 levels, just in Egypt.  The other times you are able to travel to are the Old West and the Pirate Seas, each with 22 levels.  I won't spoil the reason why you're time travelling and while the context is rather silly, so is the game.

Now, with all the good things that I've come across in the game so far, there are some elements that I am not too fond of.  The least/most being that the game is currently only available for iOS devices (iPhones & iPads).  Android devices seem to have been forgotten.  At least for the time being, although there is no word as to when Android users will have access to this game.  So when you visit the Apple store, you'll quickly find out that the game is free to download.  That in itself, in todays market is a warning sign.  Not much in this world is free, especially if it's currently an Apple exclusive.  With just a little bit of scrolling, you'll notice this:

That's right, In-App Purchases.  In order to use the Snow Pea, easily one of my go-tos in the first game, I would have to spend $3.99.  Yeah, that's probably not going to be happening.  Maybe that makes me cheap.  I don't plan on making any in-game purchases and presently, I haven't been inundated with "Buy This!" pop ups as all purchases are made through the store, located on the map screen.  I would rather spend $10-20 to buy a full version of the game and you can tell from the first two comments on the page there that others feel the same way.  And, I'm not really the kind of person who would give the game a one star rating just because there are so many purchasable plants and upgrades.  I'll be vocal about not liking it, but so far the game is still a lot of fun.

I feel like this is about all I'm capable to comment on about the game, again because I've played less than 10 levels of the possible 73.  The wikipedia page does say that the game can be completed without using any of the in game purchases, which is very nice to know.

I would say that if you have an iOS device and you liked/loved the first Plants vs. Zombies, you'll lose absolutely nothing by downloading and trying out part 2. 

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Don't Give Up So Soon

One week and 65% left to go.  There's still hope, even if it is a fools hope.

[Edit:  After playing two more levels in Ancient Egypt, I've had two popup ads, one letting me know that I can buy more coins/in-game money which can be used on the special moves I unlocked one level after posting, and another add letting me know about buying "bundles," which consist of buying a purchasable plant (Snow Pea, Squash, et cetera) along with some coins for a special price.  I might also add that I've come across three doors that can be unlocked with special pyramid keys that I've found "randomly" during levels, but I'm one short from being able to unlock one door and two keys short from two separate doors; keys also disappear after you use them so for the three doors I'll need 11 more keys, or I can buy a key for $1.99.  Sneaky.  Just wanted to throw that out there as well.]

A Review: Dead Space (PC)

Yes, I know that Dead Space 3 came out a couple of months back, but you know what, I heard that the original Dead Space was a fun/frightening game and I had really wanted to play it for some time.  Then, Steam had a sale last December (or was it November?) so I went ahead and purchased the initial two games in the franchise.  I began playing Dead Space last year in December and only in the last couple of weeks did I pick the game back up with the intention of taking the game to the end.  So now, here it is, everything that's already out there in the intertubes about a game that came out back in 2008.

But why bother reading a review of a game that came out 5 years ago that everyone and their third cousin has already played and written about?  Because you value our opinion.  And because some people may not have played it when it first came out (like this guy right here) and want to know if the game has held up since it's release.  Yes, yes it has.

You know what.  I'm not going to give our standard "Full Review."  This game's already been reviewed into the ground and the last thing the Internet needs is another review.  I'll just talk about things that I really liked (and didn't like) about the game.

The universe.  I like the universe created for the series.  Even though my experience in the universe is only based off of one game and the information is limited to what is found on the USG Ishimura, USM Valor and the Aegis VII Colony.  There are allusions to things happening on Earth, but not many and those are mainly snippets of information about the Church of Unitology.

Actually, the Church of Unitology is something that I was only slightly disappointed in.  Upon hearing about the Church of Unitology (from in-game, not from the mock-Chick tract that I got from PAX in 2010), I was really hoping that it wouldn't be a pseudo-Scientology-type religion, which it did turn out to be, but only in the way that there are special tiers that members are able to attain within the religion.  That's really all I know about Scientology and I'm not about to assume that I know more.

Back to the game.  Another thing that I really liked and felt was a bit of a departure from other survival horror-esque games.  Your character, Isaac Clarke, isn't some bad ass super soldier sworn with protecting the world from unnameable evils.  He's a middle-aged repairman/engineer whose girlfriend is on board the USG Ishimura, which is purely a coincidence (at least it is after the first game).  And your primary weapon?  It's a Plasma Cutter, which uses plasma energy to cut rock.  Yes, eventually you're able to purchase a legit non-mining tool/weapon.  Even the other mining tools that would be used/described as "magic" in another game, are explained well enough that you don't question why a miner would have the ability to have kinesis module or the ability to slow time at a directed object.

Oh, another thing was this:

 What are you looking at?  It's a maintenance inspection card for the elevator.  We've all seen them anytime we go into an elevator and probably shrug them off.  I'd just gotten into an elevator and while hoping that a necromorph wouldn't pop through the ceiling and attack, I noticed this little thing that wasn't anything beyond set decoration.  But, for me, it helped to maintain my investment in this universe.  That, even in this fictional universe, it is good to know that elevators are still maintained on a regular basis.  It's little details like that that help me to enjoy the game for more than what it is.

I also really liked the layout of the ship.  That it seemed plausible that the layout of the ship was how it was, um, laid out.  I don't know how else to explain that.  I never questioned why something was where it was or what it was that I was doing and why.  Every mission within the ship was pretty straight forward.  Can't send out a distress signal?  Go find out what's wrong with the communications array.  Even the NPC's started getting annoyed at how many things seemed to be going wrong and how much time it took just to get something done.  I liked that.  A lot.

Oh yes, how can I forget the intro movie.  Shots of the USG Ishimura with a slightly creepy woman singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."  Each line sung sounds like it's an effort just to keep going and to finish.  And, upon hearing the song over and over, I began to wonder if the words were the actual words as they almost sounded too creepy to be from a children's song. Alas, the words are in fact the real words, which I thought was pretty cool.

Science? SCIENCE!!

Lastly, I'll talk about my time playing the game and how I went through it.  I spent 23 hours playing the game, but only 14 hours was saved, meaning that I had spent 9 hours trying to get through different areas many, many (many) times and failing.  Specifically the first time with the ADS Canon and when you run into The Hunter in the large medical bay.  Conklederp can attest to my bouts of "Fucking fix it Hammond!  I don't care about your hangups, fucking. . . fucking damn it!" and "Run, fucking unlock the goddamn door!"

In the game, there are a number of weapons that you can purchase from the ships store, although I stuck with the the Plasma Cutter and the Pulse Rifle.  I did purchase the Ripper, although not really knowing how/when to use it, I sold it back to the store, probably to purchase additional med packs or power nodes to upgrade my equipment/gear.  For the most part, I didn't feel the game was too difficult, with the exception of the two mentioned times involving the ADS Canon and The Hunter and having played through the game on Normal/Medium difficulty.  Even the final boss held to a distinct pattern that once I got over the massiveness of the thing, I was able to calmly defeat the creature.

I will add that there were some aspects of the game that I didn't actively "participate in."  Apparently using parts of the necromorphs as projectiles with the kinesis was "a thing."  I rarely used the kinesis module except when moving heavy equipment or to acquire items that were out of range.  Also the secondary function on the Pulse Rifle apparently could do a lot of damage and the only times (used twice) I was in close quarters and when it fired an energy pulse into the air, I thought it was being used to light dark areas, so I practically never used that function.

Lastly, I will say that while Dead Space was a fairly frightening game, it didn't have a lasting sense of fear and terror.  This is most likely due to the fact that the game primarily took place in outer space and the monsters were horribly 'mutated' humans.  They were nothing that I could possibly run into, in a setting that I will probably never be in.  Those elements made the fear only present in the game and not outside of it.  That's not a criticism about the game, just something I felt like pointing out.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Slaves of Fear