The Heads Up! Display Show

In this week’s episode of the Cherry Chocolate Podcast, I told about the upcoming release of EA’s Dead Space.  The title is currently being developed by EA Redwood Shores, in California.  It is expected to be released on October 14 in the US, and October 24th in Europe.  The lead protagonist of Dead Space is Isaac Clarke, an engineer who is assigned to investigate the Ishimura, an interstellar mining ship that has lost all forms of communication.  Once on board the ship, Clarke discovers that he is in more danger than he can possibly imagine.

In terms of game play, Dead Space appears to play very similarly to Resident Evil 4, which was released for the Nintendo Game Cube in 2005.  The game was lauded as a masterpiece for its reinvention of the platitudinous franchise.  Dead Space is hoping to follow in the tracks of Resident Evil 4 by giving the same 3rd person, behind-the-back camera angle, rancid environments and nightmare inducing enemies.   It would be easy to assume that the game is just merely trying to repackage the RE 4 experience in an intergalactic environment, but EA has been trying to fit enough innovation into the game to make it an experience all its own.

Electronic Gaming Monthly Editor, Shane Bettenhausen viewed the game with the same insipid skepticism that most gamers have when they approach a clear rip-off of a successful franchise.  Before E3 2008 he commented, “Early demonstrations of Dead Space made it seem like a gimmicky, piecemeal affair that liberally borrowed even gimmickier concepts from competing titles.”  The game featured everything that has been tried before in video games from bullet-time to getting rid of the on-screen HUD.

Even with all the borrowed gaming clichés, there has to be something that EA could do to make the game stand out besides having the EA pedigree.  In an E3 2008 demo, Shane was shown a level that is featured later in the game and he came away completely impressed.  “This area provides an excellent showpiece for the game’s diverse enemy roster, creative weaponry, and clever antigravity jumping-puzzle bits.”
One of the features that EA is banking heavily on is the concept of interactive cut scenes.  These are not typical Simon says button-timed sequences, nor are they simply cut scenes where the player really has no part in at all (ex. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater).  The player is actually performing in a cut scene, and based on how well they do in that scene, they will either live or die.  I will admit that at first glance these seem like button-timed sequences, but 1up.com interviewed senior producer, Chuck Beaver to elaborate on the interactive cut-scenes.

1UP: Back at E3, you showed a scene where the player is getting pulled through a tunnel — it was an interactive cut-scene. How many of those are we going to see, besides that one?

Chuck Beaver: That’s kind of a complicated scene where it looks like it’s going to be a movie, but you’ve actually got control of the gameplay, and you’re actually playing through that whole sequence. And then, depending on how poorly you do at the end, you have this small moment where you get this spectacular death. As far as those types of sequences go — where you end up with a small, spectacular death — there’s actually a lot. Isaac can die in a practically infinite number of ways because he can be dismembered almost everywhere, just like the enemies can. So, depending on what’s happening to you, you can have a lot of that happening.

Upgrading is paramount to Isaac’s survival in Dead Space.  Nearly everything from his arsenal, to his health can be upgraded.  Isaac has a choice on whether or not to upgrade, but Mr. Beaver goes on to explain, “It’s entirely your choice. If you don’t upgrade anything, toward the end of the game, it’s going to be hard because the enemies get harder. But there are no awful path blockers that are based on upgrades.”
Another feature of Dead Space is Gravity.  At certain points in the game, Isaac will have to leave the Ishimura and space walk.  His space suit is equipped with magnetic soles on his boots, but if a player misses their mark while jumping from platform to platform, they can essentially fall into the depths of space.  The weaponry is standard for survival horror games, but every weapon seems to have some unique twist.  In a preview for Game Spy, Gabe Graziani describes a machine gun with three barrels that spins laterally.  “When held over his head, Isaac can use the spinning barrels to unleash a hail of lead in 360 degrees.”  The weapons also display ammo capacity as a holograph just over the barrel.  This serves to limit the on-screen HUD to further immerse the player.

Combat in Dead Space is not typical for a survival horror game or any shooter.  The enemies will adapt to how you play.  Depending on what body parts you shoot off of the creatures, they will switch their stance or even sprout new body parts.  Glen Schofield, executive producer states, “The primary theme of Dead Space is dismemberment.”  The creatures that Isaac will face in Dead Space are grotesqueries known as necromorphs.  Necromorphs are humans who have fallen victim to a disease that mutates them into horrible creatures.  The characteristics of this disease are different from anything that science has discovered.  In a preview on IGN.com by Jeff Haynes, he explains that the disease can only infect those that are already dead and the transformation is disturbing to say the least.

Dead Space is one of the most hotly anticipated titles for the Fall and it is coming up to some serious competition in Guitar Hero: World Tour and Gears of War 2.  For those that need their horror fix, this is the game to check out.

Before I end this article, I will leave you with a video that shows exactly what this game is all about.