It did not take long for the tension to ratchet up in Dead Space. Isaac Clarke and his team had just arrived at the USG Ishimura and the ship appeared to be abandoned. The team cautiously made their way through the ship into a large, windowed room. Asked to boot up the computer terminal, Isaac steps outside the room and activates the computer.
Suddenly, the room goes dark and the emergency lights kick in. Isaac sees his team through the window in the dark room and hears their confusion. There is a noise and the team realizes there is something in the room with them. A creature drops from the ceiling and attacks. Someone yells for Isaac to run. Racing down the corridor, Isaac hears the creature pursuing him and races towards the elevator. He gets in and hits the button watching the elevator door close. The door is suddenly jerked open and, for just a second, the creature is there poised to attack. Then the elevator violently slams shut and the creature is gone.
The sequence I just described, from the game Dead Space, is classic survival horror, and it is becoming scarce. In its place is a variation on the genre referred to as action horror. This variation is less effective because the action rarely slows down for the player to get immersed in the story.
I recently read an article on a gaming website that said to expect Modern Warfare level action in Dead Space 2. I am a huge fan of Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2. This news was not what I had been hoping to hear though. The appeal of Dead Space for me was the high tension and the feeling that a Necromorph could be waiting around any corner. The action was spaced out enough so that I was blindsided when a Necromorph drops from a vent or suddenly rushes around a corner.
Dead Space and Modern Warfare do not belong in the same sentence. Both games are great in their own right but they set out to accomplish different things. Dead Space creates an experience that is reminiscent of films such as Alien. Modern Warfare succeeds as a first person shooter with an emphasis in online multiplayer. The non-stop action that makes Modern Warfare such a great game would counteract the mood that a game like Dead Space creates.
Alfred Hitchcock is famously quoted as saying, “There is no terror in the bang, only the anticipation of it.”
He would know.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I completely agree, man. I remember the 1st resident evil. EVERY time you saw a zombie, you was scared for your life. Fierce tension. As the series went on it got more pew pew.
Silent Hill is less guilty of this. Silent Hill 3 was the only game in the series that was less on tension and more on boo scares and shotguns.
I would put Dead Space # 2 on my top 5 survival Horror games this generation.
Good article amigo.
I agree that this game is one of the best horror games of all times. Probably my favorite. To quote another master of horror, H.P. Lovecraft, who said “the best fear is fear of the unknown”. This is painfully apparent when playing Deadspace.
Also, you are correct that it should never be mentioned with MW2, unless to say “they are both good games”. That is about all they have in common. That being said, my heart rate didn’t really elevate while shooting Commies in MW2. I will leave it at that.
Keep up the good work Scott.