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Yahtzee on Dead Space: Competent But Bland

Posted by Bob Mackey

Everyone's favorite fedora-wearing snark king is back again this week with another review, this time dealing with EA's new action/horror title Dead Space. On a certain podcast I can't quite remember, I heard Dead Space referred to as Now That's What I Call Survival Horror Vol. 1; meaning, of course, that the game combines several popular features of existing survival horror games into a single compilation. From what Yahtzee says, it looks like this description is pretty accurate:

I really do think Dead Space's familiar-to-a-fault game play is a result of the publisher; really, anything with the EA brand these days is designed to be friendly and inoffensive. In this era of gigantic publishers, it feels like a certain dumbing-down is happening. Take a look at Activision's Call of Duty 4; the game refuses to tell you what Middle Eastern country you're in--although it should be pretty obvious to anyone with a passing knowledge of current events.

It's strange how a title so committed to the depiction of semi-realistic (and at times, horrifying) warfare is unwilling to extend its narrative to the real world, where it could possibly offend. As I've bitched about man-a-time, the view of games as "safe," inoffensive products is really holding back the gaming industry's creativity. This is obviously a symptom of increasing development costs, which may explain why some of the most innovative and interesting games this gen have been on the DS, PSP, and on digital download services like XBox Live. Wouldn't it be nice if the big-budget blockbusters weren't afraid to step out of their comfort zone?

Related Links:

Yahtzee Wannabe Warns You About the GameStop Devil
The World Ends With Yahtzee
Yahtzee's Homecoming

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Posted Nov 05 2008, 03:00 PM

Filed under: ea, yahtzee, zero punctuation, dead space, bob mackey, electronic arts

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About Bob Mackey

For a brief period of time I was Bull from TV's Night Court, but some of you may know me from the humor column I wrote for Youngstown State University's The Jambar, Kent State University's The Stater, and Youngstown's alternative newspaper, The Walruss. I'm perhaps most well-known for my bi-weekly pieces on Something Awful. I've also blogged for Valley24.com and have written articles for EGM, 1UP, GameSpite and Cracked. For all of my writing over the years, I have made a total of twenty American dollars. It's also said that I draw cartoons, which people have described with words such as "legible." I kidnapped the Lindbergh Baby and am looking to do so again in the future.

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