Review By: Zanimato – Platform: PS3

Introduction: This game is easy, this games fails at being scary completely, this game has the most basic and somewhat annoying predictable mission objectives, this game has almost no in-game story, it just like Final Fantasy 7 had all of the story in the back story, this game, despite all of what I just said which is all 100% completely true, is still a great game.

The game plays extremely well, somewhat like Resident Evil 4 with the way the guns handle and the over-the-shoulder camera, speaking of the guns, some of them (the Ripper) are so un-realistic and even funny to look at at first glance it just makes those guns all the better.

By “predictable mission objectives” I mean that you’ll get a mission like “go here and get the key to unlock the room to do the thing with the other thing” will turn into something like “go here move the thing with the other thing that you need to go find to get the key to go into the hallway before the room you need to unlock as the hallway collapses so go get the other thing to unlock the other door which leads to the alternate route to the first door blah blah blah annoying System Shock 2 bull” and this game does feel similar to System Shock 2, at least it’s not a complete rippoff with no differences what-so-ever other than name changes like one game I know of *cough* Bioshock *cough*

Excuse me, ahem, the bosses are few and far between (three in the whole game few) and other than the final boss which is still incredibly easy are all pretty poorly done, the only thing that saves the final boss is the fact of how epic it is, (seriously, search a video of it on Youtube or something, go, now, now, do it) the main character (Isaac Clarke, I see what you did there EA), the one the player is playing as, never speaks, never shows any emotion at all other than one very short part where he sees his girlfriend dying, and even then he basically just hunches over for a second or two facepalming, because of this Isaac is completely unrelated in the slightest, which makes it seem like you are playing as a robot.

Unless you know the back story (which you could watch the movie for Dead Space: Downfall) it seems like there is no story at all. The game while is not scary in any sense of the word does have a great atmosphere, which is only improved by the graphics and lighting effects of the game (Ooh, don’t worry, I’ll get to those).

It seems like every Sci-Fi shooter that just happens to take place in space, which is the most likely place for anything Sci-Fi to take place, is called a System Shock 2 ripoff or at least compared to SS2, which is in my opinion bull, this game other than those mission objectives really is not like SS2 in the least (other than the setting, of course), because I do indeed think it’s bull I will not compare it to SS2 other than one time (mission objectives).

Glitches: Only one known, very rarely (unless you are trying to make it happen) a body part of a dead enemy will become stuck on Isaac.

Endings: The ending to this game, somewhat like RE4 is utter crap, nothing more to say.

Graphics: Once again, as said in my Silent Hill 5 review, I don’t usually talk about graphics but some things need to be said about Dead Space’s graphics: The lighting effects are amazing, the way things float (including blood) around in zero gravity areas are done extremely well, the lip-syncing is also done extremely well, overall the graphics are some of the best seen in a (non-racing *cough* Gran Turismo * cough*) game to date.

Minor Nit-picks:

1: The game is far too easy on Medium difficulty, even for someones first play though, the hard mode of this game is closer to being what most gamers would consider “medium” and Impossible Mode is basically hard mode, easy mode is training or for people who have terrible gaming skills.

2: As already stated, the mission objectives are simple, annoying, predictable, and slightly repetitive. Though this is not really a problem at all because the of the great ride the game is.

3: The bosses are all easy and simple, even the final boss, there are a few things that could be considered “mini-bosses” but who really cares about them anyway?

I’ve said a lot of bad things about Dead Space in this review but it’s still a great game, the graphics are amazing, the gameplay is amazing, if you just sort of block out the actual mission objectives and stop questioning them (though no one should ever have to do this with any game) and just enjoy the ride, you’ll have a bit more fun, I’d say give this game a buy, yeah buy it, it’s a great game (no sarcasm). I’d really like to see a Dead Spce 2, and I guarantee anyone else that plays this game will too.

Review By: Zanimato – Platform: PS3

Beginning notes: First off let me just say that I am a huge Silent Hill nerd, second off I’ll say there will be some spoilers in this review.

Introduction: Now then, first thing I have to say is the combat, the combat has been changed so much from other Silent Hill games that it feels like a different game completely, your character (Alex) unlike in every other Silent Hill game can actually fight, yes, no longer are you forced to run away from every monster because your character is unable to take on more than one at a time, some say this would be a good thing, it’s not. At least not for actual FANS of the Silent Hill series, it, along with a lot of other things makes it feel too different, the next thing that makes it feel too different and also turns me and probably a lot of other Silent Hill fans off from the game is quick time events. Yes there are quick time events in this game, but, they are actually done pretty well, they are not just the one random thing in between several hours of gameplay like for instance the quick time events in Clive Barker’s Jericho, they are really only used at a few points in the game outside of combat, they are used in combat a lot though, especially in boss battles. Another thing that will turn a lot of SH fans off from this game is the fact that Pyramid Head is in it,
***MAJOR SILENT HILL 2 SPOILER***
because after all Pyramid Head IS James from Silent Hill 2, just like in the movie PH has absolutely no reason for being there, so if LOGIC were to be believed when James died in/after (if he did) SH2 Pyramid Head would have fallen out of existence.

Even without James dying it makes absolutely ZERO sense for PH to be in SH5 in the first place. The only reason PH is here is for fan service.
***END OF SPOILER***

They even go as far as too re-name Pyramid Head to “The Bogey Man” in both SH5 and the movie, speaking of similarities to SH5 and the movie, there are a lot of them, the Nurse’s as well as the Order Soldier’s look the same as they did in the movie, there is one scene where it zooms in on the Silent Hill town sign like in the movie, not to mention Pyramid Head.
***MINOR SPOILER***
The start of the game has you in a dream, like most SH games, the thing is, you pick up a Combat Knife in the dream as a weapon, I really do love how Alex doesn’t even question the fact that HE STILL HAS IT after he wakes up.
***END SPOILER***

Glitches: Too many to count, I’m serious, if I took the time to write out every single glitch this game has it would go beyond the 50,000 character limit.

Notes: A few hours into gameplay, a strange thing happened, I realized I was actually having fun, I know it was weird, a game I’ve pretty much been waiting for the release of just so I could prove to myself it was crap, was actually entertaining me. The game really isn’t “scary” at all, it does creep you out a lot though, and there may be a few times where you will jump, this game is very good at creeping the player out, that, is one thing it did get right, at least for the first playthrough.

Endings: The endings to this game are all really disappointing, don’t actually tell you anything story wise, and are not a very satisfying ending to this game, pretty much all of the endings are really bad 20 seconds clips of random crap.

Graphics: I don’t usually talk about the graphics of a game because graphics don’t matter at all, but, the lip-syncing in this game is really poorly done, and the graphics themselfs are not up-to-date really, they seem like the best thing possible for a PS2 to put out in terms of graphics, no-where near the average for PS3 and 360 games.

Minor Nit-picks:
1: The save points are so few and far between you begin becoming almost scared to turn around every single corner for fear of dying and having to replay up to an hours gameplay just to get back to where you were, the few game freezing glitches there are don’t help this either.
2: One or two of the enemy types are just so difficult to kill without being forced into using quite a few Health Drinks (though this does amp up the difficulty a little bit, so I’ll let it go).
3: The first… oh I’d say 60% of the game does not take place in Silent Hill yet there are monsters everywhere along with the ash and Nightmare world versions of almost every area.
4: Most everyone seems to be getting the UFO ending as their FIRST ending (the UFO ending is a joke ending, as it is in every Silent Hill game) the developers said the dialog and which speech opinion you chose would effect the endings, they don’t, the requirements for getting the different endings are only three different points in the entire game, whether or not to; forgive Alex’s father, kill Alex’s mother or let her suffer, and save the cop or not, that’s it.
5: This game feels too easy… especially the bosses which can be taken out with a few bullets from almost any gun, even on the first playthrough, after you learn the basics of combat the combat itself is so broken you can just go through the entire game using the X, X, X, Square combo. Though, if you choose to not use this (like I did) this game is actually kind of hard.

This is the best way I can put it, Silent Hill 5, is a good game, game, not a Silent Hill game though, rent it at the most first and if you like it and are able to forgive the few glitches you may find feel free to buy it.