Dead Space - A new System Shock?

EvaUnit02 on 30/10/2008 at 03:56

Ken gave a fairly plausible explanation for the vending machines in Bioshock.

Quote:

KL: So, we clearly make a lot of concessions to actually being a game. Now I'll put some defense into some of those things, like the ammo machines. Of course there would be a lot of other vending machines around the world but in a society like Rapture, they might very well sell weapon ammunition, especially if there's a civil war going on. It is a completely deregulated society, so why wouldn't you be able to buy ammunition from vending machines? Now certainly you'd have vending machines that sell other items, but that would be a hot commodity in the same way that we see people come out selling umbrellas in New York when the rain comes down. When the war is on, people would be making a killing selling ammunition.

((http://www.gamespot.com/news/6179423.html) source)

Angel Dust on 30/10/2008 at 10:31

The civil war seemed to break out far too quickly, Fontaines army of spliced up homeless people swarming upon Rapture, for that to be plausible. Sure in a time of civil war I could believe the normal vending machines being hacked to produce ammo etc but to think a whole branded line of ammo machines being designed and placed everywhere throughout Rapture in a time of civil war is "fairly plausible" is a bit daft. Why couldn't it have been done like SS2? Or at least had the ammo vending machines have a patched together appearance much like, you know, the actual guns and turrets have. That explanation is obviously just a weak attempt at trying to justify what is a far too overtly gamey element.

vurt on 30/10/2008 at 10:44

What engine is this btw? Wouldn't it be awesome if you could mod it, seems like the perfect game to make a System Shock 1,2 or 3 TC ;)

mothra on 30/10/2008 at 11:20

it's the team's own engine aka EA's now.

redrain85 on 30/10/2008 at 12:07

It's the Godfather engine, for lack of a better name. The Godfather team (aka Redwood Shores) created it.

Of course, if you have a good memory, you'll remember that the Godfather team was rumored to have been working on a System Shock sequel. Obviously, they changed their minds and decided to make it an "original" IP. *cough*

Well, I'm still on the first chapter since I haven't had much time to play it.

Early impressions are:
- Good, but not great, based on what I've seen so far
- Framerates are consistently high, the game is very responsive as a whole even with all settings maxed out
- Story is dull and you play errand boy
- Only was freaked out once or twice so far, not that scary yet
- Hard is definitely hard, I'm often out of ammo and have to leg it
- The map function is trying to be too fancy for its own good, would have preferred something more straightforward (i.e. layered 2-D bitmaps stacked on top of eachother, but it's just a personal opinion)
- Not being able to fully remap the keyboard controls makes the game a bit more frustrating than it needs to be
- I don't have a 360 controller but I do have a gamepad, and the game seems to have a mind of its own when it comes to assigning buttons . . . the profiler software I'm using to try and remap the buttons is being ignored

EvaUnit02 on 30/10/2008 at 12:15

Quote Posted by redrain85

I don't have a 360 controller but I do have a gamepad, and the game seems to have a mind of its own when it comes to assigning buttons . . . the profiler software I'm using to try and remap the buttons is being ignored

Have you tried the latest version of Xpadder?

rachel on 30/10/2008 at 12:15

My copy of Dead Space is still in the mail after 12 days... Crossing the pond usually takes much less time, I'm starting to get pissed. :grr:

redrain85 on 30/10/2008 at 12:23

Quote Posted by EvaUnit02

Have you tried the latest version of Xpadder?

No, I'll have to give that a try. Thanks for the tip. :)

I've seen a number of gamepad profiler programs, but most of them either suck or aren't free. Heh.

mothra on 30/10/2008 at 13:40

I didn't have to remap and found the default config for PC pretty OK. I changed to hard as well and this is actually the setting the game was advertised as: low ammo and resources, more tactics in fights (stasis gets actually usefull). this should have been the "normal". Is there a higher difficulty after completing the game ? not that it looks right now as if this is a game to replay, no decisions, no real change in gameplay 'cause the bench-upgrade system is more of an afterthought.

Ostriig on 30/10/2008 at 14:23

Quote Posted by EvaUnit02

Ken gave a fairly plausible explanation for the vending machines in Bioshock.

Quote:

((http://www.gamespot.com/news/6179423.html) source)

Yeah, I'm not really buying that. Someone installs colourful and musical ammo-dispensing machines in the middle of a civil war (don't give me too much info on that, please, I'm only as far as Cohen's - playing in bursts every now and then)? Why buy what you need when you're at war? You've got a couple of buddies with you, are already armed, you should be able to just bust it open and take what you need. What's gonna happen, someone's gonna put you in jail? People are already trying to kill you.

The whole thing is a huge immersion-breaker for me. And what's really disappointing is that I think it wouldn't have been difficult to come up with a more solid concept in the given context. Scrap the whole money resource, and introduce a lockpicking system. Or, worse come to worst, just use the plumbing minigame. Ammo dispensers? Deserted (or not really) sentinel posts for a local security force. Gene banks? Medical kiosks to deal with the sometimes unpredictable and harmful effects of genetic modification. U-invent machines? Repair shops or maintenance lockers. Just giving some examples.

Bottom line, I think 2K/Irrational could've really come up with a better solution to this design aspect.