I’ll be straight with you – I don’t like watching horror genre movies. Having studied film, I understand a number of the techniques used by horror films to manipulate the audience: making them feel uncomfortable, revealing a disturbing story, and using every trick in the book to scare the crap out of them. While I can appreciate manipulating the audience from a director’s point of view, I don’t like it used on me!
Horror video games, by comparison, are an odd breed. Many tend to be FPS-action games with horror-like plots. These aren’t often very scary, because they are fundamentally shooters and the pacing doesn’t match with how horror works to build tension. Those that aren’t action games tend to come from Japan, such as Resident Evil (Biohazard) and Silent Hill. I’ve always been deterred from these games by their clunky interface (not as controllable as an FPS) and odd plot, usually because of English translation failings in subtle storytelling. I suppose the only horror game I’ve enjoyed in my youth was the Alone in the Dark series, as they were very different from anything else (including that crappy remake) and had a really interesting atmosphere to them.
So why, then, is the Dead Space franchise so compelling to me?
While Dead Space is an action game of sorts, the designers have introduced a bit more of an RPG element. You can collect items and sell them at stores, acquiring credits to buy other items. Buying or acquiring Power Nodes allow you to upgrade your suit and weapons. The game is also designed so that you can never fully upgrade all your weapons over the course of the game. This means you have to pick and choose to focus on a couple core weapons in the game, depending on your play style. All in all, this customization feature is an element that gives a little more investment for the player.
Horror movies can revel in you, as a spectator, being completely helpless to stop a character from the impending danger. In a video game, however, you have that control – survival of the character relies on you. Dead Space manages to give you this control and provide lots of action, while still maintaining proper (movie) horror pacing. In much the same way that Mass Effect 2 meshes a Science Fiction adventure with action, so does Dead Space with action and horror.
Lastly, perhaps I just appreciate the developers’ familiarity with the horror genre. Dead Space has some of the best atmospherics of any game I have played. Lighting and sound are employed in every possible way to give you an immersive experience, and employ all elements of the horror genre. There are times when apparently-dead monsters will leap up from the floor and attack you. Other times, a panel might fall off the wall or a pipe vents gas suddenly – but no expected monster appears. The developers love using shadows and a variety of color schemes for different levels. The sounds are dead-on disturbing, working with the music to keep you from getting too comfortable. And even in the space sections, where there is virtually no sound, the game has made this feel ominous. The only time you can relax in this game is during the end credits.
To top it all off, the game has a disturbing storyline, mixing elements of aliens with religion to complete an eerie environment for the game. It is the melding of all these video game and horror elements effectively that make Dead Space a very enjoyable experience. Just prepare to be scared!
- Al
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