Dead Space is a third-person shooter science fiction survival horror game released back in 2008. It was developed by Visceral Games and published by EA. Set in the far future, you play as an engineer named Isaac Clarke (a nice homage to science fiction authors Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke) traveling to a large mining ship called the USG Ishimura to do some repairs. Unfortunately as you arrive you find that the entire crew has been killed and reanimated into monstrocities called Necromorphs. The only source of this outbreak comes a mysterious artifact known as the Red Marker, which was pulled from the planet and placed onboard the ship. You must fight your way and survive against the onslaught of necromorphs as you uncover secrets about the Red Marker and the Ishimura, as well as try and find your girlfriend Nicole, if she's still alive.

My very first experience with this game was when I first saw the trailer on TV. It is hands down the best trailer made for any video game. A lone ship (the Ishimura) is in deep space followed by creepy shots of dark corners and dead bodies with the creepiest rendition of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" playing in the background, and once in a while it will cut to some violence. Definitely check it out when you have time.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYaJCmJgb9A

I know I've already talked about this game before, but truthfully that review really didn't to the game any justice. There's a lot that I wanted to talk about but didn't give myself the space to write more about it. I love the Dead Space franchise flaws and all, and I really want to talk more about it. So with the franchise's spiritual successor, The Callisto Protocol, as well as a remake to the original game coming next year, I think it's time to talk about each of the Dead Space games. Or at least the main three since I haven't played any of the spin-off titles.

A major positive towards this game is the lighting and atmosphere. Much of the ship is in darkness, creating the most eerie atmosphere in space since Ridley Scott's original Alien. You're constantly looking over your shoulder and around every corner because you know that's when the Necromorphs are hiding and they'll pop up any given moment. They'll pop out of vents, they'll pop out of the doors, they'll burst through the walls. There's no such thing as safe on the Ishimura. This is how you do horror in a video game right, aside from having a bunch of monsters run out and attack you. The first 10-15 minutes of the game (which I'm sure most are familiar with) are without a doubt one of the most terrifying moments in the games. For me, the scariest thing about the game is the audio. This is what the game strives in. There's so much ambiance and background sound going on it creeps me the fuck out. Every so often you'll hear something moving around inside either the walls or the vents. Sometimes you'll hear a metal object get knocked to the floor and echo throughout the room you're in. You'll also hear Necromorphs in the background and you're not sure if they're close or far away. It really gets me on edge.

The second positive is the game's combat. Unlike in other survival horror games, the Necromorphs are not like traditional zombies. Body shots won't do anything, nor will shooting off their heads. If you want to put them down for good you gotta take out their limbs. How that kills them isn't exactly explained but in all honesty it doesn't matter. And the weapons you use are not really weapons. They're engineer tools - save for the plasma gun. The character you play isn't some space marine or super soldier, he's an engineer, so you use what you can. The right tool for the right job, as the old saying goes. You can only carry four weapons at time, but each weapon has an alternative fire option that can do some serious damage against enemies. So in reality if feels like you're carrying eight weapons.

The graphics are another major positive. This game was made back in 2008 and the graphics hold up very well today. Everything on the ship feels and looks very real like you yourself could be apart of this universe. It makes it feel very alive, despite the fact there are shit ton of dead bodies and Necromorphs everywhere. There are two key factors that make the game work: lighting and shadow.

There's also subtle attention to detail for Isaac's breathing. It changes depending on the situation. When he's running he'll sound fatigue. When he's running out of air in the vacuum of space he starts gasping. Even when he's injured he'll sound like he's short on breathe. It's those little details in sound that make me appreciate the game more and more.

I'm also in love with so much of the backstory and lore within this game's universe. For example, you learn that the USG Ishimura is out in illegal space and their main operation is to retrieve the Red Marker for a religious group known as the Church of Unitology. Think of them as a combination of Evangelist Christians and Scientology, but act way more cult like than the aforementioned. You can actually learn more about the backstory and the Ishimura's crew through a series of diaries and audio logs that are scattered throughout the ship. I must warn you, the audio logs are one of the most eerie things I've come across. A majority of them are about how some crew members have when crazy after discovering the Red Marker (which is one of its many sinister affects) or how the crew is desperately trying to stave off and survive the Necromorph outbreak. The most disturbing audio log involves a crew member dismembering his own limbs so he doesn't hurt anyone should he turn into a Necromorph. It's pretty fucked up and it keeps you up at night.

There are also plenty leave plenty of room and quiet time to do some puzzle solving. You'll need to do these in order to progress through the game. Some are pretty, others are pretty challenging. But what I like about these puzzles is that they serve as a welcome break from all the Necromorph-slaying you'll have to do throughout the game. Trust me, after the 50th Necromorph that's tried to kill you you could use a breather because this game doesn't offer a lot. Then again it isn't much of a breather if these fuckers pop in and disrupt your progress while you're working on a puzzle.

Now this isn't a perfect game, and there's definitely stuff to nitpick about. For example, I don't like how slow Isaac Clarke moves in the came. From running to melee attacks to even walking he feels stiff and sluggish. You could make an argument that it's the suit that's making him do that but I don't think that's the case.

The zero gravity sequences are also pretty lame. What you have to do is whenever you enter a zero gravity area you have to aim your weapon at an opposite and then press a certain button which will make Isaac jump across from room to room. The issue is it feels very slow and there isn't a ton of freedom in it. Also, the camera tends to get messed up when doing so.

You don't really get much character out of Isaac Clarke or any of the other characters in this game. Granted, Isaac Clarke is a silent protagonist, but this also means he lacks personality. I get that silent protagonists are meant to be avatars for ourselves as we immerse into this universe, but Isaac Clarke isn't us. We don't know why he's here. Okay, not true. We know he's here looking for his girlfriend, but why is he personally on the ship? Why wasn't he on the Ishimuru with his girlfriend at the time? How does he feel about the situation? How does he feel about his fellow crew members? Does he trust them? Does he trust anyone? Obviously, this is improved in the second game, which I'll talk about soon.

Overall, my thoughts haven't changed much the last time I talked about it. I do consider Dead Space one of the most terrifying games I've ever played, but what may scare me may not scare others. It is definitely a fun game. So don't play for the scares, play for the fun. If you want to try the game it is available on Steam and it's backwards compatible on all systems. Be sure to play it with the lights on.

Positives:

-Lighting and atmosphere

-Pretty damn scary

-Great combat

-Amazing graphics

-Great soundtrack

-Puzzle solving

-Lore and audio logs

Negatives:

-Lack of character development

-Slow movement

-Zero gravity movement

Final Grade: B+

So those are my thoughts on Dead Space. Have you played this game before? What were your thoughts on it? Please be kind, leave a like and comment, and check out more reviews here on Prose!

#harrysituationreviews #videogame #gaming #opinion #EA #scifi #horror #survival #AGrade

Take a situation where the children are obsessed

with playing games together for as long they can get

Interruptions on the floor spell disaster for the crowd

surviving many rounds, and screaming rather loud

Don't shoot the big guy

the ray gun packs a punch

your soda pop dissolves

when you're having too much fun

I got the box, and you get the stairway

open the doors but the zombies don't scare away

build up, reload, take down, repeat

clear the way, and someone guard me!

sing along to the jingles and pray

you don't get the broken controller today

and though outside it's raining, and looking a bit gloomy

it is the perfect afternoon to meet the call of duty (Black Ops II: zombies)

When it comes to zombie killing Reaper has a lot of experience. Reaper use to be in the killing Nazi Zombie business and let Reaper assure you, business was a booming, even by the time it was just The Last of Us. Now there just Days Gone. More than once Reaper paid a visit to Dead Island even when it was in a State of Decay. Reaper saw the Dead Rising which forced Reaper to deal with some Residents who were most certainly Evil. (At least 5 of them) Reaper bore witness to the Dying Light, and even once refereed a match of Plants vs, Zombies.  But none of those experiences seem comparable when Reaper considers that he was Left 4 Dead. (Twice actually)

Over the top intros aside Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 are simply the pinnacle of what a zombie game should be. It's amazing how great these games are with such simple controls, story, and concepts. These games managed to standout in a time oversaturated with zombie apocalypse motif and Reaper feels confident in saying they withstood the test of time.  To this day if Reaper is playing a shooter with his buddies, it's not uncommon for random outbursts of. “Pills here!” “Med pack here!” “Got a shot here!” Or “Gonna grab this ninja sword. If anyone sees some nunchucks ya’ll give me a holler!”  Years ago, there were rumors of a sequel in the works that ended up being false but, to be honest Reapers always on the lookout for a gnarled hand holding up three fingers signaling Left 4 Dead 3 is on the way!

Shuffling feet

Groans as they approach

The lights flicker

They have arrived

Their brains foggy

Or maybe dead

Moving slow

With eyes half closed

You think it the apocalypse

A zombie infestation

But I like to call it

High school at 8am

Hands down, the zombie game I have to give the vote to is Resident Evil 2 on the original Playstation (I still need to play the recent remake). Resident Evil 2 was one of my first purchases on the original Playstation, and as a young adult gamer, it blew me away. I loved surviving Raccoon City with Leon and Claire, I loved facing off with the zombies and the other monsters, I loved how the game encouraged replayability with different storylines for Leon and Claire, even offering an option to see what Claire actually did while you were Leon, and vice versa. I do have to confess, I played the mode with the unlimited rocket launcher, which was a good initiation for me. I continued experiencing the series on the original Playstation with the original Resident Evil, the third one, and even the panned Survivor game (flaws and all, I actually enjoyed it). Silent Hill later stole the show as my favorite horror franchise, but I still on and off played most of the newer Playstation 2 and Gamecube offerings without actually finishing them, except for 4, which reinvigorated my interest in the series. With Silent Hill unfortunately dormant now, Resident Evil not only stayed in the game, but got even better in my opinion with its newest offerings, even with the zombies being benched. I just finished 5 and 7 (thoroughly enjoying both), and have begun playing Village, which I am having a blast with. Resident Evil 2 began my enjoyment of the franchise, and I am happy to see the series evolving in exciting directions. I now want to go back and finish the games I never completed, and replay the old ones I finished as well. I should probably include a replay of Resident Evil 2, and do so without the unlimited rocket launcher....

My dad and I turn off the living room light

And turn up the volume on the tv.

Then we sit down on the floor and look up at the screen

And play 'Left 4 Dead'.

And we just sit there and smile

Listening to the game shout 'RELOADING'

And killing zombies together.

Though thinking about it,

In a real zombie apocalypse,

Neither of us would live...

In a world where there are no adults and the ones that do exist either eat children for breakfeast or will risk their lives just to get rid of them, we follow our main characters Six, Mono and seven through 3 different storylines in 3 different games. Whos entire goal is to escape the Maw, which is the place where not not only children go to die but also where most if not all of the gameplay takes place. Every aspect of this game is so well thought out and makes for an exciting playthrough, thats not even mentioning the beautiful writing and story telling. The amount of twist and turns in this games storyline as well as the shocking endings and gut wrenching moments will have you hooked to the very end. Who knows maybe you'll want to make your own little nightmares character after playing the game and if you want to fall even deeper into the lore there is a comic series. Good luck and Happy playing.

Jheri was a skilled mercenary of indeterminate years, known to the city as the person you hired when you wanted something underhanded done and were willing to fork over a lot of coin. A lithe silver dragonborn, she was attractive and mysterious, and would have surely had her pick of friends and lovers, despite her slightly criminal job description. But she seemed to keep mostly to herself. Other than a few words exchanged here and there with the shopkeeps whose stalls she frequented, she was usually alone. Until one day she appeared to buy bread in the market with a fragile-looking human child, who hid in her shadow and stared at the world with wary brown eyes.

The child was odd, everyone said. She had scars on her face. She growled when touched, flinched whenever someone smiled at her, and met people’s eyes with such intensity and ferocity that it made them nervous. She rarely spoke, and when she did it was haltingly, with an odd accent no one recognised. People who had overheard Jheri speak to her whispered that it wasn’t in the city’s tongue, and that the child had responded in snarls and hisses. Rumors swirled around her arrival in the city. She came from a village, somebody had heard, one of the many raided by demons. Jheri had gone to stop the raid. Some said she’d found the child alone, curled in the ashes of the burned huts, eyes glowing.

She was a witch, they speculated. Blood full of dark magic so she couldn’t be killed. Some swore otherwise, that Jheri was harboring the very demon who had razed the village. When these stories came too close to Jheri’s ears, she was quick to defend and dissuade. Nobody quite believed her. Mercenaries were sketchy types, easy liars. But nevertheless, they tried to keep their opinions closer to their chests, out of fear of Jheri’s sword.

The child didn’t seem to notice the way people looked at her, and if she did, she didn't care. She followed Jheri about her business like a breathing shadow, tense and quiet. Nobody ever saw her smile.

I grew up playing Roller Coaster Tycoon, Age of Empires plus various iterations and expansions, Monopoly, Zoo Tycoon, etc etc. My brother and I would often get into fights over whose turn it was on the computer.

Later on, I spent countless hours on game sites, playing in-browser flash games etc. I don’t even remember the names of any that I spent weeks on end playing.

When I was 12 or 13, or somewhere thereabouts, my parents got my brother and I our first console: a PS2. We had several super-tame games like Harry Potter, Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, chess, Who wants to be a Millionaire, etc. All single-player or split-screen at most. Nothing multiplayer. Games like Crash: Burnout and Ace Combat 4 were the most violent we were allowed. We led a sheltered life, to say the least.

Hanging out at my buddy’s place, we would play all kinds of Super Mario, Banjo Kazooey, etc. He had (most of) the latest consoles and played endlessly. Mostly I would just end up watching him play cause he was so much better than me.

High school happened; I was hyper-focused on classes and getting good grades, because I didn’t really know anything else. Eventually I started spending more time with friends outside of school; even went to a few ‘parties’. It was fun hanging out with members of the opposite sex, even if I was awkward as all hell.

Last year of high school I got a laptop, ostensibly for use at university. Then I discovered Minecraft. *Super* early days Minecraft. I was in love. It was like legos, but infinite. The endless stream of griefers on the servers was frustrating to say the least (and I admit I fell to their level on occasion). If I recall correctly, I spent that entire summer playing Minecraft. Or perhaps it was the summer after first year Uni. That would explain why my mom was so mad at me for not trying to find a job. Why bother getting a job when I could spend countless hours constructing my own universe that didn’t involve the painfully boring slog of work, or the anxieties induced by interacting with other people unmediated by a screen or chat interface?

Second year of university, I lived with my first-year roommate. He introduced me to Call of Duty: Black Ops, various single player RPGs (we lined up to get Skyrim, and I played so much that I accidentally overwrote his progress with all my saves - somehow he managed to forgive me). We spent an inexcusable amount of time playing everything together. Needless to say, my grades fell off a cliff, and I dropped out of university in second term of that year. I went back mid summer to ‘try to find a job’ and pick up school where I had left off, but I failed miserably; the gaming continued unabated.

My friend introduced me to League of Legends at some point, and once I got hooked on that, I was done for. At first I couldn’t comprehend why anyone would spend money on a completely free to play game, but I eventually fell into Riot’s nefarious traps and over the following years sunk several hundred dollars into skins and such. It was fun though. Why deal with the rapidly compounding stresses and challenges of social anxiety and mounting clinical depression, financial insecurity, falling grades, and the increasingly terrifying rush into the adult world, when I could just drown it all with epic battles in a virtual arena?

I gave up completely. I moved back home, and somehow convinced my parents that League of Legends was my last remaining connection with my university buddy, so was allowed to keep playing it. He eventually sold (or gave?) me his X-Box and I took up playing Skyrim again. Long after he had moved on to better things, I continued playing Skyrim, League of Legends, and Minecraft. I sank deeper and deeper into depression and gained weight at an unreal speed; I was literally doing nothing but eating, sleeping, and gaming. After a year or two of this absolute insanity and my parents’ (and my own) increasing frustration at my seeming inability to move forward, I started down the slippery slope of self-harm, and eventually ended up in hospital. I got a bit better, went home, and almost immediately tried to kill myself. Back to the hospital for several weeks (months, perhaps?).

After overcoming that absolute hell, I spent another solid chunk of time at home. Strict limits on game time and internet access until I could find a job. When I continuosly pushed those limits, I was cut off completely.

I started writing, and started walking (a lot). Felt great to lose all that weight and be so prolifically creative (even if the bulk of what I was writing centered on League of Legends). It was fantastic. But I still didn’t have a job. Eventually it got to the point where I had to apply to an agency that helps disadvantaged and disabled folks find employment. It worked! I got a job. A really shitty, abusive, low-paying retail inventory job. But I was finally making money again!! Social life was happening! I was making friends with the people I was working with! I got my first smartphone with some of the money I was earning to stay connected to them. Pokemon Go came out, and we were all hooked. Then somewhere along the line there was a change; my mental health started declining again (perhaps I was neglecting my medication and/or sleep?). Somehow all these people who I thought were my friends turned on me as I got increasingly agitated and upset at being left out of everything. After a few awful and downright embarassing incidents at work, I quit.

After a few months of moping around at home again, I managed to get a manufacturing job through a temp agency in a different city. It was straight up agony to sit there and put stacks of solar cells into loading trays to be fed into a machine for hours at a time, on top of trying to find a place to live. I don’t think I lasted a week. I went back home and fell straight back into a black depression, and the gaming came back hard, even if it was just on my phone this time. After a few months of this, my parents set a hard deadline; I would be kicked out if I didn’t find a job. This motivated me to try a new temp agency, and I found the job I’ve been working at for coming on 4 years now. I got a car within a year, and found an apartment shortly thereafter. My co-workers convinced me to get a PS4 (in fact, one of them sold his spare console to me), and we played endless rounds of Fortnite (again, I dumped an unconscionable amount of money into a free to play game), Call of Duty, and even built a world in Minecraft on PC together. I dated a couple of girls who shared my interest in gaming; nothing lasted. Then there was, shall we say, an incident and one of my “friends” (the team lead at work) stabbed me in the back, turned the others in our circle against me to try to cover up his own manipulative and frankly sickening behaviour, and two solid years of friendship went down the shitter in a couple of weeks. I thought I was going to be forced out of yet another job. Sans friends, the gaming continued.

Then came the pandemic.

I’ve sworn off gaming altogether a few times, yet I still find myself falling into slumps on a regular basis. I’ve completely sworn off League of Legends and sold both my consoles, but I still often find myself spending upwards of 10-15 hours per week between fairly mindless phone games and a couple of open world sandbox/RPG type PC games.

The thought that has been lodged in my head for a couple of weeks now (and gaining a good amount of traction and influence) is that I have more memories set in virtual environments, of battles, defeats, wins, of epic ganks, brilliant plays, long shots, and unbelievable comebacks in League of Legends, CoD, Apex Legends, and Fortnite, of time spent exploring the vast and enchanting wilds of Skyrim and the wastelands of Fallout 4 (and 76!), of vanquishing trolls, draugr, and dragons, of killing mobs, spiders, and pigs, of losing all my diamonds cause a damned creeper blew me into lava (again!), of building colossal monuments, forts, and incredibly complex bases in Minecraft, Fortnite, and Valheim, than memories of things I’ve actually done with real people in real life. I’ve spent so much of my life escaping from the often painful realities this world presents that my mind is filled with more memories of pixels on a screen than memories of the real world.

I turned 30 this month. It’s time to stop screwing around and start playing the greatest game of all time: Real Life. It might be an absolutely excruciating grind; pay to win, packed with trolls, cheaters, and hackers; set in a half-baked dystopian future that’s griefed all to shit; full of impossibly difficult battles, infuriatingly stupid bosses, and levels that you get stuck on for years and even decades before you break through; you might lose all your progress to a freak accident, natural disaster, or cruel twist of fate, but it is the only game that matters. And there are no extra lives. No auto-saves. No resets. No do-overs.

Stop wasting your life on games.

Start playing to win.

Star stable is the #1 ranked fastest growing horse game in the world and it is my favorite video game. It is an MMORPG (Massively, multiplayer, online, role-playing game) where you can explore the world of Jorvik from horseback and complete multiple quests, buy horses, tack, and outfits, along with playing with friends.

It is one of my favorite games because one: I am horse crazy and star stable allows you to buy horses with the in-game currency. Two: I play very few other games lol (-cough cough- Zero other games).

Star stable allows you to:

1. Hang out with friends and other players.

2. Buy horses that are ever being added and changed, Fresian, Andalusian, Finn horse, Arabian, and many many more. There are also magical horses with a normal coat and a magical coat.

3. Get horse and rider XP, up to level 15 for horses and around 23 for the rider, SSO is forever changing though.

4. Get to experience updates every wednesday.

5. Explore the world of jorvik. (Golden Hills, Dino valley, Valedale, Mistfall, Wildwoods, Silverglade Equestrian Center, Fort pinta, South hoof, Moorland, Epona, Pandora, Jarlaheim, Silverglade village, Firgrove and Starshine ranch, and more.)