Electronic Arts reached out to the community with its exclusive invite-only Dead Space event – and a lucky winner from uk.playstation.com forum got to attend. ColdZero2006 gives an account of the experience...
"‘There is a synergy that exists between producing comics, films and videogames.' These are the words of Antony Johnston, one of the creative minds behind the highly anticipated Dead Space. The writer went on to explain the rationale behind EA's decision to make the Dead Space launch a much richer experience with the release of the comics, animated film and finally the videogame.
"The briefing continued to detail how the backstory to Dead Space would be built upon by the comics, whose events are set before the ill-fated spaceship Ishimura, where the game is set, arrives. He went on to explain that the animated film is set on the Ishimura and covers the events leading up to the game. This broad spectrum approach to enriching the videogame experience does not handicap those who choose to play only the videogame, as no knowledge of the prior events is required to enjoy the storyline of the game.
"After this briefing we were ushered into a screening of the animated film, Dead Space: Downfall. We walked into the darkened screening room, past the ominous figure of Isaac - EA had created an outfit modelled on the main protagonist from the game and the level of detail on the costume was impressive, right down to the eerie glow from the face mask and the distressed look of his space suit. Isaac stood sentinel as we filed past him, slowly surveying us as we took our seats.
"After the screening we got hands-on with Dead Space. This first thing that struck me was how incredibly detailed the environments are - you walk down well-lit utilitarian corridors of the Ishimura mining ship and wonderfully detailed computer displays pop up around you. Holographic visuals for all communications are projected from your chest in front of your face. One of the unnerving factors is that everything at first appears normal. There's no flashlight required to walk around and it's not until you start to find blood trails and strewn body parts that you know anything is amiss.
"Without giving too much away, the enemies within Dead Space vary greatly in size and shape and there is an equally varied amount of ways to dispatch them with the array of weapons available to you, with the option of using your telekinesis to turn almost anything into a weapon.
"There were a couple of highlights for me from the game. Firstly, the zero gravity sections. These are every bit as amazing as you have been led to believe, and it's easy to just spend time shooting the random detritus that's floating around or trying to interact with it in other ways. Another highlight was the dismemberment of the corpses and enemies you encounter; whether it's stomping on them or slicing them with your weapons, it never seems to get boring, as gruesome as that may seem. Dead Space is definitely a title that will provide hours of entertainment outside of the main storyline.
"All in all this was an incredibly slick event, and both my friend and I had a great time. It's not every day you get hands-on with a hotly anticipated title a month before its release and get a preview of a feature-length animation thrown in for good measure."
As reported by eu.playstation.com forum member ColdZero2006.
