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Original IPs have been quite the rage with EA these days and it’s hard not to get misty-eyed upon seeing Dead Space, a third-person action/adventure horror escapade developed by EA Redwood Shores, in action for the first-time. Reggie and I were invited to EA India’s office in Gurgaon today to have ourselves an intensive hands-on session with a near final-build.
In the beginning of the game, we’re treated with an in-game cinematic of lead protagonist Isaac Clarke with a space crew heading towards the USG Ishimura, a giant orbital ship that suffered a huge communications blackout for whatever reason unbeknownst to its curious approachers. Eventually, stinky poop hits the fan when your crew’s vessel gets pulled into the Ishimura’s magnetic field and you’re forced to make a landing inside its hull. Voodoo vibes are in full effect, and this is pretty much were you come in.
Imagine a calm, relaxing little town, away from the noise and the pollution of the big city… perfect for a weekend getaway. Spend a relaxing evening at the Toluca Lake, grab a couple of drinks at Heaven’s Night or visit the Historical Society. Meet strange new people, visit alternate dimensions, solve interesting puzzles and did we mention the monsters?
Welcome to Silent Hill…
Unarguably the pinnacle of survival horror, the Silent Hill series has been continuously scaring and captivating gamers since the release of the original Silent Hill in 1999. The fifth installment is set to release just a few days from now and so we decided to take a look back at the franchise before we brave the twisted little foggy town again.
For fans of Dead Space that have been eagerly awaiting the next instalment of the wonderfully crafted animated comic, EA has finally released the next episode in the series which continues the gruesome story of the Marker, the Unitology conspiracies and the shocking mass-suicides and takes it one step further with the beginnings of horror, betrayal and infection. With just two more comics and the Downfall movie to go over the next three months, Issue 04 opens the gates of Hell as Marla finally figures out how “death is the key” just as the Ishimura inititates planetcrack, marking the beginning of the end and unleashing the Necromorph infestation, accompanied by the obligatory creepy-as-hell soundtrack.
The 130 MB animated comic is available for download in MP4 format from the Dead Space servers here. (Right click, select Save Target As)
Expect a full-fledged review of the issues so far and its evolution as soon as we manage to get our hands on the actual print comics themselves. Soon.
After years of hiding away in Shanghai and delivering beyond-terrible gaming with Bad Day L.A., the veteran behind Doom, Quake and Alice - American McGee - has emerged back into the land of the living with his uniquely twisted take on the already-twisted Grimm Brothers’ Tales. The first of 24 tales in the series, A Boy Learns What Fear Is, is out today on GameTap, with the others set to release consecutively with each passing week.
All the games will be free to play for the first 24 hours, after which players will be required to fork out $3.99 per episode. A Boy Learns What Fear Is, like all the other tales that are set to follow, should offer around an hour’s worth of play and is loosely based around a cruel, sadistic and blood-chilling version of Katamari Damacy’s gameplay style – according to the official website, a boy who wants to learn the true meaning of fear goes around “hanging gallows, a haunted house and even a wedding, but doesn’t truly encounter fear until Grimm decides to enter the story.” After all the terrifying nursery rhymes and the sheer violence and terror of having gone through the original stories once, I am most definitely staying away from these games. But then again, it’s not like I really have a choice – GameTap still refuses to serve gamers outside the United States. Thanks a lot, guys.
The severed head is so passé. Ditto for the ragdoll model, entertaining as it was to see a supposedly something-kilogram individual dissolve into a fluttery, floppy pair of dead bunny ears. No one pouts at the impaled body or distinctive parts on a pike, spear, or any variant thereof. That close-range shotgun shell into the gut is now commonplace – and it’s a strategy most players should adopt quickly if they want to take survival for a night out on the town without cheating on Lady Luck. And in today’s gaming world, true horror and chills have been substituted for spanking, new-fangled attempts at sadism, joyfully depicted in almost poetic reams of aching screams, cannibalism, most preferably of the female figure (Rape is so old-school), and intense emotional suffering.
Flash back to the time when Alone in the Dark first came out. Or to the first Resident Evil. Or if you’re one of the more gritty horror-mongers, Silent Hill. What started in those games wasn’t a trend but an élan for playing with a gamer’s nerves. Opening a door in Capcom’s franchise was a common sequence publicly admitted to hide load-times; Resident Evil: Code Veronica used the ingenous technique of a slow close-up on the handle of an entrance set to the rapidly increasing beating of a tense heart whenever a serious event was to take place. Most times it was the case, as when you were greeted by the Tyrant on the escape plane. The clawing of zombies out of graveyard soil formed the first CG sequence to gameplay transition. However, most insane, most maddening, and for all honesty, the best example of total full-on mind-fuckery was going through the sequence above and being greeted by…nothing. Horror done right, as they say, is horror not done at all.
I don’t know what sick sadistic pleasure I derive out of scaring myself shitless; thats what I did today when I came back from work and foolishly checked out the trailer for Chunsoft’s (never heard of em’ before) latest offering to the survival horror genre, Imabikisou. Unveiled at the Tokyo Game Show 07, one can’t make much out from this new trailer (since its in Japanese), apart from the fact that its going to be a “Play-Novel” type game (like the Silent Hill Play Novel for the GBA where one had to select from many text choices to progress in the game). The atmosphere and theme presents a splendid touch of dread and panic, reminiscent to many Jap-Horror Movies (the good ones). What’s interesting to note is that the visuals in the trailer is a combination of in-game graphics and cutscenes put together, both of which look unbelievably real.
Clive Barker is one sick bastard. After scarring us with the Hellraiser movies and inducing enough and more nightmares with Undying, the Master of Horror wants us slipping and sliding headlong into his newest “interactive nightmare” - Jericho. With a seriously creepy website unleashing its jujumagumbo on us a couple of weeks back, we were left wondering how we’re going to get through this game without a massive heart attack.
As if to make things worse, Codemasters recently announced that Cris Velasco, the hero of both God of War game soundtracks, has scored some spooky shit for Jericho. Now, considering Cris has won enough awards so far to fill the Grand Canyon, we’re sure his work will have our hearts leaping out of our throats right in the first level! And in case you were wondering, it was Clive Barker himself who hand-picked Cris, saying:
“Cris Velasco’s music for Clive Barker’s Jericho is exquisite. Filled with yearning, dark energy, threat and redemption, it is the unstoppable engine in the terrifying ghost train of Jericho.”
You know what that means. Keep your heart medication nearby as you play.