Dead Space 2

I've had Dead Space 2 for a while now. I played it before my super-awesome computer upgrades and it ran really sluggish on the lowest settings. I also got to a very difficult point in Chapter 15 or so which was made even harder by my poor framerate. So I ragequit...indefinately.

But I've come back and running in beautiful max graphics; though the rendering on my 3D monitor is awful and gives me real headaches, so I've not been playing in 3D. Probably why Nvidia says the game is 'Not Recommended' for 3D; some newer games just weren't designed with 3D in mind, but that's for another post.

Now I love Dead Space to the point of fan-dom. It's one of my all-time favorites and I've played ALL of them. I've bought all the movies, read all the comics, played Dead Space 1 twice and also played the Wii prequel, which was very decent for a Wii game. I loved it so much that I pre-ordered the special edition and got a mini plasma cutter. Awesome!

What I most love about Dead Space 2 is that they took an appropriate change in pace. The first game was about the scares and the horror, because it was new and nobody knew what they were getting into. This time around, it's more action orientated but still with the horror and gore. Oh man the gore is horrible. This game really just wants to show off how many different ways it can kill you.

So far, I really don't have anything to complain about. The level design is solid and the story is mostly comprehensible, especially since your not meant to really know what's going on until later in the game. Here's a little preview of just how intense this game can be sometimes.

The Thing

Watched the remake/prequel of the 1982 move of the same name; The Thing is a pretty gorey movie but aims for the more horrific scenes to scare you, rather than the usual jump-out-at-you scares. I have already watched the $15 million, 1982 version made by John Carpenter, so I had a decent idea of what events needed to be in the prequel and how it needed to end.

Unlike the original, all the monsters were clearly done with CG, which was disappointing compared to the horrific puppetry from the Carpenter version. Although computer generated graphics are getting extremely realistic these days, there is just that sense that it's not real when thay create something like this. The reason why the Carpenter one is scarier is because they were real puppets and props and you could tell.

So I won't spoil too much, but overall, the movie was a decent stab in the right direction, but it suffered like the Carpenter version, focusing so much on the gore and horror that it built up little plot investment in the characters since there are quite a few of them and many don't last long. In some scenes it felt that when a character died or became a 'Thing' I had no idea what that person actually did.

In all, it tried to be as good at the Carpenter original, but it followed in his footsteps far too much and suffered just as much as the original did. It's simply a case of, it's nothing new at all really. If you're gonna watch this movie, you're going to watch it for the gore. I did have fun watching it, but I doubt I'd watch it again as most of the scares are one-time affairs.

It scrapes in at just 3 out of 5 stars for me.

I also found this remake of the 1982 'The Thing', happily portrayed by Pingu the Penguin. Enjoy!