DEAD SPACE 2: Horrible but the pace is immense I WAS at the launch of Nintendo?s 3DS in Amsterdam last week. The device, we were told, will be in the shops on March 25. Officially, the price remains a secret; known only to those lucky few with internet access (?229 had been leaked online before the event).
With the iPad on the rise, Smart Phones catching up and a rumoured new PSP somewhere on the horizon, this could have been a tricky sell for Nintendo.
But does anyone really want a console that offers glasses-free gaming in 3D?
Maybe not but the new visuals do make for a meaty headline.
The real story, we found out, is the machine?s wi-fi capability, including passing info between machines via
BT Hotspots.
There?s also the streaming of 3D video content from providers such as Sky and Eurosport.
I?ll talk more of the 3DS in the coming months and give a run-through of the 25 launch titles, with the surprising inclusion of PES 3D.
For now my earlier pessimism about the console has been put on hold. So I left Amsterdam with renewed interest in the DS and a sickening hangover!
The rest of the week was spent in a state of floating dementia (a familiar feeling after Dutch coffee shops) progressing through EA?s Dead Space 2.
The first offering landed back in 2008 to great critical acclaim and won a slew of awards. And it remains one of the best third-person shooters with a horror twist of recent years.
The sequel provides more of the same, with Isaac Clarke once again forced to battle with the Necromorphs ? virus-
fuelled former humans bent on spreading the infestation ? in a vast floating city.
The developers have given Clarkey a friendly dose of insanity. And it?s not like when your gran thinks you?re her brother ? poor Clarkey is seeing whole alien armies.
So to the horror, which is probably the most impressive part of the game. Bits of humans, aliens, monsters, everything is constantly jumping out at you.
It?s genuinely horrible and at times quite disturbing. This is not the kind of game you leave on pause while your church-going niece and nephew come round for an afternoon scone.
And the pace is immense, with a couple of action sequences that make you want to start a one-man standing ovation.
The character?s movement has been updated to include Zero G fl ight, while the weapons have had similar refurbishment.
Yet what makes Dead Space and the sequel so original is the atmosphere. The developer has cleverly created a world that?s absorbing yet thoroughly repugnant. You simply don?t want to be there, yet you?ll plough through ten hours of gaming barely dropping the controller.
Between Amsterdam and the Necromorphs, I?m a broken man. Let?s hope for some family-friendly fare next week. I?ll give Disney a call...
Verdict: 90% ?Horrible but the pace is immense? 360, PS3, PC
1. LITTLE BIG PLANET2 ? PS3
2. CoD: BLACK OPS ? 360, PS3, Wii, PC, DS
3. JUST DANCE 2 ? Wii
4. FIFA 11 ? Wii, 360, PS3, PC, DS, PSP, PS2
5. ASSASSIN?S CREED: BROTHERHOOD ? 360, PS3, PC
6. Wii FIT PLUS ? Wii
7. MASS EFFECT 2 ? 360, PS3, PC
8. KINECT SPORTS ? 360
9. GRAN TURISMO 5 ? PS3
10. NFS: HOT PURSUIT ? 360, PS3, PC, Wii, DS, PSP
