Dead Space Ignition
Developed by Visceral Games (Electronic Arts Inc.)
Available on Xbox and PS3

The XY Review with Ian

The concept of Dead Space Ignition - giving fans a teaser/prologue before the release of Dead Space 2 in January is great and could have whipped fans up into frenzied anticipation whilst inverting the idea of DLC (which normally comes after a release), plus you can also unlock items to play in the main game when it’s released next year. So what’s wrong with DS Ignition then? Absolutely everything!

This isn’t the first time that a game has taken the prologue idea, Dead Rising: Case Zero did exactly the same which provided a satisfying aperitif for Dead Rising 2 and was a whole lot more successful, i.e. the prologue had some relevance and a relationship and resemblance to the forthcoming game in both game play and aesthetics – which made fans happy. Winner!

DS Ignition’s visuals and story bears no relevance to what’s coming up in Dead Space 2. It has cheap and lazy graphics, irritating animation sequences and cut scenes which create a blackhole between the two main characters, where mouths and body parts barely move and spoil the time in between mini games. Loser!

There are 3 types of boring and familiar hacking mini games: move mirrors around to direct laser beams, a trace and track run where you control a wiggly line and outrun the AI before you get to the computer and a bad virus idea which looks like a skewed nightmarish version of Blockbusters.

It has an awful and cliché ridden narrative which really bristles with me. There are so many good examples of great narrative design in modern gaming that when I come across one as poor as DS Ignition, it makes me sad and angry at the same time. There’s no subtlety, no art and evidence of any time spent even trying to make it half decent. DS Ignition is free when you pre-order DS2 or if you are insane you could use up 400mp but to be honest I value my points and time more than this. It takes about an hour to play through yet watching an episode of 60 minute make over is more appealing than this.

It claims to be a “choose your own adventure mini action comic” though I couldn’t find any action or adventure and I chose to stop playing. Ignition, for me is an absolute non starter and has dampened my enthusiasm for Dead Space 2.

The XX Review with Tracey

When Sci-Fi London sent us to the Expo last month, I was really excited and spooked out of my pants when playing Dead Space 2 so imagine how chuffed I was to try out this prequel. Little was I prepared for the lazy, unimaginative and utterly frustrating awfulness Ignition has to offer. First gripe, the animation which is poorly executed, lacking detail, finesse and above all could only be described as crude. Characters fingers melt into a fleshy cheese-string mess whilst their facial expressions are non-existent. The accompanying vocal performances are equally poor whilst the writing is lacking in anything but hammy innuendo and dull space-speak. Despite being penned by award winning comic writer Antony Johnston, here the writing feels laboured and predictable. When a game’s opening conversation is “Now that wasn’t too hard” to which the reply is “That’s what she said” you shouldn’t expect Shakespeare but a small attempt at making authentic or interesting interactions would have been appreciated.

Perhaps the animation and dialogue is so very poor because the game play is outstandingly brilliant and inventive. Sadly no. The whole game is lame because I think the people making it just couldn’t be bothered to make a good one. The story (for want of a better word) kicks off with you being sent to fix a giant door. A simple puzzle involving racing a red line against a white line through ‘firewalls’ and other shapes designed to slow you down. You can hit speed boost circle things but it’s so dull you don’t really care. Other puzzles include hacking into or overriding systems either using viruses or reflecting beams of coloured light across a motherboard. All equally boring and often (on some of the trickier puzzles) sick inducing as the vibration on the controller kicks in every time you move – urghhh! Logic doesn’t help in any of these puzzles. Ian got stuck on exactly the same puzzle I did as the solution required was specific but as there were possible options to completing the puzzle, was mind boggling difficult to work out and stupid.

On a positive note the music was average.

It really is a mystery how this game is associated with the incredible Dead Space 2 we witnessed at Eurogamer and perhaps is an exercise for EA – a test for gamers or perhaps a Halloween joke? Maybe they felt they had to get this out of their system in order to make the already eagerly awaited Dead Space 2 look and feel and sound even more stunning. Aiming to introduce the Dead Space storyline in this way is a risky strategy when whetting the appetites of a new audience but frankly, I’m no longer hungry.