Thursday, May 6, 2010

Problem with Dead Space

Ya know what, something else just occurred to me about Dead Space. Something else that wasn't flawless.

There's that one section of the game where you have to use TK to pull wall blocks in a puzzle-y way to make a path through these living quarters. Ya know, pretty standard game mechanic, rearranging blocks to allow access to new areas. So I do this and get to the end, which triggers this script to send in the Hunter, or Regenerator. I've heard it called either way. They both make a certain amount of sense. The thing does hunt you through the game. But it also regenerates its limbs. Perhaps it should be the Hunter-Regenerator, like some feminist who decides to finally settle down and get married?

Whatever you want to call it, the boss creature that's invincible. You can't kill him, he just regrows the limb. Kinda cheap, I think. Not a fan of invulnerable enemies in games... but that's not the issue really. Anyways, I start running back and get to where I've been pulling the wall pieces. Now, obviously, you've gotta move em back the other way so you can block off the area and be free of the boss. Seems simple enough. I turn around to start using TK and a leaper jumps out of the ceiling. I shoot it a few times and kill it. Easy enough. Now, time to move the wall block. Except I can't. It's only moving a few inches before stopping. What the hell? I've still got a gap in the walls where the Hunter-Regenerator might be able to wiggle his way through. I can hear him growling and snarling from where I am. It's crazy tense. This is like a nightmare. Why the hell can't I move this wall block?! I could move it before when I wasn't being chased by a holy terror... what's the matter? The snarling and gurgling... it sounds like it might be moving closer...

Oh! I got it... the body of that dead leaper is partway in the gap between the walls. That must be why I couldn't move the block. Oh silly me... I should've seen it sooner. Ok, I'll just use telekinesis to throw the leaper corpse out of the way! Oh wait... I grabbed the wall block with my telekinesis instead. Ok, that's not what I wanted to do... I'll target it again. Oh no, the telekinesis got on the wall block again! Oh boy, this is frustrating... okay, fuck that. I'll just shoot the damn corpse instead. Wee, that got rid of it. Now, let's move this wall block so I can feel safe and sound. Footloose and fancy-free, even.

Wait... no, the wall's still not budging. Why isn't it moving? Why oh why is this part of the game not working? It's not working as intended, I'm sure of this. The game designers surely didn't plan on having the Hunter-Reg... ya know what, let's just call it the H-G from now on. My fingers are tired. Tired from talking about fucking black bars. But that's neither here nor there.

I try moving it a couple more times, but no dice. So I look into the gap again and see that a little bit of the leaper's severed limb is lying in the gap. Is that what's stopping me from moving the wall with TK? That little flimsy limb? Really EA Redwood? All this time, I've been putting up with crazy corpses flipping out and jiggling through doors and just generally going crazy whenever something happens to them, and now I'm being stymied by a little severed limb lying in the gap between the walls I have to move? Okay, that seems ridiculous, but I'll get the limb out of the way. And... hey. What do ya know, that did the trick. That was the problem all along... now the wall moves like butter!

Okay, now I just need to move the wall block along the side to open up a new gap for the last wall block and I'll be out of this puzzle and free to go about my business. Just gotta move this block up... oh wait... it's only moving a little bit. It's not fully moving across like it should! Holy hell, this has been taking forever to do... this so called escape from the big bad H-G... It's just gotten silly. The wall moves like it needs to be oiled or something, it's not fully sliding into place where it should. There must be something wrong with this one too. Okay... let's check here... what's the problem this time?

Oh! I see here, there seem to be three shattered pieces of a crate that I had broken apart earlier. Ya know, those big green crates that you always break apart for loot? Sometimes there's just little swarmer thingies inside, but most of the time, it's some sort of goodie? Well, I find this very odd. The crate itself shattered into pieces, but these three pieces seem really really solid. Like, their durability is impressive, cause I've just been working this wall with my telekinesis and smashing it against another wall block. Yet these three crate fragments seem as indestructible as ever. Is it spelled indestructible or indestructable? They both sound right when you pronounce it, ya know?

Well, gotta get these three crate remnants out of there so I can move this wall block over. Ok, I'll use telekinesis to get at em and throw em away... oh wait, my telekinesis latched onto a wall block instead. But I was aiming right at the crate pieces. Okay, let's try again... nope, again the telekinesis failed. Well, okay now... I guess I'll have to move into the gap and stand right over them to use TK. Yep, that worked. Throwing em out... one by one. Yea, that did it... the wall snapped into place. Great, I'm finally out. Escaped from the H-G boss.

And all it took was about 10 minutes of fucking around with wall blocks. How exhilarating.

1 comment:

  1. Love Bart's quote! For the bestselling book of Neruda's poetry, a vivid documentary, and more, check out www.redpoppy.net/pablo_neruda.php

    Paz,
    Veronica

    ReplyDelete