Dementium: The Ward, the Nintendo DS survival horror FPS that made waves at E3 this year, has entered the manufacturing process, publisher GameCock announced today. The M-rated game will be released by this Halloween, October 31.
I got to check out some of the final version of Dementium this afternoon when the game's art director Gregg Hargrove came by to show it off. Hargrove is one of only nine people who worked on the game, but it positively drips polish. And blood.
The game has been cleaned up a lot from the E3 version. The first, most striking change is that the flashlight, which you get very early on in the game, now feels a lot more realistic. At E3, the flashlight was just a static cone of light in the middle of the screen that turned rigidly when you looked around. But now, when you turn left and right, your character leads a little bit with the flashlight, so it really looks like his wrist is in motion, and you can see the changing effect of the light source coming out of it -- which is really very impressive for Nintendo DS.
I got to check out the rest of the game's weapons, which you can see most of in the screen above right. L-R, there's the flashlight, nightstick, handgun, shotgun, electric buzzsaw, machine gun, and pistol. The final weapon is a sniper rifle. Of these, the electric buzzsaw (it's apparently actually a bone saw salvaged from a long-dead-possibly-zombified surgeon) is easily the most awesome. It's also very powerful -- and optional. You can only get it if you solve a complicated puzzle.
That's what intrigues me the most about Dementium, the fact that it's got puzzles alongside the zombie-shooting. Much like in Phantom Hourglass, you'll use an onscreen notebook to jot down clues -- numbers and phrases scribbled in blood on the walls, which of course is how all buildings keep records of their security codes.
Dementium definitely isn't going to be easy -- the designers put me into a couple of boss battles, one
against a guy in a wheelchair with a chain gun for an arm and one against a bunch of mouths on the wall that vomited leeches
, and I died against both of them. It then boots you back to the start of the chapter, so there's a lot of risk inherent in taking on these bosses. And there are no health refills! This seems pretty hardcore.
But there's likely to be a lot of reward for your persistence. The game's cinema scenes (with the requisite creepy little girl -- what is it about those things) are very nicely done, and the environments just exude a level of quality I'm not really used to from third-party DS games. Dementium has an uphill battle ahead of it. Can you imagine releasing an M-rated FPS on the Nintendo DS? But it looks like it'll be worth it.
I bought this game today and played it 2 hours. Really better than a RE DS. No scenario until chapter 3 but I think that it will appears soon.
The sounds are great. Fearest game for the handled.
If somebody searches a different game than others, I can recommend it to you. I'll give it a 8/10 for now.
The graphics are cool; gameplay with stylus L button (or R for left hands) and stick. other menus on touch screen are available.
So far it's pretty average, at least as far as going 4 chapters in.
The base gameplay is pretty much move down corridors, solve puzzles, kill monsters. I think it was the 3rd chapter in that I resigned myself that this was pretty much what you were going to do through the entire game. I hope there are some change ups along the way or it's going to get stale, unless the game is short,
Enemy AI is on the weak side. I've seen them get hung up on doorways as they try to path towards you. Sometimes they wouldn't even react to my presence until I either shot them or hit a trigger point.
Enemy designs, and this is strictly personal preference, are on the weak side. Nothing that stands out or makes one say that is pretty creepy. But this is the DS.
Other things of note: I hate, hate, that you can't hold a freaking flashlight in one hand and the gun in the other. I understand the design decision for tension and fear, but come on. If it was a two handed weapon I understand, but not when it's just a 9mm handgun.
So far it's pretty average, at least as far as going 4 chapters in.
The base gameplay is pretty much move down corridors, solve puzzles, kill monsters. I think it was the 3rd chapter in that I resigned myself that this was pretty much what you were going to do through the entire game. I hope there are some change ups along the way or it's going to get stale, unless the game is short,
Enemy AI is on the weak side. I've seen them get hung up on doorways as they try to path towards you. Sometimes they wouldn't even react to my presence until I either shot them or hit a trigger point.
Enemy designs, and this is strictly personal preference, are on the weak side. Nothing that stands out or makes one say that is pretty creepy. But this is the DS.
Other things of note: I hate, hate, that you can't hold a freaking flashlight in one hand and the gun in the other. I understand the design decision for tension and fear, but come on. If it was a two handed weapon I understand, but not when it's just a 9mm handgun.
I've only just received my copy...but I pretty much agree with all of this, especially the weapon/torch thing. The pace is really slow as well. It started off so well, with creepy music/noises, dark corridors and blood absolutely everywhere. Then it just starts to lose its 'scare factor' quite quickly. Perhaps the later chapters will appeal more. So far it's 6/10 territory in my eyes.
Other things of note: I hate, hate, that you can't hold a freaking flashlight in one hand and the gun in the other. I understand the design decision for tension and fear, but come on. If it was a two handed weapon I understand, but not when it's just a 9mm handgun.
This was a similar complaint from the Doom 3 days, but does it apply in the same way? As in are the areas completely black without the flashlight or can you still see something?
This was a similar complaint from the Doom 3 days, but does it apply in the same way? As in are the areas completely black without the flashlight or can you still see something?
The area is basically all black, unless you change the in-game brightness settings. So you stumble blindly onwards in certain sections, until an enemy pops out from the shadows and you quickly need to tap the appropriate weapon and then start attacking. It feels rather awkward...you do get used to it, though.
So far it's pretty average, at least as far as going 4 chapters in.
The base gameplay is pretty much move down corridors, solve puzzles, kill monsters. I think it was the 3rd chapter in that I resigned myself that this was pretty much what you were going to do through the entire game. I hope there are some change ups along the way or it's going to get stale, unless the game is short,
Enemy AI is on the weak side. I've seen them get hung up on doorways as they try to path towards you. Sometimes they wouldn't even react to my presence until I either shot them or hit a trigger point.
Enemy designs, and this is strictly personal preference, are on the weak side. Nothing that stands out or makes one say that is pretty creepy. But this is the DS.
Other things of note: I hate, hate, that you can't hold a freaking flashlight in one hand and the gun in the other. I understand the design decision for tension and fear, but come on. If it was a two handed weapon I understand, but not when it's just a 9mm handgun.
I've only just received my copy...but I pretty much agree with all of this, especially the weapon/torch thing. The pace is really slow as well. It started off so well, with creepy music/noises, dark corridors and blood absolutely everywhere. Then it just starts to lose its 'scare factor' quite quickly. Perhaps the later chapters will appeal more. So far it's 6/10 territory in my eyes.
This game is great, at least for the first four hours or. Glad I picked it up. Puzzles are clever, but not terribly difficult, controls are great, atmosphere is atmospheric, so on and so forth.
I'm not sure why, but it always rubs me the wrong way when I see iffy grammar in games developed by native-English speakers.
it's is a contraction of it is
its is the possessive form of it
In the above screen, its' is just plain broken.
Never, ever, should anyone put an apostrophe anywhere near the possessive its.
When I see stuff like that, I just start feeling like they didn't give two bits about ANY aspect of the game. Even back in the old days, stuff like "I feel asleep" and "Expect to come next" drove me batty.
I'm not sure why, but it always rubs me the wrong way when I see iffy grammar in games developed by native-English speakers.
it's is a contraction of it is
its is the possessive form of it
In the above screen, its' is just plain broken.
Never, ever, should anyone put an apostrophe anywhere near the possessive its.
When I see stuff like that, I just start feeling like they didn't give two bits about ANY aspect of the game. Even back in the old days, stuff like "I feel asleep" and "Expect to come next" drove me batty.
You'll be happy to know in the actual game I own, it says 'its' with no apostrophe. also it actually says "WHY DID YOU DO IT?" on the paper instead of "HELP."
So umm yeah, if you can live with respawning monsters... BUY IT! I'm liking it so far.
You'll be happy to know in the actual game I own, it says 'its' with no apostrophe. also it actually says "WHY DID YOU DO IT?" on the paper instead of "HELP."
Actually, I AM happy to hear that. They should send out replacement screens. A small dev doesn't need ANY negative sentiment, even if only poor grammar. Of course, I am now reminded of the very first shots they sent out (ugh, they were horrible).
Nice to see they've turned things around. I wish I liked the horror genre... maybe I'll do a good deed and buy Dementium, and then gift it.
Cautious optimism getting less cautious and more optimistic. I was going to make due with just CoD4, since that hits next week anyway, but now I might just get this as well!
The pansy ass gamer in me is pissed that if you die you don't go back to when you last saved, but to the beginning of the chapter. Of course the gamer in me that misses when games actually punished you for fucking up is happy about it and it makes me like it more.
The game is smart about it too, it saves at every room and right when you die.
Damn, I was halfway through making the thread for this. Oh well, anyway, this game has some of the best trailers ever. Definitely check them out if you haven't.
The pansy ass gamer in me is pissed that if you die you don't go back to when you last saved, but to the beginning of the chapter. Of course the gamer in me that misses when games actually punished you for fucking up is happy about it and it makes me like it more.
The game is smart about it too, it saves at every room and right when you die.
If you are GAF members, would you please show up and talk about the game? It always grabs people's attention when the makers of a game show up and post.
Wow, positive reviews aplenty. This might be the next Excite Truck in terms of cult following? Maybe. But with less EXCITE and more ARRRRRRRRRRRRGH, or something.
Incidentally when is this getting a UK release? Anytime soon?
