gamesecosse

The Silent Protagonist

I've been playing through Dead Space over the last few days and so far I'm very impressed. It's one of the most atmospheric games I've played, and was obviously heavily influenced by the film Event Horizon, which happens to be my all time favourite film! There seems to be a reference around every corner, along with the general design of the game's setting - the Ishimura (a deep space mining vessel)
As an action/survival horror game, it follows the formula to great effect. Lots of gore, disturbing human abominations for enemies which creep up on you from behind in the dark, and of course practical action based challenges & problem solving.
As the player you assume the role of Isaac Clarke, a lowly engineer investigating the stricken ship Ishimura. However, Dead Space adheres to the 'silent protagonist' method of storytelling, which naturally only works with video games (with a few exceptions).
It may seem strange to those who don't play games, but it is as the name suggests, the main character never says a word for the duration of the game, the supporting cast provide all dialogue and you as the player robotically carry out tasks. Although on paper, this sounds dreadful, it actually works very well and you will forget the fact that your character is silent before long as the game sucks you in...
There are very good reasons for this approach, the main being that it allows the player to create their own interpretation of the character. It's likely that you will never see the character's face during the game either.
Dead Space achieves this with the use of a visor combined with a full body suit. The end result is that the only tie to Isaac Clarke that we have, is the name 'Isaac Clarke'. The suit could be worn by anyone!
The potential for a sequel is also very much increased, as we do not have to 'become' another character, or indeed become Isaac again in a different setting. I have found myself disliking certain games and films as a result of not relating to any of the characters. This problem is negated here. There will apparently be a Dead Space sequel which I'm looking forward to. It's a new IP and will hopefully become a great franchise. I recommend it to anyone who likes sci-fi and of course, a scare!

posted by qmchaz64 @ 1:15 pm