Worst. Mini-game. Ever.

Okay, so, I was cruising around on deadspace, having a good time, when I hit the *worst* mini game of all time. 

At least  one of the worst.  About halfway through Deadspace there is a mini game where you control a cannon and shoot asteroids in order to protect the ship you are on.  Not unlike any given space-asteroid level you might find in Star Fox or a Lucasville game.  Except this one has terrible controls and is nearly impossible. 

I easily played the asteroid mini game 20 times in a row.  It was SO tough.  About halfway through I turned up the brightness on the TV, so I could catch the asteroids a little further away.  Eventually I noticed that some of the huge ones were obscured, but sort of flashed in the distance.  This allowed me to aim at them a little bit earlier.  It turned out that these ones were essential to beating the level, and eventually I managed to destroy them all and actually finished with 10% remaining when I finally got there. 

The mini game felt like it hadn’t been play tested.  The controls were stiff, especially vertical controls.  There were far more asteroids than you can possibly destroy, so it was about prioritizing which ones you destroy.  But since the controls were so bad, I would find that I would swing wildly and then miss a dozen asteroids before I could get control again.   It was so frustrating.  It didn’t feel like I was getting any better at the game the more times I played it. And there wasn’t even some cheaty-face way to just get through it.  I seriously wondered if I would just have to put Dead Space down for a while, and I was afraid I wouldn’t pick it up again – or that I would pick it up, but find the mini game just as impossible as before.  That would have been a sad way to end it.  I’m so glad I was able to beat the stupid level. 

 

-D

P.S.  It’s worth noting this scene came immediately after a cool spacewalk scene that I liked a lot!