Game EXP: Dead Space (Mobile) - Chapters 3 & 4

 

Dead Space (Mobile)

Systems: iOS & Android

Release Date: January 25, 2011 & December 2011

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Developer: IronMonkey Studios

Today's article will cover chapters 3 and 4 from Dead Space (Mobile).  Our written commentary and analysis for chapters 1 and 2 can be found below and all subsequent chapters will be listed in the same place for each article for the previous chapters for quick reference in future articles as well.

Chapters 1 & 2

CHAPTER 3: WILLING ACCOMPLICE

For the most part, I found Chapter 3 to be an equally strong chapter, especially if you go a little bit off the beaten track and explore areas that are not directly part of the main quest, which is, more often than not, just a single room off to the side with a couple of items to pick up.  Here, Vandal has another violent hallucination in the first room, with blood splattered all over the walls and corpses everywhere, a step up from Chapter 2 where it was just limbs scattered.  What I love about this particular hallucination is that it almost functions as a premonition because the room you are directed to go in by your locator, has bodies scattered about in a similar fashion.  The effect might be lessened by visiting the storage room second, or the interpretation could be different?  But again, in this room, Vandal has another hallucination, but when they report it to Tyler, he almost sounds excited and jealous that Vandal is the one having hallucinations, that they were "blessed" by the Marker and not them.  That's just my interpretation.

Chapter 3 is also where you acquire my favorite weapon in the game, The Ripper.  Essentially it is a circular saw that you would buy at Home Depot that will either launch the blade vertically or if you have it oriented horizontally, will be more circular saw-like as the blade flies out in front of you and just tears apart necromophs.  My critique of The Ripper is twofold.  First, I wish that you could eject the blade even when in the horizontal position, similar to the function in the vertical position, or at the very least it means that the blade is broken.  Second, I wish that the blade did not fly out so far because it often felt like the blade passed through and passed the Necromorph I was attacking and would be on the opposite side not dealing any damage, even when I was backing up to try and keep the blade on them.  Either way, I love The Ripper, and is frequently (but not always) my go-to weapon from almost this point on, unless I start running out of ammo or if I start getting a lot of plasma cutter ammo drops so I can conserve Ripper blades.

Chapter 3 is also the introduction of the tram sequences that, thankfully, are not after every stage from this point on.  For the most part, I viewed them as little bonus kill zones where you can gain extra credits while expending more of your ammo.  Unfortunately, you cannot wait out the tram ride but you have to kill all of the pre-determined number of Necromorphs the game throws at you before the chapter fades to black.  At least the first bunch of tram sequences are not too bad are really just for trying to acquire more credits as opposed to a stressful battle from all angles.  That comes back in later chapters, and it comes hard.

CHAPTER 4: IDENTITY CRISIS

At this point, you might be asking yourself why I am not using kinesis to pick up the explosive gas tanks to use them against Necromorphs, and that is because I have found it difficult with the touch controls to select the tank to pick it up when dealing with a charging enemy.  Every so often I will give it a try and I feel that I will frequently fire off a round instead because using kinesis and firing your weapon are functionally identical movements, it is just a matter of where you tap o the screen and if your aim is just a little off of the target to use kinesis, you will instead fire your weapon.  I have a similar issue at times when trying to tap screens to activate them or when opening lockers/boxes which is why at times I will seemingly just start aiming my weapon when I am trying to click a button/open a box.

This chapter is also the start of the asset-tearing glitch/bug that will plague me to varying degrees for the remainder of the game.  I know that it is not because I am playing from an APK file on a newer device than what the game was designed for because I had the same thing happen when I first played the game back in 2015.  I have seen other playthroughs on YouTube and there never seems to be as much tearing compared to as much as you will see in my videos here, so it might in fact be a me problem, but I could not not talk about it because of how prevalent it is.  Thankfully, the tears do not seem to reach into infinity most of the time, nor are they as large as the ones in whatever room/chamber this picture was taken in.

I love, love, love, the dialogue from Tyler in this chapter, especially the comment about Vandal needing to backtrack 300 meters.  That comment, even though I know it's coming gets me every time because when he says that, along with needing to go through another mining area, my gut drops at the thought of having to potentially fight through another series of hallways and corridors filled with Necromorphs.  But then Tyler says, "Just screwin' with ya.  Try it now, it's open."  And that delivery by Andy Chanley is pure gold as far as I'm concerned.  I know I am probably reading too much into the delivery, but the fact that his voice drops and he's still mid-chuckle while saying "It's open" sounds completely genuine  This is also definitely the first obvious sign that the Marker is likely having some effect on Tyler and I start to wonder what hallucinations (visual or aural) he is having to come up with this joke at this particular moment.

The rest of the chapter is pretty standard Dead Space with a button at the end of a long room and then having to fight your way back to the entrance as the room seals off because Necromorphs start swarming in.  Oh, except for the part where Vandal hallucinates themselves as a Necromorph.  That's something you don't experience every day and I love that it's in here.  I also love that, in typical guy-in-charge fashion, Tyler brushes off Vandal's frustration (because he cannot see what Vandal is experiencing in their mind) as just being hysterical.  It is just a nice complete 180-degree swing from the joking Tyler literally 15 seconds earlier.

So yeah, Chapters 3 & 4 I still found to be solid Dead Space survival horror with the growing number and varieties of hallucinations by Vandal and the player.  I did feel that the button clicking in Chapter 4 got a little ridiculous as far as not actually being able to hit the button the first time around and I apologize for the shrillness of the sound effect of The Ripper starting and stopping multiple times while I tried to push a single button.  And that asset-tearing nonsense is only going to get worse from here on out; not game-breaking bad, just annoying.

~JWfW/JDub/The Facepantman/Jaconian
Then We Should All Burn Together