[This chapter is where we return to my original playthrough, so the upgrades I had in Chapters 1 - 4 might differ and if you have been keeping track of the number of credits, that will likely be different as well.]
In this section, where you have to locate two batteries and lug them back to their respective plugs, I probably could have done without it all. I kind of understand why this section is here from a couple of standpoints, but it just feels a bit useless and there to pad out the game. I understand that from a lore and scale perspective, the Sprawl is there because it is mining the moon Titan so it makes sense to have a map section that is devoted to mining. It also makes sense that it is not just a series of small corridors, that the mining has been going on for a while, so naturally, there are going to be long hallways. But spending all of this time (just about nine minutes) doing a menial task without any kind of dialogue between Vandal and Tyler, or hallucinations, or any kind of storytelling beyond minor environmental storytelling felt like a waste of my time and of space in the game.
The rest of the chapter took less time than the entire time I spent looking for the two batteries and getting them installed. Granted I did spend time looking around and doubling back to make sure that I hadn't forgotten anything, but I just felt frustrated that half of this chapter existed to make the game nine minutes longer. Once you get into the Crew Quarters, Tyler calls you back about his "gift," you make another entry in your own log, you talk with Director Tideman about your status, and you have another hallucination. All good moments that help to further the plot and build on Vandal's declining sanity. But they are all regulated to the second half of the chapter.
Once you are through, it is back to another tram ride where you collect more credits and use more ammo. Likely placed here after already having a tram at the end of Chapter 4 to possibly imply that this is going to be the norm from now on, which would be especially stressful after the end of Chapter 6. I am still a little annoyed at myself for missing that box on the tram though.
CHAPTER 6: LUMBERING BEAST
First off, the Line Gun. It is really just a beefier form of Plasma Cutter and the game tells you that too. Initially, I was going to complain about the mine's secondary function, but having a timed explosive makes a lot more sense from a mining operation perspective than it does from a tactical weapon perspective. If it were up to me, I would rather have the mine function as a proximity mine because I had a horrible time trying to time the timed mine from when I fired it to when I actually wanted it to explode. Usually, it was when I was up against Pregnants that I just wanted to blow them up by having them walk into an explosion and for the first couple of uses it seemed to work as intended, but that might have just been beginner's luck. It was not until much later than it should have been that I realized the mine was not proximity-based. Like a lot of heavy munitions, I really only ended up using the Line Gun against larger groups, if I was maxed out on ammunition and ammo dropped, or if I could not switch to another weapon in time.
The first section of this chapter I was fine with in terms of time well spent. Tyler has a check-in with Vandal, and you acquire the Line Gun. The hallways after this feel like they were designed to look identical and make you feel turned around. Yeah, I did use the location tracker a few times and ignored it to further explore, but that really ended up just meaning I ran into more Necromorphs and wasted a lot more ammo than I should have. I also probably could have done better with my shots and aiming at their limbs and not just body shots. Some of the encounters felt like they were meant for the Line Gun, and others, well, I just plain sucked. I think this was also the first time in the game that I started running out of Plasma Cutter ammo, but this is a survival horror game after all.
The Water Treatment Plant, despite feeling similar in size to the mining tunnels, I thought was handled a lot better in terms of having a large space as a pass-through. There was a character-building (albeit a minor one) dialogue between Vandal and Tyler where they talked about their birthplaces and Tyler's experience growing up on Mars. Aside from that, there were a couple of items to pick up and that was it. There was some tension from thinking that Necromorphs would pop out of a vent at any given moment, but that ended up not happening until you reached the second Water Treatment reservoir. But then there was the Hitchcock camera effect as Vandal was running down the hallway that stretched into infinity in both directions, only to be ambushed by our first run-in with a Pregnant.
I am pretty sure that this section of the hallway is where the face of a Necromorph usually pops up on the lower right side of the screen, usually under where your thumb is placed, but it did not happen this time, which made me a little sad.
And then to close out this chapter we have our first encounter with the Brute mini-boss, although as it is fought by itself, it does not offer a deadly challenge. First off, the room where you battle the Brute is fairly wide and very long, so if you are low on health, you could always just run away from it while your health regenerates. Second, because of its large frame (and hitbox) and the somewhat short range of your stasis, you are almost guaranteed to hit it with stasis if you are aiming in the general direction. Then you just have to go around back and hit it a few times with the Line Gun or the Ripper and that is it. Because I did not find the battle to be too difficult, it really just felt like a confidence boost for both myself as the player and Vandal the character.
So that is it for these two chapters in Dead Space (Mobile). Again, my only real complaint here is the mining tunnels section in Chapter 5, the rest contained what I would want from the mid-point in a Dead Space game. A bit of character and lore-building, some encounters with Necromorphs, a healthy dose of mind-bending sanity effects, and a satisfying mini-boss fight that was tense, but not punishing when approached with a cool head.
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