Metareview: Dementium: The Ward (DS)

by Alexander Sliwinski { Nov 1st 2007 at 2:27PM }

Dementium: The Ward surprised the hell out of us at Gamecock's E3 retreat at the Hotel California. The survival-horror game brought the genre to the Nintendo DS in an incredibly smooth package. We actually almost missed our next appointment at E3 because the game just grabbed us with an unexpected level of design, unexpected from a survival-horror FPS on a handheld. But did it hold reviewers' attention beyond that initial shock of Renegade Kid's technical proficiency?

GamesRadar (80/100): "The DS isn't supposed to do FPS horror right? Those were our initial thoughts too, as you start out in a dark room with a layer of black fog. But as soon as you snag a flashlight (which is immediately), Dementium proves its worth by displaying vast areas, numerous enemies and lengthy corridors with disturbing zeal and no loss in framerate."
IGN (80/100): "It's pretty amazing that, for a system that's been out for three years now, there have been very few first-person shooters made for it. The Nintendo DS is a prime (no pun intended) system for the genre, what with its touch screen that can easily mimic the precise movement of mouse controls. Dementium: The Ward fills that void nicely - it's appropriately gory (it is a shooter, after all) but also adds an element of mystery to the whole thing. Some design issues do get in the way a tiny bit, but not so much that you'll hate on the game...and unless you've got the expectations of a PC shooter fan, it's hard to not be impressed with what Renegade Kid managed to pull off on the Nintendo DS hardware."
Game Daily (80/100): "Dementium doesn't do anything we haven't seen before, such as playing a piano to reveal a secret, acquiring special colored keycards to open doors and shot gunning monsters. Yet at the same time, the experience feels new, since there's almost nothing like it on the platform, save for the aged Resident Evil Deadly Silence. So shut off the lights, put on a pair of headphones and get lost in this demented adventure. It's without question one of the DS' most under hyped games, and also one of its best."

Tags: dementium, dementiumtheward, gamecock, renegadekid

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

albinogoldfish @ Nov 1st 2007 2:38PM

Let hope this does for DS what Halo did for consoles

arrrgh @ Nov 1st 2007 3:25PM

You mean put out a decent at best shooter that balloons due to hype and timing so far that its sequels instantly garner 100% review scores whether they are merited or not, and become the sole crutch of the system for at least a few years?

dan stabbingworth @ Nov 1st 2007 3:31PM

I think he means popularize a hardcore genre by combining a number of different ideas into one extremely polished package that appeals to a wide range of people while at the same time confounding the few hardcore gamers who can't understand why it's so popular and causing them to bitch constantly, even though they represent a whiny minority that nobody cares about.

arrrgh @ Nov 1st 2007 4:08PM

yeah i guess you're right, halo popularized fps, pretty much no one knew about fps before that.

Rubang B (BRUSH WITH FAME) @ Nov 1st 2007 4:40PM

Halo is basically the reason I stopped playing FPS games, because now every FPS and their momz try to be the next Halo. Hell, I'm still waiting for a real sequel to Doom 2. Doom 3 was a sick joke.

Thank heavens for Portal's amazing new gameplay and MP3's amazing new control scheme, or I'd have given up on the genre entirely.

dan stabbingworth @ Nov 1st 2007 5:40PM

Halo made FPSs far more mainstream and introduced many, many people who never played computer video games to the genre. I never said nobody knew of FPSs before that; you're just being bitter and whiny.

And since this primarily a console-related site, and since the popularity of FPS games on consoles was almost non-existent before Halo, there probably are a lot of people who never played an FPS before Halo.

Geist @ Nov 1st 2007 10:12PM

dan: a lot of people that didn't play an FPS before Halo? Exactly. That's where its popularity came from. I don't do FPSs but hang out with a lot of people that do, some very hardcore, and they won't touch Halo because it just doesn't cut it unless you've never played a decent FPS before.

Ehhhh why am I saying this this isn't a Halo thread. The anger rises!

albinogoldfish @ Nov 4th 2007 4:19AM

thank you dan for being able to see the logic in my comment, even if I was a bit vague

megaStryke @ Nov 1st 2007 2:40PM

There's something else about numerical scores: It would appear that all the major game review houses have few complaints about the game and honestly feel that it is a fresh and well-polished indie experience with only a few niggling details. Not that 80/100 is a bad score or anything, but honestly, what are their complaints with the games? Where are they?

GRANTED @ Nov 1st 2007 2:47PM

an 80 means its good. not every game starts at 100 and then for every mistake gets deducted 5 pts. clearly this game was fun and solidly built.

don't try to read to much into reviews. i think the joystiq reader consensus is use them to get an idea of the game, then ultimately make your own decision.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Nov 1st 2007 2:49PM

It just seems like a game can't get a 90 unless its part of an established franchise already.

megaStryke @ Nov 1st 2007 2:49PM

If points aren't deducted or added, then what ARE they there for?

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Nov 1st 2007 2:57PM

Blah. See this is the problem. People read into the scores too much even before reading the actual review and then they get all pissy when the review doesn't match their views on what an 80 or a 90 scored game is.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Nov 1st 2007 3:00PM

This is I'll agree with Shaggi on this and that reviewers need to get read of scores. All it does is piss people off, and start retarded arguments.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Nov 1st 2007 3:03PM

ugh there needs to be a way to edit shit.

Let me repeat myself:

This is the only thing I'll agree with Shaggi on and it's that reviewers need to get rid of the scores in reviews. All scores do is piss people off and start retarded arguments.

That's better.

GRANTED @ Nov 1st 2007 3:07PM

i dont know--this whole scoring thing is clearly necessary, because we need to quantify an object's value and determine its worth. but this isn't like determining a car's mpg--it's a game. and like movies and books, it's a subjective experience getting objectively quantified. they should get rid of 0-100 scores, the only reason they have them is 1. our obsession with perfection (100%!! YES), and 2. our school-raised obsession with grades. i would prefer a poll: which asks, "is this game worth playing?" and "is this game worth 60 (or 40 or whateevr) bucks". then judging by % positive response, you have a good idea of a game's worth. that's probably a more scientific way of doing it, anyway. fewer variables to wade through.

megaStryke @ Nov 1st 2007 3:11PM

I personally hate numerical scores and would prefer that they be done away with completely. Of course, I doubt that's going to happen anytime soon if at all, and as long as we have them, many a gamer will swear up and done on scores as proof of one console being superior to another.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Nov 1st 2007 3:14PM

I'm pretty sure I could tell whether a reviewer thinks a game is worth paying for without the need of a numerical or alphabetical grade.

megaStryke @ Nov 1st 2007 3:17PM

Well, that's you. But then, you aren't the AVERAGE reader.

Rubang B (BRUSH WITH FAME) @ Nov 1st 2007 4:55PM

This is why Zero Punctuation has the only reviews I trust. Yahtzee doesn't give any arbitrary numbers to games to confuse people, and he hates 99% of games just like me!

Rubang B (BRUSH WITH FAME) @ Nov 1st 2007 4:56PM

This is why Zero Punctuation has the only reviews I trust. Yahtzee doesn't give any arbitrary numbers to games to confuse people, and he hates 99% of games just like me!

Zach S @ Nov 1st 2007 5:49PM

The complaints, at least for the IGN article, but also in the other reviews I've read are that the save system is freakin annoying (it saves at every door, but if you die you have to do the WHOLE level over again. i.e. play the whole level over again multiple times just to finish off a boss) and that some of the game can get monotonous (going through the same corridors over and over again. I think that those warrant dropping the score down a little.

required @ Nov 1st 2007 2:43PM

"for a system that's been out for three years now, there have been very few first-person shooters made for it"

True. The GBA had some like this one from 11/27/01: http://gameboy.ign.com/objects/016/016406.html

Funny thing, the Ward doesn't look very different than those GBA era ones which makes one wonder, is the DS simply two gameboys duct-tapped together?

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Nov 1st 2007 2:45PM

You're kidding, right?

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Nov 1st 2007 2:51PM

You're kidding right?

albinogoldfish @ Nov 1st 2007 2:51PM

I pissed my pants when I read that...in a good way

megaStryke @ Nov 1st 2007 2:52PM

Well, there is a 2D GBA-style processor dedicated to each screen, and 3D effects produced by drawing power from both and displaying the results on only one of the screens. So yes, the DS literally IS two GBAs duct-taped together.

samfish @ Nov 1st 2007 3:08PM

Oh required! You silly goose! Go back to your kooky little failure that you ever-so dearly love that is the PSP.

megaStryke @ Nov 1st 2007 3:12PM

I didn't think Naked Peach could get any sexier. Or nakeder.

Sean @ Nov 1st 2007 3:47PM

@albinogoldfish

You're not cool unless you pee your pants.

Jacob @ Nov 1st 2007 2:53PM

You're joking, right, Required? That GBA game has little to no detail what so ever. _Especially_ compared to Dementium.

While its certainly a great effort for a GBA game, Dementium blows it out of the water.

Luka M. @ Nov 1st 2007 2:56PM

I played it for 40 minutes and I have to say that it's technically the most advanced game on the DS so far. Sure, I can praise how it looks and runs awesome but gameplay is extremely well too. Motion is very fluid, the character bounces as he walks, scripted sequences work very well, the combination of video and engine work perfectly together, sound and atmosphere are incredibly well performed, basically I almost don't have anything bad to say about it. Almost. I don't like the same problem that I had with Doom 3. I have to use the flashlight to see ahead of me, without it, you're almost blind in the game. Which is great. But when an enemy appears you have to switch to a gun and wait for him to practically get to your face until you get to see him and shoot him. Shooting blindly into the darkness doesn't work too well since you have to save bullets. The corridors are too "labyrinthy", the enemies respawn when you get into the same section again which happen to me a couple of times because of the labyrinth structure of the map and I lost a lot of bullets that way. When I died I had to restart from the beginning of the chapter which really depressed me and I quit the game but that doesn't mean I won't continue playing. The game constantly says it's saving but I still had to restart from the beginning of the chapter. Hopefully that was my fault and it's not how the game works.

Basically, the game is totally worth getting, despite the criticism I mentioned.

Sean @ Nov 1st 2007 3:00PM

I hated the way MP:H controlled. I'm just throwing that out there.

religiousjedi @ Nov 1st 2007 3:08PM

Boo!

Hunters controls were great! Still one of the games I frequently pop in the Lite!

On topic...this Dementium sounds very promising...

F. Rocker or Fernando R.? @ Nov 1st 2007 3:10PM

So, you hate how a FPS for a PC works?

F. Rocker or Fernando R.? @ Nov 1st 2007 3:11PM

The stylus works as a mouse and the pad as the keys of a w,a,s,d keyboards.

Its exactly the same control as a PC, but portable.

Sean @ Nov 1st 2007 3:13PM

@Fernando

Comparing the use of a stylus to poke at a screen while trying to use the triggers comfortably to using a keyboard and mouse is ridiculous.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Nov 1st 2007 3:30PM

Its not rediculous, but its not quite analogous either. I too got cramped hand syndrom while play MPH, but the interface is similar enough that a comparison can be made.

arrrgh @ Nov 1st 2007 3:36PM

actually, it's quite apt.

They're very similar. Not the same, but similar. Those are different words you know (same and similar). They have different meanings :)

Sean @ Nov 1st 2007 3:42PM

Okay, so I'm a bit on the slow side. But MP:H still hurt my hands too much to bother with playing it.

hydralisk456 @ Nov 1st 2007 4:05PM

Are you still using the standard DS stylus Sean? Just wondering because ever since I got my bonus Pokemon stylus (Palkia FTW!) that's actually the size or a standard pen I can play for at least 3 hours without getting a hand cramp.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Nov 1st 2007 4:10PM

Yeah I wasn't a fan of MP:H either. It made my hand hurt.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Nov 1st 2007 4:14PM

Its not the stylus hand that hurts, its the one with the thumb on the D-pad and finger on the shoulder button. THATS the hand that cramps.

Sean @ Nov 1st 2007 4:21PM

When I did play it, I was using the normal stylus. Now I have a Phantom Hourglass stylus (it's nothing special, just a click pen with a stylus in it instead of a pen and the PH logo on it; it was free though) that is larger, but like Crono said, it was the other hand that needed to use the trigger and use the d-pad at the same time that was cramping up.

religiousjedi @ Nov 1st 2007 4:41PM

Thumb strap ftw!!!!!!!

Sean @ Nov 1st 2007 4:58PM

I tried the thumbstrap as well, but it just didn't work for me. Oh well.

Lemmiwinks @ Nov 1st 2007 3:01PM

Awesome! Now, maybe third parties will *finally* start producing titles for the DS!

Oh, wait... ;)

Good show Renegade Kid. I'll be picking my copy up after my next payday.

Jacob @ Nov 1st 2007 3:11PM

Megstryke, maybe I'm wrong here, but I don't think thats how the DS graphics work. There are indeed two 2D engines similar to the GBA's (one per screen), but that doesn't automatically mean that the system is just two GBA's put together. Especially since those are just the 2D engines, not the main processors themselves. The ARM 9 on the DS is much more capable than the GBA ARM 7 - which the DS also has in addition to its ARM 9. Anyhow, give it a look on Wikipedia. Its explained there better than I can.

Its all a useless discussion anyway though. Just about anyone can see that Metroid Prime Hunters and Phantom Hourglass among other games couldn't possibly be done by a GBA, even if two of them were put together to try.