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IGN Review of Dementium: The Ward
The release of Metroid Prime Hunters proved to the gaming public that the Nintendo DS and first-person shooters can go hand-in-hand if the right development team's in control of the project. Surprisingly, very few first-person shooters have released for the system; you can literally count the amount of games in the genre on a single hand. Why teams seem to be afraid of the genre is a mystery, but two fresh faces to the DS platform, developer Renegade Kid and publisher Gamecock, clearly want to hit the handheld with explosive force and launch an original FPS of its own creation. Dementium: The Ward is the result: a creepy, gory, and pretty intense Nintendo DS action game that might not give you a scare in the same way that a console game will, but it'll at least give you an experience you haven't seen yet on the handheld.
It's hard to explain what Dementium: The Ward is all about simply because the mystery is half the experience. After a brief, quick-cut full-motion video clip of being wheeled into a hospital room, you're promptly left to wander the bloodstained hallways to learn all there is to learn about the game. Who are you? Why are you here? Why are beasts with open chest wounds trying to attack you? The experience begins with a giant question mark and keeps that up all the way through the end.
You might think this is a Resident Evil or Silent Hill-style game with all the horror going on and the fact that, for the first chapter of the game, you only have a flashlight and a nightstick at your disposal. But once you snag the pistol, it's all about first-person shooting. And Renegade Kid's engine pulls off this style excellently: the game runs at 60 frames per second, allows for several on-screen enemies at once, and the touch screen sensitivity allows for quick "mouselook" movement that never feels too tight or loose. The visual style is also outstanding: the lighting effects and texture work in Dementium: The Ward are pretty special when you consider the Nintendo DS capabilities - the flashlight effect might not match what other developers have done on more powerful system, but it's a believable technique that's pulled off better than anything seen on same-level hardware.
It's not entirely balls-out action, as there's a whole adventure structure to follow…mostly in the form of locked doors. Puzzles are a little heavy-handed - a password to a six-digit lock might be scrawled in two foot high numbers against a wall, or on a piece of paper that tells you to count specific furniture in a room. Some locks, like the one three digit one holding the shotgun, can easily be guessed in a few seconds without the need to figure out what the clue meant. But these elements add a little variety to a game that's mostly about firing off rounds at lumbering zombies.
Even with the puzzle elements Dementium: The Ward is a pretty straightforward experience. It's far from a short game…the weird save system - where your progress is saved at every open door but forces you back to the beginning of the chapter if you die -- will ensure that you won't blast through this in an afternoon.
As fun and original as this Nintendo DS experience is, it stumbles in a few areas. The game design follows Doom 3's "one functional arm" syndrome, so you'll constantly be switching between your flashlight to see and weapon to attack - you can't shine and shoot at the same time. Perhaps you only have a right arm, but that seems pretty unlikely.
Second, its design is restricted by an annoying "respawn" design decision that, admittedly, might have had something to do with the memory limitations of the Nintendo DS. With the exception of boss characters, defeated enemies will always come back if you leave a room or hallway and return. The problem: the same can't be said for ammunition or health packs. Though there's certainly plenty of bullets and health bottles to go around, they're a one-shot deal…and if you spent all your time and attention blowing away a room full of slithery slugs, you'll quickly find out that it was a waste of ammunition if you need to return to that hallway.
Third: the game's mapping system is pretty lousy. Forget, for the moment, the fact that you have to constantly jump back and forth on the touch screen to take a look at your location on a given floor. The map is just a guideline that shows your position on the specific floor, and displays doors that you opened. But that's it. Yes, it's cool that the floor plan might not match the real world pathways due to the damage and destruction that happened in the ward, but it really stinks that there's no way to note on the map that a path on the map is actually not the way it seems. The programmers included note taking functionality, but why can't we doodle on the map so we can jot down the fact that there's a bunch of knocked over shelves or an overturned cot in the way?
But in the whole swing of things the mentioned issues are pretty minor, and Dementium: The Ward is actually a whole lot of fun. While it might not mean as much saying this for a Nintendo DS game, it's definitely one of the top first-person shooters on the system. Don't expect a lot of (or any) "jump out of your seat" moments, but the mystery and the incredibly tight action is plenty enough of a drive for players to blast through this ten-plus hour game.
©2007-10-31, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
It's hard to explain what Dementium: The Ward is all about simply because the mystery is half the experience. After a brief, quick-cut full-motion video clip of being wheeled into a hospital room, you're promptly left to wander the bloodstained hallways to learn all there is to learn about the game. Who are you? Why are you here? Why are beasts with open chest wounds trying to attack you? The experience begins with a giant question mark and keeps that up all the way through the end.
You might think this is a Resident Evil or Silent Hill-style game with all the horror going on and the fact that, for the first chapter of the game, you only have a flashlight and a nightstick at your disposal. But once you snag the pistol, it's all about first-person shooting. And Renegade Kid's engine pulls off this style excellently: the game runs at 60 frames per second, allows for several on-screen enemies at once, and the touch screen sensitivity allows for quick "mouselook" movement that never feels too tight or loose. The visual style is also outstanding: the lighting effects and texture work in Dementium: The Ward are pretty special when you consider the Nintendo DS capabilities - the flashlight effect might not match what other developers have done on more powerful system, but it's a believable technique that's pulled off better than anything seen on same-level hardware.
It's not entirely balls-out action, as there's a whole adventure structure to follow…mostly in the form of locked doors. Puzzles are a little heavy-handed - a password to a six-digit lock might be scrawled in two foot high numbers against a wall, or on a piece of paper that tells you to count specific furniture in a room. Some locks, like the one three digit one holding the shotgun, can easily be guessed in a few seconds without the need to figure out what the clue meant. But these elements add a little variety to a game that's mostly about firing off rounds at lumbering zombies.
Even with the puzzle elements Dementium: The Ward is a pretty straightforward experience. It's far from a short game…the weird save system - where your progress is saved at every open door but forces you back to the beginning of the chapter if you die -- will ensure that you won't blast through this in an afternoon.
As fun and original as this Nintendo DS experience is, it stumbles in a few areas. The game design follows Doom 3's "one functional arm" syndrome, so you'll constantly be switching between your flashlight to see and weapon to attack - you can't shine and shoot at the same time. Perhaps you only have a right arm, but that seems pretty unlikely.
Second, its design is restricted by an annoying "respawn" design decision that, admittedly, might have had something to do with the memory limitations of the Nintendo DS. With the exception of boss characters, defeated enemies will always come back if you leave a room or hallway and return. The problem: the same can't be said for ammunition or health packs. Though there's certainly plenty of bullets and health bottles to go around, they're a one-shot deal…and if you spent all your time and attention blowing away a room full of slithery slugs, you'll quickly find out that it was a waste of ammunition if you need to return to that hallway.
Third: the game's mapping system is pretty lousy. Forget, for the moment, the fact that you have to constantly jump back and forth on the touch screen to take a look at your location on a given floor. The map is just a guideline that shows your position on the specific floor, and displays doors that you opened. But that's it. Yes, it's cool that the floor plan might not match the real world pathways due to the damage and destruction that happened in the ward, but it really stinks that there's no way to note on the map that a path on the map is actually not the way it seems. The programmers included note taking functionality, but why can't we doodle on the map so we can jot down the fact that there's a bunch of knocked over shelves or an overturned cot in the way?
But in the whole swing of things the mentioned issues are pretty minor, and Dementium: The Ward is actually a whole lot of fun. While it might not mean as much saying this for a Nintendo DS game, it's definitely one of the top first-person shooters on the system. Don't expect a lot of (or any) "jump out of your seat" moments, but the mystery and the incredibly tight action is plenty enough of a drive for players to blast through this ten-plus hour game.
©2007-10-31, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved