Dead Space

One in five Americans are born with some sort of personality disorder – something that makes them zag when everyone else zigs. It might be as subtle as a nervous tic, as confusing as Asperger's or as overt as psychopathy. But mentally unstable individuals are part of the real world – and part of the world of videogames as well. Sometimes their damage leads them to be horrible, monstrous villains, and other times it can make them loyal friends, or complex protagonists. No matter what it does to them, though, it's usually hard not to be sympathetic to their problems, and to, in a way, fall in love with them... even if they're murdering sociopaths...

One of the challenges of an action game is creating a villain that you, the player, will want to destroy. Some games, like Killzone 3, end up crafting bad guys so cool and awesome, you're rooting for them instead of the so-called heroes. Then there are games that just get it right, making an entire army of bastards you just want to punch in the face.

Thanks to a mixture of visual design, atmosphere and writing, some games go beyond even that, and are able to craft an entire race of enemies that are simply despicable to behold. They're ugly, they're disgusting, and they garner absolutely zero sympathy. Those are the truly successful baddies in videogames, and now we rightly pay tribute...

We love the original Dead Space. Like really love it. And with the first footage of the sequel slipping out at PAX East 2010 last week, we’ve been thinking about things we want from Dead Space 2. Obviously, 72% of the game should be made of those awesome hoverboot sections, but we also want more scares, new enemies and more varied locations.

Perhaps better than any other creative medium, videogames have managed to recreate entire ecosystems of imaginary creatures and presented them in an observable context. Books and movies may offer detailed glimpses of anatomy and behavior, but only in videogames does the observer interact with organisms and experience behaviors first hand.

Why can’t some people just call a spade a spade? Or, in the case of video games, call a health pack a health pack, instead of a multi-purpose, cosmic healitron 3000. We’re sick of developers trying to give their games extra context or dimension by pasting unnecessary and sometimes baffling terminology onto simple, every day game actions or objects. It’s convoluted, embarrassing and totally comically. Below are some of the

Founded by a group of religious cultists who worship an unexploded megaton bomb, who then built their church at the centre of the crater the bomb created.  These Children of Atom believe that the atomic masses released by nuclear bombs contain whole universes and are therefore sacred.

How about being constantly surrounded by the most upbeat, glass half full folk any of us are ever likely to meet? Full

“Guns don’t kill people, bullets do.” But do they have to? Not at all, and in fact, this is all the destructive power you’re going to get out of shooting bullets.

We need to be told what to do in a game from time to time. We rely on helpful characters to issue us with objectives and point us in the right direction. Imagine the wasted hours if they weren't there to help. Trouble is, some of them go about it all wrong and - although they're trying to help - just get right on our tits. Honestly, Navi's a joy compared with these nagging characters that need to STFU.

Today, we’re taking a timeout to break through the fourth wall of online features about games to highlight the seven worst games set in the worlds of great games. Why? Because these minigames are a special breed of boring. We’re tired of tacked-on gambling activities, awful fictional sports, and stale satires of classic arcade hits that dwell in the bowels of some of the best games ever.

Why does this happen?

When he started sharing his idea of an orchestra playing music from videogames, people thought the veteran composer Tommy Tallarico was off his rocker. It took him three years to convince publishers and developers that he was sane. “Imagine me making a call to Taito in Japan, asking them for the rights for the score of [1983 arcade hit] Elevator Action. “I’d like to play the theme tune to the game at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Hello... hello?’”