Dementium : The Ward Review By DanCubs Game: Dementium : The Ward Platform: Nintendo DS Release Date: (U) October 25, 2007 (J) June 24, 2008 (AU) May 14, 2009 Developer: Renegade Kid Publisher: Gamecock Style/Genre: Survival - Horror / First Person Shooter Rating: Mature Silent Hill. Resident Evil. Parasite Eve. Manhunt. What do these games all have in common? Gratuitous amounts of bloodshed? Abundance of Littered Firearms? Deranged Cast of Characters? Check, Check and Check. Survival horror titles are in a beautiful niche in the gaming world, being established early in the millennium, Resident Evil practically took the genre by storm and made it a home in gaming history. Resident Evil's success benched on it's ability to scare the players with it's sheer atmosphere, and creepy sound effects. Back in the year 2000, only through a home console could you do such a feat, encouraging players to play in the dark to heighten the experience. But now, 7 years later, after the dawning of new technology in the handheld industry, a sleeper hit from an indie developer comes from the shadows and scares DS gamers with the same guile as Resident Evil did back then with Dementium The Ward, offering gamers the same feeling of impending doom with it's immerse scenery and horrific soundtrack. Story Dementium The Ward starts off with what we could call a "What The Hell's Happening?!" opening cut scene. To avoid spoilers, let me just say, the opening cut scene just shows how you ended up in the Mental Hospital where the whole game is set, and it, like all the other cut scenes in the game, are shown through the character's perspective. These cut scenes which are scattered through the chapters are nice and creepy, and they are a good addition to the game to break the darkness' monotony. The game does an okay job moving the storyline forward, but as I played through each chapter, I barely found out anything new about who my character was. And to be honest, halfway through running around the hospital's ins and outs, I forgot what I was supposed to do. The game does not make it clear what you have to do. I guess the developers and writers of the game would defend this claim with a statement going "It's obvious, you have to escape the hospital alive!" or something like that, but a little more in game scriptwriting wouldn't hurt the mystery. It would just make the experience a little more enjoyable. I give Dementium : The Ward's story a 5/10. Presentation Dementium The Ward has a minimalist feel, being developed by Renegade Kid, a rather unknown development team before this game, offered only a story mode for Dementium. The game has no extras whatsoever, which is good to be honest. It makes it clear what the game offers, and that's a handheld gaming experience like no other. The options are easy to go around and meddle with. Everything in the game is neat, in contrast to everything that's happening to the game, which to say in an understatement, a big mess. The atmosphere in the game gives a good sense of isolation not only from civilization, but also from the room you're in as well, for darkness envelops everything you see, hence the flashlight. The flashlight is a weapon that doesn't really do anything other than illuminate your way. Some may see this as a flaw, but I find it a good addition for it adds to the suspense of only having a choice between An illuminated path, or running in the dark with a gun in hand. Dementium does a good job laying things out for the player, gaming-wise. I give Dementium : The Ward's Presentation an 8/10. Graphics The game's graphics are, in the simplest words, Beautiful. Imagining a game that runs smoothly with 60 Frames Per Second on the DS, is just mind boggling. The Zombies look convincing, they move smoothly, the hospital is textured well, giving it the old and mucky look. The Darkness is well placed and represented as well, and the lighting effects are just spot on. Although the some objects in the game and some enemies look pixelated once they come near, it's an expected effect on such a small screen and system. Nonetheless it's hard not to get sucked into the scary and demented world that this handheld jewel boasts. I give Dementium : The Ward's Graphics a 9/10. Sound Honestly, I cringed at every creek and growl in the game. Dementium's sound is atmospheric, creepy and just plain scary. The zombie's growls are heard a few feet away from where they stand, and little girls singing, monsters howling from a distance, all sound very good for a DS game. The music is just elegantly demented. Imagine Beethoven plus Marilyn Manson in a mental hospital. Piano notes and elevator-esque music fill the void where in your character roams the halls devoid of enemies. But once the music stops, that's when you should get more afraid, because that's when the game really shines, in audio form. Slap on some headphones, and play the game. You'll hear growls pan from left to right depending where you face the zombie from. It's just a very engaging experience playing the game with headphones on. You'll actually feel like you're in the defunct mental hospital. I give Dementium : The Ward's sound a 9/10. Gameplay Dementium the Ward is a Survival-horror first person Shooter. That's a lot of words to put into a genre, but yes. That's what it is. It's a mix between Counterstrike and Resident Evil. Combing the atmospheric creepy exploration and the Fast paced shooting, Dementium keeps it's players on it's feet with zombies crawling, running, flying (Yes, Flying!) and wheeling (Wheeling too.) towards you at the corner of every room. But keep in kind, it's also a survival horror title, giving you limited supplies, and the disadvantage in sight, the game being played mostly in the dark, plus the puzzle every now and then to unlock a door or get a weapon to break the routine. All in all, it's an enjoyable experience, although at times dragging and frustrating due to the Respawning system and the Save system the developers put into the game, it's still a challenge and a pleasure in itself to finish. I give Dementium : The Ward's gameplay an 8/10. Replayability What replayability? As I have mentioned earlier, the game has no extras whatsoever. Dementium : The Ward offers nothing more than an adventure through a Defunct Mental Hospital. Nothing more, and definitely nothing less. A second playthrough might be in your minds after finishing it once, but then again there are no rewards or higher difficulty settings in the game to make it a better or new experience all over again. So that being said, Dementium : The Ward gets a 3/10 for it's Replayability, or lack of thereof. Goods Immerse world It is Actually Scary Great Graphics and Sound for a DS game It is an awesome effort for a new development team Bads Story makes you go "WTF?!" due to it's daft writing and lack of detail Running through the Hospital can get boring Save System and Respawning enemies could ruin the experience Has no Replay Value or Rewards Final Verdict Dementium : The Ward, definitely a must-play if you're looking for a DS game that will immerse you in a horrifying world of open-chested zombies and flying heads, or if you enjoy Good Graphics, Good Sound and a scare here and there. Beware though, the difficulty might get to you because of the Save System and The Respawning system, but if you look past these, you will surely enjoy this game. I know I did. Good job to Renegade Kid. I hope they keep it up. Overall, Dementium : The Ward gets a 7/10.
That was a joy to read. I think I may just give this game a go. At no point did your review get boring or sluggish, It's just nice and simple to read. 8/10.
Great Review I hear the Sequel coming out this year is going to be even better. Hope your the one to review on it
Great review dan, very well written man. I agree with everything you said, including the respawning enemies and the save system. I ended having to put on a cheat at one point just so i could get enough health back to survive since the game managed to save when i had a tiny bit of health left in a room full of those screaming brain looking enemies that fly at you. It was annoying, although i haven't beaten the game yet since i've been playing a lot of games. I think i was on Chapter 13, not sure.
Nice review, probably the one of the best after reading some review in these past days.(forgot which one though) Nothing much to says though. Keep up the good work.
Thanks ya'll. Oh, By the way, is there any chance for this review to be put up in the official review board? If it does, I'm willing to edit and fix it up a bit more.
It definitely should be, while we had our differences in the WWE topic, you are a great reviewer from what i've seen, don't worry, it can take awhile to be moved to the Review Section, but i hope it will be.
I think once the initial flow of comments are done, should the review be "archived" to the main section. Most people can't comment (or even edit) the Review section, (yet I still see random newbies getting through that...), so the longer it stays here, the better. Review is good, just the pictures (besides the relevant ones) are kinda wtf...
