- "Dead Space Ignition is an all-new downloadable game that takes place on the Sprawl and challenges players to survive the initial Necromorph outbreak."
- —Description on EA.com
Dead Space: Ignition was a horror-action puzzle video game developed by Visceral Games and Sumo Digital and published by Electronic Arts for the Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network.
It was a prequel to the survival horror video game Dead Space 2 which was released on January 25, 2011. The game took the form of what executive producer Steve Papoutsis described as an "interactive comic-style game" and was written by Antony Johnston, the writer for the Dead Space games and comic book series.
After completing the game, players will receive bonus items for Dead Space 2 including a hacker-themed suit with 15% armor and 15 inventory slots as well as a bonus to the hacking portions of the game. The players also received a hacker-themed Contact Beam weapon, extra power nodes, health packs, ammo and audio logs. These bonuses are found in "conduit rooms" unlocked with a Dead Space: Ignition save file.
Plot
Setting
The game took place three years after the events of Dead Space in 2511[2] and hours before the events of Dead Space 2 started to unfold.
The game's story followed Franco Delille, a technician working aboard the Sprawl who bore witness to the beginning of the Necromorph outbreak that hit the station.
Characters
- Franco Delille - A technician working aboard the Sprawl.
- Sarah Andarsyn - A CPD Officer and Franco's assistant and love interest.
- Weaver - Franco's superior.
Plot Summary
The game opened with Franco repairing his personal terminal before his work shift began. Franco's boss, Weaver ordered him to head to the CEC Facility in order to repair a malfunctioned door. CPD Officer Sarah Andarsyn agreed to come with him as she warned that things on the Sprawl are tense lately for unknown reasons.
Arriving at the CEC facility and acessing the damage, both the CEC supervisor and Franco agreed that the door appeared to be sabotaged instead of merely malfunctioning. After fixing the door, they repaired a computer problem for the CEC supervisor's friend. Both Franco and Sarah found out with some concern that the computer systems appeared to be corrupted with a virus and sabotaged like the door. Franco's boss then messaged him, announcing that they need to repair a solar panel outside the Sprawl meaning that a spacewalk was required which Franco despised. Nevertheless, the two repaired the panel. However, when they returned to the outer door, a loud rumble was heard and a computer in the room announced that a meteor strike breached the air seal, requiring that they should make a hasty exit.
Franco's boss contacted them and announced that something very bad happened during the time that they are repairing the solar panel. An "outbreak" of sorts occurred, but Franco's boss did not specify what kind of outbreak that he was referring to as a result of little information. Franco received a message on a personal device, only reading "READY TO RISE". Franco said that it was a wrong number when Sarah asked. The duo decided to head to a tram station and wait for further directions.
While lounging in the tram station, Sarah heard an odd noise in the distance. A crowd of people suddenly stampeded into the tram station from a hallway across from them with loud roaring noises coming from behind them. Both of them watched in shock as a humanoid monster suddenly impaled a man at the back of the stampede. As the creature advanced on Sarah, she attempted to shoot it to death to no avail. She was knocked over by a crowd of people and found a fallen Plasma Cutter on the floor. She used the tool to tear the creature apart. Several more creatures then appeared from the same hallway, forcing Franco, Sarah and the remaining tram station survivors to board a tram as the station was overrun.
Franco's boss called him back to warn him that he was now aware of the danger and the creatures are popping up all over the station. Franco's boss ordered him to head to a public sector and repair a lighting failure to help security fight off the creatures. Sarah received a call from an old partner to help with a hostage situation.
Branching Paths
At this point in the game, the player was given a branching paths option: The players could choose which repair on the Sprawl that they wanted to follow from the two options presented, each one with exclusive cinematics. Two more repair options occurred after the player completed that repair, resulting in four possible paths through the game. All four paths resulted in Sarah's death and the same ending.
- Lighting Failure: As Franco and Sarah arrived, they found themselves forced to walk through the pitch blackness. Franco said that he needed to go to the Sector Power Hub which would be quicker to reach by going through a maintenance ventilation shaft. Sarah refused, afraid of getting lost, but warmed up to the idea when they discovered that the creatures already reached the deck that they are on.
- In the vents, they discovered that the creatures are traveling in the ventilation systems, but it was too late to turn back. Eventually, they reached an exit, leading to the Church of Unitology. A minister greeted them. Franco told him that there was a security situation throughout the Sprawl and asked if the Church could be barricaded. The minister asked him if that was why their engineer did not arrive, saying that they need one to check their security measures over an hour ago. Franco asked him what the problem was. The minister explained that a mausoleum was where the dead are cryogenically stored to prepare for the next life. Sarah was disgusted, but Franco said that she should see one sometime.
- Sarah explored the mausoleum as Franco re-installed the Church's security measures. The minister asked for one more thing. Sarah returned, not feeling any better about the Church's ways. Franco ran a final check before the duo departed. The duo found a massive crowd near the power hub. As they made their way through, blood began to spray up from the crowd, meaning that the creatures found them. Franco managed to turn the power back on, but by that time, the creatures fled and the entire crowd was reduced to pieces. Franco believed that they are heading in circles. Now only concerned for their own survival, Franco suggested that they should go to the hospital, saying that it was where the survivors will meet up when Sarah asked. Sarah said that they could take the direct route to the hospital which would result in running into many more creatures. In contrast, the Inverted part of the city would take longer, but had no report of monsters.
- Direct Route: Franco and Sarah decide to make their way through the direct route to the hospital as quick as possible, KNOWING they will not last long if the creatures find their way to the public sector. As they reach a clinic, they find it in poor condition, suggesting the creatures may have already broken in. The inside does not look any better, with blood and bodies everywhere. Sarah finds a room with a window, where several staff members are hiding. Franco finds the lock pad to the room torn out.
- After hacking the door open, they attempt to lead the room's inhabitants to safety. One survivor says there is a medivac on the roof that can fit all of them, which they agree to. On the room, Franco is dismayed to find that the medivac has been sabotaged by one of the creatures tearing out the wiring. They are then ambushed by a group of Pack Necromorphs. Franco manages to fix the wiring and tells the survivor from behind to start the medivac. Outside the medivac, Sarah is surrounded by the Pack before she can make her way inside. One of them bites her leg, causing her to fall and allowing the group to completely eviscerate her. Franco is held back as the medivac takes off. He receives a personal message reading "HE AWAITS". After landing on the hospital, Franco leaves the survivors to enter the hospital.
- Cross the Rim: Franco and Sarah take a maintenance elevator towards the inverted city, but are stopped by two other engineers waving desperately to get their attention. In another apparent act of sabotage, the failsafes on the artificial gravity generator have been overridden, causing Sarah to panic at the thought of those creatures unrestrained by gravity. Franco quickly patches the system with a temporary solution, and they continue to the inverted city. However, the other side of the station is unnaturally quiet and lifeless. They come across a school and venture inside, finding only mangled bodies. When Sarah sees that the panic room has been sealed, she demands that Franco open it in case there are children within. He reluctantly agrees, only to find a Necromorph within and a room full of butchered children.
- After describing the situation to Weaver, the officer demands that they seal off the school so that no one knows what's happened, in order to prevent a full scale panic. After complying, Franco receives a message reading "HE AWAITS". Franco immediately suggests that they take the vents instead of the tram, and Sarah is on the point of disagreeing when their hand is forced by a Stalker-like necromorph. Weaver then orders them to head to level nineteen, but is cut off when Franco clicks off his earpiece. Sarah confronts him with his strange behavior and demands to know what's going on, he refuses to answer. She exasperatedly asks which way they're going next. Franco points her to a hatch. As she starts climbing, he shoots her in the back, and tearfully tells her that he can't be delayed anymore before putting the barrel against her forehead and pulling the trigger. He continues on his way to the hospital alone, saying that maybe she'll understand in the next life.
- Hostage Situation: As Franco and Sarah arrived, they found out that a man was holding his wife and kids hostage. He secured himself in a room saying hysterically that he believed that the government was spying on him and wanted them to stop. Sarah's old partner, Hodgkens figured that they could not barge in because the man was watching them and he will know if they made a move. Franco stopped the man from being able to see anything and unlocked the door. The police went in and killed him.
- After the hostage situation, Franco and Sarah got to higher ground by using an elevator. Weaver called and told Franco to quarantine the lower sectors which shocked both him and Sarah. Franco did not want to do it because people are down there, but Sarah reluctantly convinced him that it came from a higher power and losing 10% of the population was better than everyone. After Franco quarantined the lower sectors, Sarah suggested that they should go to the outer rim as security may have ordered an evacuation. They headed toward there, but realized after fifteen minutes that they did not see anyone. A Slasher broke through a ceiling vent and Sarah killed it. Franco realized that they are using the vents and quarantine locks are useless.
- Franco said that they should head toward the hospital because he believed that it was the first place that they will pick up evacuees. Weaver called again and said that they need to go out to the bubble because a life support power repeater was down. Sarah said that they could do that and spacewalk to the hospital or forget it and just take the interior route to the hospital. Franco was vexed on what to do.
- Spacewalk: Franco and Sarah decide to spacewalk the rest of the way to hospital. Sarah reassures the still hesitant Franco that she'll watch his back. Once the outer doors open, Franco heads out to repair the power repeater. As soon as he finishes a Slasher attacks them. Sarah quickly dispatches it, but not before it damages her RIG's oxygen storage. Franco tapes and hacks her RIG to regulate the airflow to keep her from suffocating long enough for them to get back inside.
- They head off to the nearest airlock, but upon reaching airlock 87, they find that is locked down. Franco radios Weaver and asks him to open it but he apologizes and refuses, saying that he wasn't authorized. Franco then proceeds to hack the door, Sarah however suffocates before he's done. Franco drags her inside and tries to revive her with CPR, but it's too late. He then receives another message on his personal device reading "HE AWAITS". Weaver radios Franco, telling him to return to the public sectors to repair the fire extinguisher systems. Franco refuses and vows revenge on Weaver before destroying his radio. He then proceeds alone to the hospital.
- Interior Route: Franco and Sarah decide to head straight to the hospital. They enter a hallway filled with smoke and bodies everywhere. However, Sarah checks their pulses and finds that they are simply unconscious from smoke inhalation. Franco fixes the venting system, allowing the smoke to vent out of the room and the unconscious survivors to awaken, and allowing the duo to press on. On the way to the hospital, Franco receives another message on his personal device reading "HE AWAITS". Franco dismisses it when Sarah inquires about it again, causing her to become suspicious.
- Suddenly, creatures attack from the ventilation shafts. Franco and Sarah flee to a locked door, which Franco hacks open while Sarah holds the creatures off. As Franco finishes hacking the door, he looks behind him at Sarah, ashamed. As Sarah turns to check his progress, she finds the door closing with Franco on the other side, telling her that he is sorry. Sarah begs him to open the door as the creatures close in, but Franco says she can't come with him and she'll understand "in the next life". Sarah's cries for help turn to screams as the creatures tear her to pieces.
Ending
Franco made his way through the hospital which was deserted. He hacked his way into the Psyche Development Center and entered the Psychiatric Ward. There are cryogenic holding cells. He approached one and said "There you are at last". Franco said that he felt that his whole life led up to this moment and prepared to release the inhabitant. After endless hacking, Franco succeeded and said "And that was it. You are a free man". The final shot of the security cam of the cell revealed the name of the man in the holding cell that he unlocked, Patient #4: Isaac Clarke.
Gameplay
The gameplay consisted of a collection of three mini game varieties.
- Hardware Crack - The game began by showing a circuit board full of capacitors and resistors. The object was to guide the lasers to their respective colored goals. The player had mirrors and rerouters at their disposal. They also had the ability to remove certain components from the circuit board. There are also capacitors that exploded if they are exposed to a laser for an extended period of time knocking any other capacitors loose that the player added or not. Sometimes, when there was a yellow goal, the player must use a rerouter differently than normal. They must put one red laser and one green laser into the same rerouter which put out a yellow laser.
- System Override - A tower defense game that put the player in the role of the attacker. There are four types of viruses at the player's disposal. The basic attacking virus, the sidetracking virus, the stealth virus and the infecting virus. The defenders are anti-virus systems. When it was exposed to an attacking virus, they attacked it while being attacked. When it was exposed to a sidetracking virus, they momentarily ceased attacking. When it was exposed to a stealth virus, they did nothing, unless the "radar" anti-viruses caught the stealth viruses in which case the normal anti-viruses attacked like normal. When it was exposed to an infecting virus, however, the normal anti-virus systems started attacking the other anti-virus systems instead of the viruses that the player was controlling. The player was also given up to two electro-charges to fire at the board, destroying the tile targeted as well as the six surrounding it.
- Trace Route - The player was in control of a red line a virus and they need to infiltrate the computer system in question. There are many types of defenses. The countermeasures: A white anti-virus, a purple anti-virus, a green anti-virus and a yellow anti-virus. And the obstacles: Data blocks, firewalls, data libraries and DDos data systems. Data blocks slowed your progress as firewalls did. Data libraries gave you a temporary speed boost. These are the only obstacles that you should not avoid. DDos data blocks temporarily inverted the controls. The player carried up to five of each of these obstacles to use on the countermeasures, except data blocks. The white anti-virus was the standard opponent, the purple anti-viruses installed new firewalls and DDos systems, the green anti-virus knocked the player into data blocks and the yellow anti-virus rammed the player and produced the same effect as a DDos data system.
Completion Bonus
Upon completing the first hack and saving your progress in Ignition, the players are given the following:[3]
- Exclusive Hacker Suit.
- Hacker-themed Contact Beam weapon skin.
- Exclusive audio logs.
- Power Nodes, Medical Packs and Credits to give Isaac an edge during Dead Space 2.
- Conduit rooms in Dead Space 2 otherwise inaccessible became unlocked.
Gallery
Sources
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