The Escapist: The Silent Majority

Image of Enjoy the Silence 12inch record cover. Black rose on yellow background. “It’s not that hard to understand the plight of the deaf gamer – just try playing Dead Space with the sound turned off.

EA’s new sci-fi horror game is a showcase for big-budget production values, seething with smoky atmosphere and gory detail – all in the service of scaring the shit out of you. It’s obvious that the publisher spared no expense. EA produced a comic book series. It released an animated movie prequel. It localized for Polish speakers.

Step onto the deck of USG Ishimura without the aid of headphones or speakers, however, and the game falls apart. Without sound, you don’t hear music cues, the swell of dissonant strings that alerts you to danger. Without sound, you don’t hear the monster leaping out of the ventilation duct behind you. Without sound, you don’t hear the whiz of passing poison darts, much less where they’re coming from.

Dead Space without sound is fundamentally broken…”

Read the rest of this excellent article at The Escapist: The Silent Majority.

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