Dementium: The Ward

"An amazing horror/survival game, but weighed down by a terrible save system."

The Nintendo DS certainly is not known for its survival horror titles. In fact, there are only a few in existence: Resident Evil: Deadly Silence, BioHazard: Deadly Silence, and Dementium: The Ward. This is not an easy genre to develop on the DS, because the graphical capabilities of the DS are pretty limited, but Dementium and RE:DS prove that it can be done, if attention to detail is taken. Dementium: The Ward is certainly a title that is worth picking up; no doubt about it. The main flaw with this game is the save system, which I will discuss further momentarily. First, let's look at the basics.

Story: 10/10

You wake up alone in a derelict hospital (a mental institution to be exact), and everything is wrong. The hallways and rooms are in utter disarray, and blood is splattered on almost everything. You know nothing about how you got here or why. All you have is a notebook with 2 pages, one of the pages has a chilling message scrawled on it, saying "Why did you do it?" The only thing you know for certain is that you need to escape from this hospital and soon, because your life depends on it. Scattered throughout the hospital are various enemies, all of the extremely gruesome. They are mutated experiments gone terribly wrong. You must use the weapons you find throughout the hospital to destroy them and attempt to find your way out of this madness.

To me, this story is fantastic. Exploring a hospital that has been taken over by mutated experiments appeals to me, because it can genuinely send a chill up your spine. Exploring the various floors will allow you really seem like you are actually in the hospital, fighting for your life. Each floor you visit brings you closer to the truth of why you are here and what happened to you.

Graphics: 8/10

The graphics in the game help the dark story, literally. It is raining outside, and there is very little light in the hallways of the hospital. Luckily you have a flashlight which lets you see things much more clearly. Overall the graphics are good. Sometimes things get really pixelated, and there's several jagged areas on everything, but this is due to the DS' s graphical limitations, only being a handheld. Looking past those jagged areas and pixelated animations, the graphics can still scare you. Since it is dark and raining outside, it really helps the mood of the game. When flashes of lightning occur, it fills the hallway with light for a split second, then returns to darkness. Those are the moments that when you are playing, you are on the edge of your seat. Try playing this game at midnight, with your lights off in your room for the full effect of the graphics. They work for the game, and yes, they could have been better. But when you're in the heat of the game and trying to run for your life (literally), the graphics are not something you will notice in great detail.

Sound: 10/10

Another stellar area of this game! The music is really scary, because it is so dissonant sounding and really adds to the overall nail-biting type of atmosphere. When you encounter enemies, and you hear them breathing loudly and raspy, it can get your heart rate racing if you're not prepared for it. The rain sounds on the roof and on the windows work so well for this game. Renegade Kid went above and beyond with the music and sound effects and this area does not let you down. And when you are in a hallway, and you hear a distant scream gradually getting louder and louder, you will jump a bit. I did.

Gameplay: 8/10

The game is divided into chapters, with a few bosses scattered throughout. The basic premise of the game is to explore the hospital, while fending off the enemies, and finding clues as to why you were here. It's playable and fun for a while, but it gets really repetitive, really quick. Explore, kill, explore, kill, clever puzzle, run, run, explore, die. That's pretty much everything you will do in this game. Yes, it will get a little boring. That's when you will do best to set the game down for a while and get back to it at a later time. Even though it is repetitive and you've played this style of game a trillion times before, it does this formula very well. The gameplay is certainly fun, no doubt. Just it will get old.

Controls: 10/10

I just want to say that I love the controls in this game. You move with the direction pad, use your weapon/item with the L button, and you look/aim with the touch pad and sylus pen. The A,B,X and Y buttons can be substituted if you are a lefty, which I thought was really cool. The control is as smooth as it can get, with no slowdown whatsoever.

Save System: 3/10

So after all of these high scores, how can I possibly give this game a 7/10? Well, now we've arrived at the infamous portion of this game: the save system. It is terrible.

Now, throughout the game, you ARE able to save at any given point, and that's good! Who would want to play through a whole chapter again just because you have to go to work, or do something else that causes you to turn off the game? That's not the big problem with this system. It's when you die when the problems start.

Say you're at boss battle, and he is just tearing you a new one. You expect to get defeated, and you do. So you think, "no big deal, I'll just start at the last checkpoint or at the beginning of the battle and try again." right? Well, that is not what happens.

The second you die, you are sent back the chapter's beginning. No matter how many items or ammo you collected, you will start with nothing! The only stuff you will have is the stuff you had once you started the chapter the first time. So even if you beat the boss and you had to leave a room that was full of enemies and you die, too bad. You will have to go through the entire chapter again and fight the boss. Then you pray to anything that you don't die when the other enemies attack you.

This save system is terrible! Why didn't they make a checkpoint system? That would have made this game so much better! I guess the developers really wanted to test gamer's endurance and stamina and skills with this bad save system. Out of all the good points this game makes, this is the one bad point that just weighs it down into almost mediocrity. It's a shame, too, because this is a really phenomenal survival horror adventure, but sadly, many gamers will be turned off by the terrible save system.

Final

Overall, the game is worth picking up, just for the fun factor the actual game presents. But any other casual gamer will pass this one up, just because of the save system.

If you have alot of patience and enjoying replaying levels, then this game is for you. Please, do not let this stop you from at least giving this game a try. If you are willing to look past the horrible saving system, a real diamond awaits you in the rough.

Hits:

---Great Story
---Superb Controls

Best Part: Having the lights off in your room, with headphones on, exploring the hallway with the two banshees. It will scare the daylights out of you.

Misses:

---Graphics are a bit jagged
---Save system is TERRIBLE

Worst Part: Beating the second boss, then exploring afterwards and getting beaten by enemies in the next room, then having to replay the whole chapter over again.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/30/08

Game Release: Dementium: The Ward (US, 10/26/07)