A Sequel Worth Surviving For

Survival/Horror games, while not being the oldest gaming genre, have gotten a tad stale over the past few years. For every original series out there, there are countless rip-offs that lack the ingenuity of the real gems, yet somehow manage to spawn more sequels than a VH1 reality show.

Luckily, “Dementium” is not one of those series and its sequel, “Dementium II” is a bloody, gruesome gameplay experience that is easily the best survival/horror romp on the DS and a testament to solid gaming design, as it manages to encompass a chilling tale in the palms of your hands.

If you’re looking for something different on the DS, “Dementium II” offers mature gamers something completely different from the majority of offerings on the system.

Mario watch out, South Peak games has a winner here, that is easily the sleeper hit of the year on the system.

Taking control of a mental patient after brain surgery, the story of “Dementium II” is a cool one that will keep you entertained and hungry for more. With clues all around the hospital, you’ll be rewarded as you play through. Difficult boss fights and heavy exploration aren’t common commodities in many DS games and considering the fact that this is essentially a first-person survival/horror title, it’s a rare gem that is easily in the same vein as the “Condemned” series.

The fact that the game is able to establish and maintain that feeling throughout and not go stale, all in the palms of your hands, prove just how solid a title it is.

Aside from the more than capable graphics and eery sound effects that set the tone, the game’s best qualities are its controls. Using the directional pad to move your character and the stylus to look around and aim your gun, the control is intuitive, comfortable and fun. As a result, even killing menial enemies and exploring the same sections of the hospital for clues you missed is far from repetitive.

Speaking of menial enemies, the games only downfall is that many of the foes you encounter in between boss fights are a joke, but considering there’s so much to do, you kind of need to have those small fights in between to loosen up the tension and keep the game from being overly exploration heavy.

Feeling like part “Doom” and “Condemned,” with some of “The Suffering” thrown in for good measure, “Dementium II” is well-crafted title that will not only pass the test of time, but proves once again that the game library of the Nintendo DS is capable of much more than gimmicky titles that don’t force the system to move forward.

Make no mistake about it, “Dementium II” is not only a great FPS Survival/Horror title on the DS, it’s an excellent game on any system.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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