Nintendo DS

Dementium: The Ward

All in all Dementium is not very difficult even though you can’t take any extra ammo or health items with you, for they are so frequently dispersed around The Ward that it doesn’t matter much. The learning curve for this game isn’t that steep, once the player grasps the controls, they should easily be able to make their way through the game. Probably the most annoying thing in Dementium is the fact that if you die there are severe consequences, and by that I mean if you die in the game you must restart at the beginning of the last chapter. There are no checkpoints, or anything, and to top that off you must re-collect any items you had already obtained in that chapter. Although it is very hard to die if you play wisely, like I said health items are frequent, but it is still annoying to have to start all over if you die. Just pray you don’t die at a boss.

And now I must take leave of you. So long, farewell, I say... adieu! Before I go, though, let me quickly make this point that I came for. If you've the guts to enduring gaming in which you do lots of playing All the while softly praying, preying on some churlish horde, Go out and buy this game now quickly! Preying on churlish horde Within Dementium: The Ward!

On the whole, Dementium is a riveting title which expertly straddles the line between survival horror and first-person shooter - two genres vastly underrepresented on the DS. If you're up for a good scare, a lot of blood, and worthy horror experience, then look no further. Renegade Kid not only did their homework, they passed the exam with flying colors.

Overall the game is a pleasing experience and should delight fans of horror, FPS or quirky indies. There's nothing like Dementium for the DS out there, and for me personally it's always a thrill to see the first game of its kind for a portable make a debut. These are the types of titles that we remember years later as benchmarks, and I think Dementium: The Ward surely has a crack at that status. Don't forget to play it in the dark!

Dementium: The Ward, despite the heavy amount of advertisements throughout the big sites, is a game that was definitely underhyped leading to its release. The game is short and can be beaten in under 4 hours, but this is a true achievement through and through despite its slightly below-average replay value. If this was just a test to see what Gamecock can publish, then they passed with flying colors, and this game will garner a steady fanbase as long as people take the time to play it. There's no multiplayer, but who cares? It wouldn't make any sense, especially with the game's story. While it probably isn't as scary as the developers at Renegade Kid hoped it would be, they still succeeded at pushing the DS to potential new heights with its twisted story, stellar graphics, tremendous use of sound, and nearly perfect use of the handheld's touch screen functionality. Dementium: The Ward is a terrific experience. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

To that end, Dementium doesn't do anything we haven't seen before, such as playing a piano to reveal a secret, acquiring special colored keycards to open doors and shot gunning monsters. Yet at the same time, the experience feels new, since there's almost nothing like it on the platform, save for the aged Resident Evil Deadly Silence. So shut off the lights, put on a pair of headphones and get lost in this demented adventure. It's without question one of the DS' most under hyped games, and also one of its best.

My biggest complaint with the game is that the storyline was often dropped during the game, and I had a hard time figuring out what was going on. This never distracts from the actual game play, but I always felt like a John Doe instead of a character. In the end, Dementium: The Ward is a cohesive game with the sum of all of its parts adding up to a frightening whole.

Dementium: The Ward is almost perfection, performing as a fantastic feat of first-person survival, and oozes with a truly, truly frightening aesthetic. Even if it's not the first in its genre, it's the most satisfyingly original game we've seen on the DS in some time. In a land of tap-and-drag minigames, Dementium sticks out like a blood-thirsty gremlin in a Smurf village. And we mean that as the highest possible compliment, and hope that distinction will help it find the audience it richly deserves.

Dementium: The Ward isn't a perfect portable shooter, but it's certainly a damn good one. You're looking at around eight to ten hours of solid gameplay, unless of course you continually die at boss battles. Unfortunately, we haven't been blessed with enough good DS FPS games, but Dementium certainly is a welcomed edition to the DS library. If you're the type of gamer who likes mixing survival horror with first-person controls, Renegade Kid developed this title for you. At this point, we can only hope that other developers follow in their footsteps and bring us even more FPS love.

It's pretty amazing that, for a system that's been out for three years now, there have been very few first-person shooters made for it. The Nintendo DS is a prime (no pun intended) system for the genre, what with its touch screen that can easily mimic the precise movement of mouse controls. Dementium: The Ward fills that void nicely - it's appropriately gory (it is a shooter, after all) but also adds an element of mystery to the whole thing. Some design issues do get in the way a tiny bit, but not so much that you'll hate on the game…and unless you've got the expectations of a PC shooter fan, it's hard to not be impressed with what Renegade Kid managed to pull off on the Nintendo DS hardware.

All that you can ask of a survival horror game is that it scares you and while Dementium might not give you nightmares, it'll certainly put you on edge as you play it, which is enough to make you ignore some of the more annoying, pedestrian moments here.

Quizas la critica mas grande que se le puede hacer al juego, aparte de las de los puzzles y la linterna, es que en realidad es demasiado corto tiene pocos capitulos y cada uno avanza a pasos agigantados, si tienen la suerte de no trabarse en ningun puzzle es un juego que en menos de 4 horas ya se esta terminando, una lastima. A pesar de los defectos, Dementium: The Ward es uno de los juegos que hacia falta en el catalogo de DS para complementarlo y junto a Resident Evil: Deadly Silence son los dos exponentes máximos del terror en la DS.

Ultimately, Dementium: The Ward is an entertaining shooter that makes great strides in creating a portable horror experience but holds itself back from really accomplishing what it set out to do. Easily beatable in four to five hours by an accomplished player, its static puzzles and enemy placement leave no reason to run through it again, but its memorable sound design and creepy ambience make it well worth a play.

Deuxième porte-parole du genre Horreur sur Nintendo DS, Dementium : L'Asile fait bonne impression. S'appuyant sur une histoire qui aurait mérité un meilleur traitement ou une progression redondante, le jeu parvient malgré tout à susciter l'intérêt et quelques notions d'effroi. En somme, voici un premier segment prometteur qui pourrait donner lieu à une suite très réussie, pour peu que Renegade Kids gomme tous les défauts évoqués plus avant.

"Dementium: The Ward" chegou discreto, sem fazer barulho, e por isso a surpresa é maior. O melhor do game está em sua produção visual e principalmente sonora, que contribuem para o clima de terror, ou o que é possível numa tela de três polegadas. As porções de quebra-cabeça e de ação são decentes (há uma boa quantidade de armas, por exemplo), mas o projeto de fases é um tanto repetitivo. Porém, o pior é ter de refazer o capítulo toda vez que acabar a energia. Mesmo com esses contratempos e do conteúdo não muito extenso, "Dementium" é uma experiência que vale a pena se submeter.

Dementium sounded good on paper, it looked promising in previews, and it played like an amazing horror movie during the first hour or so. It sought to be one of those games that scares the hell out of you by gently rubbing your shoulder (e.g. Silent hill) instead of yanking you whole (e.g. Resident Evil), but at the end of the day, it reached the godly status of neither. It makes a brilliant case of “show, don’t tell”, but unfortunately, it just doesn’t show a heck of a lot.

When it comes to horror shooters, the DS isn’t an obvious platform, but Dementium succeeds where Touch the Dead failed. Within the first five minutes of playing Dementium, you’ve seen a nurse dragged away by an obese monster called The Cleaver, discovered a code scrawled in blood, and found a note asking, “Why did you do it?”

Dementium could have turned out slightly above average if the developer would have made some simple, key design decisions differently. As it is, the content just isn't compelling enough to warrant the dedication necessary to make it all the way through the asylum.