To my passive bewilderment, last week I discovered that 'ol Dead Space had an extensive prequel marketing campaign in the form of a six issue comic book series (adapted into
online episodes),
an interactive flash-based website, and a Direct-To-Video animated movie (which simultaneously premiered on Starz Network). Adversely, each of them hold flaws of their own, and all fail to tie directly enough in with the game's plot.
The Image comic is the strongest of the works, drawn by Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night), with characters working out the mystery of just uncovered The Marker. The fate and reasoning behind much of the cast is scatterbrained, and the video series has laughable direction. For a six issue series, not enough new information opposite of the game is presented.
The interactive website holds the weakest plotline of them all, concerning two story threads casted by what can only be described as some low-rent local acting troupe. Needed more organization, and less Guys - In - Front - Of - A - Green - Screen - Delivering - Lines - They've - Just - Memorized. Pass.
Finally, the animated film, which has received the most attention (selling half a million dollars worth of DVD & Blu-Ray units on opening week) is Alien(s): Animated. This one can actually be detrimental if viewed before playing the game, as objects and artifacts work differently, locations are changed, and scenes are altered. A senseless gorefest done in the same animation style as all those KidsWB properties bought off Sony (Godzilla, MiB, Ghostbusters Extreme).
These prequels center around the same point in time, and follow the same setup of 'Crew goes crazy, [spoiler]lone survivor records a parting message'[/spoiler]. Oh, and [spoiler]
everyone dies. Yawn.[/spoiler] EA has stated that they wish to pursue a similar marketing tactic with other titles in the future, so unless someone wises up and creates a strong singular story among the mediums that bothers to introduce new information, expect more time-wasting secondary merchandise masqueraded around as vital additions to grace our presence well into the coming years.
'Sup Matrix / Geass.
