Dementium: The Ward
Encyclopedia
Dementium: The Ward is a Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...

 survival horror first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...

  game developed by Renegade Kid
Renegade Kid
Renegade Kid is a video game development company founded in early by video game industry veterans Jools Watsham and Gregg Hargrove, both of whom have developed video games for over 14 years and contributed to over 20 titles...

 and published by Gamecock
Gamecock Media Group
Gamecock Media Group was a video game publisher based in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 2007 by video game industry veterans Mike Wilson, Harry Miller, and Rick Stults, original founders of Gathering of Developers. They used a more hands-off approach and allowed developers creative freedom with...

. Dementium was released in North America on October 31, 2007.

Gameplay

Dementium features full 3D environments and a real-time flashlight. Creative director Jools Watsham also said the game's touch-screen controls are based on those used in Metroid Prime Hunters
Metroid Prime Hunters
Metroid Prime Hunters is a first-person shooter and adventure game for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console. It was developed by American video game developers Nintendo Software Technology, and was released by Nintendo in North America in March 2006, in Europe and Australia in May 2006, and...

.

The game was originally set to include a multiplayer mode, but this was dropped so that the development team could focus on the single player aspect of the game.

Among several other features utilizing the touch screen, the game includes a notepad.

Plot

Dementium tells the tale of a man, William Redmoor, who has an operation on his brain. The Doctor realized that the mind of William is in danger, so he made nightmare dreams where William must fight back to the end and get out of his dreams. As the Doctor calls it, this is the first phase. Throughout the game, the constant mention of a man who murdered his wife and daughter is brought up. It was believed by the staff that William was the murderer. A news report towards the end of the game says that a man was found standing over the dead body of his wife with a gun in his hand. After a brief struggle police shot and wounded the man. His daughter was found alive.

Reception

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|Computer and Video Games
Computer and video games
A video game is an electronic game that involves human interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The word video in video game traditionally referred to a raster display device, but following popularization of the term "video game", it now implies any type of...


|7.9 out of 10
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|GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...


|7.5/10
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|GameSpy
GameSpy
GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...


|3.5/5
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|Game Informer
Game Informer
Game Informer is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles. It was formed in August 1991, when FuncoLand started publishing a six-page magazine, free in all its retail locations...


|5.75 out of 10
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|IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...


|8.0 out of 10
|DS Best First-Person Shooter
DS Best Graphics Technology
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|Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was...


|8.5 out of 10
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|1UP
1UP.com
1UP.com is a video game website owned by IGN Entertainment, a division of News Corporation. Previously, the site was owned by Ziff Davis before being sold to UGO Entertainment in 2009....


|C+
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Dementium received mixed reviews. Craig Harris of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...

said that the visuals were "outstanding: the lighting effects and texture work in Dementium: The Ward are pretty special when you consider the Nintendo DS' capabilities." He also noted "the flashlight effect might not match what other developers have done on more powerful systems" but "it's a believable technique that's pulled off better than anything seen on same-level hardware."

Dementium was criticized most prominently for its short length and lack of replayability; but also for its save system, and that most of the in-game enemies respawn on revisit, leaving a player short on items and ammunition and discouraging exploration.

On September 22, 2008, the Japanese Association of Psychiatric Hospitals published a protest against the game, asking the game to be taken off the shelves because "the game uses the tradition of psychiatry in name but uses imagery of attacking patients".

Sequel

Prior to E3 2009, Renegade Kid released a teaser trailer announcing the development of Dementium II
Dementium II
Dementium II is a first person, survival horror video game developed for the Nintendo DS. It is the sequel to 2007's Dementium: The Ward, also for the Nintendo DS. The game was developed by Renegade Kid and published by SouthPeak Interactive...

for the Nintendo DS. The game was released on May 4, 2010.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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