Dementium the Ward sure is a game to bring in mixed reactions. It's one of those games that will be fun one minute but a total chore the next. Here you play as some unlucky guy who wakes up in mental hospital with no memory and no idea whats going on. So you set out to get out of there before being killed by the monsters the dwell with in. You'll start the game off with a trusty flashlight and a notepad and quickly get a gun. Controlling the first person view is nice, easy, sharp, and responsive. It just suffers some problems that are one other DS FPS like turning. The game looks great really adding to the experience. Everything. has a nice detail to it and the monsters look nice and scary. Most of the game is about exploring the hospital seeing the blood stained walls, gathering notes, and solving puzzles. Puzzles can be creative like playing "Dead" on a piano. The hospital however repeats way to often. Besides some certain rooms it's all made up of hallways, drab rooms, and closets. It can be easy to get lost even with a map, and monsters respawing after leaving a room doesn't help. Encounters with monsters can be really annoying. It can take many bullets to take them down later in the game, they can get into blind spots you can't see at first and damage you. Running away should be more help but can just lead to taking a lot of damage. There are also a few flaws keeping this game back. Your gun can't hold much ammo leaving you out to dry at some points. Health can be not enough of not being able to take the healing item. or ammo and store it is questionable choice of design. The game also trys to creepy and scary at points but doesn't cut it. Overall the Ward has a lot of moments that will just frustrate more than entertain. Exploring the hospital is suppose to be scary but can be more boring. It has it's moments, but they are to far and between.
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Dementium is a very rare breed of game for the DS because it's a horror-based First Person Shooter. It's hard to tell if portable systems are (or were ever) appropriate for games with horror themes both in game play and ... Read Full Review
