Dead Space

Dead Space plays much like your standard survival-horror – a lone protagonist with minimal resources facing a horde of horrifying enemies. If you've played any of the Silent Hill games, or are familiar with genre classics like System Shock, then you'll know exactly what to expect... almost.

Our hero, Isaac Clarke, is an engineer, and a member of a maintenance crew dispatched to investigate problems onboard the USG Ishimura. The Ishimura is a planet-cracker, a massive vessel tasked with dismantling entire worlds in order to extract natural resources for a depleted Earth. Accompanying Isaac are Zach Hammond, a security consultant for the corporation which owns the Ishimura, and Kendra Daniels, a computer expert.

As soon as the colossal ship is sighted, things start to go awry. The team's own ship, the Kellion, crash-lands on the Ishimura, finding it virtually deserted and under ship-wide quarantine. In short order, the lights go out, a necromorph bursts from a ventilation shaft and the Kellion's pilot and co-pilot are both viciously butchered. Chaos ensues and Isaac is promptly seperated from both Zach and Kendra. Cue lots of slinking through dark corridors, jumping at shadows and desperately hoping that ventilation shaft doesn't contain any nasty surprises...

Graphically, Dead Space is to die for. The Ishimura is rendered in spectacular detail. The USS Enterprise this is not, and you'll find no sterile white corridors, plush carpets or comfy Captain's chairs here. Everything is grimy, industrial and claustrophobic; an environment designed for utility rather than aesthetics. Likewise Isaac's “weapons”, which are, barring a largely useless assault rifle, tools rather than actual weapons. Isaac wields plasma cutters, force guns, contact beams and power saws to great effect, and for good reason.

Necromorphs prove disturbingly resilient foes. Unloading a clip from your not-so-trusty assault rifle into the face of a necromorph will only serve to irritate the creature. If you hope to survive you must swiftly familiarise yourself with the concept of "stratregic dismemberment", whereby you employ your plasma cutter to systematically amputate a necromorph's limbs. Blowing the creatures legs off will frequently result in it using its remaining appendages to drag itself along the floor after you, though you will buy yourself some time. Immobilisation is key. Blow off one leg and one arm, and you're usually pretty safe. Other creatures, necromorph spawn in particular, require an altogether different approach. Experimentation pays dividends.

Any survival-horror worth the price of admission relies on atmosphere, and its hard to create tension or inspire a sense of creeping dread without investing heavily in the sound department. The developers obviously realised this and the game's sound plays a vital part, not only in setting the mood, but also in alerting the player to points of interest and the presence of enemies. Over the hissing of leaking gas valves, the dull roar of the ship's engines or the sparking of a malfunctioning console you'll often hear necromorphs scuttling through the ventilation shafts. Creeping hesitantly down one dark corridor, I could hear a rhythmic thud coming from just ahead. Turning a corner I encountered a surviving crew member who, having lost his mind, was repeatedly smashing his skull against the bulkhead. Dead Space is full of such disturbing imagery.

While exploring, Isaac will happen across stores and workbenches. Stores permit you to purchase weapons, ammunition, health packs, environment suits, power nodes and stasis units. You purchase this equipment by selling items you don't want, and by spending credits you find scattered about the ship. Power nodes are used at workbenches to further upgrade your equipment, increasing the speed, capacity, damage, duration and/or distance on the applicable weapon/unit. However, these nodes are scarce and you won't be able to upgrade everything during your first play-through so choose wisely. Likewise, Isaac's environment suit has limited inventory slots so careful management of ammunition, health packs and stasis units is critical.

Much has been said of the way Isaac handles in terms of both player perspective and character responsiveness, or lack thereof. Given that the entire GUI functions as an holographic projection emitted from Isaac's environment suit (there are no health bars or ammo counters super-imposed over the action), the over-the-shoulder perspective really doesn't restrict your field of vision to the extent that some claim. It takes a little getting used to, but you soon find yourself adapting.

Regarding the alleged lagginess of Isaac's movement, sure, even with mouse sensitivity cranked all the way up, Isaac tends to move as though he were wading waist-deep through cold porridge. Initially, this annoyed the crap out of me and I found controlling Isaac, especially during fire-fights, an exercise in frustration. Then I discovered stasis, and also read an article somewhere regarding certain design decisions taken by the developers in terms of Isaac's abilities.

Isaac is not a genetically engineered super-soldier. He's an engineer. He's the brains, not the brawn. The bulky environment suit he wears probably doesn't do a lot to enhance his speed or agility either. To compensate Isaac has stasis units. Stasis units allow you to slow down charging necromorphs in order to more accurately dismember them. Stasis is critical to your survival when facing multiple opponents. In addition, Isaac also has a kinesis unit hard-wired into his suit. Kinesis is used to remove obstructions, solve puzzles and hurl explosive canisters at rampaging necromorphs. To my mind, these two useful additions to Isaac's arsenal render his somewhat lethargic movement a trivial concern.

If the game has one flaw it's the repetitive nature of the missions. You repair the tram system in order to gain access to the rest of the ship only to discover you need to refuel the engines. Then it's fix the communications array, life-support system, asteroid defense system and so on. The game is strictly linear. Proceed to point A, then point B, then point C... etc. However, because the gameplay is so tense and the story so intriguing you keep playing in the hopes of finding one more audio log that might help to shed light on just what happened onboard the Ishimura. Audio logs live or die by their voice acting, and I'm happy to report that the voice acting in Dead Space is stellar.

So, what did happen onboard the Ishimura? I'm not saying. Though I blame L. Ron Hubbard. Make of that what you will.

It all started when the Concordance Corporation receives a distress call from the USG Ishimura, a starship which was mining ore on the planet Aegis 7. In response, the company sends the USG Kellion to fix whatever mechanical problem the ship has and sitting in a seat quietly, Isaac Clarke watches a communication from his ex-girlfriend who is currently on the Ishimura. However, the Ishimura is in a much deadlier situation then a simple mechanical problem and Isaac will soon be thrown into the fight of his life.

The Kellion suddenly experiences mechanical failure and crashes into the landing bay of the Ishimura. After the crew of the ship comes to, you take control of Isaac. Immediately when you begin to take control, you might find that the game is much more different than other games you have played. All the health gauges, air gauges, etc. are directly on the back of Isaac's suit and since you see his back for the whole game it's not a bad place to put it. This removes the HUD completely and adds to the immersion.

Anyway, as soon as you take control of Isaac you follow the rest of the crew to the inside of the Ishimura. The detail here is amazing. The hangar is in crisp detail and the characters you are with seem very realistic. As you walk further with the crew, you will enter a room with the lights out and the crew starts to become very edgy as there is no contact from anyone else on the ship. This game is really good at setting the mood for a horror game and you can't help but feel edgy throughout the game.

You are then told to activate a computer and from then on, you will be introduced to many strange, bloodthirsty creatures throughout the game who can't help but to leap out from ceilings and walls, and it gets even more startling when these things leap at you in zero gravity environments.

As you go along, you might find that the game is pretty easy once you get the hang of it since you start know what to expect. However, they still manage to blindside you once in a while and dealing with that is the most fun aspect of the game.

If you like blood, gore, horror, and action, this game is the game to play. If you were wondering why I am being so cryptic about the story, it's just that knowing too much about what to expect in a horror game ends up taking away some of the shock value. Besides, finding out what happened to the Ishimura, Isaac's ex-girlfriend, and Aegis 7 is part of the fun.

This game is great!
A fine example of a horror/survival/FPS game that will leave you wanting more!
(Thankfully, Dead Space 2 is in the works)
To be honest I bought this game when it first came out but somehow did not play it and uninstalled it, it was more than a year later that I thought about getting into it and finding if all the hype was warranted and I am glad I did because it was great and the hype is definitely warranted!
This game deserves to be bought and played, just be aware that you are limited to 5 installs on *different* machines (you can install the game on the same machine as many times as you want) so don't let that stop you from buying this game.
I loved it and I definitely recommend it. Satisfaction guaranteed!

Why is the roof crawling with creatures?
Im playing deadspace.
Deadspace is very scary, especially at night with no lights on.
I dare you to try it

This game is what horror really is. In every turn, every corner, every shadow and every time you think you are in the green zone.. You are being watched. This game gives you action, horror and somewhat some strategy. This is a game that once you start you will not be able to stop. This is quite a long game too so it's your in for a long ordeal. Great graphics especially when you blow the head off an alien with your lazer gun.
6/5