Dead Space is Electronic Arts’ debut survival-horror title that mixes elements that we are familiar with along with adding new ways that redefines the way we think of horror in videogames. Check out why it scared me in the full review.
As is evident every time I review a horror title, I am a huge fan of genre, and I am also incredibly critical of every one that ends up spinning in my Xbox. Imagine my surprise when playing Dead Space and coming to the realization that this is the best survival-horror title to come out this generation yet, as well as being one of the best titles overall. It’s not without its faults though; it’s slightly repetitive. However, the entire experience builds up all the way until the end, if as though someone shook up a bottle of champagne and the cork blew off. It’s almost hard to fathom that a game like this came out of the same studio that created The Godfather game. That’s not to say that the Godfather was a bad videogame, but Dead Space is leaps and bounds better. From the spooky sterile corridors that are splashed with crimson to the carefully conceived story that’s full of sheer terror, the game almost feels like EA stole this from another developer and slapped their name on it.
Dead Space is set far into the future and follows the story of protagonist Isaac and his crew that work for a corporation that mines in the deep reaches of space. One of the crafts that are part of the corporation - a monstrous machine that destroys dead planets for the sole purpose of mining - has sent out a distress call. Isaac and crew assume that it is some kind of mechanical failure, but it is soon revealed to be much, much more. Apparently the crew has unearthed a buried secret of extraterrestrial nature. Not only that, but Isaac’s girlfriend was on the craft when the disaster happened. You come onto an eerily quiet ship that soon turns into complete and utter chaos. The ship is crawling with alien creatures, many of which were once men and women that worked on the ship that have somehow been transformed by the alien forces at work.
The below video is from a game rated Mature +17 by the ESRB. You must be 17 or older to watch.
Your first encounter is incredibly pulse pounding, as you stand helpless watching the creatures slaughter the majority of your crew, you are chased through a tight corridor until you finally escape to an elevator. Eventually, you can stand up to the creatures and you have an array of weapons. The array of weapons you possess is quite impressive, if not somewhat unnecessary. Combat in the game can be fairly intense, and it is done with a very intuitive control scheme and interface. Isaac’s health bar is actually going along his spine, as well as a meter for Stasis. When you are shooting off a gun, the camera goes over his shoulder, showing the ammo on a display on the weapon, and overall the games heads-up (HUD) display, or lack thereof is one of the technological stars.
Another example is much of the story’s progression is carried out through the surviving crewmembers along with other support characters summoning you over a hologram that pops out of your suit. They are completely rendered in real time, and you can even circle the camera around them to see them from the opposite side. The holograms themselves are transparent enough that you can see through them. The actual menus and displays in the game are done in-game, and you can navigate 3D maps and your inventory while you are walking, which is both incredibly impressive and unique. The doors in the game (before they open) even have little loading screens on them, indicating that data is loading to your Xbox. This is done in real-time at store kiosk throughout the game as, well as being found where you can buy ammo, health packs and power nodes.
Power nodes are used to upgrade your arsenal at the various work benches sprinkled across the game and can be used for a few other purposes as well. The weapon you will probably used the most - the games version of a pistol – is the Plasma Cutter, which is useful for cutting the limbs off of all the various creatures in the game. There are also other useful weapons such as the pulse rifle, line gun (which is like a super cross bow), and force gun. These weapons are kind of odd, in that while each has a laser sight, the sights are typically kind of weird, but you can get where they are coming from, especially because of how you kill the monsters. The way you kill pretty much every single one is by cutting off a few limbs. Blowing their head off will do no good as they continue to rampage towards you. There are some weapons that are virtually useless, specifically the flamethrower, which really only slows down the monsters.
