Dead Space

"I've never played a game as immersive as this"

Inroduction

I had no idea what I was getting into when I got this game. All my friends know that I love anything zombie related and one of them suggested I play Dead Space. I thought to myself, zombies in space? That's the best plot I have ever heard of in my life! I was slightly disappointed when I discovered that the enemy isn't exactly zombies, but an alien life form that has horribly mutated the crew members of a very large spaceship. However, my disappointment was short-lived as I began to be fully immersed in this twisted and frighteningly accurate outer space world.

Story/Setting

You are Isaac Clarke, an engineer that is part of a 3 person rescue/repair team. Your mission is to repair the spaceship USG Ishimura, a huge mining vessel that carves out chunks from planets and harvests the valuable ore. From the moment you get there you can tell that something has gone terribly wrong. However, you can't abort the mission because, of course, your ship was destroyed when you docked. To make things even more interesting, your girlfriend happens to be working on the ship as well. I can't go into any more detail without any spoilers, but I will say that there are some surprising twists that keep the plot very interesting.

The setting is where the game really shines. It definitely feels like you are in deep space. There are sections where the hull has been breached and you are in a vacuum. When you are in the vacuum, things sound differently as you would expect if you were in an airless environment. You also have a small air supply that will run out if you don't move quickly. There are other parts where there is no gravity and you can leap from floor to ceiling or walk up the sides of a wall.

The ship itself feels huge. You have to take a tram to get to different sections. The doors make loud mechanical whirring and hissing noises. Everything is made of metal. They just made the environment so elaborate and detailed that you can really feel like you are actually there sometimes.

The only thing I didn't like about the story is that Isaac doesn't talk. Having a silent protagonist is fine for the Zelda games, but it doesn't seem to fit in this one. There is a good amount of dialogue, but your other crew-mates just talk at you instead of to you.

Rating: 9/10

Gameplay

At first the controls are hard to get used to. Your view is from behind and to the right of Isaac. You move kind of slow and the mouse feels a little sluggish when playing. Once I got the hang of it, though, I couldn't really find anything wrong with the way the game controlled.

To shoot, you hold the right mouse button to aim. Isaac will level his weapon in front of him and one or more blue lasers will show you where your shots will land. To fire you click the left mouse button while holding the right. To walk you use the standard WASD. To run, you hold the left shift button while moving, but you can't run and shoot at the same time.

For most of the game Isaac has to perform a bunch of tasks throughout the giant derelict spacecraft. You will be traveling to different sections of the craft, blasting any aliens that get in your way, and fixing various systems that are vital to your mission. There are some puzzle-like tasks, but they don't require a whole lot of in-depth thought.

The combat is exciting. The mutant aliens are pretty scary looking and you feel like you want to kill them quickly before they get too close. If they do get to close they can jump on you and cause some serious damage. They are also pretty hardy mutants. They can take quite a few shots to the chest, and you find out very early on that the best way to deal with them is by blasting off their limbs and head. Even with a couple missing limbs and their head blown off they can still come at you. Ammo is a major commodity as well, so you can't exactly spray and pray. You have to make your shots count because if you run out you are pretty much screwed.

Rating: 10/10

Graphics/Sound

The graphics are stunning. The game is very well optimized and I have heard of people running it on high settings with mediocre PCs. It has great lighting effects, textures, and models. Everything is seamless and complete.

One of the most interesting things is that there is no HUD in this game. All vital information can be seen from the character and environment. Your health is displayed on the back of your suit. Your ammunition is displayed when you hold up your weapon. This keeps out the distractions and allows you to get into the game more.

Another cool aspect is the holographic screens that appear throughout the ship and when someone is talking to you. All elevators and doors have one of these screens instead of a standard switch. It's like there are HUDs inside the game, but no HUD for the game. When someone is talking to you, you can still move around and check for items, so you don't just have to sit and do nothing.

The sounds also really help with the immersion. You will sometimes hear random clanking, footsteps, or alien grunts and shrieks that keep you on your toes. The music gets intense when you are under attack by a group of aliens and is kind of spacey when you are just exploring alone.

Rating: 10/10

Summary

This is an awesome horror game and not for the faint of heart. I very rarely feel the immersion that this game offers and it was quite a thrill to play through. I've just finished my first play through and I am planning on playing through again on hard difficulty immediately. I recommend you buy this game and when you finish playing it write a letter to EA telling them to hurry up with Dead Space 2! Because you will definitely be hungry for more.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 02/12/09

Game Release: Dead Space (US, 10/20/08)