Dead Space

"Gory, tense horror action... starring an intergalactic errand boy."

A Review by Bill Lange

BOTTOM LINE: Visceral combat and peerless atmosphere will carry you through one long fetch quest after another.

EA has taken a lot of criticism for being an Evil Empire, cranking out sequel after uninspired sequel and riding the Madden wave year after year. They recently seem to have had a change of heart, and if the introduction of original franchises like the futuristic splatterfest Dead Space are any indication, the future is looking good for EA.

In Dead Space's future, the Earth's natural resources have been completely depleted. Mankind reaches to the stars to fuel our voracious appetite for energy and resources, building enormous "planet cracker" ships to destroy celestial bodies and harvest them. The entire game takes place on one of these ships, the USC Ishimura. The ship has gone silent after their most recent planet crack, spurring a rescue ship to be sent out to investigate. This is unfortunate for the rescue ship's crew, including one Isaac Clarke, your silent avatar in Dead Space; there are some nasty secrets waiting aboard the Ishimura. Isaac pines for his ex-girlfriend serving aboard the Ishimura, and finding her amid the mess onboard is near the top of his to-do list.

While fighting to escape the doomed ship, Isaac is faced with a religious conspiracy, a government coverup, a mysterious artifact, and some of the most nightmarish abominations ever seen in a video game.

The Necromorphs' design takes a page from the alien life form seen in John Carpenter's hyper-gory version of The Thing. Necromorphs reproduce by absorbing dead tissue in a shower of blood, spawning clawed, tentacled horrors. The creatures are hideous perversions of man, flesh and bone twisted into new forms of life. The monsters never lose their power to frighten and disturb, since most types of Necromorph visibly look like they used to be human, with screaming faces jutting out at unnatural angles and extra limbs hanging dead and useless. The most disturbing variety of Necromorph is a large blob of flesh attached to a wall merged with a human torso, howling in agony as tentacles sprout from every orifice to attack Isaac.

The usual gaming convention of headshots are much less useful here, as the Necromorphs are very resistant to injury. To efficiently defend yourself, you'll quickly learn to hack apart your enemies limb from limb to do the most damage. The result is a geyser of gore jetting from stumps and necks, which is especially entertaining in zero gravity combat.

For all the positive buzz Dead Space has (rightfully) received about its monsters and creepy ambiance, there's never any real sense of danger and vulnerability. Your suit has a limited number of inventory slots, and it's easy to run out of ammunition if you don't dismember Necromorphs consistently. However, there are save points everywhere, you can buy ammo and health packs to your heart's content, and even if you are devoured alive, you're not punished for your lack of skill (you restart close to where you died). Isaac boards the Ishimura empty-handed, but quickly builds up a pile of energy weapons and industrial machinery with which to dismember the things that go bump in the night, removing much of the feeling of helplessness that most horror games cultivate.

It could easily be argued that Dead Space isn't technically a survival horror game at all; it has more in common with Resident Evil 4's horror-tinged action than the futile struggle against the supernatural of the more traditional Silent Hill games. By no means does it take anything away from Dead Space, it simply means to alter your expectations.

Dead Space's dozen-hour journey is padded considerably by frantic fetch quests that send Isaac from one end of the enormous planet cracker to the other several times over. Of course you're the only one who is wearing a space suit when you arrive on the Ishimura, so it's up to you to trudge around in a vacuum within the monster-infested bowels of the ship, while your surviving crewmates hole up in safe zones and order you around. You'll be half-expecting your panicked allies to ask you to pick up bread and milk on the way back by the time the game ends.

Apprehension turns to annoyance as you become more accustomed to walking around the ship, reprogramming this and manually overriding that, while being ambushed by aliens at every turn. The endgame twists are painfully obvious if you've been playing attention to dialogue, and the final boss fight is a letdown after a dozen hours of buildup.

Despite its late-game flaws, Dead Space is an action-horror masterpiece, building a slow dread and making you jump at nothing many times over before launching a tentacled freak into your face. The last quarter of the game drags a bit as the terrifying becomes routine, but Dead Space is a worthy purchase for mature gamers looking for a sci-fi scare.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/27/08

Game Release: Dead Space (US, 10/13/08)