Dead Space

"Dying for Dead Space"

Dead Space had me at hello. The thought of exploring space ships full of relatively dead bodies and hacking through them with power tools had me quivering with anticipation for months. After my tireless scouring of the net for any info I could get my hands on (which I will never do again, because many of the more memorable scenes were ruined for me due to seeing them in gameplay videos), it's finally here. And through all the hype, EA made a game that doesn't suck!

You play as Isaac Clarke, the engineer of a 3 person team sent on a rescue mission to the USG Ishimura. I don't want to spoil anything for you, so basically you are there to find out what happened. Much of the story is revealed in text/audio/video logs found throughout the game, similar to Bioshock. The missions that send Isaac from one end of the ship to the other are not particularly riveting but the overarching story gets the job done. The plot is fairly standard but has a decent twist, and the ending is pretty solid aside from the final boss, which I found a bit disappointing. My biggest gripe with the story is the fact that Isaac doesn't speak. Silent protagonists work in plenty of games, but not Dead Space. The voice acting was very good, despite the sometimes cheesy dialogue, which further detracts from Isaac's lack of vocal chords. Many of the scenes came off very awkward to me because of it. And unfortunately these scenes do not lend themselves to the likes of the hilariously ridiculous scene from Resident Evil involving Barry Burton, Jill Valentine and a lock pick.

But I know plenty of people who skip cutscenes (wierdos) and couldn't care less about the story, so let's talk gameplay. "CUT OFF THEIR LIMBS" is written in blood in one of the first rooms you'll find. And there you have the core of Dead Space's gameplay. Using various futuristic power tools, you run around the ship and re-kill the old Ishimura crew one limb at a time... It is truly satisfying. Big, evil badguy, called a necromorph, comes charging at you, you whip out an line gun used for cutting rocks, and take out its legs. The monster is still crawling over to you, so you either take out it's arms with another shot or march up to it and curb stomp it into oblivion. Isaac's curb stomp is absolutely brutal. If you are unfortunate enough to get pounced on by a baddie, just pound the "A" button to throw it off and enjoy a grotesque death sequence. Drop kicking mutated babies will never get old. Aside from killing necromorphs, you'll be sent on various repair missions that are better, albeit slightly, than the standard survival horror affair of either finding a key or picking up random items and figuring out how they are combined. On occasion you'll be forced to solve puzzles in zero gravity rooms, with or without oxygen, which add an interesting twist to what would otherwise be a boring mission. Isaac also has a stasis and kinesis ability that is often used for puzzles, but are also great for fighting. While it doesn't do much, I thought throwing trash cans at necromorphs was pretty fun. On your quest you'll also find power nodes. These little gems are used to upgrade everything from your oxygen capacity to your flamethrower's reload time.

Where this game really shines however, is the atmosphere. The level design and sound quality are absolutely stellar. The groaning of the ship, flashing lights during quarantine, the silence of being in a vacuum, messages scrawled in blood, hallucinations, a UI that's built into Isaac's suit, and a real time inventory screen all make the world of Dead Space come to life. Again, I don't want to spoil anything by revealing certain moments, but I will boldly say that Dead Space has the best sound and atmosphere of any game I have ever played. Yes, Bioshock, Call of Duty 4, etc. are amazing, but in my opinion, Dead Space takes the cake, eats the cake, and throws up the cake all over the games that tried to eat it first.

My only other complaint aside from the mute Isaac is the lack of scares. Way too many jump out and LOUD NOISE scares and not enough psychological terror. But that's a problem I find with almost all Western horror films/games. And if you play the game on anything less than hard mode, it's very easy and detracts from the scares because Isaac feels more like Master Chief than an untrained engineer using power tools to fight hostile aliens.

Ea did an amazing job with Dead Space and I truly appreciate the fleshing out of the story with comics from Image and the soon to be released dvd Dead Space: Downfall. Bioware did the same with Mass Effect and it really enhances the story and characters. Anyway, Dead Space breathes much needed new life into the survival horror genre and left me wanting more. And while the game will certainly draw comparisons to Resident Evil 4, System Shock 2, and Bioshock, there are more than enough new ideas here to warrant a play through even if survival horror isn't your thing. Let's hope EA avoids rushing out a sequel and puts out more quality games like this.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/29/08

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