Dead Space is the latest entry in the survival horror genre. It has been a while since a new IP ventured into the horror realms. This game just might be the new kid on the block to join the ranks of Silent Hill and Resident Evil on the PS3, PC and the Xbox 360. Dead Space manages to take elements from various sources to execute a unique and horrifying experience.

Story

The story revolves around the USG Ishimura, a mining space vessel which broke off contact from command center. This is where the main character, Isaac Clarke, comes into play. Isaac is a systems engineer and part of a small crew sent out to find out what has happened to the USG Ishimura. Even though Isaac’s job is to diagnose and repair any issues with the Ishimura, he also hopes to find out what happened to someone special to him on the ship.

Upon finding the Ishimura, the small survey crew discovers that something sinister is going on board the mining ship. Somehow the dead corpses have reanimated by mutating into some alien like creature you can only kill by dismembering them.

Unlike most horror games, the story for Dead Space is complete with a solid conclusion wrapping up most of the loose ends neatly by the last chapter. This really leaves you satisfied after completing the game. However, there is more than enough back story especially with the marker to craft an entire universe.

Controls

The controls are very similar to Resident Evil 4. You pretty much always stay in an over the shoulder third person view. However, unlike Resident Evil you cannot press down and action to do a quick 360 turn. At first the fact that you can’t turn around quickly to see if a monster is sneaking up on you may bug you. However, after playing though the game I believe this was done intentionally.

There were quite a few occasions where I literally jumped out of my seat because I did not see a monster sneaking up behind me. Aside from an assortment of futuristic weapons, you have your melee attacks. You can either swing your fist or execute a vicious stomp.

I found the stomp to be the most stratifying action sequence in the whole game. The sound effect and visuals when you stomp a dead body is quite gruesome.

Visuals

The graphics in Dead Space are quite good, you can tell that the game is extremely polished. The attention to detail is visible from the creepy environment all the way down to the entrails of the deceased bodies. The main way to kill an enemy is to dismember the mutated alien bodies. Cutting each limb off results in blood splattering everywhere causing the enemy to die.

You will also find that using the stomp on the dead bodies are a necessity to finding loot, despite the gruesome results. Often times stomping on a dead body results in heads, limbs and body parts falling off.

Design

During each chapter you will hardly see any load screens or slowdowns due to some nifty background loading while accessing doors. There are also no noticeable HUD displays in the game to keep you immersed in the world of Dead Space.

Your life meter is show on the Isaac’s back, as well as his Oxygen sensor. The ammo count is shown on the weapon itself. Having no HUD does indeed help keep you on the edge of your seat.

Despite all of the of great things about the game, there were some minor issues, such as the text on the Isaac’s screens can get small at times and also the the Nav Icon sometimes causes the camera to spin around blocking where the Nav Icon leads to.

Wrap-up

Dead Space is a grade ‘A’ game in the horror genre. It does so many things right to keep the interest high. The developers really knew how to screw with you in regards to pacing. Often times, the pacing would go all out of whack keeping you tensed up for a long time. For example, just when you thought things were going to settle down, things just intensifies messing with the pacing of the game.

Dead Space manages to deliver an experience nothing like anything I’ve seen before. It manages to create an intense atmosphere, leaving no safe place to hide. Dead Space is out just in time for Halloween, I highly recommend that all fans of the horror genre to go and check the game out.

Score

4.5/5

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