The survival-horror genre is back and better than ever with a new IP from EA called Dead Space. In Dead Space, you play a character named Issac Clarke who is an engineer aboard the USG Kellion. The Kellion is called on to find and repair a mining ship called the USG Ishimura. It just so happens that Issac’s girlfriend/wife (the game never specifies) named Nicole is also onboard of the USG Ishimura. Unfortunately for you, things start going wrong right from the get go. As you dock with the Ishimura, something hits your ship disabling on of the many autopiloting assist systems causing you to basically crash land onto the Ishimura. As you venture into the Ishimura, you notice a lack of personnel and soon as you begin to investigate what went wrong with the Ishimura, you encounter your first necromorph. I’m not one to give away a game’s entire story in a review as most people who read reviews have not purchased the game yet. But I will say that the story of this game is wonderful and packs a few expected as well as unexpected twists.
As far as gameplay and controls are concerned, EA did a great job of integrating a nice over the shoulder 3rd person setup with no HUD. Your ammo is displayed from your weapon and your health and stasis energy is show on your suit. Even in airless environments, your oxygen time is also displayed on your suit so that nothing will invade your field of vision as far as HUD stuff goes. There are only 7 weapons in the game (plasma cutter, line gun, pulse rifle, ripper, contact beam, force gun, and the flamethrower) though they all are upgradable and have their definite pros and cons. I’m quite partial to the line gun myself. Everything that you obtain in the game is upgradable with items called power nodes that are found throughout the game and can be bought in the game’s store for 10,000 credits. As you may have noticed from the names of the weapons; they are not typical by any means. This is because the quickest way to kill a necromorph is to dismember it, and yes, this does lead to a very gory game. There are many different environments within the ship; most notable are the zero-G and airless rooms (sometimes they are both). The zero-G rooms have you navigate with gravity boots, but you can also travel from wall to wall doing what they call a zero-G jump. There is a mini game in the later Chapters in the game called zero-G basketball where you utilize this move many times. The airless rooms are super creepy as you can’t hear anything but yourself (or if something hits you) because there is no sound where there is no air. Necromorphs tend to sneak up on you because of this and don’t bother trying your flamethrower because where there is no air, there is no fire.
As far as graphics go, though the game’s highest display capabilities are only 720p, the game is a graphical gem. The character models, many kinds of necromorphs, the weapon effects, the environments are all gorgeous. There’s nothing quite like watching a dead necromorph floating around in a zero-G room with blood spilling out and floating with it. Sound… Oh, what to say about the sounds. I would like to shake the hands of every single person that had anything to do with making sounds in this game. The ambient noises, the sounds of the necromorphs crawling through the air vents, the creepy random background noises; it is all just wonderfully done! There is one point in the game where you walk into a large living quarters where several of the crew of Ishimura lay dead all over. The room is very dark, and in the background you hear a faint and creepy iteration of twinkle twinkle little star and it freaks you out.
Overall, the game is great. There is rarely a point in the game where the developers don’t try to scare you (and more times than not, they are quite successful). They even throw a cheap one in on the ending sequence. The story is great and it is a blast to play, though sometimes you will not want to play because of what may come next. But isn’t that what the survival-horror genre is all about? I wish the game were a little bit longer personally but don’t take that as me saying it’s a short game. It’s just so good that you will be kind of bummed when it’s over. The only real replay value the game has going for it is for trophies/achievements (that’s right PS3 owners, it actually has trophies). Though it does let you continue a re-playthrough of the game where you get to keep everything that you attained in your first playthrough as well as the unlocking of a new suit. But that’s ok because EA has already announced a sequel (which this game begs for once completed) and if that’s not enough to get your fix, there is an animated movie prequel out on DVD and blu-ray called Dead Space: Downfall which tells the events which take place before the Kellion arrives on the Ishimura.
In the end, I give Dead Space a 9.5 out of 10.
9.5/10
-CA
