Flashy but that's it

Author's Rating:

Pros: Scary at first
Excellent Graphics
Inventive Guns

Cons: Repetitive
No replay value
Player character is more scary than aliens

The Bottom Line: 
I suggest renting it first. It's sort of a forgettable game.

Author's Review
Dead Space is an action-horror game in the vein of newer Resident Evil games.

1. Story
Dead Space is set in a distressed mining ship. Another crew tries to rescue this ship and things get messier and messier, as the ship is revealed to be infested with zombie-type aliens.
If you noticed, the story is about the same as about ten other horror movie or games. It could be Alien or Even Horizon or Resident Evil - it's basically a setup for a haunted house of sorts. It's nothing special, and often predictable. Still, it gets you exploring the ship.
As for the characters, they're not very likeable. Even the player character, Isaac, isn't very charming. He never talks. He just stands there while people talk to him, wearing that ominous looking armor. At times, it's easy to imagine that you are the bad guy, killing these alien things. I don't know, it's kinda weird. The appeal of other horror movies is that the characters look or seem vulnerable; Isaac walks like a tank, his footsteps clanking on metal, and he kind of looks like the Big Daddy from bioshock. It kinda ruins the atmosphere.
I've heard a lot of people being really scared by this game, but personally, I don't see it. It's scary as in it surprises you by suddenly sending enemies hurtling towards you, but not because of some deep psychological atmosphere like, say, the first Resident Evil game. You get used to it after the first thirty minutes.

Story : 6/10

2. Graphics
This is one the best things about this game. And since it is a horror game, this would probably be the greatest selling points for a lot of people. Enemies move silently behind shadows, and pop out randomly from vents. When metal hits metal, sparks fly, and illuminates parts of the environment. It's very realistic. There's a zero-gravity scene here that is probably the highlight of this game.
It's a gory game, but mostly it's alien gore that you see. As I've mentioned, your character never displays any kind of physical damage, with him wearing the armor and all. Again, it detracts from the spirit of the game. Your character looks much tougher than some of the aliens. Still, the graphics is probably within the top 5 of the best looking Xbox 360 games right now.

Graphics : 10/10

3. Sound
It's on par with the graphics, and a necessity for this kind of game. Your character lumbers heavily over the metallic surfaces of the ship, while your enemies scratch the floor, crawling, running or walking on its walls. The music kicks up when enemies appear, adding to the tenstion. It helps the mood a lot.
The voiceovers are more average, not helping the already predictable characters and dialog.

Sound : 9/10

4. Gameplay
This game is not very hard, if you know how to budget things and have played an FPS over that past year. The main challenge of the game is saving ammo - but that's hardly a problem, since the enemies drop ammo and you can buy or pick it up fairly easily, even on hard difficulty. Your guns get pretty powerful towards the end of the game, making the game even easier.
They implemented a real time inventory and map for this game. It's pretty cool. You push a button and a hologram comes up. The enemies can still attack you while you're using it, so you have to plan ahead. It adds to the challenge. You can also press a button and the map will draw a line on the environment itself, telling you where to go next. It is very useful.
As for the game itself, it gets repetitive rather quickly once the novelty expires. The shock-happy enemies become predictable. Dark corner? Enemy. Dimly lit corridor? Enemy.
Still, it's fun while it lasts. Please take note, however, there is almost no replayability factor in this game. Also, there is a free download in xbox live, which gives you an elite armor. I think it makes the game too easy.

Gameplay : 8/10

Overall: It's not on par with, say, Resident Evil 1, but it's good, and I can see some people really enjoying it. It's like a horror movie - sometimes stupid but always fun.