In Dead Space Only the Necromorphs Can Hear You DIE

Author's Rating:

Pros: Atmospheric and terrifying, sound design, controls, exciting gameplay    

Cons: A few moments are repeated don't shouldn't have been...

The Bottom Line: 
A worthy new addition to any game fan's collection--tons of exciting and standout moments and attention to the horrors of science fiction. I loved this game. 

Author's Review
Dead Space bridges the gap between the original 1979 Alien movie with a heap of horror/survival video games from the nineties and early 2000s including the Resident Evil and Silent Hill series' to fantastic results. There's no better way than to describe it as Halo if it were centered on survival horror than first-person shooter with roots in Bioshock...in space.

You play as engineer Isaac Clarke who's a member of a team investigating a deep space mining ship named the USG Ishimura whose communications have gone caput. While investigating you run into a ton of these monster alien figures who have full reign over the ship with a majority of the crew either dead, briefly alive, or turned into these screaming Necromorph creatures who aren't happy campers--er...spacemen and in turn make your game a little harder.

Your mission, as you become separated from your group, is to walk through the ship throughout each its sections, repairing bits and pieces along the way to restore oxygen and make it more habitable to keep exploring as well as piece together the horrific events of what occurred. In traditional survival horror fashion you must survive each twelve chapters of the game, slowly uncover where these aliens came from, and possibly rescue your crew. Keep in mind your character is an inexperienced engineer, not a space ranger like Buzz, so that amps up the game's importance in the genre--and makes the game much cooler than it could've been.

Admittedly, the story isn't the best things of all time and it is a little bit predictable at moments especially with its clear Alien influence...but at the same time the style of how its told and the substance it has (especially near the end) is where the big payoff is. There weren't any times while playing that I thought the story was lacking and it keeps you very intrigued as to what's going on, consecutively, so that you have no choice but to complete your game. There were many a times I was glued to the couch hell-bent on completing this nightmare because I was digging the places it was taking me.

The gameplay is one of the biggest reasons to check out Dead Space. Unlike a lot of similar games in the genre, the control design is very intuitive and easy to get into. This is a very action-packed game that packs in the scares as well. As you play through the game you'll encounter weapons you can purchase at various store points throughout each level (or chapter). Once you buy whatever weapons you want with the credits you come across in the field you can update them with power nodes that increase their damage, speed up their reload, or up the carrying capacity of the rounds. This gives the game an RPG-like feel, too, as you use this sphere-grid system that helps you unlock more health for your suit and many other things that help you in the every-day aspect of the game.

The only downside is that there are a limited amount of weapons you can buy and a limited amount you can carry (only four--which you map to your directional pad for free-flowing combat situations). Next time I play the game I'll probably use different weapons...but some of these were ridiculously cool with my favorite being the Ripper--a weed-whacker from hell that carves up enemies like no other thing created for some of the most fun you'll ever have in a game. Targeting is very easy and the game puts a large emphasis on body limbs and taking them out first to disable the creatures first as opposed to one-hit kills. These baddies don't stop coming after you just because they've lost their legs or heads. That's a terrifying position, too.

There are some "puzzles" in the game, but I wouldn't call them difficult or "puzzles" by any stretch of the imagination. Much of the gameplay is you having to go from point A to point B for some reason or another through various endless corridors when you forget why you're doing something in the first place. This mechanic might've been lame if not for the fact that all of the environments are varied and the level design is actually pretty competent as it keeps things exciting. There are moments in the game where you'll even encounter some crazy territory such as Zero-G places where you walk on the ceiling killing monsters and fly through the air to get to the next place you need to go.

These were very short sections and only happened a handful of times, but they were very exciting. Other times you'll actually be outside the ship with limited amounts of air in your suit (which can be upgraded). These moments are frenetic to say the least because the sound dissipates and all you can hear is your character's breathing and barely audible sounds from your weapon and the enemies that surround you. Talk about terrifying. 

What makes Dead Space rad is that it's willing to take you places no game has gone before--or at least done very well before. There are many original and electrifying moments that blew me away with their unpredictability. That said, some of these amazing moments repeated themselves, which surprised me and it lost a little bit of the magic it had the first time around. A little bit of a misstep, but nothing major to ruin the experience.  

Abilities known as "stasis" and "kinesis" are also very important in the game and add variety to the gameplay. Stasis slows down objects so that if you need to get by something like a fast-spinning fan without getting obliterated you can slow it down to get through. Kinesis is the ability to pick up items from far away (such as medical pack) and possibly throw these items at monsters (gas canisters--super fun technique). Both were a little weird to get used to, but they become second nature after a while and really help the dynamics of the gameplay as you goof off with different tactics to kill your enemies.

Enemies come in swarms occasionally and the game designers keep things varied as far as different designs of them, which are pretty grotesque. There are creepy crawly spider-like creatures, bat-like maniacal ones, and things that look like they missed the bus to Silent Hill. The ones who take the cake are the Necromorphs that cling to walls and shoot out pods of creatures that shoot stuff at you and behead you to instant death if you come to close to them. They get faster and crazier as the game continues before the major boss fight at the end and there's never a point in the game when I got tired...though I'd get tired of jumping every time the game would have them surprise you around every corner. I mean that in a good way.

Dead Space's sound design was incredible. Minimal music, tons of dialogue you'd get from communications with your group as well as creepy audio logs that reminded me of Bioshock, terrifying sounds unseen monsters make, and the heavy breathing of Clarke when your health dips down too low. This stuff is the stuff of champions and increases how scary the game is. The voice actors are all professional and I really praise their enthusiasm to the project, which gave the game a very realistic feel and wasn't overblown in corniness. I was actually surprised by all I got out of their performances and how much it made the game better.

I also really dug the graphics which are some of the prettiest I've ever seen on Xbox 360. It's crazy that this game came out in 2008 because the graphics have held up tremendously. You'll encounter claustrophobic spaces and then be outside in a vacuum with asteroids blowing past the ship up ahead. There's no slowdown whatsoever and when you're not busy chewing on the beautiful sci-fi scenery you'll be looking at gruesome blood splatter and body parts flying around every corner. This is not the stuff for kids.

This is one of the most fun games I've played on my 360 and one of the newest survival horror games that have really stood out to me in recent years. I seriously had a blast playing it through my ten to fifteen hours of gameplay and I was enthralled by everything I came across. Nothing is too difficult and there are multiple difficulties to choose from. It's a great mixture between first-person and third-person shooters with an excellent and active camera as well as controls that never make you too flustered or frustrated at what's going on, which is a real winner in a genre overrun with the opposite. 

I recommend this to anyone who wants an addictive and horrific video gaming experience for the weekend and be sure to catch the prequel animated film and the Wii spin-off. The sequel was recently released and you won't have to ask me twice if I want to play it. Dead Space is one I'll play again in a heart-beat--as long as it doesn't give me a heart attack first.

© Jason Haskins, 2011