Dead Space

Before Dead Space came out I was very skeptic about it's quality as a horror game, since the actual horror genre seemed to be replaced with mindless shooters. The pre-launch trailers didn't help change my mind since they were all focusing on the action, making this game look like Gears of War in space. Yes, I know this game doesn't feature any cover mechanics, but that's what I was thinking of everytime I saw the trailers. Fortunately I couldn't have been more wrong about it, and this game turned out to be really really good. Before I go any further, yes I know it's not as good as Silent Hill 2 and yes, I know that Amnesia The Dark Descent is way scarier. But for a big budget third person shooter actually focusing on the horror side, it's something that really surprised me.

You are part of a team sent to investigate what happened on board of a ship called USG Ishimura that went completely dark after sending a distress signal, even though the ship itself houses over 1000 people. Once on board you quickly realize that something went really bad, and the game doesn't waste any time putting you in the middle of the action. This is where I realized that Dead Space is more than what I was led to believe, because unlike a normal action game where they would just give you a ton of guns, here you are unnarmed and have to run while a half dozen necromorphs are on your ass. Obviously this won't last for long as you will soon be armed and ready to fight back.

However, being armed doesn't mean you're invincible, as the enemies will crawl through the ventilation holes and come up behind or on top of you and make your life a nightmare. While this may resemble a scare closet, and in many ways it does, the fact that the ship is riddled with them not knowing when the necromorphs will pop out, adds to the sense of tension. Also, the fact that you can hear the foes crawling through them without pinpointing the exact location can be really intense.

The weapons are pretty interesting since they aren't actual weapons but mining tools. This breakes the mold on most games, since the main character isn't just a bloke that suddently knows how to use military grade equipment, but instead he is an engineer that uses civilian tools to fight the necromorphs. The mining tools themselves do look an awful lot like weapons though, and cover all the basics from pistols and machineguns to flamethrowers.

While they are varied and feel good when firing, my main gripe with them is that the plasma cutter, which is the first weapon you'll get in the game, seems too good, meaning that it was still my favorite weapon by the end of the game and I ended up using the other weapons just to try them out, or when I needed something very powerful to fight a boss.

All the guns have a secondary firing mode usually pretty different than the primary one. Like the force gun for example that in its primary mode acts like a shotgun, and in the secondary mode acts like a grenade launcher. Or the plasma cutter, that depending on the mode it can fire both vertically and horizontally. One thing to note is that you don't find weapons on the ground, but instead you find schematics that you then take to one of the many in-game shops and after activating it, you get the option to buy the weapon.

The in-game shops will also allow you to buy ammo, health packs, oxygen tanks aswell as new suits. In the world you'll also find power nods which can be used to either access rooms that are normally locked and get lots of supplies, or use them on a upgrade bench that will allow you to upgrade your suit's armor and oxygen tanks, your weapon's ammo capacity and damage aswell as your stasis and kinesis modules.

Stasis and Kinesis are two abilities that you will use in both combat and puzzle solving. Stasis can be used for slowing down a group of enemies and killing them easier, or in puzzles it can be used to slow down various objects and doors. Kinesis allows you to pick up objects by using some sort of magnetic ray, and it's used mostly for puzzles. You "can" use it against necromorphs but it's not very efficient. Dead Space 2 is where they really made the kinesis good in combat.

Another cool mechanic this game has is called strategic dismemberment. This lets you cut the necromorphs' limbs, heads and torsos and kill them easier. In fact, this is something you will need to do since just shooting them in the chest area without dismbembering will take a lot of ammo. Unlike other games, simply cutting their head won't do much either since they will just keep attacking you, so cutting their legs to imobilize them, and then focusing on the arms and head is greatly advised. Oh, and you don't need a special knife to do that. Any of the guns will work just fine as long as you concentrate your fire on one of the limbs.

The game's HUD is cleverly designed too, since the actual elements aren't on the screen like in most games, but in the world. Your character's health bar for example appears directly on the suit, and all the ammo for the guns and the conversations with other characters appear as holograms in front of you. The prompts to open the doors appear on the doors themeselves.

The graphics look awesome with some really impressive lighting adding a lot to the atmosphere, and dynamic shadows are used very smartly throughout the game. The sound is excellent too, the necromorphs sounding very real, hearing them crawling through the vents is really well done. So are their growls and the weapon sounds.

Dead Space is a great game even after all these years and anyone with an interest in horror should give it a go. You wont regret it.