In Space.... This game is good
Dead Space is polished to a brilliant shine. The production values are simply top notch. That includes the art, graphics, sound design, etc. Like all good horror games, the developers payed as much attention to sound as they did to the visuals and it shows.
For survival horror fans, there is a lot to like in Dead Space. Much of it borrowed from other successful games in the genre like Resident Evil, Bioshock, FEAR, and others. Luckily, they also nailed some pretty interensting and unique combat hooks. They call it "strategic dismemberment" and its exactly what it sound like. Taking off the limbs of your enemies is crucial to success and adds to the gore/fun factor quite a bit.
If there is a downside to Dead Space, it would be that the story and some of the levels lack depth. The story starts out promising but is never really fleshed out and does little more than give the main character a reason to go from romm to room inside the derelect space ship. Some of the later levels also feel a bit too similar to earlier onces and the environments can suffer from cut/paste a bit.
But even if some of the levels feel a little familar after a while, the basic combat stays fun and they thrown in some light puzzles which involve weightlessnes and/or the vaccum of space. These sections are quite a bit of fun and help keep the tention high through the threat of runnin out of air or just being disoriented.
So, what makes this game a 4/5 starts? Well, the game is just expertly put together and polished from begining to end. What it lacks in depth, it makes up for in atmosphere, sound, and graphics. All of wich are some of the best you will see in recent games.
