Dead Space

Dead Space was put out at the forefront of EA's attempts to bring  some new IPs out and while at first it seemed like a standard survival horror game it quickly picked up steam. It is now known as a very critically aclaimed game and so caught my interest until recently I finally got to play this game.

Dead Space is the story of a mining engineer name Isaac who is sent with a small crew to investigate the USG Ishimura a huge planet cracker which has had a communications blackout. You quickly find out that all isnt quite right on board the Ishimura and as your escape root is quickly destroyed you have no choice but to explore the craft fixing things as you go. The story does a good job of tying the action together with a few twists and turns although it does feel a lot like putting up a gazeebo as soon as you fix one thing another breaks.

The gameplay in Dead Space is a 3rd person survival horror game but it has a few nice tweaks that really stand out. First of all Dead Space has absolutely no HUD which when I first heard about it I thought was a bit of a gimmick but it makes the game very immersive. Your health shows up along the spine of your RIG (armour) and ammo is displayed on your gun by way of holograms. This also means that your inventory is handled in the same way and so there is no pausing to sort out your items its all in game which gives everything a sense of urgency. They also change the idea of aiming for the head by introducing called stategic dismemberment. As you are a mining engineer rather than having endless guns all your weapons are cutting tools and the only way to stop the terrifying necromorphs is to cut them limb from limb until they can no longer pursue you. Its a nice change to the usual shooting and gives Dead Space a fun twist.

At the moment you may be thinking that this game sounds like many other of the genre with just a few changes to stop it being generic. However the thing that really makes Dead Space worthy of all its praise is the games atmoshpere. As soon as you set on board the Ishimura the gritty futuristic vision of this huge ship and the visual design stays beautiful throughout the whole game. The thing that really stands out is the sound design the music plays very quietly and the creaks and moans of the ships hull give the whole environment a very eary feel. During zero gravity sections and vacuums the sound is dead the sound of breathing and air just makes the experience very immersive. Another thing is that music is not initiated by enemies in an area so you dont sigh in relief everytime the music stops. It really is incredible and you really wont believe it until you play the game.

On the surface Dead Space looks like a solid survival horror experience. When you play it however you realise how perfectly every little bit of the gam is crafted the enemies arnt that imaginative or the story but this game is one you really have to play. The atmosphere, sound design and chilling gameplay make Dead Space one of the best of the genre and quite frankly one of the best of any other.