There's this game I've just discovered called Dead Space, and after playing the first level I have to say I'm quite excited about it.

I know I'm very late to board this dismemberment train, but here's a story and a visual style that really reaches out and grabs you (until you pound a button enough that it lets you go). The mechanics thus far are tight. In the game the best way to eliminate an enemy is to use your laser cutting tools to sever limbs. With fast moving monsters this could be tricky, so the story manages to justify you having a science-fiction magical hoo-ha gizmo that locally slows down time. Brilliant! You get jumped by a baddie, slow them down with stasis, then carefully use your very limited ammo to excise just the right parts.

The writers clearly get what makes for good science fiction, namely its about the people, perhaps like you and me, using the tools of the future to solve their futuristic problems. With a name like Isaac (Asimov - Arthur C.) Clarke, it's clear that someone at the Redwood Shores office is a fan of the genre. The aesthetic and even the story borrows from sci-fi themes you have seen before, but it just does it all so well.

Hell, I'm liking the setting so much that it makes me want to watch the movie "Event Horizon" again. Now that's saying something.