Dead Space is a perfect survival/horror game. It does everything that the genre needs to do right. In order for a game of this type to fully immerse you, it needs to rid itself of all of the pieces that remind players that they are in fact, playing a game. This includes the HUD, menus, loading screens, BAD voice acting, etcetera. Guess what? Dead Space has none of that, other wise why would I bother writing the previous sentence. This is a prime example of storytelling done through gameplay (as opposed to cinematics and narrations) done right. The game also manages to remain incredibly authentic to the story it's trying to tell. It should only make sense that an engineer would use tools instead of military grade weapons to fight his enemies right? Which is why the games "strategic dismemberment system" makes so much sense for this game. It's not just another gimmick thought up by the dudes at EA, its an actual effective and completely fresh way of dispatching your foes. Instead of taking a shot to the head and calling it quits like 99.99% of shooter enemies do, the necromorphs in Dead Space are relentless. They will not stop coming untill you have dismembered them to the point that their bodies cannot possibly continue onward. Enemies cut off at the legs will crawl towards you, enemies cut off at the head will blindly stagger in your direction, flailing wildly in hopes of catching you in their grasps. It makes for really frentic gameplay that fits perfectly with the mood and atmosphere of the genre. Instead of relying on the traditional "tight corridors with enemies hiding behind the corner ready to jump out right in your face" technique, Dead Space WANTS you to know your enemies are coming, and that they will not stop untill they have no other choice.

I'm only just through the first chapter, but I can tell that this will be a wild ride. There have been plenty of "OH SHIT" moments, and a couple "OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT" moments. A veteran gamer like me wasn't fooled by the ole playing dead trick, but still, neato. All in all, I highly recommend Dead Space, if it isn't a contender for game of the year, it would by a wide margin win best atmosphere of the year, were it a real award.

I hate October. And It hates my wallet. I have only scraped the tip of the iceberg, and there are many more holiday titles for me to play. I am having a hard time choosing what I want to buy now, and what I want to wait untill X-mas for. I know for sure I am getting Fallout 3 and LittleBigPlanet on thursday, and Resistance 2 when it comes out. The other games I'm still debating on date of purchase (not playing, I'm definitely playing all of the following) are: Smackdown vs. Raw 2009, Midnight Club: LA, Spider-man: Web of Shadows (which I'm not so sure about anymore...), Rock Band 2, a Nintendo DS, and probablly some others I am forgetting. 

By the way, Far Cry 2? Still amazing. <3 <3 <3... 

Later dudes, 

-snake