Dead Space – Electronic Arts [XBox 360]

Summary

Dead Space will likely remind you of a combination of Event Horizon, BioShock, and Resident Evil all rolled into one horror-surival action fest.  We can describe only so much of the story without giving away too much.  But let’s just say you find yourself aboard a very mysterious mining ship (USG Ishimura) in the depths of space as you investigate an S.O.S. sent by the ship’s crew.

Dead Space puts the player in the shoes of Chief Engineer Isaac Clarke.  The third-person view is put to good use; everything you need to know about your character’s health, armor, and ammo is cleverly displayed without the need for a heads-up display.  Each part of the ship contains specific objectives, such as activating the ship’s “Automatic Detection System”, which effortlessly blasts asteroids and debris from hitting the ship.  While the nature of these tasks does become repetitive (really, how many things could possibly go wrong on a ship?), I never found myself overly bored with them as there was plenty of action along the way.  Enemies range in size, speed, and method of damage.  Almost every enemy has certain weak spots that you will quickly develop a tactic for exploiting; EA calls this “strategic dismemberment” and Dead Space uses this system to allow for limbs to be “shot off”.  The player will need to make good use of this tactic as most enemies (Necromorphs, for example) are most vulnerable in this way.

The game designers have thrown in a number of gotchas throughout the game.  For starters, I quickly realized that I should enter each room with care as I never knew what would be waiting for me.  There are dozens of moments that rattled my nerves: an alien jumping down behind me and a huge tentacle grabbing my leg.  At times the designers seem to play with you by tensing the atmosphere only for nothing to happen.  Dead Space truly shines in the way it can keep you on your toes.  The designers did a remarkable job creating a believable and eerie Ishimura with a scare waiting around every corner.  Isaac has a tremendously strong stomping move that will help you take out your aggression on downed enemies by dismembering their body parts long after they have died…(sorry, got a little carried away here – Ed).  The stomp can also be used on smaller enemies or to apply a finishing move on larger aliens that are crippled by your strategic dismemberment tactics.

Along the way you will start to uncover some special talents that will come to your aid many times over.  The first is a “Kinesis Module” that acts sort of like a Force push from Star Wars; the module allows you to push and pull large items as well as “shoot” some objects at your enemies.  The usage of this module becomes a little too obvious at times; anything that is plot-related and must be moved in order to finish an objective is marked by a large symbol.

The second is a “Stasis Module”.  This is arguably the most important device in your arsenal; the stasis module allows you to slow enemies and objects throughout the game.  The stasis module becomes your best friend as you encounter quicker and more devastating enemies and will be a necessity in solving some of the harder puzzles in the game.

In addition to the above modules, the player also encounters numerous items that will aid you on Isaac’s quest.  Although you never “pick-up” weapons, you will find credits and items to sell in order to purchase new armor suits, weapons, med-packs, and power nodes.  Some of my favorite weapons were the trusty plasma cutter, line gun and especially the force energy gun.  Hint: Save your credits and don’t bother with the ripper.  Power nodes are scattered throughout the game and allow you to upgrade your items by using workbenches.  Upgrading items is oddly similar to the original Knights of the Old Republic; when you find a workbench, you can socket power nodes into your items to unlock additional damage, decreased reload time, and increased ammo capacity.  The bonuses become more rewarding as you socket multiple nodes into your items.  A word of caution – you might be tempted to upgrade items as soon as you find a new power node.  I would caution against this, however; the best upgrades require using power nodes in “empty circuits”.  Therefore, you might need to spend two or three power nodes at once to unlock some of the better bonuses.  The nature of the game’s level design requires you to change your tactics as you progress.  You might spend a power node to increase the damage on your ripper gun only to realize that it’s become next to useless against the Reaper.

Throughout the game are some wonderful sequences involving zero gravity.  These sequences, I found, fully displayed the game’s terrific physics and graphics engine.  The zero-g sequences can test your nerves a little, however.  I became disoriented as I jumped from one spot to another and the game suffers from some camera angle issues that are most obvious in zero-g.

Gradually the game’s story begins to unfold through scripted sequences, and audio and text logs that are picked up throughout the game.  The introduction cut scene quickly grips you into the game and you are under assault from the very first moments aboard the Ishimura.  Several “bosses” appear (sometimes more than once) throughout the storyline but none were overly difficult or challenging.  Within the first few hours, you are mostly caught up in the overarching storyline but there are several characters who will haunt your every turn.  Moving from one task to another sometimes caused me to lose sight of the storyline and the ultimate goal of Isaac Clarke.  By the latter portion of the game, the storytelling took second place to my wish to simply finish the game.  I would still rate the game’s story as one of the better I have seen on the XBox 360 in recent memory.

What I Liked

• The game’s tremendous graphics and sound design.
• The overarching storyline – I expect to see much more from this series.
• The chill factor.
• Getting rewarded for completing difficult objectives.

What I Disliked

• Repetitive tasks.
• Combat can be cumbersome in very confined spaces or in zero-gravity.
• Game ending left something to be desired.

geeklisted Verdict

Highly Recommended!
Dead Space is an engrossing “third-person horror shooter” with plenty of action, some interesting RPG elements, and a chilling storyline.  Dead Space combines excellent graphics and outstanding sound design with some truly chilling sequences that will keep the player on his or her toes.  Coming in at 15 hours of play time from start to finish on “Medium” difficulty – this is a game you will eagerly play through, perhaps more than once.  EA has an excellent franchise on their hands with Dead Space and the first in what will likely be a series of games is a hit.

Funnies

The player’s character, Isaac, does not speak one word throughout the entire game.

Make use of the Zero-G Basketball area.  Not only is it fun, you will be rewarded with Med-Packs, ammo, and more as you complete each level.

Screenshots

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