In Dead Space No One Can Hear You Scream
Space, the final frontier, is a dark and scary place. Especially when you are trapped on a ship full of flesh eating monsters.
Dead Space is the recent survival horror game released by Electronic Arts (EA). You take on the role of Isaac Clarke, a engineer sent to fix what is thought to be minor issues with a deep space mining vessel. But of course it all goes to hell within seconds of reaching your destination.
You quickly end up trapped millions of light-years from home on a ship full of hungry creatures. Your only option is to fight your way through the hordes and find some sort of escape.
One of the biggest selling points of this game for me is the environment. EA has done an amazing job of crafting a realistic and horribly frightening environment. The ship really draws you in and feels like it could be a real and terrifying place. All the small corridors with lots of access for hungry beasts will keep you on the edge of your seat the whole game, you'll end up approaching everything with suspicion and fear.
Dead Space offers a few twists on your standard shooter game. With most zombie games you know to aim for the head, not in dead space. The object of most battles is to amputate your enemies to slow and destroy their weapons. This forces much more consideration when blowing away the advancing monsters. Add onto that the lack of ammo and you really have to make your shots count.
This game comes with all the sounds we have become accustomed to with horror games. Clanging of random metal objects, whispering voices, blood curdling screams, ect... But it gets really good when you travel into the vacuum of space. The sound fades and all you can hear is Isaac's labored breathing as his oxygen tanks run dry. Of course while inside the ship and you can hear someone softly, and creepily, singing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” is almost equally freaky.
Another twist is the lack of a heads up display. Instead of having a normal health and ammo bar in the corners of your screen your health bar is along Isaac's spine and your ammo appears on the weapons when aiming. This is a take on the heads up display that I quite enjoyed. It is unobtrusive and fancy looking.
Because Isaac is an engineer he can use workbenches spread throughout the game to upgrade his weapons and armor. The system offered here is fun and interesting and lets the game be more specialized toward your style. You use power cores, found throughout the levels, to upgrade your equipment with a grid system unique to each individual item.
Dead Space offers a wild and interesting story. You will always be guessing at what kind of twist the game will take next and almost always you will be pleasantly surprised. A single play through on standard difficulty took around 12 to 13 hours, plus the game offers decent replay value thanks to the new game plus system.
The downsides to Dead Space are fairly limited. Boss fights almost always feel simple compared to most of the fights involving random monsters throughout the level. Usually it is a short fight where you have to hit a small section of the boss, then soon after it dies. But the game does still hold up its creepy design, the bosses have extra points in the hideous factor that all monsters in this game share.
If you play other shooter games you will probably be annoyed at the look sensitivity of this game. At first I was quite annoyed with it, but then I noticed the real appeal of it. It kept you feeling boxed in and was another mechanic to keep you terrified of monsters coming from any direction. While adding to the claustrophobic feeling of the game it can get a little irritating.
In conclusion this game is a gripping science fiction horror that will have you on the edge of your seat until completion. The release date so close to Halloween was no mistake.
Dead Space was released on Oct. 14 for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, Oct. 20 for PC. Retails for $59.99 on console, and $49.99 on PC.
