Dead Space

Posted 4 years ago By - Brian Edey

If Dead Space could be compared to a movie, I would have trouble just picking one. So I will pick two, Even Horizon which is a great Science Fiction Horror movie and Ridley Scott’s classic Alien, which still gives me the heebee jeebees every time I watch it. If you have not seen either they are both basically must watch movies even if the game does not interest you.

Dead Space has a great story and premise, which is not common in video games but more common in books and movies. The plot revolves around the UNC Ishimura, the largest planet cracker in its class which has been sent out to “crack” a planet and harvest all of the natural resources on it for Earth. But the crew brings on board something which causes all hell to break loose in every imaginable way, including cutting communications with Earth. You and a few others have been sent to check out why it stopped communicating and to fix it.

But you are not another thick necked, hard nosed space marine but an engineer called Isaac Clarke, who has no special combat training. Using common tools used in mining and the just a couple of real guns for weapons he needs to survive by cutting the limbs off of the enemies who are infesting the Ishimura. But who are these enemies? We won’t spoil that for you if you have not kept up on the story, but it is very well written and told in a great way.


Gameplay wise Dead Space is up there with some of the best 3rd person action titles. Isaac moves smoothly and quickly through the levels of the ship, using his weapons with ease, stomping when needed, and running when he needs to. You can perform each of his actions with simple controls and quick button presses which to be honest in Dead Space are required more often then you can imagine. Especially during combat when you have the games difficulty set to a higher level you can end up running away at the drop of a hat.

Everything from healing yourself, changing your weapon, to firing your weapon is very simple and straight forward. Inventory control is a bit difficult at times since you have to stop and then use some items, as well as potentially drop items when your inventory is full. But what makes inventory control the most fun is the game does not stop, so when you are messing with your inventory or looking at a specific log on your HUD you can and sometimes will get attacked by a Necromorph. So finding a safe place is always a good idea, if you can find one.

Zero-G gameplay was one of the features which the game was advertised to contain, but the big question was always “How would it work?” and “Would it be a lame gimmick?”. Luckily the zero-g was done very well with everything from jumping around in zero-g, to hitting items and enemies and seeing them fly away. But the Necromorphs are much more skilled at traversing a Zero-G environment then you are so they will jump and float around you and quickly attack you when you are attempting to get your bearings after several jumps. Zero-G gameplay works so well it would not surprise me to see it used in other games soon.

During your travels on the USC Ishimura you will find credits and various other items which you can sell to the various stores which are around each level. You can also buy items and move items to a safe which is important because inventory management is a skill you must master especially with ammunition, health packs and more.

The premise of the game is to kill Necromorphs by dismembering them with your weapons. This includes cutting off limbs, tentacles, heads and more, but each one needs to be killed in a specific way and making sure you can kill each one in that specific way is the only way to win. Some of the Necromorphs will actually change the way they move and attack you, even becoming more violent and erratic if you remove a limb or two. Others will burst and send out dozens of little creepy crawlers all over the place and these can easily overpower you and kill you.

One feature which I really enjoyed was making the use of power cells to boost your weapons, gear and suits abilities in pretty much anyway you can imagine. Suits get air reserve and hit point bonuses, weapons receive more powerful shots, faster reloads, larger ammo reserves and speed bonuses and your gear receives range and energy bonuses. The “gear” you will use often are a Stasis Field and a Kinesis tool. The Stasis Field allows you to slow down enemies and machinery such as doors allowing you to easily by-pass them, while the Kinesis tool allows you to grab items and use them against enemies or to even grab items far away that you may need. Both of these are very helpful and useful at almost any time. They are especially when you run out of ammo and need to use these items to save yourself.

There is no multiplayer and co-op in Dead Space and it does not need it. This is a great single player game and there would be no need to muck up a great single player experience by forcing a co-op game or multiplayer add-on. Of course there will be people who think the game needs it, but it does not.


Dead Space has some of the best graphics we have ever seen on any game platform. Level design is excellent since the USC Ishimura reminded me of the Nostromo from the first Alien movie. With limited lights in dark hallways, water and well other interesting liquids dripping from ceilings and down walls with plenty of bodies, blood and limbs littering the entire world almost everywhere.

Isaac looks great in all of his engineering survival suits, with plenty of character detail on each suit, which you can upgrade every couple of chapters. A neon tube down his spine shows off his health and your stasis power is shown near his right shoulder. Other then those you never see anything else on your screen unless you want to bring it up and then it is done via a great holographic system for your inventory, communication, story based text and more. There is no HUD at all on the screen, so if you need to see something other then stasis power and health you must bring up the specific information.

The Necromorphs are extremely well designed and creepy bundles of dead flesh. Each one has their own unique look from these little ones made out of baby parts, to these large slash and dash ones and my favorite one the “Pregnants” who if you hit the wrong way burst open and die, but drop a couple of dozen little “things” which can easily swarm all over you and kill you in a few seconds. While each one is very creepy in their design, there is a problem that we only have perhaps a dozen different types of monsters to kill. More Necromorphs would have been nice to kill, but in the end it does not matter as much as you would think since the Necromorphs always keep you hopping.

The in game weapons are impressive as well with almost each one being an actual tool, there is a flame thrower and plasma rifle, but the rest are actual mining and engineering tools. Each weapon has a holographic ammo counter and they each have this beat up, well used look to them and each of their firing effects are extremely well done with a unique look to the discharge.

Graphically the game has so many amazing simple graphic touches you will be amazed, with the gory being realistically gory, zero-g has some great effects with blood reacting in a very realistic manner, lighting, electrical effects and everything else you can imagine on a huge space craft which has gone through hell and more.


There is nothing more important to a survival horror game then great audio. Sound effects have the ability to enforce the emotion of the moment in the game and they also can create stronger emotions and even fear in key situations. Like wise, music can and often does create some of the best emotional states in games and if you have heard great music in a game you will agree. Dead Space has both in spades with the best sound effects in a game we have heard in a long time. With creature skittering behind the walls, general sound effects from the ship such as computer and mechanical sounds. Musically the game has some normal music, but most of the music is this type of environmental music where the sound effects in the ship become more of the actual music unless you are in a very tense situation then your heart beat and some actual music jumps in but it has the same sound and feel as the environmental music. It is hard to exactly describe, but it is excellent none the less.

Dead Space has some of the best voice over acting you will hear in a video game; from the audio logs to the characters who are speaking to you everyone is spoken clearly and with the right emotional depth to be believable. While Isaac, the character you control, does not speak it never feels like you are pulled out of the story and like Half Life’s Gordon Freeman, who also never speaks, you are completely immersed in the story in everyway.

Honestly, the story is linear so if you play through it once you will basically have seen everything. But with the added difficulty levels the game becomes even more fun the second time through, plus you will discover a lot you have missed the first time through. So for a gamer like me, this type of title will have plenty of replay value even a couple of years from now, when hopefully we will see the sequel or prequel to this epic game.



Buy it. Do not think about it, just buy it. The game is simply amazing, the best survival horror game in years and maybe ever. This again proves how great games can be when done by competent developers who have a clear vision and understand how to give gamers the best experience possible.

3 weeks ago :: Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3
3 weeks ago :: (PSN) Fuel Overdose
4 weeks ago :: (PSN) Darkstalkers Resurrection
1 month ago :: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
1 month ago :: (PSN) Alien Breed
5 months ago :: Assassin's Creed III
6 months ago :: FIFA Soccer 13
7 months ago :: Resident Evil 6
7 months ago :: NHL 13
7 months ago :: (PSN) The Expendables 2