Overall: Dead Space tells the story of Isac Clarke, an engineer sent to the USG Ishmura with a security team and a girl called Kendra (another engineer) in order to investigate the reason behind the communications blackout.
As usual it turns out that it's much more than a simple blackout, as soon as you arrive in Ishmura (after a disastrous landing) you get separated from the rest of your team as you see everyone getting salughtered by strange zobie-like aliens. Later you find out that kendra and a security officer survived, now they need your help in order to get away from this creepy destiny.
As the story progresses the player will learn the reson behind the aliens and how it is linked to the excavation process that Ishmura was leading.
The game is a mixture of Resident Evil 4 with Alien and Event Horizon, making a good blend that actually surprises the player.
The game brings nothing new to the genre but it does looks original enough instead of just a cheap copy like most horror games nowadays. Gameplay: Gameplay is that of Resident Evil 4 with the ability of upgrading armour, habilities and weaponry. Most of your weapons are actually high-tech enigineering tools, just like your armor is simply a high-tech engineering suit. The abilities consist of kinesis and stasys, the power to "freeze" enemies temporarily.
The camera is set on the hcracter's shoulder, making it a great position to aim and shoot, the weapon itself has two firing m,odes. The Plasma Cutter has an interesting twist to it, the secondary shot is actually the ability that the weapon has to change its axis of fire (from horizontal to to vertical).
Enemies can be brought down with a heavy rain of shots, but doing that will get you out of ammo quickly, plus, most of the time, the "necromorphs" attack in groups making it hard to kill them the "heavy way". The best way to bring them down is dismember them, shoot in the legs and you tear them apart, they fall but keep comming, then take away the arms to make sure they stop comming for good. Pretty grotesque but it works wonders and is also a very innovative way to kill enemies, requiring the player to aim in areas one wouldn't usually seek to destroy (most usually go for a nice headshot, which is no good at all here). The expalnation is simple: the enemy here is an alien lifeform that takes the dead bodies of Ishmura's crew to become stronger and bigger (?), so destroiying the head is the same as destroyng a corpse's head, you can't hurt a dead person, so it means nothing, destroying the organs that can attack you or make the enemy move however, is great deal, since you'll be severing the most oimportant ties from the dead host to the alien parasite. If you take the time and pay attention to the body of most enemies you'll see where the alien is sprouting out from and where it's nothing but a dead body.
The upgrades are based on nodes you collect or buy, and when you reach the "benches" you can use those nodes to upgrade your weapons and armor. Nodes can also be use dto open certain doors that have a nice ammount of itens inside, most of the times they even have "gold/ruby semiconductors" which only use is selling them for a huge amount of money. Graphics: Graphics are downright gorgeous, from the chracter's modelling to the scenario. The biggest innovation here is the armor itself and the way it interacts with the menu, the whole menu (but for the pause screen itself, for obvious reasons), is integrated with the armor, your health bar is shown in a sort of shinning column on Isaac's back, so is his stasys gauge, the ammo is displayed on the weapon itself, and the rest, such as map an inventory, are displayed via hologram comming from the armor itself, so you can walk with the map open "in front of you" and you look directly at what Isaac himself is seeing, not at a separated map as usually happens.
The scenario is all set inside the USG Ishmura (but for the last chapter), all in all, the scenario is very claustrophobic and well designed, like in Bioshock the gamer will really feel like the whole place is indeed integrated and functional. Sound: Audio here is amongst the essence of the game. Mostly it's plain silence with some weird whispers in a very low tone and the respiration of Issac. Sometimes a fast paced soundtrack will crack in (and you'll know there's a monsters lurking towards you)... Unless you are in the vacuum, then there is no sound at all, you'll get attacked and not know where the enemie came from, it's chaotic and wonderful at the same time, the only sound will be the bufffed up respiration sounds (cause they are heard by Isaac from inside his suit).
The only complain here is that the player won't hear a single word comming from Isaac, which is weird since there's a lot of talking towards you in the game and Isaac never replies to people...
Overall: Overall this game surp@!%#*!es my expectations on many levels. I can not rank it a 10 due to the fact that in my opinion there is no "perfect" game. This does not mean however, that it is a bad game by any means. Dead Space not only meets and exceeds expectations in multiple fields of gameplay, audio, and visual joy, but it also delivers something that I haven't seen in a long time in a video game.... an amazing story.
There is also a treat for gamers of this game in the fact that there is an animated movie (which gamers can download from the marketplace) that provides an AMAZING prequel story to the game itself. Gamers who decide to view the movie (which is broken up into multiple parts on the marketplace) will be treated even more to a very rich and involving story line that leads up to the events of the game itself. Gamers who decide not to watch the movie will not experience any loss or diluted storyline; so think of the movie as an "extra bonus feature" that is not essential, but it does add to a deeper story.
From its innovative gameplay, to the eye popping visuals, and a soundtrack and effects that will curdle your spine, Dead Space offers a truly unique experience in that it will set gamers on the edge of their seat from beginning to end. There is also a high replay value with this game for those who wish to get achievements so if you manage to miss and achievement or two on your first play through, then not to worry because once the game is over, you WILL want to experience the story again.
Like I have said I can not rate this game a 10 because I do not feel that there will ever be a "perfect" game, however, Dead Space takes the bar that I personally feel was set by Bioshock and not only goes over it, it takes the bar and smashes it to pieces. I know that it's a big comparison given that Bioshock won game of the year from a lot of different reviewers, however, if Gears of War 2, Fable 2, and Fallout 3 were not being released this year, this game would be a CLEAR WINNER for game of the year. My recommendation is to stop reading this review and head to the nearest place that sells video games and buy this game. In today's gaming world, very few games offer such a deep and involving storyline, and we must take note of when a gem like this arrives. Dead Space so far to date however, EASILY has my vote for GAME OF THE YEAR! Take a bow EA, this game was flat out AMAZING! Thank you for giving gamers what we have been craving for, for a long, long time!
Gameplay: Dead Space provides gamers with a gameplay experience that will set a new standard for up and coming games to live by. From combat to exploration and even puzzle solving the tools that Dead Space provides gamers brings forth a gameplay that is hard to p@!%#*! up.
First off is the view of the game, it is over the shoulder and not first person which is absolutely perfect considering the extra amount of environment it allows you to see. Movement with the character is relatively slow and with the addition of a run button allows the game to keep moving along at whatever pace the gamer decides to go. This game also does not have a "quick turn" feature (which can be resolved by spinning the camera to the location you want and hit LT) so gamers who wish to have a feature like this are not left out. This makes the characters movement very realistic and when you are facing yourself with very narrow hallways it helps to add a heightened sense of horror and suspense since you can not just turn immediately around to see the monsters charging you. This may sound as an inconvenience to some gamers, however like I said before will provide a much more horrific experience.
Dead Space also provides gamers with a "stasis" power that will allow them to, in essence, freeze anyone or anything temporarily. This is very useful if you find yourself in a situation that is incredibly intense and you want to "slow" the experience down for your salvation. This also has another added bonus in that it allows gamers to finish off their opponents in the way they want to. Stasis is a power that we have seen on many other games which is true, however, the stasis power in this game is activated by the gamer only while your weapon of choice is drawn and ready to fire. This makes for a seamless flow from "freeze to fire" and is a M@!%#*!IVE improvement from other games where you have to first use the power, then arm your weapon. In Dead Space its press one button then unleash hell.
Another great innovative idea is the kinetic powers that you obtain. True other games have kinetic energy powers that the gamer can use, but thankfully the same attention to gameplay detail with the stasis power can be found in this as well. Gamers can have their weapon drawn and ready to shoot, and then use kinetic energy to grab an explosive canister and then unleash the canister and fire almost simultaneously. The flow of the gameplay for these two features was very risky, however the developers have put a lot of time and effort into making sure the transitions were smooth and almost instant.
One of the great features of this game is the Zero-G mode, where just like astronauts you get to jump and fly around and latch onto ledges and platforms that would normally be out of your reach. Zero-G is not everywhere in the game, and will take the gamer a bit of time to get used to. One of the reasons is that in Zero-G if you jump onto a wall, then that wall is your new floor, the ceiling from before is now behind you. It takes a bit of time to get used to the fact that your bearings go all to hell when in Zero-G if you're not careful; however once you get used to Zero-G movement it’s incredibly simple and innovative.
The puzzle solving of this game is also done in a way where gamers will not break their controller in frustration. By providing gamers with a "sense of direction" (Press in RS), you are able to see where you are "supposed" to go next. This is a great innovative idea that will allow gamers the protection of not getting lost inside such a mammoth ship. When activated a blue line will light up from your character's feet and shine for a few seconds showing you the "path" that you can take. The reason I say "can" is because this is a m@!%#*!ive ship and there are other areas to explore so you may not want to always "follow the path", but that is for the gamers to decide. There is one gripe that I do have with this "guide" system, and that is if you're not facing the direction you need to go, the camera and your character itself will turn automatically, so I do recommend that you only use this IF you are not in a fight for it will in essence turn your back to your enemy and allow them to attack you over and over again.
A lot of detail has been taken into account in providing a very fluid, smooth moving game that will delight not only hardcore gamers, but relative newcomers as well. This game has a lot to offer in the terms of gameplay but one thing is for sure the developers got it right and thank you for that
Graphics: The visual eye candy of Dead Space can be found at every turn. From the opening scene you can tell that a lot of time was put into making every single detail of this game absolutely authentic and amazingly real. Not a lot of games recently have put such attention to detail into the gamer's environment, thankfully though, Dead Space provides.
The character models to start out with are AMAZINGLY life like and the interactions are mind blowingly real. This helps bring to life the whole story of Dead Space b/c it will bring gamers a deeper appreciation for all the characters, both living and dead... and we'll get to the dead ones here soon. Not only is the human interaction between player and other humans amazing, but the interaction between the gamer and the environment. From picking up a cell phone in a tram station, to reading a magazine left on a desk of a fallen solider, this game does a great job in its attention to detail. One of my favorite moments was when I was reading the writing in blood on a bathroom wall asking their god to save them from the horrors and monsters, then right underneath it only 2 words "We're ******" where you can tell the last letter is smeared in a bloody streak downwards to a hand, not a body, but just a hand. That is just a small taste of how twisted the visuals can be.
The enemy models are something that not only provided me with an amazing horror experience, but the variety and detailing of each makes this game one of my personal favs. It’s not just like there are different colored enemies or the same enemies, just with more health and armor, but there are subtle differences that make this game go from good to great. For example one of the creatures is a baby that has been genetically mutated for "the cause". It sprouts 3 tentacles which not only sway life like, however, it also has an "Alien face hugging" characteristic which makes every enemy in this game a force to be reckoned with. There are many graphic and gory details about every single enemy in the game that, thanks to the developers taking their time to do, make every single encounter something to be not only feared but appreciated. From pregnant exploding demons, to m@!%#*!ive armored brutes, and incredibly fast moving stalkers, this game is a visual eye candy from start to finish.
The gamers also have the ability to dismember their fallen either by gunfire or by a curb stomp that would shatter every bone in your body. The limbs and dismemberments throughout the game provide such a realistic feel due to the simple fact that everything was painstakingly thought through w/ a high attention to detail. If you see a dead body in the chair and you shoot the head from behind, the whole body reacts to the sheer force of the shot, not just the head. Bodies breakdown and flop around differently depending on what limbs you decide to remove. If you have an enemy that is running at you and you shoot its legs out, the legs will stay and twitch and pulse their remaining blood supply amongst the ground while the demon will just use whatever limbs it has left to crawl after you and end your life.
Dead Space's environments are absolutely amazing. You are placed into a m@!%#*!ive "planet-cracker" (reminds me kind of like a "star destroyer" from star wars) and this ship is M@!%#*!IVE. From the very beginning gamers are dealt a m@!%#*!ive amount of eye candy when it comes to the detailing of the enviornment. From areas of a green house that provide highly detailed plantlife and overgrowth going up and down the walls, M@!%#*!IVE storage facilities w/ multiple levels, to the simple comm. panels that you interact with throughout the game, no detail was missed. You will come to areas that have shattered gl@!%#*! and bodies everywhere w/ an emphasis on HEAVY blood loss, and you can see almost every single individual tendon that makes up not only the human corpses, but EVERY single enemy you face.
Last but not least is the communications that you receive via a "pop up" video screen. These encodings are done absolutely perfectly from the static to the real life images you see and will provide you a little taste of what you can expect to experience. The quality makes the gamer feel that they are actually communicating with the other person on the other side of the screen and it helps to add a tremendous amount of realism to the game. These "pop-up" videos are thankfully stored in your database so that you may (like I did) view them again and again and again. In summary from start to finish, EVERY visual aspect of this game is absolutely amazing and it hopefully will become a mark for other games in development to achieve and surp@!%#*!.
Sound: The audio in Dead Space is second to none. From the very moment you insert the game into your console the audio begins to take you on a horrific ride that will constantly beat your ear drums into submission. This game was MADE for a 5.1 system, by providing gamers an audio experience that does not happen very often. From Dead Space's "Twinkle Twinkle little star...” in the very opening, to the very last scene of the game, the soundtrack is something that I hope future games take into consideration. It has its moments that will raise your blood pressure, and tense your body as you get a "feeling" that will sweep over you without letting up. It also has its moments of accomplishment which when experienced in the context of the game itself lends gamers a greater sense of accomplishment. Many of times after a conclusive victory I found my heart pounding and adrenaline rushing through my veins which only elevated the sense that I just slaughtered something BIG.
The soundtrack does something else that I rarely see in most survival horror games, it goes completely silent. Just ominous sounds of the environment with no musical score to back it up provides an unbelievable amount of heightened tension, that not only will lead gamers into a false sense of security, but allow a much more dramatic climax when BANG everything goes crazy. This soundtrack also is a key for providing many "JUMPING" moments, where you may think after you've gone through a battle that you've won, but you're dead wrong. I've had experiences where after a battle I have thought to myself "I’m so glad that’s over with" and the music will go silent again, then BANG with out warning the game takes an immediate turn for the INTENSE and I barely have a chance to catch my breath.
The sound FX as well are worth mentioning all in themselves due to the simple fact that it is VERY rare to play a game where depending where your character faces will determine where you hear your enemies come from. I know that there are many other games where (in a surround sound system) you hear different effects from different speakers, however, what sets this game apart is the CONSTANT variety of sound effects. You will hear everything from static coming from a comm. link, a baby's cries, laughter, screams, chains and pipes dragging and being dropped, panels breaking, gl@!%#*! shattering, and many, many more.
Now to another fun part, for all gamers, the weapons. Dead Space provides you with an arsenal that is not only fun to use, but sounds every bit as good as every other element in the game. From a scorching searing flamethrower, to a head ripping buzz saw weapon, every single weapon provides gamers with audio heaven with every single shot. Once upgraded your weapons as well develop a different sound. You can start out with a simple amazing sounding projectile sound from your basic plasma cutter, but when fully upgraded sounds like you are unleashing a hand held a-bomb explosion with every shot. The sound for the weapons is absolutely amazing and the fact that the gamer can customize and develop their weapons just as they would themselves makes upgrading every weapon worth it just to hear it go boom.... and boom it does go.
The voice acting in Dead Space is VERY well done. Different tones of voices indicate different emotions that the gamer will feel. It's and experience that will allow the gamers to actually feel what the other person is going through on the other side of the screen. There will be times when you will hear frustration, anger, rejoice, laughter, praise, and more. Thankfully the dialog as well is not done in a way that makes you regret playing this game and is very well written and provides some amazing insight as to the history of the ship and its crew. What is amazingly done is the way the audio from other actors interacts with the audio from other people and creatures alike. You will hear the horrific screams of an attack; you will hear the sobbing stories of a man who just wanted to get home to his family but in the end, takes his own life. You hear it all in the voices of your team as well as in the silenced voices of the now dead crew.
This when combined with the soundtrack bring to the gamer an audio experience that hasn't been seen for a very, very long time. If you do not own a surround sound system, do not worry as this game will easily provide your ears with such a harmony of sound and effects that all that is needed by the gamer is to turn up the volume. This game has it all and the soundtrack and effects are by far some of the best I have heard in a long... long time....
"Twinkle Twinkle little star.... How I wonder how dead you are” Enjoy.
Suggestions: Its hard to imagine what to ask the developers, its like trying to improve a ferrari. The visual and audio qualities of this game are top notch, however if there is one thing that I could say to them, it would be one word: SEQUEL... actually it would be multiple words: MAKE THIS GAME A SERIES
Made in Canada