Presenting the most brutal deaths this side of industrial mining
Format: PS3, Xbox 360 (version played), PC Dev: EA Redwood Shores Pub: EA
Out: 14/10/08 Players: 1
Afraid of the dark? Well you should be, because there is something there and it’s not afraid of you. Dead Space is the latest in games made to have you reach for that cushion and not want to turn the lights off. You take on the role of an engineer, Isaac Clarke, called out to an asteroid mining ship that is in need of repair. Isaac and the crew land on the ship, only to find the walls are covered in blood, the power is offline and there is no sign of the crew members. The decision to bring the power back online and restore the ship is soon made but before the team can begin, they are attacked by an unknown monster. Isaac is separated. Alone on the ship Isaac must unfold the mystery of what has happened to his missing wife.
This third-person shooter is the latest from EA’s line up of original titles. For once this isn’t one of their year-after-year sports games. The dynamic graphics give the world a very realistic appearance but this is all hidden away by the endless lack of lighting, which is just to add to the fear factor.
The basic physics of the game are well created, but this is to be expected of most modern games today. The only outstanding part of the physics engine is when the player finds themselves in a room with zero gravity, watching the limbs of monsters and random objects float around. This has a slight hypnotic look when first seen. As the game progresses the player has the option of buying weapons and armour and the ability the upgrade them, but only four weapons can be held at any one time. Choosing a weapon to upgrade is difficult, because you don’t know when you will receive a better one that you wish to improve instead. This can be problematic due to some weapons being a lot more effective than others against your enemy.
There is one major difference in battle in this game too most others, by the fact that just shooting the torso or head of your enemy will not kill the monster. Instead the player has to become much more accurate and stop their opponent by removing its limbs. This can cause your battlefield to be covered in several parts of dead creatures. To add to the shock and fear, many monsters come out of the walls or are found to be dead but suddenly spring to life. This, at first, is a very frightening experience, but in time players will come wise to the monsters’ tricks and slice them before they even have chance to attack.
The fear affect the game portrays soon wears off due to the abundance of ammo, so to call it a ‘survival horror’ is a bit miss leading as it is more an action shooter game. Dead Space is a strong game with a solid ten hours of gameplay, but it doesn’t push any boundaries so it feels less innovative. It’s been made to feel like a new game but seems like it’s all been done before and is nothing new to the genre. Good, but not quite that must have game.
Chris Pearce
[Originally published on Friday, 6 February 2009]
Tags: action, dead space, ea, horror
