Dead Space is a unique game. It tries to rejuvinate a genre that, at the time of its release, was completely dry and uninspired. The horror genre has gone downhill in the last 10 years, and only a couple games have succeeded at real horror. Does Dead Space succeed at making people scared, or does it follow its predecessors' habit?
Positive Petes
-That's some scary s***: Dead Space is one of the scariest things I have ever experienced. Everything in the game is set to do one thing: make you shit yourself. The game does everything right to make the setting one of the scariest settings in a game. No worries about falling short in the horror genre. Dead Space is a horror game, down to the core.
-Sound of silence: Dead Space does something I have never seen in a game. One of the primary ways the game scares you is that of sounds. Whether it be an ominous noise, a shreek, or even the absense of noise, sound is a primary tool in creating fear. A broken heater may cause a constant noise to where you let your guard down, only to be attacked that very minute. The sound of singing and screaming makes your mind go crazy wondering where the next attack may be, only to result in no attack at all. And by far, the best example of sound is that of "no oxygen" gameplay sequences. Parts of the ship have no oxygen, and therefore have no sound. This means you hear nothing at all. Not even yourself. Enemies can surprise you like never before here, and it's one of the scariest experiences ever. Dead Space proves the absense of something is as powerful as the presence of it.
-Alive environment: The USG Ishimura, the ship the game takes place on, always feels like it should: a ship that has been infested by a terrible and rapid infection, tearing apart not only the members of the ship but the ship itself. The Ishimura always instills a sense of rapid fear. You want to get off the ship. You know what terrors are on the ship. These types of emotions make the things you must do to escape the ship that more important. Normally the constant structure of fix this and find that would get boring. But the feeling of desperation that you have due to the great presentation of a setting gone to hell make it worth the effort.
-An arm and a leg: By far one of the best parts of the game is the gameplay in order to defeat enemies. The necromorphs (the infected monsters in the game) can only die by having one or more of their limps cut off. The game gives you a plasma cutter, and it's up to you to figure out how to kill the monsters. At first this is a horrifying experience; the first time you see and necromorph you want to shoot it to kingdom come. This doesn't work, however. The game forces you to strategically take down enemies by dismemberment. The fear you have of the enemies forces you to refocus your mind and take them down by cutting off limbs. This becomes increasingly important later on, as the necromorphs become tougher and bigger in number. Knowing how to kill efficiently and quickly is important.
-Plot device, Mr. Frodo: Dead Space's plot escapes another horror genre flaw: bad plot. Dead Space's plot is full of twists, mystery, interesting characters, and even the occassional "What the hell?" moment. The story of a simple repair mission with a simple engineer named Isaac Clarke that turns into something much bigger makes the game not just about scare tactics but about the story. By far, this game has some of the most interesting characters I have seen in a game. This could be due to the story's very good job at making you feel isolated. Any human contact is important, and the player knows the plot is in its high point when you do meet a person. Without spoiling anything, the ending of this story surprised me, something not many games have done. I did NOT see this one coming.
-Shiny: Upgrades in this game are awesome. The game contains a bench upgrade system, where the map contains at least one "bench". Everything from your armor to your weapons can be fully upgraded. Here's the interesting part: you can only upgrade by finding power nodes among the environment, which requires you sticking your head in some places you may not want to. It's this risk versus reward scenario that makes upgrading that much cooler. Another cool upgrade element is that of leveling your armor. Throughout the game you can buy a stronger set of armor, adding plates and more armor each time. These upgrades are not only great gameplay wise, but the player can see the upgrades on Isaac. Pretty cool.
-It's-a-me: Surprisingly, Dead Space has a bit of platforming and puzzle elements in it. This is done by two powers of Isaac's suit: kenesis and stasis. Kenesis allows you to move objects in the environment much like telekinesis. This is used quite a bit in the game to get through an area, and is a nice break from the usual. Stasis is also used generously, as it gives you the ability to slow down things in the environment, like a spinning fan or a broken elevator door. Nice elements that are surprising and refreshing. There are also puzzles in the game, some which are somewhat difficult. Great variety.
-That's irrational: This game feels so much like another scary game, BioShock. In a good way, however. The scary moments remind me of scary moments in BioShock. Much like the latter, Dead Space uses different techniques to scare you, such as the absence of things, dead bodies waking when you least expect it, and scary moments coming when you least suspect it. However, where BioShock's primary goal was not to scare, Dead Space's is. In a way, Dead Space is a constant and heightened sense of fear that BioShock has moments of. It's a different experience, but many elements in the game feel reminiscent. BioShock fans should like this game.
Negative Nancys
-Can I rest a bit?: Dead Space can sometimes be too scary. It's goal of terrifying you sometimes works too well. Many times the constant sense of fear you have may lead you to overreact to a situation. And when you do let your guard down, the game finds a way to scare you right at that moment, making your fear ten times worse. It's a great feeling for most of the game, but it can sometimes feel that you are just working for the next scare tactic, only to let your guard down once and meet that scare tactic right in the face.
-Hookshots wanted: The plasma cutter is an amazing weapon. It's versatile, useful, and overall the best weapon in the game. Unfortunately, with the amount of weapons in the game, most of them become to hard to use or useless all together. After buying the plasma rifle and the line gun, most other weapons feel gimmicky. By far the biggest culprit of this is the flamethrower. Normally a weapon like this would be useful in a game. But because necromorphs require limbs to be cut off to die, lighting them on fire is useless. It just doesn't do anything. Many weapons fall under this curse. And of the weapons that are useful, many of them were only useful for a particular situation, and not as powerful as your initial weapon. Hopefully Dead Space 2 will have weapons that are useful, and aren't put in there just to be there.
-Now my feet won't touch the ground: Zero-G is awesome for the most part. The one annoying apart of Zero-G is the fact that you must aim for the platform you want to go to, and then jump. This wouldn't be so terrible if it didn't require the player to stand at least 30 feet back. It makes no sense that I should have to back up after walking up to a wall just to walk on it. I should be able to walk right on that wall. It is also annoying that I cannot shoot my weapon during a jump. Many enemies ended up hurting me during a jump, something that could have been avoided by giving the ability to shoot. Not a major problem, but it can be annoying.
-Shoot the thing in it's mouth: There are a few sequences in Dead Space where an enemy may have a hold of you and you are required to shoot its "weak spot" to destroy it, ala Lost Planet. The problem is during these sequences there is not aiming assist. So you may be completely lost as to where you have to shoot, or even where you gun is aimed at. This is by far the biggest flaw with Dead Space. These sequences should be awesome, but the fact that it's near impossible to shoot due to not knowing where your gunfire is going ruins the fun.
Thing You May Have Missed
-Dead Space tracks your progress through the Ishimura throughout the entire game. When you do finally finish, New Game Plus becomes available, giving you not only another armor upgrade, but keeping all that you did unlock and all the secrets you already found in the game. Replayability for the win.
Final Comments
Dead Space is one of the best horror games I've ever played. All of it's flaws are minor, and are completely trumped by all of the good things this game brings. Never before have I been that scared than with Dead Space. I can't exaggerate this more: don't turn off the lights when you play this game. You will literally pee yourself. It's that scary. A great thing, however, is that the game never feels overwhelming. It's scary, but the type of scary that you want more of. The great story of desperation that you play makes all the scariness worth it as long as you survive one more minute, do one more task, and get off that ship. The game takes an entirely new turn when you learn of what happened to the Ishimura, and you find yourself once again bearing the terror to uncover the story and live to tell the tale. Dead Space is worth a try and a buy. You won't regret it. Just don't plan on sleeping for a bit.
-That's some scary s***: Dead Space is one of the scariest things I have ever experienced. Everything in the game is set to do one thing: make you shit yourself. The game does everything right to make the setting one of the scariest settings in a game. No worries about falling short in the horror genre. Dead Space is a horror game, down to the core.
-Sound of silence: Dead Space does something I have never seen in a game. One of the primary ways the game scares you is that of sounds. Whether it be an ominous noise, a shreek, or even the absense of noise, sound is a primary tool in creating fear. A broken heater may cause a constant noise to where you let your guard down, only to be attacked that very minute. The sound of singing and screaming makes your mind go crazy wondering where the next attack may be, only to result in no attack at all. And by far, the best example of sound is that of "no oxygen" gameplay sequences. Parts of the ship have no oxygen, and therefore have no sound. This means you hear nothing at all. Not even yourself. Enemies can surprise you like never before here, and it's one of the scariest experiences ever. Dead Space proves the absense of something is as powerful as the presence of it.
-Alive environment: The USG Ishimura, the ship the game takes place on, always feels like it should: a ship that has been infested by a terrible and rapid infection, tearing apart not only the members of the ship but the ship itself. The Ishimura always instills a sense of rapid fear. You want to get off the ship. You know what terrors are on the ship. These types of emotions make the things you must do to escape the ship that more important. Normally the constant structure of fix this and find that would get boring. But the feeling of desperation that you have due to the great presentation of a setting gone to hell make it worth the effort.
-An arm and a leg: By far one of the best parts of the game is the gameplay in order to defeat enemies. The necromorphs (the infected monsters in the game) can only die by having one or more of their limps cut off. The game gives you a plasma cutter, and it's up to you to figure out how to kill the monsters. At first this is a horrifying experience; the first time you see and necromorph you want to shoot it to kingdom come. This doesn't work, however. The game forces you to strategically take down enemies by dismemberment. The fear you have of the enemies forces you to refocus your mind and take them down by cutting off limbs. This becomes increasingly important later on, as the necromorphs become tougher and bigger in number. Knowing how to kill efficiently and quickly is important.
-Plot device, Mr. Frodo: Dead Space's plot escapes another horror genre flaw: bad plot. Dead Space's plot is full of twists, mystery, interesting characters, and even the occassional "What the hell?" moment. The story of a simple repair mission with a simple engineer named Isaac Clarke that turns into something much bigger makes the game not just about scare tactics but about the story. By far, this game has some of the most interesting characters I have seen in a game. This could be due to the story's very good job at making you feel isolated. Any human contact is important, and the player knows the plot is in its high point when you do meet a person. Without spoiling anything, the ending of this story surprised me, something not many games have done. I did NOT see this one coming.
-Shiny: Upgrades in this game are awesome. The game contains a bench upgrade system, where the map contains at least one "bench". Everything from your armor to your weapons can be fully upgraded. Here's the interesting part: you can only upgrade by finding power nodes among the environment, which requires you sticking your head in some places you may not want to. It's this risk versus reward scenario that makes upgrading that much cooler. Another cool upgrade element is that of leveling your armor. Throughout the game you can buy a stronger set of armor, adding plates and more armor each time. These upgrades are not only great gameplay wise, but the player can see the upgrades on Isaac. Pretty cool.
-It's-a-me: Surprisingly, Dead Space has a bit of platforming and puzzle elements in it. This is done by two powers of Isaac's suit: kenesis and stasis. Kenesis allows you to move objects in the environment much like telekinesis. This is used quite a bit in the game to get through an area, and is a nice break from the usual. Stasis is also used generously, as it gives you the ability to slow down things in the environment, like a spinning fan or a broken elevator door. Nice elements that are surprising and refreshing. There are also puzzles in the game, some which are somewhat difficult. Great variety.
-That's irrational: This game feels so much like another scary game, BioShock. In a good way, however. The scary moments remind me of scary moments in BioShock. Much like the latter, Dead Space uses different techniques to scare you, such as the absence of things, dead bodies waking when you least expect it, and scary moments coming when you least suspect it. However, where BioShock's primary goal was not to scare, Dead Space's is. In a way, Dead Space is a constant and heightened sense of fear that BioShock has moments of. It's a different experience, but many elements in the game feel reminiscent. BioShock fans should like this game.
Negative Nancys
-Can I rest a bit?: Dead Space can sometimes be too scary. It's goal of terrifying you sometimes works too well. Many times the constant sense of fear you have may lead you to overreact to a situation. And when you do let your guard down, the game finds a way to scare you right at that moment, making your fear ten times worse. It's a great feeling for most of the game, but it can sometimes feel that you are just working for the next scare tactic, only to let your guard down once and meet that scare tactic right in the face.
-Hookshots wanted: The plasma cutter is an amazing weapon. It's versatile, useful, and overall the best weapon in the game. Unfortunately, with the amount of weapons in the game, most of them become to hard to use or useless all together. After buying the plasma rifle and the line gun, most other weapons feel gimmicky. By far the biggest culprit of this is the flamethrower. Normally a weapon like this would be useful in a game. But because necromorphs require limbs to be cut off to die, lighting them on fire is useless. It just doesn't do anything. Many weapons fall under this curse. And of the weapons that are useful, many of them were only useful for a particular situation, and not as powerful as your initial weapon. Hopefully Dead Space 2 will have weapons that are useful, and aren't put in there just to be there.
-Now my feet won't touch the ground: Zero-G is awesome for the most part. The one annoying apart of Zero-G is the fact that you must aim for the platform you want to go to, and then jump. This wouldn't be so terrible if it didn't require the player to stand at least 30 feet back. It makes no sense that I should have to back up after walking up to a wall just to walk on it. I should be able to walk right on that wall. It is also annoying that I cannot shoot my weapon during a jump. Many enemies ended up hurting me during a jump, something that could have been avoided by giving the ability to shoot. Not a major problem, but it can be annoying.
-Shoot the thing in it's mouth: There are a few sequences in Dead Space where an enemy may have a hold of you and you are required to shoot its "weak spot" to destroy it, ala Lost Planet. The problem is during these sequences there is not aiming assist. So you may be completely lost as to where you have to shoot, or even where you gun is aimed at. This is by far the biggest flaw with Dead Space. These sequences should be awesome, but the fact that it's near impossible to shoot due to not knowing where your gunfire is going ruins the fun.
Thing You May Have Missed
-Dead Space tracks your progress through the Ishimura throughout the entire game. When you do finally finish, New Game Plus becomes available, giving you not only another armor upgrade, but keeping all that you did unlock and all the secrets you already found in the game. Replayability for the win.
Final Comments
Dead Space is one of the best horror games I've ever played. All of it's flaws are minor, and are completely trumped by all of the good things this game brings. Never before have I been that scared than with Dead Space. I can't exaggerate this more: don't turn off the lights when you play this game. You will literally pee yourself. It's that scary. A great thing, however, is that the game never feels overwhelming. It's scary, but the type of scary that you want more of. The great story of desperation that you play makes all the scariness worth it as long as you survive one more minute, do one more task, and get off that ship. The game takes an entirely new turn when you learn of what happened to the Ishimura, and you find yourself once again bearing the terror to uncover the story and live to tell the tale. Dead Space is worth a try and a buy. You won't regret it. Just don't plan on sleeping for a bit.
Heh, I really liked this one. Info was awesome, but what I really loved was the little "names" of your paragraphs... "Plot device, Mr. Frodo" from LF's ORTRTA, hookshots, irrational, and even "Now my feet won't touch the ground" from Coldplay's Life in Technicolor II. Haha. That kept me giggling.
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