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Dead Space Review [PC]
Also available on PS3 & XBOX360

    9/10
Incredible Atmospheric Horror

When EA™ announced they were making a horror survival game set in a space age derelict spaceship about how one man must find a way out of there, most people agreed that there was already plenty of room on their shelf taken up by the vast amount of horror survival games already out there, but as you begin to play Dead Space, and get entwined within the storyline and the visuals, it proves it is not just any ordinary space age horror survival game, and now it has its own very special place on the shelf, where it won’t be gathering dust anytime soon.

Just you and Dead Space...

Story
You play Isaac Clarke, an engineer, and when the Concordance Extraction Company (CEC) loses contact with there Planet Cracker-Class mining ship, the Ishimura, Isaac is called up to go and fix the communications that should be fairly straight forward, although Isaac has his own mission, recently he had received an obscure message from Nicole Brennan, a medical officer that is currently working on the Ishimura, whilst Isaac is there he plan’s to find her and uncover the truth behind this message, although things don’t go according to plan as when you get near you have to make an emergency landing, and then from here you soon realize that things aboard the Ishimura the crew don’t exactly welcome you in the way you hope.

Whilst downloading the damage report, the crew are attacked by some unknown creatures, but fortunate for you some glass is protecting you, and you sit idly by while your crew is dismembered, and you make a hasty exit as you’re the only one that can repair the ship and can thus rescue the remaining crew to freedom, but with doing so you start to discover some hidden truth along the way about what was really going on, fitting the pieces together like a jigsaw, as you strive for survival.

One of many close quarter battles...

Dead Space
From the second you start the game you will be engrossed by the visuals, and as well as the performance, with heavy and bright explosions going off, you can still enjoy these in full awe as its very rare that the screen will be too busy and slow down, the shiny metallic structures really make you feel as if your there, and with a Resident Evil 4 style, over the shoulder view, you can rotate the camera 360 degrees and admire the surroundings.

The terrifying atmosphere that is created is one that will most likely see you checking behind you every so often, just to make sure no one is behind you, and its similar in game too, as creatures come from every angle, and they can often be heard before seen, giving you a little extra time to prepare for the worst, as you never quite know what will jump out at you next.

The inventory can be accessed at any given time via a holographic image, and here you can access items and information, although this all happens in real time, so when a monster is attacking you, it can be quite frantic to open the inventory and successfully use your remaining med pack, this real time approach goes for everything, text data files are viewed in front of you via a holographic screen whilst you walk around and navigate the page, and video and audio logs can be watched or heard whilst fighting off creatures, or solving problems, this can talk you through the process and you can simultaneously do it, which can be beneficial for a larger complex problem.

You have no HUD, which really does work easily and gives you so much more cinematic freedom of the screen, and make scenes much more immersive; on the back of his RIG uniform indicates his health, and as well as the bar being affected, poor Isaac is too, running slower, appearing out of breath and in pain. To check your current amount of ammo, simply raise your gun to aim and it is indicated by a clear number on your weapon, also you can be directed in the correct direction via a small traceable beam of light that can be used as many times as you desire by hitting a key, this saves a lot of time running around in circles and these elements make the game so much more enjoyable, but yet are so simple.

There are no cinematic sequences, or FMV’s everything happens in real time around you, often something of importance will happen in front of you whilst you are protected by glass or some transparent material, this gives you the sense of being unrestricted within Deep Space, and you are free to roam at your leisure.

Although there is no multiplayer function, I believe this is a chance to totally soak up the single player atmosphere and to play alone so you can be truly absorbed by the horrifying experience, with no one to help you.

Weapons
Within Dead Space as well as weapons to use, you also find yourself using a lot of tools, from cutters to chainsaws, anything that has a trigger you will use as a weapon, and as you’re an engineer you’re pretty handy with the tools, each weapon offers a primary fire and a secondary fire, that in certain situations can come in very handy, though a wide range of weaponry arsenal to use also means a lot of gruesome mutated creatures to fight, that come in all shapes and sizes.

There is a tactic to fighting the mutants, and this is to aim for the limbs, this can prove difficult when you’re swarmed with four or five mutants flailing there limbs everywhere, though not only do you have weapons at your disposal, but things called ‘modules’ too, in a way it acts as a magical power to slow down time, to kinetically move things or throw things and more, with these powers you can slow down the four or five flailing mutants down and handle things a lot easier, although there is a limit on how much you can do before your energy depletes, and then you must find a useable item or restore station to refresh.

Mutants must be decapitated to be killed easily...

The Good
-    Brilliant atmosphere that will have you leaping out of your seat
-    Animation of mutants are perfect, with each mutant having different behavioural tactics which make them smarter and scarier
-    No HUD elements work, giving you freedom to enjoy the scenes
-    Brilliant story, that just keeps pulling you in, deeper and deeper
-    Audio is outstanding, it is like been in a SCI-FI horror film
-    Terrifyingly gruesome, as you can dismember foes, though the same goes for you.
-    Many different weapons
-    Upgradeable features
-    You respawn very closely to where you die, often the corridor before you encounter what’s ahead, meaning you don’t have to replay entire chapters
-    Dead space areas are stunning, and really make you believe you’re trapped in dead space, terrifying.
-    Zero Gravity areas are fun to jump around


The Bad
-    Slightly repetitive gameplay
-    No multiplayer modes that may be desired by some

The Ugly
-    No graphical issues or glitches mean that this can be played smoothly and not watched like a slideshow

Isaac Clarke strives to survive...

Summary
Some people may say this is just Doom 3 vs Resident Evil 4, and I have to disagree entirely, this title brings a lot more to the horror survival genre, that many companies may want to be inspired by, its captured all the elements of what a true horror survival should be like, and any fan, or even any aspiring horror fans should get this title that want the true experience to be in Dead Space.

By Liam Copping