Hello everyone, hope you're all doing well, and welcome to my review of Dead Space! It's hard to give a definitive answer on this, but if I had to choose my favorite genre of game I'd have to pick survival horror. I love getting immersed in the haunting atmosphere and tense gameplay moments that keep you on the edge of your seat. Unfortunately there aren't a lot of newcomers in survival horror and most of what we get are sequels to already established franchises. I remember when Dead Space was first released and how excited I was to not only be playing something completely new, but also in a setting that I'd never experienced before. At the time it was very impressive, bringing the genre back into the spotlight again. Does it still hold up all these years later? Sit back, relax, and I'll tell you all about it.
Dead Space is a sci-fi survival horror game developed by Visceral Games. It was released back in 2008 during the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 era. There were other mediocre horror titles that came out around this time, but they made the mistake of watering down the genre, focusing more on action than atmosphere. That's what made Dead Space really stand out from the rest. Not only did it feature some fresh, creative ideas, it also went all out with the horror, earning itself a loyal fanbase that wanted to see more. This was a promising new franchise that I hoped would stick around for a while, and it did for some time. Two more games would eventually release forming the Dead Space trilogy, but things were heading in a bad direction. Sadly, the series is no more and Visceral Games has been shut down.
It's been years since I'd played the original Dead Space and I didn't really remember much about it. This made my most recent playthrough a lot more enjoyable since I had no idea what was going to happen next. The game takes place in the year 2508 out in the far reaches of space. Humans have managed to create massive interstellar spacecrafts that can mine raw materials from distant planets. One of these planet cracking ships called the USG Ishimura sends out a distress signal and a rescue team is sent in to investigate. You play as Issac Clark, an engineer that is part of this rescue team, on what should be a routine mission. But once you reach the Ishimura it's eerily quiet and appears to be abandoned for some reason.
You head into the ship with two other crew members to assess the situation and are shocked to find a gruesome scene waiting for you. Members of the Ishimura's crew lie scattered on the floor torn to pieces, and blood smears the walls, showing signs of what must have been a viscious attack. As the engineer you check the ship's systems and realize most of them are not working correctly. Suddenly you get attacked by a pack of grotesque creatures that destroy your rescue ship, leaving you stranded on the massive, broken Ishimura, that's also crawling with monsters.
Now you have to carefully make your way through different parts of the ship, repairing things as you go, so you can hopefully find a way to get back to safety. As you explore the large planet cracking vessel you start to piece together what might have happened here. It appears as though the crew fell into mass hysteria, and began hallucinating, which may have caused them to violently attack each other. You don't know why, or where these creatures came from, but the mystery slowly unravels as you make your way through each chapter.
The game is played in an over the shoulder third person perspective and focuses on exploration, item management, and combat. After the intro sequence you take a tram station to a different part of the ship which breaks the game up into separate chapters that take place in a new location each time. One thing that stood out to me was the fact that there's no HUD on the screen. Instead your health and ammo count is part of your space suit, keeping the the screen clear and making it easier to immerse yourself in what's happening.
Combat in Dead Space is a little different from most games. Since Issac is an engineer most of the guns you use are actually improvised from mining tools and turned into a weapon. Things like a plasma cutter, a rotary saw, and a welding torch are what you use to defend yourself. Eventually you end up with a good selection of various guns, but you can only equip four at a time. Each one can be upgraded by using items found throughout the ship, so you can pick your favorite ones and really beef them up. Every gun has a normal fire mode and a secondary fire mode for even more options. Your suit can also be upgraded, giving you more inventory space, health, and air supply. There are areas in the game where there's no oxygen so you'll want as much air as you can get.
The creatures that have overrun the ship are called Necromorphs. These horrible monsters will ambush you as you explore each new area, popping out of vents and ceilings. You'll encounter a wide variety of them, from smaller, more agile ones, to larger, tank type enemies. There's even some unique boss battles here and there. To kill these creatures you don't want to shoot them in the head like in most games, but instead you want to try and cut their limbs off. Not only does it immobilize them, but it's the fasted way to get rid of them for good. This is a nice touch that the developers put in that helps to make the game stand out even more.
One really impressive aspect of Dead Space for me is the environment. Exploring the huge mining ship out in the middle of space made me think of films like Alien and Event Horizon. There's a lot of large, futuristic, industrial mechanisms that are loud and intimidating. Sometimes you catch a glimpse of the planet that was being mined from a nearby window. You even have moments where you're outside the ship in extremely dangerous conditions, and moments of zero gravity where everything is weightlessly floating all around you. The developers did a great job of using the game's sci-fi setting to it's fullest, making for some fantastic atmosphere and some memorable locations.
I was surprised at how well this game held up, fearing it might seem a bit tame and outdated by toady's standards. The graphics are fine, not anything spectacular, but the use of lighting, and the visually impressive locations, goes a long way. It wasn't quite as scary as I remember, and once you get used to the Necromorphs they become more predictable and less intimidating. I found it easy to become immersed into this game world, mostly because of the excellent setting and interesting story. The combat is fast paced and frantic, keeping the tension high throughout each chapter, and the wide selection of guns stops it from getting too stale. This is a fantastic game that I would highly recommend to any fan of the survival horror genre. I'm going to give Dead Space a grade of.................................
B +
Thank you for reading my review of Dead Space, I hope you enjoyed it!
