I rolled over to my local Gamestop planning on buying Dead Space for $20, which for this game was really a great deal. I was optimistic going into Dead Space because of critical acclaim for the game. I realize that this review is a few years too late but, honestly, is it ever too late to play a great game. The game begins with a repair crew, you being one of them, going to the Ishimura who is stranded. They encounter trouble and crash land in one of the bays...finding no one to greet them. The tone is set, an ominous one at that, that something is amiss on the Ishimura. This is when the player takes control and are thrown right into the action. The tutorial is minimal and for anyone who has ever played a survival horror game will be easy to pick up. I really appreciated this, the fact that there is very little hand holding through the beginning of the game. The fact that you are a repair crew going to a mining ship is crucial and lends itself to some interesting combat choices. It is based around the premise that dismemberment is your friend. You will use a plethora of "cutters" in chopping off arms, legs, heads, and other sorts of grotesque members. The combat is responsive and simple to understand. It is also fun. I never had any troubles through the game with shotting mechanics. My only complaint is in the item inventory. The gameplay is not pause when items are being scrolled through, a menu is simply displayed in front of the character. This would pose a problem but the design team side stepped this by mapping health items to the X button. There is room for upgrades of all the weapons and armor through the work bench. The player finds power nodes that go towards these upgrades. I never found money or items an issue while I was playing on the medium difficulty setting. There is room for multiple playthroughs, all your upgrades carry over as well as some bonus items for finishing the game. The graphics were great, the lighting and sound made for some pretty ominous feelings. It was a creepy game. There were also some interesting mini-games thrown.....the one thing I will say is that I could not get over the feeling I was playing a Capcom game. Whether that is good or bad, doesn't really matter. The game was great, extremely entertaining and never dragged along. Dead Space was definitely worth the purchase and for anyone who has still not tried it, I highly recommend the game.
