The success of the Horror genre has led to some truly scary games over the past 20 years, from Alone in the Dark to Resident Evil. However, despite maintaining the horror elements, there has been very little in the way of innovation until Resident evil 4 pulled the horror genre kicking and screaming into the 21 century from the old, but still overused, idea of stiff controls, awkward camera angles and overused clichés. Dead Space isn’t a game that offers the same innovative strides, instead it is a solid game that has excellent sound, gameplay and great controls, which all come together to create an incredibly atmospheric game that must be played by any horror fan.
After receiving a distress signal from ‘planet cracking’ vessel the USG Ishimura, the CEC corporations sent out the USG
Kellion to investigate, assuming there to be a simply malfunction with the ship itself. On board the USG Kellion are security officers and our protagonist, Issac Clarke, who is a systems specialist and engineer sent to fix the problems on the USG Ishimura. On approaching the ship, the crew assume that the lack of response is down to a communications malfunction, and so make their way to the docking bay; however, they encounter a problem with the ship and make a brash but unavoidable crash landing inside the Ishimura. Once off the Kellion, they realise that the idea of there being a malfunction is too good to be true as all kinds of nasty creatures pour out of the metal work.
The story that unravels throughout the game is actually surprisingly decent, often sidestepping clichés that have often plagued many other horror games, and best of all they make a lot of sense in the Dead Space universe, which would simply not be possible with the same scenarios in other horror games. There are also a lot of simultaneous stories occurring at the same time, such as Issac searching for his girlfriend, or the crew trying to escape the Ishimura, but the real substance comes in the form of Audio and Text logs that can be found on the ship, which are interesting enough to warrant searching to find them all.
The game plays out similar to other 3 person shooters, with an over the shoulder viewpoint that is only swapped out when Issac is being picked up or thrown around. Issac has a large arsenal on his hands that are plausibly based off mining equipment, such as plasma rock cutters; although a miners use for a flamethrower is beyond me. Each weapon also comes in two flavours: default mode and alternative fire. You will be using these weapons to blow off the creatures limbs as headshots are about as effective as a fart in a hurricane, which is another nice departure from traditional horror games where the head is the key weak spot.
The best feature of Dead Space has to be the fantastic use of music and atmosphere to create one of the most intense and suspenseful games that I have ever played. The use of 5.1 surround sound is definitely the way this game is meant
to be played, with casual items falling from tables behind you, sending your nerves everywhere in anticipation of a nonexistent danger, and the ungodly noises the creatures make when they are charging you in a frenzy. There are even some interesting moments in the game where you take Issac outside the ship for brief moments of space walking with limited air, which is not only incredibly beautiful but also very tense, with noises muffled through your helmet resulting in gentle thumps when you fire off your guns.
The gameplay does make for some repetitive moments though, with some moments feeling like Déjà vu where you are fighting the same enemies in similar environments, but these moments aren’t particularly off putting as they are often brief and are followed by more interesting gameplay segments such as travelling in Zero gravity, stopping asteroids destroying the ship or moving large objects with stasis.
Dead Space has everything you would want in a horror game: great gameplay, intense atmosphere, a functional inventory system, shocking creatures and a gripping story. Even if you are only vaguely interested in the horror genre, this should be a must buy.