Dead Space Review (PS3)

Running from aliens called Necromorphs wasn't part of the job description for any miner, but that's what happens to interstellar humans in Electronic Arts' terrifying survival horror video game, Dead Space. After watching these sinister creatures rip off people's heads and limbs, the other dangers of mining seem like an amusement park ride.

Engineer Isaac Clarke lives hundreds of years in the future, after humans exhausted Earth's natural resources. In order to preserve the galaxy's most kick ass planet, humans resort to planet cracking, a process by which large spaceships break through a planet's crust to mine its goodies, and no vessel is better at it than the USG Ishimura, at least until her 1,000 person crew goes eerily silent. Assuming it's a communications issue, Isaac and his small team attempt to fix the problem but instead make a spine-tingling discovery. In a weak attempt at redecorating, Ishimura's crew decked the halls with their blood and brain matter. Their remains also transformed into twisted abominations that look as attractive as road kill. To make matters worse, Isaac loses his ship and gets separated from his fellow engineers. Now he must battle these sinister creatures alone.

Horror fans will immediately recall the movies that inspired Dead Space. Lost communications and a team sent in to investigate? Aliens. A derelict spaceship with ghostly voices? Event Horizon. An alien that contorts a person's flesh to become a twisted mix of skin and bone? John Carpenter's The Thing. Yet despite these influences (or rip-offs, depending on your perspective), its developers carved their own space within the horror pantheon and created something that, while not wholly original, stands on its own mutated feet, in large part because it's what most games aren't; polished, gorgeous and exhilarating.

Everything about Dead Space screams high production. Played from an over the shoulder perspective (ala Gears of War 2 and Resident Evil 5), you guide Isaac through Ishimura's dark and industrial innards solving simple engineering puzzles, exploring zero G environments and piecing together the clues that paint a chilling portrait of what consumed the crew. Of course, you encounter them soon enough, except they'd rather stab Isaac than complain about a downed transmitter.

Much like Konami's Silent Hill franchise, Isaac is just your average guy thrust into a situation beyond his control. Therefore, you can't expect him to dropkick Necromorphs or utter Schwarzenegger style one-liners. In fact, he never speaks; the only voices you hear are from your remaining engineers, video/audio logs and ghostly voices infecting the ship. To make matters worse, you won't come across weapons like DOOM's BFG 9000. Aside from the military issue pulse rifle, the majority of his weapons are mining tools, though we never felt weak torching baddies with the flamethrower or blasting off limbs with the plasma cutter. In addition, you can upgrade these weapons and Isaac's suit, beefing up your defenses against hostile forces; modules like Stasis (slows down time) and Kinesis (lets you move objects Jedi style) further empower you.

Combat is visceral and intense. Necromorphs pop up from grates, explode through walls and reanimate dead bodies. Since the best way to slaughter these abominations is to slice off their limbs (a head shot may or may not kill them) you'll engage in a vicious ballet of blood, severed body parts and assorted gore. Combine that with Isaac's ability to stomp on corpses, one of our guilty pleasures, as well as use melee attacks, and Dead Space has its share of disgusting moments.

There's also plenty of genuinely frightening ones, though the game quickly becomes predictable. If you see a presumably dead alien on the ground, chances are good that it'll get up. When near a save point, it's a safe bet that nothing will prevent you from recording your progress. And despite all this talk about accessing the menu in game, thereby leaving you open to attack, an instant heal button as well as a quick weapons swap with the d-pad fixes the game's first rumored issue.

It's usually what you don't see, however, that scares you. Simply put, Dead Space has phenomenal audio. As you explore the bowels of the ship, you'll hear things scurrying behind walls, metal objects clanging in the distance, voices uttering unintelligible words and pneumatic doors erratically opening and closing. Mix that with the graphics, with blood along the floors, mangled bodies occupying hospital beds and various special effects, such as flickering lights and other strange happenings, and you'll crap your pants the moment something leaps from the shadows.

Past the bloodshed and butchery, the Ishimura is full of little details that add personality to the experience. Magazines on chairs, signs advertising various products, empty cups and the aforementioned logs (delivered by excellent actors) convince you that at one time, these people enjoyed life.

We could dissect the game's minor issues, such as the inability to make quick turns or the reliance on gimmicky features (Kinesis feels very Star Wars), but Dead Space is too good. Say what you will about your second or third time through, but that first time is a wondrous experience full of tense moments and spectacular discoveries. This is the best survival horror game since Resident Evil 4 and a must play for anyone that appreciates the horror and/or sci-fi genre. Bravo to everyone involved.

Related Links

Dead Space Xbox 360 Game Guide

Dead Space PS3 Game Guide