I know that this is a kind of late review, but I just recently finished Dead Space again after a long time and got a fresh perspective on it now, and can understand it's strengths and flaws better. Beware this WILL contain definite Spoilers!
Dead Space is a third person horror shooter where you play the character of Isaac Clarke, an engineer who is sended with a group of people to solve a communications blackout on a "Planet Cracker" spaceship called USG Ishimura. What is a Planet Cracker Ship? Well, in essence, it's an mining cruiser that cracks open planets for minerals, because presumably in this dystopian future, humans have consumed most of Earth's resources, or who knows, maybe it's just good business.
Anyway, as soon as you and your entourage are about to arrive to the station, something hits your salvage vessel and you crashland into Ishimura. You begin to inspect the situation and quickly figure out that something is wrong.
Your group gets attacked quickly and you're seperated from your two remaining comrades. As you go forward, you start to learn that the crew of the ship was attacked by an hostile lifeform called Necromorphs, and by killing the crew they are converting them into their ranks. Basic infection type stuff.
As you stay in voice and video contact with your comrades, you are sended into various fetch quests to acquire certain objects and open different areas, and while you're doing this, you're being almost constantly jumped by the enemy creatures, and you gain more gadgets and weapons on the way.
Obviously because I'm a big horror game buff, the very reason I wanted to check this game out was because of the horror elements. And it's good, not as scary as I thought, but that's subjective. HOWEVER, there are flaws.
The game relies mostly on the jump scares, which suit this game well, but after a little while, it's starting to get stale. Also, when you have means to defeat your enemy instantly, it removes the aspects of helplessness and horror gradually. That is why I think most horror shooters fall what on their face with the horror aspect. You wont feel desperate because you know, that whatever comes your way, you can just blast it away, and move on, and the ammo is plentiful in this game. As you kill enemies, they drop ammo and credits, which you can use to buy medpacks, ammo and weapons on Stores.
Actually, I have couple of issues with the Store, and beware, this is going to sound very nitpicking, but bear with me!
First of, don't you find it alittle odd that there are multiple shops on every quarter of the ship that sellFlamethrowers, Military Grade Assault Rifles and contraptions that shoot hovering spinning sawblades?
Why would you EVER need to buy that stuff on a mining vessel, where the crew is mostly consisted of civilians? But why would they sell it there anyway, when they belong in an armory, even if it was a military vessel. It's pretty scary to think that if somebody got on your nerves there, you can just go buy a Flamethrower from the local market and go barbecue the bastard.
"Mac wants a flamethrower!" "MAC WANTS A WHAT?!"
Now, the SECOND complaint is that, don't you think there should be somekind of override mechanism to these Stores incase of emergencies? After all, these stores have presumably LIMITLESS HEALTHPACKS AND AMMO. Don't you think that would be convenient to have if your ship is attacked by an unknown hostile lifeform that wants everyone dead? I KNOW, I know. It's a game, and there wouldn't be sense to have unlimited ammo, but still, alittle weird. Bottomline however, the Stores shouldn't exist in the first place.
Now, the SECOND complaint is that, don't you think there should be somekind of override mechanism to these Stores incase of emergencies? After all, these stores have presumably LIMITLESS HEALTHPACKS AND AMMO. Don't you think that would be convenient to have if your ship is attacked by an unknown hostile lifeform that wants everyone dead? I KNOW, I know. It's a game, and there wouldn't be sense to have unlimited ammo, but still, alittle weird. Bottomline however, the Stores shouldn't exist in the first place.
There is a one more thing about the Store. I always hated how you DON'T KNOW what you're buying. There are no descriptions or even pictures about the various weapons they sell. Seriously, would you ever buy a thing called the Force Gun if you didn't know what it is? In this dystopian future there are full functioning holographic interfaces, but they don't have item descriptions. Sure, a thing called Small Med Pack is easy to understand, but FORCE GUN?
Actually, the next thing I wanted to talk was the HUD. Your health is displayed in a glowing green bar in your characters back, and I always thought that was a brilliant design choice. Ammo is displayed above the weapons, which is not an unique first time feature, but perfectly fits the game's HUD style.
Slender Man's cameo in Dead Space.
Everything else, like mapscreens are projected infront of the player in a holographic interface, which looks very effective, and doesn't break you away from the game.
Also, a thing I haven't mentioned yet is one of the game's biggest selling points, which is the dismembering.
The enemies don't die by usual means like blowing up the head. Even when beheaded, the creatures will pursue you, unless you cut off their limbs one by one until they die. It's a great and frantic game mechanic that works well, because you keep encountering different monsters that require different type of dismembering.
The visuals of the game are topnotch and especially when you walk outside the ship in the vacuum, the floating liquids and bodies really make a quite powerful effect.
The game also features, what I like to think as some of the biggest, exciting and best boss fights ever. If you haven't played this game yet, you're missing out alot.
The voiceacting is done well, and many times you can almost taste the fear in their voice. Oh and yeah, our protagonist is a mute, which could actually work in his favor. Despite Isaac never talking, he actually comes out as a pretty tragic and innocent type or hero, who deserved nothing of what's happening to him but against all odds, he survives and does what he thinks is right, and as game progresses, he loses his sanity aswell.
All in all, Dead Space is a brilliant gory shooter with great action, storyline that's interesting enough to keep the player interested, absolutely beautiful visual effects and over-the-top boss fights. I'd say definitely check it out!
