Dead Space offers the best mix of action, customization and plot since Resident Evil 4.
Drawing heavily on a wide range of science fiction and horror themes, Dead Space may first seem a bit formulaic, but rest assured that by the end of this roughly 15-hour saga of terror, you will be left a blubbering mess huddling with your Controller slack in your shaking hands. But surely, there must be exaggeration ...
It is no exaggeration.
Dead Space is a performance that rivals great like Half-Life 2 and BioShock. His nuanced and labyrinthine plot, fully realized characters and destructive attention to the minute graphical detail is irreproachable. There are a few small quibbles you could dig up (and will), but these are not in March, what is one of the better-realized gaming experiences to date.
Call Me Isaac
Chief among Dead Space's success is the quiet and humble heroes that you control. Isaac similar to Half-Life's Gordon Freeman in his curious ability to elicit empathic responses despite the fact that he never uttering a word (The Legend of Zelda's Link is another with so calm cool). Isaac is not totally without means to express themselves, and his screams of pain and sorrow, when attacked by a twist of alien necromorphs or wheezing Gaspe after running out of oxygen serve to emphasize the terror and despair you share with him about his damned travel.
There are hundreds of tiny examples like these that make you aware of Isaac's character during the game, and what is amazing about Dead Space is how remarkably relatable Isaac is. This relatability pulls you to worry about him, worry about him, necessitating what it takes to keep him safe and see him through his goals and objectives. And it is only a character in the game, albeit the most important.
There are a handful of other major players in Dead Space, and each adeptly plays his or her role as sci-fi/horror archetypes. Hammond's fierce military persona puts his mission at the highest priority, while maintaining the welfare of those serving under him in a close second. Isaac's love interest Nicole practical haunts the poor guy throughout his trials and misadventures. Daniels plays the essential support geek, chasing Isaac through the ship's digital systems and free up the doors to open roads ahead. These characters may begin as typical troops to be used as a sci-fi sidekick, but Dead Space takes them in directions that you probably will not expect, and the richness they add to the plot makes this one of the best-scripted game in recent times.
No U-turn
Video games are not just about big stories (although it has a good plot certainly helps). Fortunately, Dead Space shines sweetly in both control and user interface. Isaac May lumber clumsily together on the game's outset, belabored by cumbersome technology gear, but it underlines his character as a non-action hero. Of course, acquiring new equipment upgrades also increase the mobility, so you end up with serious responsiveness. You just have to work for it.
Isaac's hosting the cobbled-together weapons and abilities provides more than enough ways to handle his highly varying circumstances. What is surprising is that Dead Space does not insist that you kill everything, if you prefer to simply strike out for your goals ... Of course, you would be to deprive you of the fun of eviscerating some really horrible monstrosities, but it is nice to know that you can skate past enemies when you really want.
Increase Isaac's treasure trove of energy-projecting blasts, most of which focus on the delivery of le Sizzling plasma, is his ancillary talents: his stasis / sludge field and his telekinetic kinesis module. The stasis / sludge module temporarily freezes objects and enemies, slowing them down briefly, so you can sneak by or taken seriously injuring them. Stasis / sludge is mandatory for violence against some enemies, and focusing on design philosophy rooted in variation.
Meanwhile, the kinesis module can be used in a surprising variety of ways, and although they may not all be visible from the start, you will come to rely on it heavily at the end. Or maybe you will not, because Dead Space gives you the freedom to decide on how to approach each meeting. If you run out of ammunition, but the kinesis module is a life Saver, thanks to its ability to hurl objects (especially claws removed to murder foreigners) at lethal speed.
Although Dead Space's core fighting mechanic trumpets "strategic split" as its primary method, you do not necessarily have to be a precise surgeon. While blowing off strangers limbs definitely pay big dividends in the form of ammunition conservation (enemies go faster when you take them off piece by piece), simply blasting away at the middle mass get the job done so well. Still, if you really want to see what Dead Space does best, will you take the time to line up your images correctly and vivisect your enemies. The Gore factor is incredibly cruel and entertaining.
If you really love to see things splashes, Isaac's melee attacks are satisfyingly brutal. In no way is the fastest method for dispatching aliens Stomp melee and give the reader a sense of real mass Isaac grunts and swings his arms in an exaggerated arch, which detects a small additional follow-up, because he simply is not strong enough to stop his swing when he gets going. One of our favorite ways to preserve valuable ammunition is to take the legs of a bipedal alien, and then run up and STOMP it ... fewer wasted rounds with a little extra Gore? Great.
User-friendly lasers
We were a little frustrated that the console versions of Dead Space does not offer a 180-degree Insta-round (as in Resident Evil 4). On the PC, there is less of a problem when you can zip around rather quickly with the mouse, assuming you are not already zoomed to an end. And of course you can always use the handy sprint button to put some distance between you and your enemies.
It may seem like a small thing, but Dead Space menu system and user interface is fantastic. Using a simulated holographic display, emanating from Isaac's breastplate, book, video logs and a readable 3D cards all seem to hover just in front of Isaac, luminescent hanging in the air. It is oddly satisfying to pan the camera around and look at the inverted images of Hammond or Daniels, as they chatter on about where you have to go and what to do when you get there. When you do it (and you almost certainly will at some point), be sure to notice how the images are placed beside the text box in the text logs floating just above the frame, sticking a little from the rest of the message .. . It is that kind of attention to detail, drawing you deeper into the drama, because the science behind it seems to be working overtime.
Locator is especially useful, and for those of us who can not be bothered to keep a laundry list of tasks in our brains for more than half a second, it is essential. A laser-guided breadcrumb trail of forms, the locator will plot the quickest route to your next objective with the push of a button, tracing a beam of coherent light and refocusing the camera to follow where it goes. It is very precise and never fail to point you in the right direction (even when your goal is not entirely clear). It makes us wonder how we ever got along without this kind of mechanic before.
Inventory Management
You can cruise through the Dead Space without ever upgrading a single weapon, but the rich equipment advancement system is really a pleasure to use, so you really only be cheating yourself. While you start slowly, take only a few of the Power Nodes that serve as currency upgrade, add more damage and more ammunition capacity to Isaac's arsenal can be addictive. If you want to splurge, you can even purchase additional music from vendors scattered around the Ishimura. For those of us that like a little RPG in our action games, it is a dangerously attractive feature, which enables Dead Space apart from your average run-n-Gunner.
Even if you do not have to increase weapons performance, auto sales make it easy to increase Isaac's space suit. Simply fork over some credits and the seller will slap additional reinforcement of your arms, raise Isaac appearance and provide more inventory slots and greater toughness. Dead Space manages to smoothly integrate these largely optional features without taking the focus off of its oppressive atmosphere of terror.
Integrating some nice variety in a game while preserving its decidedly action-oriented dynamics, dead space is appealing across a wide range of gameplay styles. Wrap an exciting plot, which is a veritable Warren for spinning together themes about this and you've got a game that is basically a guaranteed experience. Dead Space is a solid achievement of several of our favorite gameplay mechanics in a way that we have only seen in the blockbuster like BioShock, Half-Life and Resident Evil 4th Its quality is undeniable, and we have no reservations about recommending its potent mix of panic-inducing plot line, furious action and profound adaptation.
© 2008-11-03, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved