Dead Space

Dead Space is a game developed by Visceral Games and published by EA games, released in 2008. Visceral Games is known for the Godfather series and is a relatively new company. EA games is probably the most well-known publisher, both hated and loved by many gamers. Even though this game’s really great, it never got the attention/sales it deserves. Dead Space could be best described as a horror third person shooter with RPG elements.

In Dead Space you play as an engineer who’s sent to a ship that’s having certain technical problems, you’re accompanied by a crew consisting of a total of 5 people, Isaac Clarke(which is you), Kendra Daniels(a technologist), Zach Hammond(a senior security officer, who starts out as the leader of the group) and 2 other crewmembers who die at the beginning and weren’t given any names. When you first arrive at the ship, you’re expecting to repair the malfunctions, but as soon as you enter you realize that something bad has happened. With every mission, a piece of the background story unravels. Throughout the entire game you’ll feel claustrophobic and continuously being cautious. The constant awareness of the situation is required, since the alien life forms can strike at any time in any place. I’ve chosen to remain about vague about the storyline, since I didn’t want to spoil it for people that are considering buying it. But throughout the 12 missions(which are like stages, not just a series of objectives you have to complete), you’ll have to fight off bosses, make many discoveries and be sucked into the story almost immediately. It’s one of the few games that have managed that in a LONG time. Another fun thing I can mention, is the fact that the game creators have created a code for the scribbles that you see scattered around the map, which are quite a lot, and in the first few missions you’ll find a few alphabets translating the code to normal English, so there are a lot of hidden messages in this game, some that’ll lead you to certain cheats and others that’ll point you in the direction of Easter eggs.

The graphics in this game are just amazing, the unsettling surroundings really suck you right into the game and that feeling gets stronger by the sounds you hear, you’ll continuously feel that there are enemies waiting to pop out when you least expect it. I just love what they did with the HUD, or well what they didn’t do with it, since in this game the HUD has been left out, everything you need to know is incorporated in the suit or the guns, in case you need to browse through your inventory and such, your character projects the screen in front of him, making the experience even better, since you’ll feel more and more part of that world. And of course, the gore makes this game so much more fun, because it’s always fun to mutilate an alien with a chainsaw or in this game shooting operating saw blades or hovering them in front of you, the sound that comes along with killing enemies or dismembering just feels so nice, and gives that brutal touch to finishing of an enemy. The constant background sounds make you jumpy as well, there are places on the ship(usually toilets for some reason) where you hear constant whispering, which gives a daunting feeling about the place. And besides the whispering you can hear things move around, some of those things you’ll never encounter, but there are some you will.

The controls in this game are smooth, never have I experienced any trouble playing this game, but the fact that you don’t have a HUD, so the fact that you have no pause when you’re selecting a different gun, because your ammo for example has run out, could take a little while to get used to, since in most games your game pauses itself when you go to your inventory meaning that you can go to the menu even whilst you’re in the middle of a firefight. The game also has quick-time events when an enemy does a grab-attack where they try to eat you or at least harm you without you being able to shoot them. Another thing I liked is the fact that they didn’t use the PS3’s Sixaxis or at least not in a way that it bothered me, because usually it seems that those parts in which you have to use Sixaxis are rushed or aren’t working properly making it a nuisance.

Throughout the game, you’ll collect credits, ammunition, power nodes and various other objects except for guns. Power nodes are items that you use for upgrading your equipment and abilities. Weapons are bought in the store using credits, that you obtain throughout your missions or by selling items that you no longer need. As mentioned before, your character has certain abilities such as telekinesis and statis (a “spell” that puts your enemies in slowmotion). Throughout the game you’ll have to solve various puzzles which are by no means hard, but it keeps the game from getting repetitive and boring by mixing action with some other elements. You’ll also encounter a few minigames along the way such as a shooting range, a basketball minigame and there’s a point in the game where you have to take control of a gun turret to shoot incoming asteroirds(it is required for you to complete this minigame in order to make progress, so technically it’s not a minigame). But of course the game’s core element remains to be shooting alien life forms, preferably by dismembering them since that does the most damage. But there will be some times in the game where simple firepower isn’t enough to stop certain aliens and require a more intelligent approach.

So is this game worth your money? Yes, it’s totally worth every penny. There’s not a single reason you shouldn’t buy this game if you’re judging by the quality of it. But if you don’t enjoy violent games you might get offended by Dead Space. I’d even recommend this game if you’re not very fond of shooters, since this game is so much more than a simple shooter, it offers a big variety of elements from different genres.