Dead Space

31 Oct 2008 at 12:02:25 by Nat Hull
Systems used to review this title: (PS3)

Scary games are a rare breed these days.  Sure we get a few cheap shocks here and there (*cough* Doom 3) and the odd unsettling moment but they can’t quite live up to the atmospheric horror of games like System Shock 2 or the original Silent Hill. Well, things may just be changing because this is the first survival horror title in a long time that has genuinely terrified and sickened me to the core, drawing me into the experience from the very beginning.

Dead Space is set in the distant future aboard a “Planet Cracker” class mining spaceship known as the USG Ishimura. Earth has long since used up its natural resources and the Concordance Extraction Corporation (C.E.C.) was formed to explore space and discover new minerals and materials. You are Isaac Clarke, an engineer sent in with a small crew to investigate a distress call from the stranded mining flagship. You’ll see straight away that this game has a lot of space horror influences. First one that pops to mind is Event Horizon as the story of Dead Space revolves around a ship that loses contact and soon becomes infested with an alien entity. Keen sci-fi fans will also spot elements of the Alien Quadrilogy and John Carpenter’s The Thing in Dead Space.  

The game begins with Isaac watching a recorded video message from his ex-girlfriend  Nicole Brennan, a crew member on the Ishimura. Your colleagues, security officer Zach Hammond and technologist Kendra Daniels are discussing the missing ship itself as it slides into view in a stunning introduction to the game’s main environment. The view from the ship window is truly breathtaking and demonstrates just how polished and beautiful the game looks. Even when you’re knee deep in blood, guts and mutated, rotting flesh you’ll admire the developer’s visual flair. After watching the intro sequence a little further, your ship takes a hit from some flying debris and you are forced to make an emergency landing in to the dock of the Ishimura.

Once you take control of the game, you are introduced to the innovative HUD design. I say “HUD” but there is no HUD as such throughout the game. Any menus that appear are projected from the front of your suit. If you pan the camera round you can quickly tell that the menus and inventory become un-viewable from certain angles. You’ll also learn that viewing your menus will occur in real time, meaning you are highly vulnerable to attacks whilst you sift through your items, or check your map. Your health is shown as a set of blue/turquoise bars running up your spine. As you take hits the bar drops, turning yellow indicating a low level of health, and flashes red when you’re at death’s door. The game handles in a similar fashion to Resident Evil 4 - when you aim down your weapon, the camera zooms over your shoulder and allows you to blast away with good accuracy. Although in this case, there are no quick turn buttons, so if something is quickly catching up with you ready to strike, you have to manually turn around which can be a little cumbersome. There is also a button to stomp the ground hard which can be used to break open supply crates or stamp the life out of a crawling enemy.

Now on to our first encounter with the enemy, the Necromorphs. After watching one of the first nameless security guards (Dead Space’s equivalent of the red shirt guys) being butchered by an invading Necromoprh, you leg it to the nearest door, with the monster in hot pursuit  You encounter more again soon after, but not before you’ve picked up your first weapon, the Plasma Cutter. Sounds good doesn’t it? Well, it is. Dismemberment is definitely a word to remember as the only real way to take down the enemy is by relieving them of their limbs. Aim for the head and you’ll take it off, but this will just annoy the Necros and before you know it you’ll be minus a face. Take its legs out and it will just crawl towards you still screaming for your blood. Aim for its chest, and it will take one hell of a beating before it finally falls over dead. Take its arms off - its primary weapons -  and you have a sure fire way of taking it down. The idea of shooting limbs off is a fantastic point for any gamer, but it soon becomes slightly repetitive as the game progresses.

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