Being the first game to kick off a rather busy season for video games, I was looking for a lot in Dead Space. I’m not a fan of horror games due to the fact I am the world’s biggest wuss, but I loved Resident Evil 4 and was ready to hold the game against the standards I felt were set in that game. On top of that, the fact that there was so much additional content being release before the game in the form of comics and animated features just seemed like it was going to be compensating for a lack of real story within the game itself. My first hour or so with the game was in that frame of mind, nitpicking the elements I didn’t like and expecting to walk away with maybe a small recommendation. However, the game pressed forward and defied most of my expectations for it.

Dead Space is a brand new franchise from Electronic Arts, not necessarily known for taking chances on new series, that brings you into the depths of space in control of Engineer Isaac Clarke. Traveling with a crew sent to aid a distressed mining ship, you arrive to find little to no signs of life and end up crash landing on the gigantic Planet Cracker Starship Ishimura, looking for answers on just happened. After a short time, you’ll find the whole ship overrun by monsters, which are only killed when they have been dismembered. It’s not heavy on the content from the beginning, but as you traverse deeper into the game you find out just how bad things are on the ship.

The first thing that I got from the game was just how stunning the visuals were. The graphics and art style of the environment, characters and the enemies is as beautiful as it is revolting. While many areas of the ship have a very similar aesthetic, the design is unique enough to make each area of the ship identifiable and interesting. The enemies are fairly disgusting, having an almost human-like appearance with enough differences to make you know they are not exactly friendly. The holographic representation of your interface is very sharp and cool, giving you the futuristic feel while still grounding you in the world. The weapons are also well designed, being mostly mining tools so you realize that you’re not some military grunt without a cause and just someone thrust into a situation they were not quite prepared for. Ambiance and sound effects in the game are excellent, as well, building and relieving tension and causing shocks and scares all around.

It’s a third-person action game, meaning you play over the shoulder of Isaac, which makes the game feel closed in and never lets you get comfortable in your environment. The menu system and all interaction in the game is handled through holographic representation, whether it is a video log, communication or scrolling through your inventory. With that style of control along with the way you interact with your menus and NPCs makes the experience very cinematic and brings you into the world on a deeper level than simply having a pause system for storing items or looking at your map. You get the impression that Isaac is performing all the actions you are instructing him to, and doesn’t break the pace of the game as a result. The inclusion of a store and upgrade bench don’t even break the pace, accessed in open spaces where you may or may not be safe, and allowing you to interact in the same way you would your menu system.

The game mechanic “hook” of dismemberment for killing your enemies is an interesting one, but it certainly doesn’t make the game and simply gets absorbed into your strategy by the end. It does defy a lot of the standards of action-horror games, in that you aren’t always going to run into enemies around a spooky corner or dark bathroom. Sometimes, that empty room will stay empty; other times you may encounter a huge group in a brightly lit area with a save point and a store. The enemies move through the vents of the ship, so running to one side of the room or another floor may just mean they pop out of the ceiling to counterattack. It makes the strategy about more than picking off enemies from high points. You’re also given the ability to slow down enemies and parts of the environment, as well as use telekinesis to pick up large objects and throw them at enemies if needed. It’s a pretty cool inclusion, but it does feel a little out of place sometimes.

The variety of enemies is also good, building up the difficulty of killing and catching gradually. The boss fights are a bit easier and not all that varied, but there is one point in which you encounter a foe you can’t possibly kill, making the levels more about escaping and evading, which is fun and nerve wrecking at the same time. The inventory system is a bit schizophrenic, though, going from having more ammunition and items than you can hold all the way to never being able to fill up more than half your capacity very quickly. It makes the storage system a bit hard to judge, and having enemies start to take more and more ammo you will find yourself out of it more often than you should even if you are frugal.

One of the biggest surprises of the game is how well the story succeeds. Very similar to a Resident Evil, you are hunting down the cause of the chaos, and from the logs you will find scattered around the story will unfold and all your questions will be answered. Considering the depth of the other material released, I was worried it would leave it up to you to find the answers, but it is all wrapped up excellently. The character development you witness is very well executed and you do start to connect with Isaac and the situation that is unfolding. There is betrayal and deception, and it doesn’t feel all too forced.

The game isn’t exceptionally deep or long; about 8-12 hours for a first time through and only 7 available weapons. It does allow you to play through the game with your existing equipment and money once the game is finished, but only on the same difficulty, meaning you will mow down your enemies at the beginning only to catch up to the difficulty curve near the end. However, each weapon you have and your suit can be upgrading using items you collect throughout the ship called “Power Nodes”, which gives you a good reason to look around and maybe give it another play.

There’s not a lot of new ideas in Dead Space. It’s a solid story, with gameplay mechanics that are tried and true with a good art direction and design. The visuals are definitely the highest quality item this game has, with some of the boss battles and cinematics you experience being near the best I’ve ever seen. The game is completely solid, and while I can nitpick the fact that dismemberment gets a bit old at times, or that you enemies seem to have problems going through open doors or that it is a very linear experience simply moving from chapter to chapter, there is no mistaking that a lot of care and thought went into every aspect of this game. My first impression were, this is a rental, but based on the whole game I have to say it is something you should at least try and consider bringing home to take a proud spot in your collection. While it’s not the scariest game I’ve ever played, and succeeds more as a thriller, it is a great game from start to finish and something we need to see more of from companies willing to take a chance on new ideas.

Game rented, played to completion on the Xbox 360 on Medium, totaling 10 hours of play. The game is available for the Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 3 for $59.99. Images courtesy of EA.