Throughout my life I have always wanted to play Resident Evil games. The thought of creeping down a darkened corridor and having a horde of zombies pop out of nowhere just sounded like a good time. The funny thing is I have never played more than 30 minutes of any Resident Evil game because they suck and I just didn’t like them. Thus my choices for survival horror have been extremely limited as I just don’t get the Silent Hill universe and nothing else has caught my eye. Until now.

Set in the future, the human race have exhausted all of Earth’s natural resources and have been forced into harvesting them from other planets in order to survive. To accomplish this task they use gargantuan ships known as planet crackers. Deep in space the USS Ishimura, the largest planet cracker in the fleet loses all communication and our Heroine Engineer Isaac Clarke along with a small team is sent to investigate and fix the problem. Little do they know a much larger problem awaits them and it will take you through some honestly terrifying moments deep in the bowels of the USS Ishimura.

The game begins simply enough bringing you into the story and introducing you to most of your equipment and then the shit hits the fan. Almost as soon as you land on the Ishimura you will be battling the living dead corpses of the Ishimura’s crew now known as Necromorphs and your weapons arsenal may surprise you. You won’t really find any pistols or hand grenades here; instead you are equipped with a number of different mining tools. My favorite, the plasma cutter allows you to effectively and accurately sever the limbs of the walking abominations inhabiting the ship.

Throughout the course of the game you will encounter numerous different enemies all with their own unique way of bringing them down. For the most part dismembering their limbs one by one is the way to go. But don’t forget to slice off that last arm or they’ll just crawl towards you with what’s left, hell-bent on turning your corpse into an omelet! I have to say the “strategic dismemberment” aspect of the game is one I thoroughly enjoy. After getting so used to just pumping something full of bullets until it stopped moving the actual process of determining not only which enemy to take down but which limb to take down first is a refreshing break. (Although, fret not COD4 junkies, there’s a pulse rifle)

The sound on this game is truly amazing. I recommend a dark room, a large TV, and a nice pair of headphones for this title. While the enemies are creepy the sound is what gives this game its terrifyingly nerve racking atmosphere. With the low hum of machinery working in the background you hear something scurry off above you, was it one of them? Or just another machine, what’s that scratching?!? Where’d that come from?!?!?! EA did a great thing using the audio to let the players reel and create their own horror. Bravo…bravo.

On top of having some of the best sound I’ve encountered in a game Dead Space is absolutely gorgeous. The textures blend well together and the lighting effects are nothing short of impressive. Although things tend to get alittle grainy up close it’s nothing that can’t be absolutely over-looked.
Dead Space is a third person shooter and believe me I have never been very good at third person games. However Dead Space seems different as the camera angle allows you to see absolutely everything in front of Isaac which not only allows you to get a full glimpse of the horrible monstrosity hurling itself at you but in my opinion makes targeting much, much easier (then again, those blue lines projected by the plasma cutter don’t hurt either).

Since Isaac’s health is displayed along a bar on the back of his suit and his ammo via a holographic projection above the weapon there is no need for a traditional HUD. Which in my opinion is one of the many keys to Dead Space’s success, allowing you to become fully immersed heightens the tension of what’s around that corner just that much more. In-fact any information you receive in the game is either diplayes as a holographic video projection, an audio-log, or a text log. This also goes for any menus including your inventory and map.

All in all Dead Space does oh so much right. From amazing audio and visuals to a unique third person camera angle you can tell EA really thought out every single detail and have in my opinion created certainly the best survival horror game of the year and possibly in it’s genre (Sorry Fatal Frame). If you haven’t already picked it up I highly recommend you do.

And remember…

Don't Panic