Dead Space

Hola folks, welcome to the inaugural post for this blog. I've been a gamer ever since the first Atari system came out and I haven't put down a controler since. I've owned an Atari 2600, Nintendo Entertainment System, Playstation, a Playstation 2 and I've recently converted to the XBox 360 which stole my heart with Halo 3. So, I know a bit about gaming and what makes a good gaming experience. I guess I'm what you would call a game-ophile: I follow game rumors, subscribe to Game Informer magazine, and keep up with the latest gaming news. I'll be adding some more features to this blog as time goes on, but for now I'll be sticking to game reviews and news strictly for the XBox 360. Anyhow, on with the show!

Dead Space
Developer: EA Redwood Shores
Multiplayer: None
Downloadable Content: Yes
Rating: M
Release Date: Available now

Dead Space puts you in the air-tight boots of Isaac Clarke, engineer aboard the USG Kellion which is en route to investigate the communication blackout aboard the "planet cracker" USG Ishimura, not to mention a mysterious transmission Isaac received from Nicole Brennan (who may or may not have been romantically involved with our reluctant hero). Apparently mankind has developed strip mining on a planetary scale and ships like the Ishimura are sent to find new worlds to crack open and break down into useable material. What starts off as a simple repair job turns into a struggle for survival (not to mention sanity) as Isaac, Communications Officer Daniels and Security Officer Hammond attempt to unravel the unimaginable events that took place aboard the Ishimura. 

The game does a superb job of creating an environment of fear, claustrophobia, and just plain scary shit. From the cryptic audio, visual and text logs you find scattered around the parts of the ship that clue you in to what happened but usually create more questions than they answer, to the mysterious messages on the walls that are written in blood to the half whispers and banging pipes that seem to come from everywhere, everything is designed to enhance that feeling of being completely alone yet vulnerable to whatever may be around the next corner. And there WILL be things around the corner, ready to rush at you and send parts of your body splattering against the wall...or rip you in half and pound on your corpse...or rip your head off and use you as a meat puppet...or impale you and then tear you in half and...well, you get the idea. 

The game controls much like you would expect of someone who is not your usual shooter hero. At first Isaac kind of lumbers around (until you upgrade to stronger suites later in the game), much like you would expect of someone wearing what amounts to a hazardous environment suit and is not used to facing down hordes of mutated corpses. Pressing the right bumper while moving with the left analog stick will put Isaac into a plodding run that totally makes sense when you put it in the context of an engineer running in a haz mat suit. The camera takes its queue from Resident Evil 4, with an over the shoulder perspective that keeps your target right in front of you. Targeting takes place when you pull the left trigger and firing is done with the right trigger. Pulling the the right trigger without targeting will execute a melee move that can give you some much needed breathing room should you need to reload during combat. The one control issue I have is the lack of a 180 turn, although it only makes more sense when you look at it from the perspective of the kind of character you're controlling. The only issue that I can't lay at the feet of the believability gods is that when you are in particular large sections of the ship, the map will cut off half of the map no matter how much you might zoom or rotate the map.

Another excellent feature of the game is the upgrade system. Upgrades are handled through the judicious use of Power Nodes. These can be found scattered about the Ishimura in blue cases or purchased at the various store locations (where you can also purchase ammo, med kits as well as RIG upgrades, new weapons and other goodies for various credit amounts) for 10,000 credits. The nodes are used at Work Benches where you can place them in open weapon slots to increase reload speed, power, ammo capacity and other weapon features. Used in your RIG nodes can increase your health and oxygen capacity. Used in your Stasis module it will increase the energy level and the duration of the Stasis field. When placed in the Kinesis module, the range of the Kinesis module will be increased. Speaking of modules...

Your best friend in your fight for survival will be your Stasis Module. The Stasis Module can be used to slow down homicidal doorways (I'm NOT kidding) and not so friendly monsters. It's very easy to deplete your energy supply when faced with charging enemies as the Stasis field does not auto target, but does require some timing on your part as you can miss a charging enemy if you don't time it right. Timing a Stasis throw will reward you with a nice, stationary target for as long as the field lasts, giving you ample time to separate them from their limbs with the use of "strategic dismemberment". 

Every enemy you encounter can be taken apart by blasting away at their limbs with most of the weapons available (except for the flamethrower, obviously), rewarding you with a gory display of arms, legs, blood and, um...tentacles. Yeah, some of the crew are really jacked up. The much lauded head shot is of little use in this game and is likely to send enemies into a blind rage, which is never good. Speaking of weapons, EA Redwood has created an excellent iventory for you to select from. Your first weapon (and in my opinion, best) is the Plasma Cutter. Firing an instantaneous blast of energy it's essential for quick dismemberments, cutting power lines and quick firing. Using the secondary fire will alternate between horizontal and vertical blasts, great for removing legs and arms respectively. New weapons become available by finding weapon schematics around the ship. The next weapon available to you should be the Pulse Rifle, great for long distance firing, shooting babies and chewing threw ammo quickly. The secondary fire allows you to send a rain of bullets in a 360 degree area around you, which is great when you're surrounded by some of the smaller little bastards. There are several other weapons to discover later on (my personal favorite being the Line Gun-wide blast, high power, but slow fire rate), but I don't want to ruin any more surprises.

Suffice to say, this game takes several excellent concepts and rolls them into a big ball of a good time that left me sweaty palmed and wanting more. Not to mention one of the most thrilling boss fights and scare the shit out of you endings I've seen in a long time. As of this review, there is some new downloadable content available consisting of new RIG and weapon designs, but nothing as far as levels or plot development.

Buy Dead Space