Dead Space is a fairly unoriginal and banal take on the survival horror genre, but it executes the generic survival horror mechanics with such competence and offers a few fresh ideas, it is a welcome addition to the genre, which lately has been deprived of new and fresh IP.
You take control of Issac Clarke, an engineer whose been sent out (along with two of your colleagues,Kendra Daniels and Zach Hammond) to investigate a distress call a ship called USG Ishimura has sent out. In true survival horror fashion things do not go as planned once you step aboard this doomed ship. After you crash land on to the Ishimura you are greeted with a eerie atmosphere of the Ishimura, which right away just does "not feel right". This can be down to your past expectancy's of the survival horror genre, or it could be that right from the start EA Redwood has managed to create a very atmospheric game, and I would agree with the latter.
The game's beautiful opening.
Once you, Kendra and Zach have realized things have gone badly wrong you are tasked to find various mechanical objects to repair your damaged ship so you can flee the Ishimura. As you explore the spacecraft (I say explore, but the game is incredibly linear) for these items, you come across the beautifully animated Necromorphs, which like many survival horror badies look terrifying. You also come across text - logs and video logs which give you an extreme look into what has happened to the ship before you have arrived, which are executed to terrific effect. Unlike many other games these story sequences never take the control away from the player, so you feel constantly immersed in the atmosphere, which is a very good job because the constant groans, lighting and visuals unite to create a very immersive and chilling one.
Despite me finding the ships atmosphere chilling I was never truly scared, and I believe this comes down to the over powerful gun inventory and lack of character feedback (both visual feedback and audio feedback). As you explore the ship you will find cash on a very regular basis which means you will be able to buy new guns quite early on in the game. Now these guns are extremely powerful and will do severe damage to opponents, which in my opinion work against the game's scare factor because when I'm cautiously walking down a corridor unknown what is going to pop out at next corner I find it very hard to be scared knowing my gun is going to be so powerful that it is going to kill whatever or whomever in two shots.
Another aspect I was disappointed with was how Issac Clarke seemed immune to fear and trepidation. As Issac Clarke is an engineer I would of suspected him every time there is a noticeable noise, or when he sees a mutilated corpse on the floor to at least have some kind of human reaction like trembling or making discomforting noises. If me as player could of saw this human vulnerability an average engineer would surely be susceptible to maybe I would of been more scared knowing that Issac, under tense fear was not as competent as he would normally of been.
Issac Clarke shows us how good he is with a flamethrower.
Although the weapons are too powerful to make me scared while I am carrying one, when you use them in action against a Necromorph it can in some ways be forgotten. Nothing is more rewarding in this game than shooting one of their legs off and watching them crawl slowly towards you then for you to just stamp on them. Even if the game did not hint me to shoot their legs and arms off with "tactical dismemberment" I would still of found myself dismembering them for pure immoral thrills. As you can suspect the game is rather gory but in my opinion the blood and guts found from mutilated corpses of Ishimura crew men and women to the unrecognizable features of the Necromorphs are there to tell of the immense struggle and horror the Ishimura went through before your arrival.
The game's originality is almost non existent and the game's influences are just too obvious that it was destined not to break new genre defining ground. The plot has striking resemblance to Ridley Scott's masterpiece Alien, and the gameplay and environments are clearly influenced from the likes of Doom, Resident Evil 4 and maybe even System Shock 2 and even Issac Clarke's name is from two of the best Sci Fi authors ever, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, but despite this there are a few innovative mechanics EA Redwood have included in the game to separate (if only a little) from these giants and these consist of Zero-G and the absence of a HUD. Zero-G can only be activated in certain rooms to help you navigate to places that would otherwise of been impossible or to solve puzzles. Both of the uses of Zero-G only happen a few times during the game, but these are some of my personal highlights. Zero-G creates a whole new perspective to look at Ishimura and can turn things up side down (literally) and the way EA Redwood create the puzzles and/or the locations that Zero-G an be activated in is spot on.
The absence of a HUD also has a very positive effect on the experience, meaning the immersion factor is never broken and you never feel disconnected from the game.
I can not help feel a bit more subtly could of improved the horror experience.
Closing comments:
Although it borrows from a lot of previous games it makes what it borrows more crisper and more relevant to the location of the game. The combat always feels polished and violent and the Ishimura is full of great lighting and great sound effects which create one of the best atmospheres from a game this gen, even if it is never that scary. This game will please shooting fans, survival horror fans (maybe less so) and action fans, and I also recommend this game if you just want a weekend of pure terrific fun.
7/10
You take control of Issac Clarke, an engineer whose been sent out (along with two of your colleagues,Kendra Daniels and Zach Hammond) to investigate a distress call a ship called USG Ishimura has sent out. In true survival horror fashion things do not go as planned once you step aboard this doomed ship. After you crash land on to the Ishimura you are greeted with a eerie atmosphere of the Ishimura, which right away just does "not feel right". This can be down to your past expectancy's of the survival horror genre, or it could be that right from the start EA Redwood has managed to create a very atmospheric game, and I would agree with the latter.
The game's beautiful opening.
Once you, Kendra and Zach have realized things have gone badly wrong you are tasked to find various mechanical objects to repair your damaged ship so you can flee the Ishimura. As you explore the spacecraft (I say explore, but the game is incredibly linear) for these items, you come across the beautifully animated Necromorphs, which like many survival horror badies look terrifying. You also come across text - logs and video logs which give you an extreme look into what has happened to the ship before you have arrived, which are executed to terrific effect. Unlike many other games these story sequences never take the control away from the player, so you feel constantly immersed in the atmosphere, which is a very good job because the constant groans, lighting and visuals unite to create a very immersive and chilling one.
Despite me finding the ships atmosphere chilling I was never truly scared, and I believe this comes down to the over powerful gun inventory and lack of character feedback (both visual feedback and audio feedback). As you explore the ship you will find cash on a very regular basis which means you will be able to buy new guns quite early on in the game. Now these guns are extremely powerful and will do severe damage to opponents, which in my opinion work against the game's scare factor because when I'm cautiously walking down a corridor unknown what is going to pop out at next corner I find it very hard to be scared knowing my gun is going to be so powerful that it is going to kill whatever or whomever in two shots.
Another aspect I was disappointed with was how Issac Clarke seemed immune to fear and trepidation. As Issac Clarke is an engineer I would of suspected him every time there is a noticeable noise, or when he sees a mutilated corpse on the floor to at least have some kind of human reaction like trembling or making discomforting noises. If me as player could of saw this human vulnerability an average engineer would surely be susceptible to maybe I would of been more scared knowing that Issac, under tense fear was not as competent as he would normally of been.
Issac Clarke shows us how good he is with a flamethrower.
Although the weapons are too powerful to make me scared while I am carrying one, when you use them in action against a Necromorph it can in some ways be forgotten. Nothing is more rewarding in this game than shooting one of their legs off and watching them crawl slowly towards you then for you to just stamp on them. Even if the game did not hint me to shoot their legs and arms off with "tactical dismemberment" I would still of found myself dismembering them for pure immoral thrills. As you can suspect the game is rather gory but in my opinion the blood and guts found from mutilated corpses of Ishimura crew men and women to the unrecognizable features of the Necromorphs are there to tell of the immense struggle and horror the Ishimura went through before your arrival.
The game's originality is almost non existent and the game's influences are just too obvious that it was destined not to break new genre defining ground. The plot has striking resemblance to Ridley Scott's masterpiece Alien, and the gameplay and environments are clearly influenced from the likes of Doom, Resident Evil 4 and maybe even System Shock 2 and even Issac Clarke's name is from two of the best Sci Fi authors ever, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, but despite this there are a few innovative mechanics EA Redwood have included in the game to separate (if only a little) from these giants and these consist of Zero-G and the absence of a HUD. Zero-G can only be activated in certain rooms to help you navigate to places that would otherwise of been impossible or to solve puzzles. Both of the uses of Zero-G only happen a few times during the game, but these are some of my personal highlights. Zero-G creates a whole new perspective to look at Ishimura and can turn things up side down (literally) and the way EA Redwood create the puzzles and/or the locations that Zero-G an be activated in is spot on.
The absence of a HUD also has a very positive effect on the experience, meaning the immersion factor is never broken and you never feel disconnected from the game.
I can not help feel a bit more subtly could of improved the horror experience.
Closing comments:
Although it borrows from a lot of previous games it makes what it borrows more crisper and more relevant to the location of the game. The combat always feels polished and violent and the Ishimura is full of great lighting and great sound effects which create one of the best atmospheres from a game this gen, even if it is never that scary. This game will please shooting fans, survival horror fans (maybe less so) and action fans, and I also recommend this game if you just want a weekend of pure terrific fun.
7/10
