So Cash Industries

That NEVER happens. EVER. Not with his wicked bandwidth.

Anyway, on to the REAL topic of this blog post.

For a long time, I was really looking forward to Dead Space, and after playing it all the way through, I was by and large very impressed.

Here’s the premise: It’s several hundred years in the future. Earth has expended most of its natural resources, so the humans have built massive starships, called “planetcrackers,” which essentially break planets open and pull huge chunks of rock out, harvesting the minerals within.

Anyway, boring part over. You take the role of Isaac Clarke, an engineer who has been tasked to board the USG Ishimura (one of the aforementioned planetcrackers). The Ishimura has, for whatever reason, suffered a communications blackout. Clarke’s team of engineers is to board and perform the necessary maintenance. However, once you board the Ishimura, it’s evident that something has gone horribly wrong. There are no living crew members to be found, and there is a substantial amount of gore everywhere. Something killed the crew.

Turns out, some crazy alien creatures have boarded the ship, called “necromorphs.” Once they kill the crew, they mutate them into more of their own. Killing them isn’t as easy as shooting at them until they die. Presumably, their body functions are decentralized, and the game puts a lot of emphasis on a tactic called “strategic dismemberment.” Most of your weapons will help you enact this tactic to the fullest. The interesting thing is the aliens will adapt to changes in their physique (being dismembered). If you cut off their legs, they’ll start crawling after you. Sometimes if you slice them clean in half, you’ll have not one, but TWO enemies to worry about.

Unlike most shooters, where you take the role of some big buff soldier or something, Isaac is an engineer. Therefore, most of his weapons are improvised from repair or mining tools, like welders, saws, and torches.

The game has no real HUD. Every bit of vital information you’ll need is projected via hologram on Isaac’s suit. Your health is shown by a glowing vertical stripe running down the back of your suit, and your current weapon’s ammo is only displayed via hologram when you’re actually aiming it. The lack of a HUD helps keep the player immersed into the game.

The game also allows you to collect items called “power nodes,” which can be used to upgrade your weapons and RIG (your armor suit) to hold more ammo, do more damage, withstand more hits, etc. The game also makes use of a store system used to buy and sell supplies and resources (as to why you have to do this on an abandoned ship with no security to thwart you is beyond me, but it taught me a thing or two about rationing medkits).

Aside from the expected horror-driven atmosphere, which is best enjoyed late at night in the dark alone, the game makes use of some interesting physics puzzles. The game has several zero-gravity environments where Isaac can leap around and walk on walls, ceilings, and such. Isaac also makes use of two things called “stasis” and “kinesis.” Stasis allows you to slow down pretty much anything that moves. This can range from enemies, which you can slow down to help you line up your shots, to fast-moving OSHA-violating machinery that would slice you to bits just from standing near it. Kinesis lets you pick up and move/punt objects (sort of like the Gravity Gun…well, exactly like the Gravity Gun). Combine this with some zero-gee rooms and you’ve some some really interesting puzzles you have to think about for a few minutes before trying to solve.

The inventory and map screen are displayed in-game in real-time, meaning the game doesn’t pause as you’re looking through your inventory or your map. As a result, make sure you’ve completely cleared out a room before consulting your map. Thankfully, you can just press X to administer a medkit from your inventory.

On another note, since your RIG suit only has a limited supply of air in a vacuum (you can upgrade this capacity as you progress), sometimes it’s important to use an air tank in your inventory to refill and not die. However, you can’t just press a button to use it. You have to open your inventory, go through your items to find your air can, and use it. Add this to the panic you’ll feel once you get down to under 15 seconds of air and you’ll feel that much more relief when you see your air timer refill.

However, for the all of the hype surrounding the horror and scare-you-shitless elements of this game, I felt a little bit disappointed. The game didn’t have as many heart-stopping scares as I thought it would, but it still had enough to make me feel uneasy. Don’t get me wrong, it had a few “OH SHIT” moments, but I felt like I was promised more. It really works best when you have surround sound set up in your home theater. Sometimes, you’ll hear a pipe burst or something clatter behind you, and it’s enough to make you turn around and wonder what made the noise. Once you see nothing malicing you, you’ll cautiously continue about your mission.

The sound design for this game is top-shelf. The sound of the weapons slicing through flesh, circular saws grinding against bone and steel, the horrified screams of the victims, and the actually IN CHARACTER voice work makes this game worth picking up just for the sound.

If sound and gameplay aren’t enough for you, add visual icing to the cake that is Dead Space. This game is GORGEOUS.

Get it? GORE-geous? I’m such a comedian.

Plus, any time you get to look out into space, you’ll be taken by the sheer beauty of it. Just don’t be taken too long, or you’ll run out of air.

So, would I recommend it? Absolutely. Get this game. You’ll love it.