Game: Dead Space Publisher: Electronic Arts Developer: EA Redwood Shores Systems: PS3, 360, PC N.A. Release Date: October 14, 2008 (PS3, 360), October 20, 20008 (PC) Score: 9.0 (Out of 10)

Dead Space Review

T here was a time when Electronic Arts was notorious for their lack of originality, relying on trotting out the annual releases of other people's franchises such as Harry Potter and Madden rather than taking a risk and attempting to create new and original IPs. In a way you can't fault them; for the most part people don't take risks in BUYING video games, sticking to familiar franchises rather than risking their sixty bucks on an unknown factor. That's why incredible games such as Silicon Knight's Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem go unnoticed, while Madden goes platinum every year, not matter how little the game changes from year to year. But if no one takes any risk and makes new games, then in ten years we will still be playing World of Warcraft and waiting for "Halo 12: The Spider-monkey Invasion" to come out.

That's why Dead Space, EA's new action horror franchise feels like such a breath of fresh air. Or rather recycled, burned-corpse-scented air. But in a good way. For once the Mega-developer has taken a risk and turned their considerable work-force and legendary polish towards developing a truly great game, if one that borrows from a number of other sources, including cinema and literature as well as video games. Luckily the sources that they are emulating are great ones, and they manage to bring all of the disparate parts together into something that is on the whole new and original. They made some missteps along the way, but for the most part most of these mistakes and omissions are forgivable when held up to the dark splendor of the whole.

Taking a page (or several pages) from great sci-fi horror movies like Aliens, Pitch Black and Event Horizon, Dead Space tells the harrowing tale of the spaceship USG Ishimura, a "planet cracker" class mining and ore-extraction ship in which the majority of the action takes place. While on what appears to be a routine mission, all contact is suddenly lost with the Ishimura, prompting the USG Kellion to be sent to investigate. On arrival the crew of the Kellion see that the Ishimura is floating dead in space over the planet Aegis 7, but assume that the damage to the ship was done by an asteroid field that they themselves have to navigate in order to get near the Ishimura. Assuming that communications with the Ishimura are down due to this damage, but with no idea that anything else may be wrong, the Kellion attempts to dock. Unfortunately for everyone, there are complications and the Kellion itself crash-lands inside the Ishimura's hanger, at which point the player takes control of Systems Engineer Isaac Clarke (named after Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, two of the greatest sci-fi authers of all time), who has his own reason to want to come on this rescue mission; his fiancee, Nicole Brennan, was assigned to the Ishimura, and had sent him a cryptic distress call right before their communications went out entirely.

Once they are inside, the crew of the Kellion comes face to face- or rather, face to claw- with the REAL source of the Ishimura's troubles, some kind of aggressive alien species that bursts from the ventilation system, messily slaughters one of the crew, and separates the unarmed Clarke from the other two survivors. After a harrowing chase Clarke finds a hand-held mining laser and uses it to dispose of the grotesque monstrosity that was chasing him, though it proves harder to put down than one would think; the thing won't stop coming until most of it's many limbs are chopped off with the laser's beam. This introduces one of the game's main themes; the wonderful "strategic dismemberment", which we will talk about more in a bit. It quickly becomes clear that these "aliens" are actually the ship's crew, mutated into undead killing machines called "Necromorphs" by some unknown means. Isaac hurries to get back in contact with the two other survivors of the Kellion, Senior Security Officer Zach Hammond and technology expert Kendra Daniels. Since Isaac is wearing a high-tech environmental suit, due to the fact that much of his job takes him outside of a ship to work repairs in the vacuum of space, he is the only one of the three equipped to survive in the necromorph-infested halls of the ship, and the only one with the training necessary to get the ship's systems running and figure out what the hell is going on. Though you will be in constant contact with Zach and Kendra throughout the game, the majority of the time Isaac is alone, trying to survive the necromorphs long enough to find out where they came from, get the Ishimura up and running, and figure out a way to get them all out of there alive, all while pursuing his own agenda of looking for Nicole.

The game's story is a good one, and more complex than it would seem at first glance. The story is moved forward by in game conversations via Isaac's suit's holographic communications array, and supplemented by audio, video, and text logs left behind by the Ishimura's crew. The way that information is conveyed in the game is innovative and slick: rather than pulling you out of the game for cutscenes or to go to a menu to navigate your inventory to watch or listen to video or audio logs you find, Clarke's holographic array projects a translucent image into the air in front of him, allowing you to continue your exploration even as you listen to someone's last dying screams in an audio log. This really adds to the tension of the game, since you don't ever feel like you are "safe" as you manage your inventory or receive your next objective from Hammond. This level of immersion is carried through every aspect of the game, as there is no HUD (Head's Up Display) displaying your health, ammo or status; while all of this information is available, it is all displayed through obvious but clever visual clues right on the screen. For example, on Isaac's back is something called a "RIG", consisting of a glowing blue band that runs up Isaac's back that represents his health, and meters on his shoulders that represent the level of his oxygen tank and "Stasis Charge" (more on this later). To figure out how much ammo is loaded into his current weapon, just raise the weapon and read the clearly displayed ammo counter. In addition to the RIG display, Isaac will give you other clues to his health, as he limps, pants for breath and stumbles as he becomes more and more injured. When you are managing your inventory this too is displayed on the air in front of you in real time, which means that you can't pause the game in the middle of a fight to switch weapons; you had better have your weapons hotkeyed ahead of time if you are hoping to switch between them on the fly. And you can never get lost, because if you want to know where to go next, the click of a button will cause Isaac's suit to lay down a holographic line on the floor which leads you to your next objective, a handy and well-implemented little innovation. All of this serves to keep you anchored in the "reality" of the game's horrors, never allowing you to feel like you can just sit down and read a text log or change your weapons without being distracted by those pesky necromorphs.

Even the weapons themselves serve to keep you immersed in the game, since most of them aren't really intended to be weapons at all. In keeping with the idea that the Ishimura was a mining vessel and not a military vessel, the "weapons" that Isaac is using to slice and dice the necromorphs are for the most part mining tools that he retrofits for his own destructive purposes, such as the plasma cutter that he finds early in the game, which was supposed to be for cutting and welding, not searing off undead limbs. Or the hydrazine torch that he uses as an improvised flame thrower. Sure they were obviously meant to be used as weapons in the context of the game, but it was a nice touch that they pretended they were originally meant to be something else, which adds to the feeling of hopeless desperation that pervades the whole game. Each weapon has a secondary firing mode, such as the plasma cutter's ability to be switched between horizontal (great for shearing off legs and heads) and vertical (for chopping off arms and/or tentacles) cutting beams, or the buzz-saw's ability to be used up close, like a chainsaw, or to fire its circular blades for long-distance decapitation.

Which brings us back to "Strategic Dismemberment". The phrase just rolls off the tongue. Anyway, while most enemies can be destroyed by pumping enough ammo into them, most go down quicker than a Spitzer hooker if you aim carefully and take them apart piece by piece. The game uses an over-the-shoulder view borrowed from Resident Evil 4 or Gears of War, which just happens to be perfect for the style of gameplay (not to mention I'm just sick to death of first-person-shooters). So when you hold down the aiming button, Isaac goes into a stable aiming stance; he moves slower, but the camera pulls in tight over his shoulder, allowing him exceptional accuracy so that he can start chopping bits off of the undead marauders howling for his skin. Besides just being fun to do, this also adds depth to the combat and heightens the feeling of tension. As a group of necromorphs come screaming towards you down a hallway, nothing feels better than cutting the legs off of the one in the front of the pack, sending him tumbling to the ground and slowing down the whole group, allowing you time to cut the arms, legs or heads off of the ones behind. The animations on the necromorphs go a long way towards this satisfaction. As you cut off and enemy's leg it will go tumbling to the ground, but after a moment it recovers and will alter it's gait, dragging itself towards you on its three remaining twisted limbs... at least until you relieve it of those as well, or stomp their heads into paste to save the ammo. It really is a great system, and looks and feels perfect for the creepy, gory atmosphere that the game maintains.

And there are a variety of horribly wonderful creatures to dismember at that. In addition to the basic standard-issue necromorph, which looks like a combination between a leprous zombie and a spider, there is a variety of other configurations and mutations to contend with. Just because they were all once human doesn't mean they all have to be humanoid. One variety lost it's legs but gained acidic venom and tentacles that it uses to drag itself around. Another has been attached to the wall by a gelatinous sack, and spawns spider-like enemies to attack you until it is neutralized, decapitating you with a razor-sharp hook on the end of its whipping tentacles if you get too close. There is a behemoth-like armor-plated type that appears to be made up of a number of victims all fused together; the only way to take it out is go for the weak points at it's joints where they come together. And for some reason the Ishimura had a nursery full of babies in what appear to be cloning vats; one of the weaker, if more disturbing enemies are wall-crawling, venom-spewing babies with a forest of tentacles sprouting from between its shoulders; shoot their tentacles off or let them attach themselves to your face and then hammer on a button to rip them off and drop-kick them: it's up to you!

Besides playing butcher, there is a surprising number of other things to do, most of which also result in you needing to do more butchering, which is not a bad thing. There are a number of out-of-the-way places for Isaac to explore for ammo, weapons and other equipment; in fact, most of the best equipment is off the beaten path. This exploration puts you in added danger from necromorph or environmental hazards, but is always worth it. If you are interested in unlocking all of Ishimura's mysteries, this is absolutely necessary, since many of the journals and logs that explained exactly what happened are hidden away in remote rooms or difficult to access labs, requiring you to brave many dangers in order to play detective. Some of these dangers aren't from the necromorphs, but rather from the decaying ship itself. In some areas the hull has been breached, causing all the oxygen to vent from an area, so that you have to navigate the area while racing against your suit's oxygen supply. In other areas not only is the oxygen gone, but the gravity controls are off, making the journey an out-and-out space walk. The zero-G areas are a blast, as the physics for objects moving in the vacuum of space are just incredible. Isaac has magnetic boots, allowing him to stick to any surface in a zero-G environment, which means in conjunction to the weightlessness, any surface can become the "floor", creating levels out of an M.C. Escher painting as Isaac makes dizzying leaps from the floor to a wall 30 feet away, and then to the ceiling. Any object that Isaac interacts with goes spinning away in a thoroughly convincing manner, including the dead bodies of the Ishimura's unfortunate crew, who spin through the vacuum of space in a cloud of frozen blood droplets. Add combat to the mix and you have pure horrible beauty, as a necromorph comes gliding silently towards you in the vacuum, only to be sent spinning away in a cloud of blood from a couple of shots from your plasma cutter, just before you make a hundred-foot leap of faith between two spinning blades towards the ceiling to avoid the attacks of its companions. As soon as you hit a new surface Isaac attaches to it and the camera reorients itself, making down up and vice versa. It simply has to be experience to be appreciated.

There is also some light puzzle solving to slow you up a bit, usually in the form of environmental puzzles requiring the use of Isaac's suit's two physics-manipulating abilities, Stasis and Kinesis. Once Isaac finds a Stasis Unit for his suit, he will be able to use this ability to throw out a beam of energy that slows down objects or creatures that it hits. This ability is finite in both the number of times that it can be used and the amount of time that the effects last, but can be recharged at stations throughout the ship or by items that Isaac collects along the way. The applications for this ability in combat are obvious (and in many cases, absolutely necessary), allowing you to slow down a necromorph so that you can amputate it's limbs with ease, and it will quickly become an integral part of your battle strategies. But it can also be used to slow down malfunctioning automatic doors so that you can get past them without getting crushed, slow pistons so that you can get an immense engine aligned and working properly, or slow the spinning of a large, armor-plated wheel so that you can shoot through a narrow gap in it's armor and destroy the inner workings, allowing you to continue. Kinesis is the suit's other ability, which you get later in the game. It is basically telekinesis, and allows you to pick up, move and throw nonliving objects. Though you can't use it to pick up necromorphs and bash them around, you can pick up objects or dead bodies and use THOSE to pummel the necromorphs into submission, or pick up a fuel tank and hurl it at a group of enemies for a big, satisfying bang. Besides its fun combat applications, it can also be used to clear debris and rubble so that you can navigate choked passageways, or to solve some of the environmental puzzles. For example, in one area you can use Kinesis to rip damaged communications relays from their sockets and replace them with undamaged ones so that you can try to call for help. In another area you need to connect a piston-like attachment to a spinning engine in order to get a system online, but the engine is spinning too fast to connect them. So you have to first use Stasis to slow the engine, then use Kinesis to drag the piston out of its mooring and attach it while the engine is still slowed. The application of Stasis and Kinesis in combat in a zero-G environment, with it's super-realistic physics... well, you can just imagine how satisfying and crazy it can be.

As the game progresses enemies get stronger and more numerous, making survival trickier the further you get into the game. To help offset certain doom, there are a number of ways that Isaac can upgrade his equipment in order to aid in his survival. The most obvious and least elegant solution is to buy more and better equipment at the automated "store" with the money that you collect from exploration, from fallen foes, and from trading in unneeded items. There are also schematics for different weapons and armor scattered around the Ishimura that once you have found, allow you to buy them at the store. And finally there are Power Nodes hidden all over the Ishimura, usually in difficult and out of the way places. Each weapon, Isaac's RIG, and his Stasis/Kinesis Unit have a "skill tree" that allow you to use nodes to upgrade them to their fullest potential. For example, the Plasma Cutter's Damage, maximum ammo capacity, and reload speed can all be upgraded a number of times, as can your oxygen and your max hit points through the RIG. This system allows you to customize the character's skills and even his weapon to your tastes and your style of play, and gives you good incentive to search the ship from top to bottom in search of those precious power nodes.

Everything this game does is designed to keep you immersed in it's truly creepy atmosphere, so that you are totally involved with the monsters jump out and scare the bejeezus out of you. Unfortunately, there is one area of the narrative where they dropped the ball, and this is with Isaac himself. Like the main character of Doom (and Doom 3, a game that clearly had a big impact on the making of Dead Space), Isaac never speaks, neither to respond to Hammond and Kendra, call out to Nicole, or give us insights into his personality. He is a complete cipher, which EA obviously thought would make him easier for imprint on and relate to, but instead just makes him completely uninteresting. The only hints of his personality are in periodic journal text entries that he makes as the game progresses, which are meant to give you insights into the character as well as remind you where to go next. But since the game does such a good job of using the holographic display to remind you where to go, there is really no reason to think to go into the journal to find out what you are supposed to be doing, so it is easy to forget to go there just to read about Isaac's feelings. We are expected to care about him, his search for Nicole, and his personal plight, but since he never even responds to the other characters in the game, and he has a helmet completely covering his head, he might as well be a robot instead of a guy in a robot suit. Also, the game can get a little repetitive as Hammond, Kendra, and a handful of others are constantly telling you what crisis has come up and tell you how to go fix it. You no sooner correct the ship's decaying orbit when they call you to tell you to get the main guns back online to defend the ship against further meteor bombardment. No sooner is that done than someone is on the horn telling you that something is wrong at hydroponics and there will soon be no breathable air. You just want to yell "are your arms broken?! Go do it your damned self"!

But that is just a small gripe. The graphics, in fact the whole presentation, are nearly flawless, with great architecture and ship design reminiscent of the Gothic sci-fi majesty of Event Horizon. The characters whose faces and expressions you CAN see also get high marks, and are extremely realistic. The necromorphs themselves are rather nightmarish, if one takes the time to take in all their gory details., glistening wetly and showing clear signs of decay as they come shambling down the hallways towards you. I won't beat an undead horse, since I have been extolling the game's graphical virtues throughout the review, but the polish and attention to detail is unbelievable. Everything is implemented so well and the graphic's are so crisp that you can't help but be impressed by the game's visual grandeur, especially during the zero-G sequences. The visual cues for Isaac's health, inventory, video screen and so on are just pure brilliance.

The audio is equally impressive, from the voice acting to the soundtrack to the sound effects. The shrieks of the necromorphs when they spot you are creepy and nerve-jarring every time, while the snap-hum of the plasma cutter discharging was just absolutely perfect. The quality of the voice acting on the audio logs was also impressive, especially considering how many of them there were. They really helped to give you a window into what happened on board the Ishimura before the Kellion got there, and give a stark and creepy record of the events leading up to the Ishimura's last hours. Sure this trick has been used before, Doom 3 being the most obvious example, and Doom 3 in turn borrowed the idea from System Shock 2. Bioshock, the spiritual successor to System Shock, also used the trick. Regardless, it works, especially when you are listening to the audio logs of a maintenance man who was dragged to his death down a ventilation shaft while traversing that very same shaft, laser at ready. Another wonderful use of audio is in the vacuum sections of the game. When you are in an oxygenless areas, all you can hear clearly is the sound of your own breathing and your heartbeat; everything else is muffled and distant, making everything feel otherworldly. Other than the fact that they chose not to have a voice actor for Isaac, I have no complaints about the sound or voice acting.

All in all the game is exceptional, despite recycling many of it's best bits from other games. Exploration and gunplay via Resident Evil 4. Audio via Doom 3 and Bioshock. Telekinesis via Star Wars. Visual via Event Horizon. Story via just about every sci-fi horror movie ever. But in the end it implements all these things so well, and mixes them with truly original elements such as the zero-G sections, the HUDless visual clues, and just great production values in a way that makes it truly special and unique. In the end, despite the personality-less and pointless protagonist, the game is truly one of the best and most fully realized of all action horror games, creating a unique setting and gameplay that is all it's own. Now let's hope EA doesn't return to form and beat the franchise to death with yearly sequels..