So here is the Dead Space Review I promised. I've been playing this game practically daily for the past few days and I decided to write up a review to bring up a few key elements. So here they are:
The game itself is a wonderful mix of Survival Horror and Futuristic Space movies. It's like Aliens. Which certainly would make most people totally flip. Which I suppose I would have if it was explained that way to me. Rather than Bioshock in space. Which I absolutely rejected out of hand like a bad reaction to old cheese or something.
The game does have the atmospheric horror that Bioshock has and it seems the creators also seemed to steal the audio log idea from Bioshock as well. Which is all right even if some of the dialogue was uneven and in some cases completely pointless. But hey, some of the Bioshock recordings were as well I suppose. I have the PC version on download, I'll get back to you on that one. It's been too long since I played the 360 version for me to say definitively.
But where Bioshock had plasmids this game has some silly telekinesis and statis abilities. Which while they made puzzle solving interesting in some cases. I could have lived without them. I would have been happy enough going around dismembering enemies and searching for survivors. I might have even been willing to throw a few switches to get the ship up and running but the puzzle solving here seemed a little pointless to me. Also more zero gravity and space combat with enemies would have been welcome and fun as well. The game gives you tantalizing tastes of this but never really flips the switch.
The overall design of the game was mostly stellar and I only found myself from time to time wondering what I was supposed to be doing or where I was supposed to go. There were one or two spots where I got stuck but then I guess that happens in every game. The easiest way out of most confusion was to simply hit the directional hint button. Which illuminated a glowing pathway to your next objective. This was great, considering many of the halls looked exactly the same and one could have easily gotten lost.
The three dimensional HUD that showed you everything from real time video to your inventory on a floating screen before your character was a real innovation and hopefully other similar games will take advantage of this idea.
All the weapons were upgradable and very interesting. Especially the Plasma Cutter which you start with and seems to be the best weapon once upgraded fully. Another standout was the wonderful Ripper that shot out a flying saw blade that would slice your enemies into ribbons. Your Rig or suit was also upgradable and made the whole game seem like maybe if you played twice and upgraded different things your game might change at least in some small ways if not significantly. Let me know about that one, I'm busy I can't play this again. I have WAR, Wow, and Warhammer Dawn of War 2 to play.
Dead Space certainly has wonderful atmosphere and a good story told directly through some real time video, cutscenes, and some audio recordings. Also there is a prequel movie(not included with game), which is probably more interesting after you play the game than it would be before. I would certainly like to see more stuff from this universe. But if the folks that made this game decided that it was just a one off. Then bring on the next game, because if this is your intro I can't wait to see the main event.
Unfortunately without a multiplayer, I have to give this game an 8/10. But if you love playing single player games over and over. Then this game is a definite BUY! If not, rent it... You will really love it.
-Devilsalias
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