Rating of
4.5/5
Top Notch Sci-Fi Horror
dbarry_22 - wrote on 04/01/12
Dead Space is an excellent horror game that takes place in a sci-fi environment and has a story that keeps you interested till the end. You play the role of Isaac, who is on a small crew that is headed for a large mining ship in space which is in need of assistance. Isaac also has a loved one on board, a woman by the name of Nicole who is the chief medical officer on board the ship. As soon as the crew boards the ship, they realize something terrible has happened and the rest of the game is about repairing the ship to stay alive and uncovering the mystery that happened.
The game is a 3rd person shooter with an innovative menu access system. When you're communicating with others on the ship or looking at some security camera footage or looking on the map to see where you're going, a small screen appears in front of you which allows to still move around while looking at it. I like how it keeps you in the environment, instead of a separate menu screen which would allow you to separate yourself from the eeriness around you. Hitting the R3 button gives you a line to your next objective so you always know the general direction to go and upgrading your suit and weapons gives you motivation to get items.
There are a variety of weapons which range from your basic plasma cutter to a flame thrower which gives nice variety. In most horror/zombie like games you focus on head shots to take out your enemies, but this game takes a fresh take where the goal is to dismember limbs instead. You end up with legless enemies still crawling to get you, a nice touch. You also have a telekinesis ability which allows you to grab and shoot things, and a stasis device which can slow down enemies or items for a brief period of time.
The story kept me in the game, not only wanting to get off the ship, but finding out what went wrong inside. The environment was descriptive but a bit bland, with a lot of metallic and brown colors. The music wasn't amazing but not bad either, and there were times I had goosebumps which means there was enough horror in it to affect me. You never know where enemies are coming from, especially since early on you find out they like to come out of vents which are on almost all walls and ceilings.
A couple of the characters which were villains were a bit odd, and the fact you pretty much never came across any normal people that were alive wasn't exactly plausible, but most horror games aren't that anyways. Overall, a top notch game that which had me play it again as soon as I was done with it.
4.5/5
