Moving on to the second reason the game blends action and survival horror so well, we have to discuss the RPG-like elements. Outside of picking up more powerful weaponry, Isaac can upgrade his suit, with items in stores scattered around the ship and even use power nodes he has collected to upgrade his weapons and other aspects. The upgrade system has you choosing between different node paths that lead to different upgrades and each weapon can be upgraded differently. It means players have to make choices of what they want to be more powerful and what they feel can go by the wayside. The stores also mean that you can purchase weapons and life on a regular basis. Thus the player might be constantly in fear of running out of ammo, but never really is, which is absolutely brilliant game design since, as stated above, it makes both the survival horror aspects and the action aspects work perfectly together.
Moving away from the fantastic gameplay mechanics, we come to the fantastic visuals of the game. To put it bluntly, Dead Space is one of the most gorgeous games I have ever played… well, as gorgeous as a blood soaked mining vessel covered in writing on the walls and full of mutated human bodies can be. I would literally spin the camera around Isaac looking at the detail and care put into his character build. He looks absolutely stunning and while I know graphics don’t make a good game, when a game is trying to scare you it helps that the creatures actually look like their bodies are decomposing, mutated piles of flesh and not a bunch of polygons stuck together.
Not at first apparent, but one of the most striking things about the game is the lack of a HUD. All the menus and other information are brought up on screen as holographic displays in the game world. The only way to stop the action in the game is to bring up the pause menu, otherwise it’s all in real time. I put this down here, when discussing the graphics because it is not only a momentous achievement in gameplay but it changes the entire feel of the game. At first you don’t really realize that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, blocking the screen. Then you start to realize how truly cinematic the game feels constantly. Nothing has to disappear for a cut scene (of which there are almost none) and walking down a scary, ill lit hallway is exactly that. There is nothing to distract you from what is going on in the game, and while this may sound like nothing and you might not notice a change in how you see the game, it is actually a really big deal and makes the game all the more immersive. I know I sound like a PR guy, and I really didn’t believe that the lack of HUD would have that great of an affect, but I caught myself far more engrossed in the game because of it.
Dead Space is an extremely polished, fun to play game that will completely suck you into its world while you’re playing. I wish I could say as much for the story though. It’s clear, and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, that gameplay took precedence over storytelling here. Most would argue that in a videogame this is something that usually happens, but with a game as well made as Dead Space, the lack of character development and truly intriguing plot is a shining beacon of missed opportunities. Especially when the game has such an in depth world already created for it through comic books, an animated movie and an online story. The aforementioned three tackle some huge issues and interesting subjects including religion, morality and humanity’s fate in the universe while the game mostly concerns itself with delivering excuses to chop off more limbs. An underdeveloped backstory between Isaac and Nicole, his girlfriend/wife who was aboard the Ishimura, sadly fails to make any real impact and the rest of the characters outside of Isaac are as flat as a two-by-four. This is in no way a deal breaker since the gameplay is so much fun, I just wish the story lived up to the rest of the game. I wanted the first 3/4 of BioShock in terms of story and I got the last 1/4 instead.
The lack of a truly quality storyline also speaks to the game’s other flaw. Underneath the kick ass battle system and pretty graphics is a game replete with fetch quests and guard missions (though you never actually guard anything that is living). You’re forced to basically go from level to level (each level is a different part of the ship) and get what you’re told to by one of the other two survivors. It got to the point where I wanted to shout “You get the fucking thing, bitch. I’m out!” However, I never actually left because the key to good fetch questing is having fun gameplay. I’m fine with fetching over and over again until the cows come home as long as I’m having fun doing it and that is what Dead Space delivers. If I was writing a more philosophical piece I’d go into a few paragraphs here about how basic game design and philosophy really need to catch up with modern day gameplay, graphics and stories, but this is a review so I’m just going to let you know that this in no way should be a deal breaker either.
But you didn’t really want to know any of this. All this time you’ve had one burning question in your mind: Is Dead Space scary. The answer: Yes. EA has absolutely nailed the atmosphere of a horror film. They’ve executed one of the best horror games ever made and to top it off it’s a new IP. Absolutely awesome. In short, get out your wallet and get to the store because you want to own this game.
+
- Awesome gameplay
- Stunningly beautiful
- Scary and fantastic atmosphere
-
- Story could have been better
- Too many fetch quests
