Review

‘Survival Horror’ means different things to different people. To some people it will mean Resident Evil, and to others Silent Hill, or Siren, or some other variant. What these games all have in common is a distinctly foreboding atmosphere coupled with a combat system that skews itself toward strategy, caution and, unsurprisingly, survival. Dead Space plants itself firmly in the aforementioned ‘Survival Horror' Camp, and it does an admirable job of living up to its genre’s expectations.

Dead Space is the product of EA games, or more accurately EA Redwood Shores, who have been responsible for titles such as The Godfather and The Simpsons Game. Perhaps not a pedigree then that would necessarily inspire too much excitement from expectant fans of the survival horror genre. Fear not, however, as they have crafted a homage; possibly one of the finest to all things sci-fi that has been seen in years.

Dead Space features a small cast of characters made up of the usual suspects, all garbed in futuristic space clothes. You play the character of Isaac Clarke, a name inspired from the sci-fi authors Isaac Asmov and Arthur C Clarke respectively. You and your merry band of team mates are initially tasked with the ever dubious sounding mission of heading out into the depths of space in response to a ship gone silent – a mining ship by the name of the Ishimura. Apparently this is no ordinary ship. Affectionately known as a ‘planet cracker’ by those in the know, the Ishimura spends its time moving from world to world, breaking them down and extracting minerals and such like the in the process. Upon arrival, you find that the ship is drifting with the crew apparently missing. Suffice to say, the story unfolds in a manner that anyone who has played a sci-fi themed game or seen any sci-fi movies will be familiar with.

During your travels aboard the Ishimura you will quickly encounter your main enemy – the Necromorph. These rather odd-looking creatures come in various shapes and sizes but their goal always appears to be the same; namely to jump on you from a darkened corner and proceed to gnaw at your suit. A suit which, incidentally, looks as if it was borrowed from a deep sea diving game set in the 20’s. EA have, in a somewhat peculiar move, put a heavy emphasis on the fact that these monsters can’t easily be dispatched with simple headshots. Oh no, that would be far too easy. In fact some clever boardroom boffins have coined the phrase ‘strategic dismemberment’. What this basically means is that to effectively take down the Necromorphs you must aim for their appendages rather than their torso or head. It’s an interesting mechanic, and although it’s never really explained why this is more effective than direct shots to the head, its adds variety to an otherwise run-of-the-mill combat experience. That’s not to say that the combat solely revolves around the simple act of shooting. EA have borrowed the ever popular bullet-time effect and given it a bit of a twist. With a quick press of a button, Isaac has the means at his disposal to use kinetic abilities to slow the movement of enemies (or move items in the world). By slowing enemies it is possible to pick your shots more carefully. Plus it looks all the more cooler when you blow them apart with your deep-space mining equipment.

It’s at this point that you may be beginning to think that EA appear to have borrowed a little from other games, and you’d be dead right. You see, Dead Space makes an unashamed bid to borrow everything good from related games or films that have been released prior. The story itself seems like a blend of movies such as Event Horizon and Solaris. One character in particular seems to have been directly lifted, at least in terms of personality and accent, from the 2007 movie Sunshine (if you haven’t yet seen this, you should). You might expect this to be a bad thing; a cheap design strategy born from a creatively corrupt EA. It really doesn’t feel that way, however, and instead, the game seems like more of a love letter to sci-fi fans; a whistle-stop tour of your favourite bits from movies and games past. It’s a homage if anything, and a good one at that.

The graphics throughout are crisp and dripping with style. Unoriginal style, but style nonetheless. The ship runs the whole gamut of familiar locations, and they all look great in HD. The audio also deserves special mention as not since Bioshock has a game had so much attention lavished upon its aural qualities. The ship groans and creaks whilst the soundtrack bubbles under the surface, exploding only when the on-screen action dictates. Supposedly, those among you with top of the range home cinema systems will enjoy an experience that would no doubt make George Lucas blush.

One criticism of the game could easily be levied at its core gameplay structure. You see; for all its HD glory, the actual mission structure appears very, well, archaic. Fetch quests are the order of the day here, and you’ll experience a lot of them, one after the other. Despite this the game will manage to pull all but the most difficult to please players through, with its intense presentation and interesting storyline. Those of you that do make it through will no doubt agree that Dead Space, whilst not treading a new path, offers a perfect example of what survival horror should be; well paced, gritty and with enough thrills to keep you firmly perched on the edge of your seat for the best part of a weekend.