Dead Space is a better Resident Evil than RE itself.
We can call Dead Space a "horror shooter", that's the genre it fits in, it follows a midly interesting with a main character named Isaac Clarke, an engineer sent along with a small team to respond to a distress call from USG Ishimura a "planet cracker" spaceship. The plot unravels a religious conspiracy, an extraterrestrial artifact and of course horrendous living creatures called necromorphs, since the story is fairly entertaining and progression keeps you glued to your sit from beginning to end, there is no need to elaborate further on it, let's leave at that, it's fairly interesting and easy to get absorbed by, not quite as much if you've played many other games in the genre, but it'll prove unforgettable for those new or relatively new to this type of game.
As you fight your way through waves of enemies you'll realize that the very first weapon you get is the most versatile, the plasma cutter capable shooting both horizontally and vertically is perfect to take full advantage of Dead Space's main gimmick, strategic limb dismemberment, as it turns out that monsters in the game are strong and the best way to cripple them is not to shoot their brain as if they were zombies or splash them with holy water, tearing off their limbs effectively cripples their ability to fight back.
You can also use a stasis module which is basically a beam you can shoot at any foe or object to slow it down which is also a lifesaver when surrounded by multiple enemies, armed with several other weapons other than the plasma cutter and the stasis module sometimes everything will come down to melee fights and that's one of the most satisfying parts of the game, it is generally best not to engage enemies in hand to hand combat since they have sharp claws, spikes and spear-like limbs or tentacles, but sometimes even with a seemingly indisputable handicap against the necromorphs you'll sometimes find a way to beat them to death, and stomp them to bloody pieces, which I loved in both Dead Space one and Dead Space two. A satisfying, rewarding combat mechanic Is perhaps Visceral's main achievement with this game aside from sound effects.
With a great variety of enemies to fight, a very interesting zero gravity and oxygen deprived environment gimmick, Dead Space succeeds in many areas and it's definitely one of those gems of modern gaming I can easily recommend to anyone looking for a decent horror shooter.
Please pay special attention to the sound effects throughout the whole game, the level of detail and attention put for each section, each monster, each scary growl or industrial sound is fairly, above the average and well beyond my expectations. Beware of the "lurkers" those horrendous fetuses with three tentacles that spread upwards and fire poisoned spikes at you they're the worst (B-word) in the game and they'll easily kill you if you let them grab you up close or with their ranged attacks, they jump all over the place and they can climb on the walls or ceilings.
Give Dead Space a try, I did and I don't regret it.