While the horror aspect is not that strong, Dead Space is in fact a gory game with creepy atmospheres.
The game starts off when the USG Ishimura has lost all communications with the other spaceships. You play as Issac Clarke, a systems engineer who, along with a maintenance crew, are sent to the Ishimura to re-establish communications on the ship. When you enter the main lobby, a quarantine is activated, a strange figure enters the room and starts to eat one of the maintenance guys. You are then told to run down and escape from a creature by using an elevator. From here you are alone and the only people you can talk to are the two other survivors of the attack. Without speaking to each other directly (only by futuristic holograms), you find out that these creatures are Necromorphs who destroyed the communication devices and your small ship which you used to enter the Ishimura. The story is well . . . . a horror story. It doesn't re-invent the survival horror genre, but descent nevertheless.
Dead Space comes with great combat that kept me playing this game even if I was tired. I found the gameplay to be very entertaining. Dead Space reminds me of Resident Evil 4, the over the shoulder look and almost identical controls. You can't just shoot, you have to aim and then fire or aim and reload. The weaponry is outstanding. You first get the "pistol" of the game (the weakest weapon) known as the Plasma Cutter. You can shoot these sharp lines either horizontally or vertically and this comes very handy to deal with the Necromorphs. Usually in these types of games you think that shooting them in the head would be the best place to shoot them . . . not in Dead Space. In fact if you blow off or cut their head off, these little critters will coming at you with full force. Instead you have to cut the limbs off, which are the arms and legs. It is the best way to kill these creatures and it saves you a lot of ammo, not like you need to anyway since this game will give you so much ammo that you will have reserve ammo in your safe. The Pulse Rifle is basically your assault rifle. The Ripper, my favorite, shoots a sharp disc that can cut through the Necromorphs like a knife through butter. There's also a flamethrower, a force gun and a line gun which is the mature version of the Plasma Cutter in my opinion. These weapons also come with secondary attacks that can get you out of tight situations. You can also slow down time or magically lift up objects and shoot them at your enemies. The game is not afraid to be gory either. These creatures can die very gruesomely even with the simplest weapons. I mean isn't cutting off body parts gory enough for gamers. You can upgrade your weapons by collecting power nodes. While you won't be able to upgrade your arsenal fully through one playthrough (Twelve chapters), you can play the game again with all of your weapons still intact from your first adventure. The one problem with the gameplay is the melee attacks. In the game, you can smash these boxes by stomping on them. But the stomp is a bit too overpowering. Even if you miss the box completely or if you stomp on the ground and the box is on a chair, the box will break. . . . that's one mighty stomp Issac has there. But the gameplay is where Dead Space truly shines.
Where Dead Space falls is in the "horror" aspect of the game. Probably the best part of the game was when you are running away from the Necromorph to get to an elevator. The Necromorph opens up the elevator doors and gets it's arms cut off when trying to kill me. . . . . . which happens about five minutes into the game. The shocking part is when the Necromorphs literally go on their tippy-toes and sneak up behind you and attack. I jumped at each of these times. The dark atmosphere is great but the creatures themselves become almost boring. You will know where they pop up from since they use the vents to get from place to place. Every time you see a vent shaft you immediately know that the creature is going to pop up from under and attack. Or even the Necromorph bodies that lay on the ground that are not even wounded gives you a hint that they are playing dead. The boss fights are unique in their own ways but that's about it. Like I said, the creepy halls of the Ishimura are good enough to give you the horror aspect of the story.
OVERALL: Dead Space is a good game, even if the horror isn't present. The game isn't mind blowing but it doesn't have to be. Dead Space proves to be an interesting game that will lead to sequels in years to come. The gameplay is excellent, the dark atmosphere holds onto you for a long time and a descent story to give you the sense of how this tragedy actually happened. If only I had nightmares about this game, then this game would be highly recommended. If you are looking for a "freaky" adventure in space, look no farther, Dead Space is for you. If you are looking for a true horror game that will make you jump out of your seats every second, rent it first.
PRESENATION: 8.2
SOUND: 8.7
GRAPHICS: 8.8
GAMEPLAY: 9.4
LASTING APPEAL: 8.5