"In space, no one can hear you scream." Never have those words been more true than in Dead Space.
Dead Space's premise is simple and derivative at first, your an engineer who works for a mining company, one of their ships has gone black, you have to go investigate and repair blah blah blah, its been done before, however it is easy to ignore this because the game instantly sedates you with a great sense of immersion right off the bat. Bits and pieces of Isaac's personality and motifs are shown, the graphics are crisp and gorgeous, and the technobabble banter between your crew mates is oddly believable. The story does get a bit less derivative and interesting once you actually encounter your first baddy. The creatures in this game are the Necromorphs; polymorphic parasites that resurrect and mutate the bodies of our dead. Don't think of these creatures as zombies though. While some shamble and you can see the horribly twisted visage of what was once a human being, these creatures are much more interesting and much smarter. They use the vents to move around the ship, and often pop out at you. The interesting thing about this though, is Dead Space actually makes these scares interesting. If one remembers Doom 3, while it had excellent atmosphere, the monster closets got repetitious. Generally anything that relies heavy on the 'Boo!' scares get repetitious. Somehow, Dead Space always manages to lull you into a false sense of safety. Sure, you know at some point something is going to come out at you, but you never know when or where it will happen. The game has you bowing down to its will, and once it wraps you and pulls you in with its creepy atmosphere and amazing universe, it'll send out some truly memorable scares that always seem fresh. The next part about the necromorphs that is interesting, is how to kill them. Right off the bat you must know, headshots are NOT what you want to go for. In Dead Space, headshots are bad. Don't believe me? Take off a necromorphs head and see for yourself. Don't say I didn't warn you. Pummeling them with bullets won't do either. Instead, you have to cripple them by cutting off their limbs. This works surprisingly well, and upgrades the player can earn will help as you can freeze enemies, as well as cut off appendages on their bodies and fling them using telekinesis to finish them off whilst conserving ammo. The weapons are effective, but not too effective, as they aren't primarily weapons. They are mining tools, and each one explains its purpose through more elaborate writing into the universe. The boss fights are epic. The scares are epic. The story eventually becomes epic. This game, simply put, is an epic piece of horror.
Dead Space will leave you gasping for air, pulsing with sweat, and downright disturbed yet you will crave more. Forget Resident Evil 5. The next true survival horror game is here, and its name is dead space. "In space, no one can hear you scream." Never have those words been more true than in Dead Space.