Low carb spoiler free review of Dead Space
User Rating: 9 | Dead Space X360
A lot of people put a lot of hard work into the atmosphere of this game without a doubt or pun. These are some of the best graphics available in a game and I've played thousands of games over the past 25 or 26 years. (My first babysitter was an Atari.) I wouldn't say it has a soundtrack but more of a 'music effect', that is to say, if you're walking along and not much is going on at the moment the music is almost purposefully nonchalant but, if you're walking along and suddenly it even looks like it's going to hit the fan (and it may not) the music demands attention with it's creepy "I'm gonna getcha..." violin type rips. However and but, there is very little innovation in the this game although the little bit of innovation that does exist is pure genius. In Gears of War (2), Halo (2,3), God of War, etc. there is always a part of the screen that's dedicated to weapon, ammo, health, MP, ability gauge and so on but, hopefully, that's all over with from now on. A huge nod to EA to invert the player/hero perspective. You see the game how the hero does instead of the other way around. Your health gauge is physically on his battle suit. If you get an incoming message, a small screen pops up in front of your hero within the game instead of the game taking an automatic pause or otherwise taking you out of the game play for even a second. The other huge nod to EA is making the load screens invisible (yes, unnoticeable) to the player. If what's behind the next door has to be loaded, the door will very briefly seem like it's having a minor mechanical problem or something behind the door is trying to keep it shut. Again, the load screens don't take you out of the game play. If you decide that you want to reload before going through, fine, take the fraction of a second it takes before the door actually opens to reload then continue on. Other than that, there's sadly not a whole lot of creativity going on. The plot and dialogue is impeccably from Ridley Scott's Alien, Aliens; the game play itself is Resident Evil 4 exactly, and the weapons will be absolutely no surprise to anyone who has played Half Life(2). So, I give Dead Space a grudging 8.9. With just a little more 'fingerprint' this game could have easily been a 9.5+ and while few will be utterly disappointed there just isn't enough grandma in this apple pie. 
