Not innovative. If you played The Thing, you'll find the story terribly similar.
Why am I saying that Dead Space is similar to other horror games? In my knowledge, Dead Space is best compared to a game called The Thing developed back in 2002 by VU Games on the PS2/ Xbox/ PC. Dead Space and The Thing share a lot of common grounds. Although The Thing's story takes place on a icy part of Earth in present day while the events of Dead Space occurs in space in the future, their backgrounds are almost parallel: some crazy scientists grow on an alien life form and conduct dangerous experiment with no regard to the risk. Their fantasy no doubt guarantees an all-hell-break-loose consequence. Aliens, parasitic on what were humans, overrun the place. You play a solider on an investigation team to see why communication has been lost from the base. Bah-bah-bah. Did I ring the bell yet?
The Thing featured a much more sterilized environment than Dead Space probably due to technological constraints at its time. But who hasn't seen bloody hell at all? Blood and stain are all over the place in Doom 3, Quake 4 and the Silent Hill games (notably in the Otherworld)…to name just a few. So you can't call Dead Space a particularly atmospheric game for that.
What about the weapons? They all feel somewhat underpowered. They look terrible too. I also mistake the plasma cutter and the line gun as "bows" thanks to their looks. But each really has its own strength and weakness, which is good. The rapid-firing pulse rifle and limb-cutting line gun are great against human sized enemies while the flamethrower is a must to deal with swarms of small aliens that you will want to keep away. You will be disappointed if you desire to see weapons looking and sounding more powerful than ever but they can get the job done nicely. That suffices, I suppose.
The armor and the character model must take heavy criticism from me. Issac, the protagonist, moves awkwardly and he has a winded back? His face is completely enclosed by armor (ever since you take control of him) and he doesn't talk (like the infamous silent marine in Doom 3). As a result, you don't get to know Issac and thus we all never develop a bond with him. These faults won't break a game but can certainly prevent a game from being great. That armor suit is very ugly for me. It is like an oddly modified astronaut uniform. No more, no less. It's neither handsome nor realistic.
The gameplay is solid and the layout of the levels is pretty linear for the most part except the upside-down gravity zero areas. Press and hold B on the keyboard to see the route. But you will barely come across any labyrinths alike so you are free to do a bit more exploration, which usually awards you more ammo and health items. There are no extras though. Sometimes I would get lost but that's because some locked doors open which I miss on a back-tracking route. Overall, the option to see the correct path is welcoming. Good job for that one.
The enemy range is pleasing. It makes players wonder how the developers can think of so many monsters which are very disgusting to look at. They look so alien that I have long given up on recognizing every type of them (Of course I can tell between the big and small. I only have trouble distinguishing the two-legged humanoid ones). Some disturbing monster designs bear human characteristics and once again remind us The Thing.
Graphic-wise, Dead Space is very detailed. In particular, the corpses are quite interactive. Every limb and the head can be blown off a body and you can really kick them out of your way in real time. Apart from the decent level of detail, Dead Space fails to set a new standard. It can just be me but I think Doom 3 does not necessarily look inferior to it.
The sound is okay. You only hear from a couple of people and the voice acting is just like all times. There isn't a gorgeous soundtrack in like Resident Evil or Silent Hill. Instead, like Doom 3, Dead Space puts players on edge by jumping them with bizarre noises in the background.
The upgrade system is well-done. I like that the safe where you can store surplus is accessible at any stores so you never need to leave behind items (thanks goes to Capcom as well, which first introduced this concept in Resident Evil). Perhaps it's because I play on Easy at the first time, money and items come quickly and I can manage and upgrade things with ease.
Dead Space isn't a revolutionary game. It's almost a revamped image of The Thing taken into space many years later. Its graphics isn't mind-blowing either. In the end, it gives you some good scares, massive boss battles and a lot of aliens to bring down. It's tough to say it clearly - you won't feel too sorry like everybody is saying for missing out this game. If you are able to rent it or buy it at a cheap price, Dead Space may be worth checking out.