Dead Space

Bloody brilliance, says Paul

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With Christmas approaching at a wallet-terrifying speed we find ourselves firmly in the annual splurge of big budget game releases all aiming for a slice of the festive spending. It's a time when there's such a flood of exciting new games that it becomes hard to keep track of the ones genuinely worth playing. With that in mind it's my duty to ask you all to ensure at this point that EA's new sci-fi survival horror title Dead Space is firmly on your list of games to play as we enter the busiest period of the year. Why? Well, let me tell you.

For starters it tells an enjoyable story with a real sense of ease and style that puts other less polished games to shame. At the start of the game, the crew of the USG Kellion are on their way to investigate the sudden loss of communication with the deep space mining ship the USG Ishimura. Cast as USG Kellion engineer Isaac Clarke you're also hoping to find out what's happened to your girlfriend Nicole, who was aboard the Ishimura when it lost contact. Naturally it only takes minutes for your mission to hit serious problems starting when you crash land on the Ishimura and then get separated from the rest of the rescue mission leaving you to fend for yourself on a ship full of monsters.

Even from that brief description its clear there's not actually too much new here, but what Dead Space lacks in originality it more than makes up for with the quality of its execution. While it's not the first game to steal ideas from the likes of Alien, Doom, Resident Evil or even Event Horizon it's done a far better job of it than many of the others, managing to use those well worn ingredients to craft a wonderfully immersive game world that feels pleasingly fresh despite its many obvious influences.

The narrative is moved forward without the need for cut-scenes, instead your team mates use the communications system to keep on touch telling you what they've found and what they need you to do. Video and audio logs left laying around by the Ishimura's unfortunate crew fill you in on what's been happening before your arrival, meaning there's a depth to the story there for those wanting to take the time to find it.

Its also one of the most atmospheric games to be seen in a long time, survival horror is all about making you fear what's around the next corner and everything in Dead Space, from the sound design to the art direction, oozes foreboding at every step. Be it the noises of unseen enemies, ominous shadows playing on walls, blink and you'll miss it glimpses of enemies as they scurry around corners or the desperate sounds of the few remaining crew that echo around the corridors, they all work together to create a feeling of genuine unease that lasts even after you've turned the game off.

To be fair, it does sometimes use cheap tricks to generate a scare, seemingly dead bodies bursting to life when you get close and enemies appearing from ventilation shafts behind you (which is no different, or less frustrating, than having things spawn behind you if we're being picky) being two examples but for the most part the game uses far more subtlety to ratchet up the tension than we're used to seeing.

There's been plenty of fuss made pre-release about how enemies in Dead Space can't be stopped by head shots alone; instead you'll need to take them apart limb by limb to stop their advance. It's a refreshing change from the norm and although in reality there's not much difference between aiming for the head and aiming for the legs or arms it does make for some tense moments as enemies continue to pull themselves towards you with their arms after you've removed their legs. Like the rest of the game the combat feels well balanced, ammo isn't so plentiful that things become easy and there are always other ways of killing things than using the direct approach.