Before I indulge myself in a detailed review of the game in question, I shall take the liberty of expressing my feelings about the title in one, uncomplicated sentence:
THIS IS THE SHIT!!!
Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. After the Homecoming misery which was all about Silent Hill breaking my high hopes, I got a game I had no expectations about, and it just blew my socks off. Yes indeed, Dead Space is a nearly perfect horror-shooter and you should buy it right about now. I mean it.
Just a couple of minor boo-boos, just to get them out of the way. First of all, loading of trophy-data in PS3 version is placed right in the middle of the juicy transition between the welcome "press start" screen and the main menu, which is weird and kinda breaks the mood a little. Second of all... Well, after watching the trailers with that haunting "tinkle tinkle" song and violent monster attacks, I got the impression that the protagonist will be all alone in the game, trapped in a derelict spacecraft and surrounded by deadly creatures. I was wrong - there are actually some NPCs - very cliched NPCs at that, which disappointed me a little, because at first it felt like playing Doom3. Fortunately, everything else in the game is absolutely marvelous, but still... were it not for the standard American Spacecraft Crew Complete With Your Standard American Black Guy Captain, Your Standard American White Panicky Chick Accompanied with Your Standard American I-Will-Be-The-First-Victim-And-I-Will-Be-The-Second-One Dudes and some very predictable plot-turns I would be singing hallelujah and this whole review would be rhymed. Well, nothing's perfect. The thing is - Dead Space is fun, fun, fun; full of great things I'd like to share with you.
Great thing number one: Everything is real-time, or actually, real-space.
Every auxiliary screen - including the 3D map, the inventory, the log storage, mission objectives, the communication interface and gameplay tips, is displayed as a hologram right in front of the protagonist. It moves when you do, it turn around when you move the camera - everything in real-time. Plus, there are no health-meters placed in the screen corners. Instead, this information is displayed by a set of colored indicators on the protagonist's back. Sure, it looks just a tiniest little bit unrealistic, but is really very effective and quite enjoyable. The holograms themselves were a brilliant idea - an excellent device for enhancing the realism and maintaining the heavy and scary atmosphere and perfectly fitting the game's Resident Evil 4 third person perspective.
Oh, there's one more great thing - the navigation device, which, upon being activated, flashes a blue line for a moment, showing exactly where you are supposed to go next. That same line is also permanently visible on your map.
Great thing number two: The Gore.
Hell yeah, there's blood everywhere. Mangled, dismembered corpses being "raped" and mutated by abominable alien creatures and brought back to unlife. People seemingly growing straight out of walls, whose purpose of life has been reduced to breeding more abominable alien creatures. Unborn human embryos transformed into wall-crawling predators. And more. I could tell you something more practical about their design, but I think the word "appropriate" will suffice. They are not very pretty and particularly interesting, but then again, they are not supposed to be. They are fast, agile and incredibly aggressive, which more than makes up for any design flaws they may have. None of them look silly or out of place - that's the crucial thing, and you won't have time to take a closer look at them anyway.
But oh, how they bleed... And oh, how they delightfully fall apart having been cut to bits by my ripper, making that lovely squishy-squishy sound... especially in zero-gravity. Splendid.
Plus, there are maybe two million ways of dying in this game. I didn't have a chance to experience that during my first playthrough (I had picked "easy"), but now, feeling insane, I decided to try out "hard" and... Stickman, my man... You were so right... ;-) The hell of it is - dying is actually part of the fun. Especially since there are many, many savepoints and even checkpoints to the rescue, you can pick up pretty much exactly where you were... "left off", so to say.
Great thing number three: The Environments.
Totally industrial. After all - this is a planet-cracking, mining spacecraft, we're talking about. Rusty metal and electric lights. Narrow corridors and giant engineering chambers. Dark and messy. All the same, yet somehow not overwhelmingly repetitive. What more could you possibly need? What? The decompressed "outdoor" areas? Sure, they're here, I was just about to mention them.
Once you enter the vacuum, a rapid decompression takes place, which is portrayed by a lovely pixelated blur effect. Then, as the vacuum can carry no airwaves, only the vibrating metal beneath your feet makes some sounds, which are muffled and barely audible. All except your screams and gasps for air.
Lack of air is good, but lack of gravity is better. Normally, the suit let's you walk over the surface, probably with the use of magnets. However, you may jump and fly all the way to the opposite wall or the ceiling, which is quite amusing. Unfortunately, the monsters can do that too, so don't be surprised if all of the sudden you'll see a one-legged (actually it's a tail) mutant slowly flying at you with its claws stretched out and ready to kill.
Speaking of the suit - just look at it. I have never seen anything like this... I can't even begin to describe it... I mean, if anyone asked you to imagine a space suit, would it look anything like this? (Don't tell me it would, because that means you're obviously lying.) Dear EA guys (EA?? Jesus, is this really EA who made this game??), I don't know what you are smoking, but it surely can't be bad for anyone's health.
Great thing number four: The Story.
Argh... Fuck, just go ahead and play the damn game already, because I would hate to spoil anything!! Well, as I have already mentioned, there are cliched NPC's and some predictable plot-turns. Additionally, I must admit that the basic concept of the game is also not very ground-breaking, (after all, the theme of alien monsters in space has been exploited over and over for more than twenty years) but again, it's appropriate. Not too simple, not too psychological either; overall, fitting for the game, except for... Yes, there are some elements which elevate the Dead Space Plot far beyond the seemingly infinite realm of horror-shooter mediocrity. For example, I really liked the game's take on religion: how people (especially rich people) can take something and start worshipping it, creating cults, spending massive amounts of money on God-knows-what... Once you actually think about the story, draw some conclusions and make some implications, the plot becomes a wonderful satire on human stupidity and the everlasting "come to think of it, we brought it down on ourselves" or even "maybe it is we who are true monsters" theme. There is more stuff I'd like to tell you about, but that would spo..... I THOUGHT I"VE TOLD YOU TO PLAY THE GAME!! C'mon! I'm dead serious! Stop reading and play it. Now, damn it!!!
Great thing number five: The Conclusion. (?)
Those of you who have already played the game will probably notice that I skipped quite a few things - like the telekinesis ability, or stasis, which "magically" lets you slow down the thing you are aiming at. I haven't even mentioned the store which lets you buy items with money you collect or the suit and weapon enhancement system. The fact is, these things just don't matter very much. What matters is the feel of the game. Dead Space is a great, gory space-horror-shooter. If you don't like things like that, feel free to skip it. Yet, if you do enjoy killing/being killed by scary, grotesque creatures, madly dashing through the dark maze of metal corridors, trying to steady your hand while being torn to pieces by bosses bigger than your hometown... WELL, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE?!? PLAY THE MOTHERFUCKING GAME!!! NOW!!!
On a different note.
I don’t like EA, I really don’t. For me it’s a commercial monstrosity that only cares about what it eats. And let’s face it, before EA started to devour all the talented studios they could put their dirty little hands on they didn’t even make games. No, they were mass producing plastic, garden gnomes. The same ones every year too.
EA was an equivalent of an uncle you don’t like who visits once a year, pinches your cheek, blows his cigar smoke right in your face and tells you how much you’ve grown- even though you’re twenty eight – then ruins Christmas an leaves.
And then they announced their internal studio was making a game, and not some licensed piece of crap, but an original IP. Not only that – they had the balls to make it a survival horror (an action one, but still). They, of all companies, had the nerve to put up a fight with the likes of Silent Hill, Resident Evil or Alone in the Dark. “How delightfully absurd.” – to quote
That Guy with the Glasses. And you know what? EA fucking ripped off everyone’s balls – all of them. Right now the only game that could be better than Dead Space is Resident Evil 5. Seriously.
Dead Space is one of the best, if not THE best game I’ve played this year. It takes a lot from other games, but has new ideas as well and those it “borrows” it makes better. The holographic line that shows you the direction you need to go, the vacuum sections, the zero gravity sections, the adaptive ammo system (you only get ammo to the weapons you carry at the given time), the wonderfully brutal combat (best design I’ve seen in years), great enemies (many types – all completely different), excellent music, fantastic graphics, well written plot… I could go on for a long time with this.
No, Dead Space is not perfect, but it’s bloody damn close.
I bow to you EA Redwood Shores, because you’ve made a game that I truly adore.
P.S.
Rumor has it, that the sequel is already being developed. It just can’t come soon enough.
