There are games that are scary, and there are games that try to be scary.
Dead Space slots right in the middle of the two categories, being terrifying enough to scare the pants off a two year-old and loud enough to unsettle someone with neighbours who call the cops during Diwali. But really, Dead Space isn’t scary at all, it’s just loud, gory, disgusting, and yet capable of providing immense levels of satisfaction. And of course, this is achieved through violence — extreme violence. Moreover, it most definitely is a love-or-hate game, there’s really no middle ground here. Either a)You will love this game because you’re easily scared and have immense love for games that rip-off other games to perfection, or b) Hate it from the bottom of your heart because you played the tremendously broken PC version in the middle of the night which, incidentally, has given your pet dog recurring nightmares(and yourself, of course, more because of the control scheme than moments of epic scariness).
The Dead Space formula is a pretty simple one: two portions Resident Evil 4 + two portions Doom 3 + a pinch of Bioshock. Apparently, there isn’t any shame in that these days.
Game developers, it would seem, are all suffering from ‘copycatitis’. I mean, it is perfectly all right if you’re not going to be original, but the degree of shameless copying in Dead Space is shocking. Everything from the camera angle to the mildly sloppy control scheme and the level design have been ripped off from some game or the other. On the other hand, the game does make you forget about all that at certain times, delivering an experience that is quite unique, even if not the best in the genre. And unlike Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, which managed to improve on game features that were shamelessly ripped-off, Dead Space does, at best, a satisfactory job of it. RE4 is more epic, Doom 3 is scarier and Bioshock is more atmospheric. As far as the comparison with Gears of War goes (the camera angle is kind of a rip-off from that game), well, Gears is still dumber, even if a better game overall.
Terror in space
If Doom 3 and the film ‘Event Horizon’ were to have a lovechild, it would be Dead Space.
At least in terms of story, narrative, aesthetic appeal (or lack of it) and mood. The game is set in the 26th century, revolving around Isaac Clarke (if you can guess how the name came about, I will give you a cookie!), an engineer who works for the CEC (Concordance Extraction Corporation).
At the beginning of the game, the CEC receives a distress call from the USG Ishimura, following which the company dispatches another ship, the USG Kellion, with Isaac and a crew of engineers to the Ishimura.
To complicated matters further, Isaac's ex-girlfriend, Nicole, is a part of the Ishimura crew. The game opens with a cinematic shown from the game’s regular over-the-shoulder camera view. Rendered entirely in the in-game engine, the cutscene does look pretty spectacular, particularly the lighting. The character models and facial animations on the other hand are not as impressive. Moving on, after the Kellion docks with the Ishimura, an attack from unknown lifeforms occurs (we later learn that they're called 'Necromorphs'). These creatures seem to possess the ability to re-animate corpses through a process of mutation (known as “Corruption”) — the process is shown in all it's “glory”, and is guaranteed to make the weak-stomached feel nauseous, particularly with the sound effects. After being exposed to some truly disgusting visuals and audio, the story moves on with Isaac, Kendra Daniels, and Zach Hammond remaining as the only surviving members of the USG Kellion.
Strategic dismemberment
Dead Space is all about shooting limbs off. Shooting a necromorph in the face will only temporarily slow it down, causing it to mildly stagger and continue it's charge towards you. And for some reason, the mêlée attacks are pretty useless — Isaac can swing an equipped weapon for minimal damage and stomp an enemy on the ground. The stomping isn't powerful either, but it feels pretty good. So, the only way to effectively eliminate a foe is to shoot it's sodding limbs off ! The only problem is that this requires a certain amount of precision which the game's controls don't exactly facilitate (especially in the PC version).
The weapons in Dead Space are pretty innovative, varying from flame-throwers and remote industrial saws to phase cutters and beam weapons.
Now to the gameplay. The controls seem to have been deliberately worsened for the purpose of conveying a sense of helplessness.
The gamepad controls on the 360 and PS3 are okay, considering the fact that EA Redwood have probably stolen the code from RE4, but the PC version controls worse than a car without a steering wheel. I mean, if I wanted to play a PC game that controlled like a console game, I would play RE4 on the PC, or a racing game. Not Dead Space. The mouse and keyboard controls feel very awkward and unoptimised, to a point where certain sections of the game are virtually unplayable. So if you think you’ve been clever in purchasing the PC version for a thousand bucks, think again, because you'll have to invest at least another two-grand in a decent gamepad.
Space shock
Isaac can also augment his suit with items that will bestow upon him certain abilities like telekinesis and stasis. He can move and manipulate objects using the former, and the game throws some puzzle-based scenarios at you, requiring you to use one of the two abilities to solve it. The best use I’ve found for the telekinesis ability is picking up explosive canisters and flinging them at the enemy. The best part about telekinesis is that you can use it an unlimited number of times. Isaac can also slow down enemies and objects using the ‘stasis’ ability, but unlike telekinesis, this isn't infinite and will need to be recharged. Just as the abilities feel very Bioshock, the inventory system feels very System Shock with ammo being stored as an inventory item and not directly in the weapons themselves. But it does look very cool in 3D, as do rest of the in-game menus and text. The game also has a bunch of Zero-g sections which sound great in theory, but a lot of the game's features (most importantly the “breadcrumb” feature) count for naught during them.
Spacetacular
The game’s graphics are nothing short of fantastic, and the audio does a pretty good job of being eerie, although you will find the audio to be quite annoying after a while. The lighting effects steal the show, be it light emanating from weapons, light from stars/suns or lighting in rooms. Animation isn't spectacular, but that is probably because of unavailability of mutated alien zombie-actors to do the motion capture.
Verdict
Patience. If you’ve got it, then give Dead Space a shot. If not, expect to be frequently frustrated by some poor controls and ridiculous difficulty spikes. The PC version might seem like a better deal, but you’re better off playing the game on your Xbox360 or PS3.
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