Game Review: Dead Space

Nick Chordas - The Columbus Dispatch

Hazards await on ship of horrors

Dead Space is a haunted-house game masquerading as a celestial horror show in the same way that the movie Alien is a spook-fest set aboard a space freighter.

Fortunately, the game proves worthy of its big-screen predecessor -- more so than some of the movie's unfortunate sequels.

Though not officially based on the 1979 film starring Sigourney Weaver, Dead Space is the closest that a video game has come to capturing the dread of roaming dimly lighted corridors crawling with alien beasties.

The game and the movie also share a similar plot: A team of workaday space grunts answer a mysterious distress call only to discover horrors beyond their wildest screams.

Gamers play as Isaac Clarke, an engineer whose name just happens to be an amalgamation of science-fiction heavyweights Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. But don't expect much in the way of philosophical musings from this gorgeously realized game.

Dead Space, from its nail-gnawing opening moments, is a propulsive, blood-soaked trip through zero-gravity hell.

Isaac's basic but critical tasks -- fix the ship's gravity system, power up its engines, etc. -- are frequently interrupted by attacks from Necromorphs, grotesque humanoids with insectlike limbs.

Those extra appendages become important as players quickly discover that aiming for the usual head and chest targets does nothing to slow the enemy. Instead, Dead Space institutes a "strategic dismemberment" system in which players must shoot (or hack) off a creature's limbs to kill it.

If Isaac misses a limb, the monsters might fall down and seem dead for a few moments before leaping back up to bite, tear and chew. Luckily, players have the option of brutally stomping on prone Necromorphs while they play possum.

Not surprisingly, Dead Space earns its "mature" rating -- and then some.

It's not the gore that makes the game effective, however. Developer EA Redwood Shores has made every design nuance and ominous sound-effect count as part of an integrated playing experience.

Players acquire the ability to slow down time (stasis) or summon objects (kinesis) as well as buy, sell, store and power up weapons at kiosks throughout the vessel.

The only aspect that keeps Dead Space from becoming an instant "survival-horror" classic along the lines of Resident Evil 4 or BioShock is the backtracking in the level design. Players will often find themselves traversing the same areas while completing a task, occasionally leading to a sense of repetition.

Still, gamers would be hard-pressed to find a more enjoyable 12 to 15 hours of "strategic dismemberment" anywhere.

Dead Space

--Systems: personal computer, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

--Price: $49.99 to $59.99

--Rating: M for mature

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