Dead Space

With Halloween just around the corner and a remake on the way, I figured I’d never find a better time to take a crack at the original Dead Space. I went in expecting an experience similar to Resident Evil 4 – heavy action with a side of horror – and Dead Space did not disappoint.

The game is at its best when you’re stalking through cramped environments and dismembering zombies Necromorphs with a variety of futuristic firearms. Your default weapon, the Plasma Cutter, feels punchy and responsive, and I found unique satisfaction in rotating its firing pattern by 90 degrees to more effectively separate my adversaries and their limbs. The rest of your arsenal is hit or miss, with a couple guns that feel underpowered and others that are only useful in limited situations. However, I did appreciate that no two weapons felt alike – a rare feature in games with an arsenal as wide as this one.

Necromorphs come in many shapes and sizes, and each variety requires slightly different tactics. Weak points are easy to spot but targeting them never gets old. The only enemy type that really irked me was the Guardian, a legless creature that hangs on walls and constantly spawns tiny Necromorph pods. Cutting these abominations down is best done with the Plasma Cutter, which became an issue on occasions when my Plasma Energy ran dry. Thankfully, my encounters with these wallhuggers were few and far between.

The zero-gravity sections were also a highlight for me. Not even being up to my neck in death on a derelict starship could crush the inherent joy of gliding across zero-G spaces. Choosing the target of my jump and launching into the air felt so intuitive that I didn’t mind that there was no way to adjust my trajectory midflight.

Though it’s ostensibly a horror game, Dead Space isn’t very scary. The main protagonist Isaac is the strong silent type and clearly gets his fashion advice from Doom Guy. I wouldn’t be surprised if his middle name is Ultraviolence.

As for the story, well, if I never have to endure another monologue delivered from behind a glass window, my life will be all the better for it. The plot is strong conceptually, weaving threads of religion and alien artifacts into a tapestry that should intrigue science fiction junkies, but the haphazard delivery is too shaky to support the big ideas. Plot twists are either foreshadowed too heavily or given weak reveals that dampen their impact. I was always more interested in what I would shoot next than what would happen next.

But hey, this isn’t a movie – it’s a game, and a fun one at that. I’m glad I played it before the remake is released, and I look forward to playing part 2 (and perhaps even part 3) in the near future.