This review section is fast becoming like a scene from Night of the Living Dead as we check out on the third horror-based PS3 game in a row – Dead Space.

Unlike its more illustrious and established counterparts in Silent Hill and Siren, Dead Space is the first of the series; which means most gamers won’t really know what to expect until they played it first-hand. And perhaps it’s the exhilaration that comes with playing an original title, this game DELIVERS in just about every way possible. And kids, stay away from this until you’re 18 OK?

In Your Face

Just a note: I must admit I wasn’t aware of Dead Space until it literally hit me on the face. For a start, this game is by Electronic Arts - better known for its sporting franchises… and probably known ONLY for that. I also don’t recall seeing news about Dead Space in any of my limited arsenal of game magazines, or from any media advertising for that matter.

Considering how good and polished this game is, I’m dumbfounded that I’ve only got to learn about it from the guy who serviced my Silent Hill: Homecoming purchase. For a reviewer of a game site, that sucks harder than a jawbreaker.

Ripley… We Need You Here

Strictly speaking, Dead Space isn’t an out-and-out horror but more of a sci-fi title. Starting from the first minute, it’s obvious the game draws its inspiration from the classic Alien movie. You are Isaac, a space engineer and part of a crew sent to a distressed spaceship to carry out repairs. After literally crashing onto your intended destination, you are separated from your team. The next thing you know, people are shooting guns all around you, the dying and injured are screaming, and you are desperately running away from some alien creatures who want to tan your hide for supper. The atmosphere is so much like Alien that you’d think Ripley from the movie would turn up and lend you a hand at some stage.

What is lovable about the plot of Dead Space is its simplicity. To move around the spaceship, you need to activate an internal transport train. To find out if there’s a contamination, you need to check the air facility. To send a distress call, you need to fix the radar dishes. To get your arse out of the hellhole, you need a space shuttle. It’s all straightforward like watching one of those exciting alien movies. No mind-numbing political agenda. No head-spinning jargons. Just good, raw, simple fun.

Yes, You’ve Heard This Before

Gameplay-wise, I’ve heard many people calling this Resident Evil 4 in Space though it has more third-person shooter (TPS) elements than classic survival-horror. After cracking my head trying to find a more original analogy, I’ve got to admit this is perhaps the best possible way to describe the Dead Space experience.

Starting from the camera angle, you’re be controlling your protagonist from the increasingly-popular behind the shoulder perspective ala RE4 style. The angle is tight, which makes it tolerable (to a certain extent) even to the TPS-intolerance. This is of vital important since you’ll need full concentration chasing, shooting and being chased by hordes and hordes of vile beasts from all angles. And no, you don’t have the luxury of auto-aim, just so you know.

In weapons, you start off with a space-cutter which is the equivalent of a semi-automatic pistol, and gradually make your way to fancier stuff like a laser line gun, a flamethrower, a chainsaw type weapon and many other usual suspects. All these weapons can be upgraded by power nodes that you’ll find later in the game, though I suspect most people will want to focus on just one or two fixed weapons because some of them are just so bloody hard to use.

In terms of enemies, you have a wide variety ranging from the target-practice to the ridiculously-hard-to-aim. The thing about Dead Space is that the game encourages you to target weak spots like limbs and heads because the enemies die a lot faster that way. Though the learning curve is gradual, it reaches a height that many non-TPS gamers might find hard to adapt. In the latter stages, I was having trouble even aiming at the torsos of enemies that dash, fly, re-spawn, heck even warp right in front of you. Needless to say, I was doing a lot of running away in the end and spending way too much hard-earned space cash on health items purchasable from vending machines (which I should be using to buy ammos and upgrade my armor).

As a casual TPS gamer, my advice to those playing Dead Space are: save your ammos right from the start, run away if that’s at all possible, go your way to pick up every single cash and items you can find, concentrate on improving one weapon (hopefully the space cutter) so you’ll have one kick-ass gun instead of several semi-weak ones. And lastly, SAVE often. These will drastically improve your Dead Space gameplay, especially in the end.

I Swear He’s THAT Snake

When I first saw Dead Space from afar at a game store, I had a moment of visual insanity where I thought it was Snake (from Metal Gear Solid) fighting those Aliens in a spaceship from the movie Event Horizon. If you happen to know all three, you’ll know instantly how impressed I am with the graphical prowess of Dead Space.

Even on my television which is still hooked on AV cables, Dead Space looks amazingly high-res just as a PS3 title should. As I played the game, I couldn’t help but notice the intricate details EA managed to squeeze into the various stages. From various blood writings on the wall, to intertwining pipes on the ceiling; from limbless corpses lying in heaps of flame, to carnages depicting the aftermath of a fatal struggle; everything look so detailed and unique that there’s little chance that you’ll be lost. I remember coming to a location I visited half a dozen stages before, and I instantly recognized that place! To me, that speaks volume about the developer’s effort in polishing this title.

Which brings us to the sound department. No doubt about it, the sounds from this game alone is good enough to make you think twice about playing it after midnight. I’m not even talking the grunts and roars of the aliens (which are good by the way), but more of how strategically the developers placed sound bits here and there to make you want to wet your pants when you least suspect it. In one instance: I was waiting in a space lift and this ghastly female voice started singing “twinkle little star” slowly on the PA system. When a children song can scare you like that, it’s one heck of an accomplishment.

Won’t be Left Forgotten in Your Shoe Box

In playing time, Dead Space can easily give you about 15-20 hours on your first run and probably half the time on your subsequent runs. There is a certain amount of replayability too. For a start, you might be tempted to go collect the trophies / titles that you’ve missed earlier, or just take on the aliens again on higher difficulties, or perhaps try to perfect a weapon that you totally ignored or missed the first round. There are also the usual add-ons you find in games like this. Nothing too fancy but it gets the job done.

Still, I guess many won’t be propelled to replay this immediately after your first run because it doesn’t quite have the multi-route and replay depth of, say, Metal Gear Solid: Guns of the Patriots. But keep it in your collection and I assure you that you’ll be tempted again in another 6 month or so. This is one for the keeping.

Too Much Violence Causes Unexplained Headaches

Right… here comes the tough part if you’re a kid. In this region, Dead Space comes with an age warning label for violence and I assure you that it is fully justifiable. This is one game that you don’t want your little sister or ageing grandma to catch you playing less you want a hysterical relative on your hands.

Just how violent is this title? Well, in Dead Space, you don’t just shoot to kill enemies. You behead them, slice off their limbs, stamp on their corpses, fry them to a crisp and generally cause bodily harm until there’s nothing left but a bloody pulp. All these are shown in meticulous detail (and sometimes in slow-motion) leveraging on every visual power of the PS3.

When I first stamped on a human in this game (fearing it was an alien in disguise… umm… ya…), the head rolled off from the neck and flew to the side corner of the room. While I could stomach a lot of senseless violent in movies, this is taking things a bit too far in my opinion. And as a result, many a sleepless nights and nausea followed. So, if you are under 18, STAY AWAY for the love of everything holy and sacred in this world!

One for the Grown-Ups

Admittedly, PS3Hyper absolutely loves this game. It has an interesting yet easy-to-pick-up plot for sci-fi / horror fans, high production values, plausible gameplay and certain amount of replayability. In many ways, it is the surprise package of the year for gamers of this genre. And even if you’re not, it’s worth a rent or a look.

However, the potential for Dead Space to fall short amongst certain gamers is immense. The over-the-top violent would deter many people from even touching its cover; and like many other next-gen games, it may not go down well with the stomach of the motion-intolerance. Also, Dead Space froze or slowed down about half a dozen times in PS3Hyper’s new PS3 unit – it’s not-serious, but it’s definitely irritating.

Taking everything into consideration, PS3Hyper gives Dead Space a We-Didn’t-See-It-Coming 4.5 out of 5. EA, we applaud you and look forward to your next surprise.

Posted in Reviews on Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at 3:32 pm |
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