Dead Space

The Good
The sheer amount of atmosphere.This is a labour of love, showing dedication in every pixel and every frame.The surroundings are awesome, its very interesting to see how a dedicated team can create such a dense setting and atmosphere although the game plays on a spaceship.Its claustrophobic, shocking, awesome. The game plays great (much better than for example Too Human), sounds terrifying, looks fantastic and will keep you at the edge of the seat.

The Bad
There are one, two scenes which can be a bit too hard the first 10 times You try it, but if You keep at it or play with friends, this really doesn't detract too much from the experience.Oh, and it borrows a lot from SYSTEM SHOCK 2, but You could call it an homage because it's so well done.

The Bottom Line
DEAD SPACE is a dream come true for fans of games like The Thing, Alien, Hellraiser, Event Horizon and such.It truly captures the atmosphere of such survival horror settings and keeps You in awe almost during its total lifetime.My compliments to the developers, as this is one of the rare gems where its very, very hard to find any flaws.The environments are totally convincing, the enemies totally challenging and terrifying, the story is very well told, the sound alone makes this all stand out.Although the story is not new and borrows a lot from the classic SYSTEM SHOCK 2, it retells this kind of story in an entertaining way.

The Good
It is seemingly as if they took all my favourite scary games and mashed them together into one piece of bloody perfection.

The Graphics of Mass Effect? Check. The same style of interior semblance as Doom 3? Check. Audio and Video logs as story progression from Resident Evil and Doom 3? Check. The same fantastic camera angle and controls of Resident Evil 4? Check. Gruesome blood and guts enemies like those in The Thing? Check. Enemies that don't "just die," like those in The Thing? Check. * Shop and upgrades from Resident Evil 4? Check. *Just enough originality to make one damn good game? Check.

Suffice to say while playing this game, I feel like someone read my mind and made a game out of it.

The atmosphere is just perfect. It looks extremely similar to the environments found in Doom 3, however the over the shoulder camera and controls lifted from Resident Evil 4 make for much more genuine scares. Additionally the enemies aren't your typical "Bang. You're dead" type. Very much like the video game adaptation of The Thing, you must finish off the enemy otherwise they might just get right back up and eat your face. Where as in The Thing players had to weaken and then torch the creatures, Dead Space is slightly less tedious in that you must "creatively dismember" the bad guys to kill them.

Speaking of atmosphere, this is a no-HUD game. Your only indication of your life status is the spine on the back of your suit. Very immersive. Speaking of immersion, the audio is just perfect in this game. Creepy sounds coming from vents, subtle creaks to keep you on your toes. It all works perfectly to really bring you into the experience. On top of that the audio effects for things like machinery on the ship is top notch. The muffled audio during space walks is also a nice touch.

The storyline is great. Told through text, audio and video logs found throughout the game it tells a compelling story that makes you actually want to seek out the documents.Top notch voice acting brings it home as one of the most cinematic games to date.

Finally, Dead Space offers some great customization. If you can suspend your disbelief at the arbitrary shops throughout the ship then you're in for some great fun. Your EV suit is fully customizable and upgradable. In addition your inventory can be expanded, weapons upgraded and certain items combined, adding a good strategy element.

The Bad
Nothing really. It's clear most, if not all of Dead Space was inspired by prior games. However it's done so extremely well that I can forgive it.

The Bottom Line
A coming together of some of the best games in the horror genre make for one excellent game. If you liked any of the games I mentioned, or just plain like scary games, then check this one out for sure.

The Good
You're a member of a repair crew that's tasked to rescue the mining ship U.S.G. Ishimura. Upon arrival you're greeted by some unwelcome visitors, which quickly devolves into a butcher's yard of body parts.

This is an over-the-shoulder 3rd person shooter, and you get to re-learn one of the basic rules of the genre: Head shots don't mean ANYTHING. In order to take down your enemies, you have to dismember them. The aliens have one objective: perpetuate themselves and spread. In order to do this, they have to kill humans, and then 'repurpose' their bodies. The Flood from Halo are a close analogy in this regard.

EA has done something new with the weapons and equipment, which is to allow you to upgrade them with power nodes. In one playthrough you can typically upgrade your suit and two weapons, so choose what you want to power up wisely.

Also new to Dead Space is how they handled Zero-G environments. A 360 degree battlefield takes some getting used to, and it's definitely well implemented.

The aliens themselves are suitably creepy, and do very well to convey the impression of more than just a bug hunt.

The Bad
I wish it could have been longer. There are 12 acts, and once you know what you're doing these acts take an average of 45 mins - 1 hour to complete. Also there's limited replayability incentive after you've completed the game. It took me two passes on Normal and one on Impossible to unlock all 1000 achievement points. 40 hours isn't too bad for a game, but damnit, this was fun. I wanted more!

The Bottom Line
Aliens meets Resident Evil.