With Dead Space 2 due soon I loaded up my good friend Isaac Clarke and set out again on a journey of dismemberment upon the fair ship USG Ishimura. A full review is below.
Horror is a science of shadows and scares. Sure, getting overpowered by hideous creatures is scary, but what’s more unsettling is the fear of the unknown around the next corner. Like any good horror director, Dead Space knows this. The game revels in the claustrophobia of its environment and the you-against-the-masses principle that allows survival horrors to tap into our deepest psychological fears. But unlike other recent entries in the genre, I’m looking at you Resident Evil 5, Dead Space also knows that tension and release alone are not enough to make a great game. You need strong characters, you need action and you need variation. Welcome to Dead Space.
Set in the year 2414, you play as Isaac Clarke, an engineer dispatched as a member of a small team to investigate a distress signal on the interstellar mining spaceship USG Ishimura. Opening with Isaac watching a video from his girlfriend Nicole, a medic aboard the ship, it becomes clear that Ishimura has been infested with something sinister. Cue Isaac being isolated from his team, arm him with makeshift engineering weapons and limited ammo, throw in a government conspiracy, a crazy religious sect and stack him against hordes of grotesque alien Necromorphs and we’ve got the perfect blueprint for a survival horror.
You’d be right in thinking the setup isn’t the most original. Take the formula established by Resident Evil, combine with a freaky Event Horizon-like spaceship and blend with Bioshock’s blood-riddled walls and biotic powers and you’ve got the basics. Thankfully Dead Space has enough new wrinkles to transcend any copycat concerns.
First off there is the combat itself, armed with improvised mining tools like the plasma cutter (think plasma-based handgun) and the ripper (rotary buzz saw) Isaac’s weapons are memorable and functionally important. Take the plasma cutter, Isaac’s first weapon, as an example. Able to cut both vertically (primary fire) and horizontally (secondary fire) the ability to switch angles is vital to Dead Space’s combat mechanic of cutting the limbs from Necromorphs to kill them. Known as ‘strategic dismemberment’ Isaac’s limb-severing MO makes for some pretty hairy combat situations as it’s tough to shoot the legs when Necromorphs are trying to get intimate. Equally important, dismemberment is gory and a hell of a good time.
Like any survival horror worth its salt, ammo is scarce on Ishimura. To give Isaac a fighting chance when a gang (or is it a gaggle?) of Necros are descending, he’s equipped with a limited amount of stasis, a time slowing power, that must be recharged via packs or stations to fend off the enemy. When this runs out, as it inevitably will when a gangly beast is trying to munch your face off, there’s always kinesis, the power to pick up and launch objects. While such powers are certainly not new (see Bioshock, Mass Effect etc) they mesh well with the need for dismemberment.
Then there’s the enemy. The gruesome Necromorph are an unknown alien organism transformed from human corpses that litter Ishimura. Starting with the ‘basic model’ (think zombies but quicker) the creatures change and adapt. Soon you’ll be fighting off bug-like Necros that attack in packs, bloated ‘pregnants’ and wall-attached Guardians who shoot out other little nasties. There’s a strategy for each variation and equipping the wrong weapon drains both life and ammo. As Dead Space progresses earlier enemies will resurface in advanced forms, covered in a black tar, which requires extra damage before you’ll hear the joyous squelch of limb and body parting. The variation and adaptation of Necros throughout Dead Space keeps the gameplay tense and engaging.
General Necromorph slaughtering is broken up by gravity-free sequences, mini-games and interactive action scenes. These interjections break up the ferreting for ammo/Necromorph attack/go and fetch pattern that begins to form. This repetition is probably the one criticism that can be levelled at Dead Space. Particularly in its final third there’s a sense of “here we go again”, but a solid and satisfying ending removes any lasting damage.
Dead Space deserves your time and money. It’s a superbly crafted sci-fi survival horror. While it doesn’t reinvent the wheel there’s enough innovation, blood and guts and limb-lashing fun to keep you glued to the controller for at least one playthrough and probably multiple. Stack up on stasis, dim the lights and pack a spare set of dacks, the Ishimura is boarding.
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