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Dead Space
October 16, 2008 | 2:06 PM PST
Kombo's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.
What the Game's About
Resident Evil 4 ruined survival horror. That's what some people say, anyway. Just as many would argue that the game single-handed saved the genre from obsolescence. The last entry in Capcom's biggest franchise traded its slow pace, obscured field of vision and severely limited resources for a new over-the-shoulder perspective, buttery smooth controls, precise aiming and a significantly faster tempo. This new breed of survival horror still provided some creepy atmosphere but the feeling of vulnerability that characterized the genre's old guard was replaced with a feeling of power, and it's hard to feel scared when you feel like a badass. Dead Space, Electronic Arts' first foray into the world of survival horror, doesn't settle for such compromises. The game is as terrifying as any we've ever played and it achieves that level of horror without resorting to crippling players.
What's Hot
Dead Space is scary as hell. The game does an amazing job of making players feel like they could be killed at any moment, and that feeling of vulnerability translates effectively into tension and fear. As you make your way through the bowels of the mining-vessel Ishimura, the threat of attack is ever-present. The aliens swarming through the Ishimura aren't just nasty-looking, they're powerful and they're crafty too. Just like any other deep-space mining vessel (we assume), the Ishimura has an intricate network of ventilation shafts to keep oxygen circulating throughout. That ventilation system now serves as an alien express-way and enemies will use it to follow you past the locked doors, ladders and power-lifts that enemies in most games typically can't bypass. They'll also use the vents to ambush you when you least expect it. You aren't even safe when the dust settles on a battle and dismembered limbs decorate the floor. Approaching alien carcasses is risky since they could be playing dead to lure you over, or pulling one of several other sneaky, unscripted behaviors.
Not only are the enemies in the game sneaky bastards, they're also incredibly powerful. Isaac, whom players control, isn't an action hero. He's just a regular guy and he can only take about half a dozen hits from the weakest enemy type before going down for the count. That isn't to say they're unfairly tough or frustrating to deal with, it simply means that a few enemies in Dead Space offer a greater threat than the largest waves of villagers ever did in Resident Evil 4. Fear of death isn't exclusive to major set-pieces or boss battles. It's a constant reality, one established by the legitimate ferocity of the monsters in the dark -- not poor controls, bad camera angles or limited ammunition.
The developers have also done a masterful job of screwing with the pace to keep you from settling into a rhythm. Scripted sequences and enemy encounters tend to occur just a bit sooner and just a little later than you'd expect them to. They interrupt those quiet moments after a huge skirmish, the ones developers typically give you to catch your breath, and other times they let you walk for what seems like ages, waiting and waiting for that next attack you know is coming, and right as you're starting to feel like you caught a lucky break from the unscripted AI, they'll scare the **** out of you. Now that's great horror.
There's a psychological component to the horror in Dead Space, due in most part to the overwhelmingly creepy atmosphere and some of the more twisted plot threads. I'm not going to talk about the story because I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but suffice to say some very, very twisted things are uncovered over the course of the game. Lots of factors both subtly and overtly contribute to the atmosphere. The grim history of the Ishimura is told through haunting and often grisly audio and video logs, not to mention the desperate writings scrawled on the walls. Elaborate scripted events segue into unscripted terror, all without the safety blanket of a HUD to remind you that it's all just a game. The art direction obviously recalls the industrial 'truckers in space' aesthetic from the Alien movies, but EA's artists have infused that look with a unique concoction of oil-soaked grit and gothic undertones, the latter of which lends some of the environments an almost otherworldly vibe. The lighting and sound design add additional layers to the environments, suffocating areas of the ship that are exposed to the vacuum of space in dead silence, while filling other areas with wailing sirens and strobe lights. The presentation values in Dead Space are beyond reproach. EA's proprietary engine gives Epic's Unreal Engine 3 a run for its money as the best-looking engine available today.
Eventually you'll have to stop hiding in the corner and fight the nightmarish creatures that call the Ishimura home. Strategic dismemberment is what evens the odds between our fragile everyman hero and the powerful aliens that want to tear him to pieces. Strategic dismemberment -- the ability to pick off just about any body part you can target -- isn't a simple gimmick played for cheap visceral thrills, it is absolutely essential to survival. Battles frequently involve all sorts of enemies attacking from every direction and the only way to survive situations like that is to hit and run, targeting and slicing off appendages to cripple or just slow down the creatures long enough to create an opening and reposition. All of the different enemies have different styles of attack and different weaknesses, and players will have to learn how to prioritize and deal with each class efficiently if they want to survive. Taking out different limbs will garner different reactions from each of the enemies, and in most cases the effects of a lost limb will completely alter the enemy's movement and attack behaviors, so battles are constantly changing and never feel the same. The game is remarkably well-balanced, with a fair trade-off between the efficacy of dismembering enemies and the enemy's proficiency at gutting Isaac like a fish. Every battle is a tense, scary affair where every shot counts, but every battle is also fun as hell because the gameplay and controls are so tight, and Isaac's unique, upgradeable weaponry is so much fun to use.
What's Not
I was somewhat concerned that the combat would become repetitive over the course of the game, but as it turns out it's the other activities that I had to perform that started to grate on my nerves. All of the mission objectives in the game are logical, from correcting the Ishimura's orbit so it doesn't crash into the planet below to hunting down poisonous enemies in the ship's greenhouse so the oxygen supply isn't contaminated, everything you do makes sense in the context of staying alive long enough to find a way off the derelict-mining-vessel-from-hell. There are also no randomly-named keys or disassembled seals that need to be inserted into insane locking contraptions, thank god. All of the puzzles feel ingenious the first time you run into them, especially the ones that do a good job of mixing up Isaac's stasis (telekinesis) abilities and zero-gravity environments. They start to get boring however, after about the 10th or 20th time you've cleared debris, or plugged in batteries, or maneuvered your way through hazardous zero-g environments under only-slightly varying pretenses. Make no mistake, I'll take using stasis to stop generators from powering electric floors or to create makeshift bridges over finding gems to plug into statues any day of the week, I just found myself wishing I was spending more time in zero-g environments killing things instead of doing house-keeping. In fact, not putting more zero-g combat into the game seems like a wasted opportunity to really separate Dead Space from Resident Evil 4 and the rest of the pack, since it feels so utterly different than anything else in the genre.
Final Word
Dead Space is a potent combination of visceral glee and intense terror. The atmosphere is palpable, the combat is exciting and fun, the presentation values are off the chart, and even the narrative is top notch. EA's first survival horror titles is fine example of what can happen when you let a team of talented individuals work on a project that they're genuinely passionate about. This is the next generation of survival horror. Let's see if Resident Evil 5 can keep up.
What the Game's About
Resident Evil 4 ruined survival horror. That's what some people say, anyway. Just as many would argue that the game single-handed saved the genre from obsolescence. The last entry in Capcom's biggest franchise traded its slow pace, obscured field of vision and severely limited resources for a new over-the-shoulder perspective, buttery smooth controls, precise aiming and a significantly faster tempo. This new breed of survival horror still provided some creepy atmosphere but the feeling of vulnerability that characterized the genre's old guard was replaced with a feeling of power, and it's hard to feel scared when you feel like a badass. Dead Space, Electronic Arts' first foray into the world of survival horror, doesn't settle for such compromises. The game is as terrifying as any we've ever played and it achieves that level of horror without resorting to crippling players.
What's Hot
Dead Space is scary as hell. The game does an amazing job of making players feel like they could be killed at any moment, and that feeling of vulnerability translates effectively into tension and fear. As you make your way through the bowels of the mining-vessel Ishimura, the threat of attack is ever-present. The aliens swarming through the Ishimura aren't just nasty-looking, they're powerful and they're crafty too. Just like any other deep-space mining vessel (we assume), the Ishimura has an intricate network of ventilation shafts to keep oxygen circulating throughout. That ventilation system now serves as an alien express-way and enemies will use it to follow you past the locked doors, ladders and power-lifts that enemies in most games typically can't bypass. They'll also use the vents to ambush you when you least expect it. You aren't even safe when the dust settles on a battle and dismembered limbs decorate the floor. Approaching alien carcasses is risky since they could be playing dead to lure you over, or pulling one of several other sneaky, unscripted behaviors.
Not only are the enemies in the game sneaky bastards, they're also incredibly powerful. Isaac, whom players control, isn't an action hero. He's just a regular guy and he can only take about half a dozen hits from the weakest enemy type before going down for the count. That isn't to say they're unfairly tough or frustrating to deal with, it simply means that a few enemies in Dead Space offer a greater threat than the largest waves of villagers ever did in Resident Evil 4. Fear of death isn't exclusive to major set-pieces or boss battles. It's a constant reality, one established by the legitimate ferocity of the monsters in the dark -- not poor controls, bad camera angles or limited ammunition.
The developers have also done a masterful job of screwing with the pace to keep you from settling into a rhythm. Scripted sequences and enemy encounters tend to occur just a bit sooner and just a little later than you'd expect them to. They interrupt those quiet moments after a huge skirmish, the ones developers typically give you to catch your breath, and other times they let you walk for what seems like ages, waiting and waiting for that next attack you know is coming, and right as you're starting to feel like you caught a lucky break from the unscripted AI, they'll scare the **** out of you. Now that's great horror.
There's a psychological component to the horror in Dead Space, due in most part to the overwhelmingly creepy atmosphere and some of the more twisted plot threads. I'm not going to talk about the story because I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but suffice to say some very, very twisted things are uncovered over the course of the game. Lots of factors both subtly and overtly contribute to the atmosphere. The grim history of the Ishimura is told through haunting and often grisly audio and video logs, not to mention the desperate writings scrawled on the walls. Elaborate scripted events segue into unscripted terror, all without the safety blanket of a HUD to remind you that it's all just a game. The art direction obviously recalls the industrial 'truckers in space' aesthetic from the Alien movies, but EA's artists have infused that look with a unique concoction of oil-soaked grit and gothic undertones, the latter of which lends some of the environments an almost otherworldly vibe. The lighting and sound design add additional layers to the environments, suffocating areas of the ship that are exposed to the vacuum of space in dead silence, while filling other areas with wailing sirens and strobe lights. The presentation values in Dead Space are beyond reproach. EA's proprietary engine gives Epic's Unreal Engine 3 a run for its money as the best-looking engine available today.
Eventually you'll have to stop hiding in the corner and fight the nightmarish creatures that call the Ishimura home. Strategic dismemberment is what evens the odds between our fragile everyman hero and the powerful aliens that want to tear him to pieces. Strategic dismemberment -- the ability to pick off just about any body part you can target -- isn't a simple gimmick played for cheap visceral thrills, it is absolutely essential to survival. Battles frequently involve all sorts of enemies attacking from every direction and the only way to survive situations like that is to hit and run, targeting and slicing off appendages to cripple or just slow down the creatures long enough to create an opening and reposition. All of the different enemies have different styles of attack and different weaknesses, and players will have to learn how to prioritize and deal with each class efficiently if they want to survive. Taking out different limbs will garner different reactions from each of the enemies, and in most cases the effects of a lost limb will completely alter the enemy's movement and attack behaviors, so battles are constantly changing and never feel the same. The game is remarkably well-balanced, with a fair trade-off between the efficacy of dismembering enemies and the enemy's proficiency at gutting Isaac like a fish. Every battle is a tense, scary affair where every shot counts, but every battle is also fun as hell because the gameplay and controls are so tight, and Isaac's unique, upgradeable weaponry is so much fun to use.
What's Not
I was somewhat concerned that the combat would become repetitive over the course of the game, but as it turns out it's the other activities that I had to perform that started to grate on my nerves. All of the mission objectives in the game are logical, from correcting the Ishimura's orbit so it doesn't crash into the planet below to hunting down poisonous enemies in the ship's greenhouse so the oxygen supply isn't contaminated, everything you do makes sense in the context of staying alive long enough to find a way off the derelict-mining-vessel-from-hell. There are also no randomly-named keys or disassembled seals that need to be inserted into insane locking contraptions, thank god. All of the puzzles feel ingenious the first time you run into them, especially the ones that do a good job of mixing up Isaac's stasis (telekinesis) abilities and zero-gravity environments. They start to get boring however, after about the 10th or 20th time you've cleared debris, or plugged in batteries, or maneuvered your way through hazardous zero-g environments under only-slightly varying pretenses. Make no mistake, I'll take using stasis to stop generators from powering electric floors or to create makeshift bridges over finding gems to plug into statues any day of the week, I just found myself wishing I was spending more time in zero-g environments killing things instead of doing house-keeping. In fact, not putting more zero-g combat into the game seems like a wasted opportunity to really separate Dead Space from Resident Evil 4 and the rest of the pack, since it feels so utterly different than anything else in the genre.
Final Word
Dead Space is a potent combination of visceral glee and intense terror. The atmosphere is palpable, the combat is exciting and fun, the presentation values are off the chart, and even the narrative is top notch. EA's first survival horror titles is fine example of what can happen when you let a team of talented individuals work on a project that they're genuinely passionate about. This is the next generation of survival horror. Let's see if Resident Evil 5 can keep up.
November 20, 2009
