Dead Space Review
- Posted November 2nd, 2008 at 00:54 EDT by
- 35 Comments
Review Score
- PSU Review Score
- 9.0
- Avg. user review score:
- 8.6
Summary
Dead Space is a thrilling scarefest filled with nightmarish creatures, gory detail, and the ability to make any gamer wish it was the daytime. Redwood Shores has delivered a truly must-buy title during a month of standout releases.
We like
- Unique gameplay experience
- Stunning visual design
- Limb by limb dismemberment
We dislike
- Replayability is crippled by inventory loss during difficulty switch
- Overpowered boot stomp
- Backtracking may bother some gamers
See PSU's review on Metacritic & GameRankings
(continued from previous page) ...limbs from the start.
A very unique aspect to Dead Space is the complete lack of a visible HUD (heads up display). Redwood Shores chose to take a different route in order to display vital information to the player. In line with the futuristic tone of the game, players can view their life and air supply on the back of their body suits, and track their ammunition count on a display above each weapon. Additionally, your inventory opens up in real time via a holographic representation. This helps keep players immersed within the atmosphere because a Necromorph can attack at any given time. Much like in BioShock, the ship is littered with audio messages that detail things that have happened on the Ishimura. There are also messages written across the walls in blood, and notes Isaac keeps in a personal journal as well. All of these features help submerge gamers into the harsh world of Dead Space, something that isn’t always easy to achieve in the gaming industry.
Dead Space, unfortunately, isn’t without its problems. The navigation system sometimes tells the player to move forward and then backwards for no apparent reason. On the other hand, certain players may not like the chore of having to continually backtrack in order to complete objectives. While it makes absolute sense that you may have to search for a circuit board in a different part of the ship, sometimes the backtracking makes the Ishimura feel smaller than it actually is. Outside of these small quips, the only real technical issue seems to be the ability to stomp things with your boot that are out of reach.
An issue that isn’t relevant to the actual gameplay and more of a crippling effect on the game's replay value is the way Redwood decided to set up the second playthrough functionality. While it’s awesome that you can replay the title with the same inventory as your original adventure through the Ishimura, it’s ridiculous that you must do so at the same difficulty level to retain that inventory. Considering you're unable to max out everything on your original trip through the game, you'd think that Dead Space would allow you to progress Isaac Clark through tougher difficulties while still maintaining the possibility to maximize your inventory. This is a problem because it is hardly challenging to complete the game on the same difficulty setting when you already have a near-maxed out character. I feel they dropped the bomb with this decision and have truly crippled an offline-only experience by removing some of the potential incentive to play through the title once more.
Though Dead Space may be compared to BioShock in a stylistic sense, it’s in a league of its own when it comes to visuals. The developers have done a fantastic job of intricately detailing each segment of the Ishimura to be a tad creepier than the last. Whether you’re looking at the blood trails on the floor or the compartments that have had human remains literally strained through them, Dead Space is a sensory marvel that wholly engulfs you within its world. Furthermore, none of the chapters in the story ever feel like the last; each has a sense of individuality because of the careful design each section received. Isaac’s interaction with holographic messages are also visually believable because of the way you see him shaking his head and acknowledging what is being said. The character models are realistic enough to authenticate the experience, and the subtleties of your surroundings are only amplified by the audio provided.
You can tell the cast of actors in charge of each character’s voiceover cared about their role in the game, as the dialog is extremely impressive. That awkward feeling of forced conversation never arrives to cripple the flow of the title. When you combine this rare feat with the various sound effects of the weapons and the ship, you find yourself utterly entranced, ready to be frightened by whatever lies ahead.
EA’s Dead Space delivers in every conceivable way. Hop on board and see space like never before: dead.
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Comments
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HeartAttackSilv3rback
- 9:10pm EDT - November 1st, 2008
- 1
wiuts with you dudes... some reviews are completely true and believable and others are redonculuos in almost every way...
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saso_7
- 9:13pm EDT - November 1st, 2008
- 2
umm to the self-proclaimed "Jesus of PSU" its Issac Clarke, not Hayes, good review tho, Dead Space was an awesome experience, wish i could play it all over again for the first time just to have that in-suspense, WTF was that feeling. just recently got my platinum in the game, and i've been playing Bioshock since (up to cohen) & it really is Bioshock in space
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AbyssalDrake
- 9:15pm EDT - November 1st, 2008
- 3
finnaly i ben waited for god review 9.0 thats awsome i love the game best horror game all time
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Rafaelcbf12
- 9:32pm EDT - November 1st, 2008
- 4
The Issac came in is destroyed? WTF dose that mean, you guys should proofs read better. good review though.
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TofuOnoPhD
- 9:46pm EDT - November 1st, 2008
- 5
Some of those cons seem like you were just grasping for something negative about the game. The only one I trul agree with is the loss of inventory when changing difficulty, but thats still grasping. Nice review overall, was a fantastic game.
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J1gs4w
- 1:34am EDT - November 2nd, 2008
- 10
Funny you guys point out all the flaws and errors in their reviews, yet they are not professionals other than through eachother. They dont work for some conglomerate that busts their chops if they misspell a word. They just let kids run the website thats all.
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DreamsofAnarchy
- 1:56am EDT - November 2nd, 2008
- 12
I'm still waiting for a demo. I just played the Alone In The Dark demo and now im in a Survival Horror mood.
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biron_w
- 3:22am EST - November 2nd, 2008
- 14
I got this on release.I'm still playing through it now and it's one of the best games i've played for a long time.
It has some annoying bits - like the necromorphs with bombs on their arms,if you're surrounded by a few and one gets you then you're dead as the other will attack before you can get up.
I also think you dont get enough power nodes.Or the way you power up weapons etc is broken.Why mkae it so you have to use 2 or 3 nodes on empty slots before you get to a useful slot?
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Cyphers_Lock
- 3:26am EST - November 2nd, 2008
- 15
They are not zombies, but mutations. Bioshock is a completely different experience. Personally, this game gets a 9.0 from me.
Hey Dreams, you can rent it. Seriously though, this is totally worth the $60.
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Kurupt_the_Don
- 7:48am EST - November 2nd, 2008
- 19
no replay value..no game..!!!!hey EA..open ur eyes ears and brain and think as a gamer!!!...we want replay value..is that so much to ask??..oh..and trophies to..:P
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Cilist72
- 7:57am EST - November 2nd, 2008
- 20
The reason EA didn't let you keep your inventory when you switched difficulties is because some kid would max out all his weapons playing on easy and then play on hard with all your really good weapons . It would ruin the feeling of completing the game on hard.
This will permanently ban this user and delete all associated comments. This action is irreversible, are you SURE you want to do this?!
