Dead Space
by Electronic Arts
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Video Game Reviews of Dead Space
Customer Review: Wonderfully Immersive Environment
Summary: 5 Stars
All in all I thought this was a really great game. While the game wasn't wholly original, I always say that if you're going to borrow make sure you do it well or better. Dead Space delivers quite a bit in that regard. It also includes influence by two of best science fiction films, in my opinion, Aliens and Event Horizon. I think Dead Space really captured the terrifying and brooding atmosphere that was inherent in Event Horizon. Not to mention the scare factor in Aliens with creatures jumping out at you. With Dead Space's ability to fully immerse it's users into its environment this resulted in an incredible gaming experience.
Pros:
Intense immersive environment
Zero Gravity levels
Highly detailed areas
Upgradeable weapons
Excellent use of a Nav Point
Unique look at enemies, where you need to dismember them
Game Length is about 12 to 15 hours
A couple fun mini-games
Makes full use of the controller, giving you lots of options
Has Kinesis (basically the Gravity Gun from HL2, but still fun)
Has Stasis (can freeze enemies)
Cons:
Other weapon options not that great
A strange variant on asteroids (for a few minutes in one section)
Controls can be hard to get used to
Background story is fuller if you watch/read other Dead Space material
When completing a game and wanting to play on a higher difficulty level you cannot use the same character, but you can reuse it to replay the same difficulty level.
The things that made Dead Space great were some simple adjustments to very basic things in video games. First off, something people may not notice at first is that there is nothing on the screen except your character. This is a third person view, where you control someone walking around. There's no HUD to show how much ammo you have, or life meter, none of that is cluttering the screen. Instead they've put the life meter on the suit you are wearing and you readily see the ammo counter when you aim your weapons. Very simple changes, in my opinion, but they helped immerse me in the environment just that little bit more. The other thing that I really loved was the way they handle the Nav (Navigation) Point feature on many games today. Rather than have some point off in the distance that your character is supposed to head towards, this game allows you to push a button and it brings up a glowing line that will point you in the direction you are supposed to go. In a ship this large this is quite a boon, because otherwise the user would easily get lost or turned around.
One of the greatest features is the upgradeable weapons aspect of the game. Throughout the game you come across work benches. You can find or purchase things called "nodes" and you can insert these things into your weapons at work benches. Doing this increases your capacity, damage, and reload time. I thought this was a really cool aspect of the game. Rather than have hundreds of different weapons or series of weapons you can find, you merely upgrade the ones you have. This aspect was also quite a bit of fun.
A really fun part of this game is they have sections that are fully in zero gravity. So you can jump around all over the place. This was really awesome to experience, though sometimes disorienting, but that's part of the experience. I think they really used the fact you're in space to the highest level with this game, which was part of the reason this was so fun. One of the strange mini-games that are within this game is something called Zero-G Ball. It's some strange variant on Basketball, but I couldn't fully get the points up high enough. I guess that's one achievement I'll be missing out on.
Now Dead Space, as with anything, isn't without some flaws. The first is the attempt at getting some emotional response from the audience. You play as someone named Isaac Clarke, which would be great for getting into character. However, similar to the characters in other shooters, you have a hard time getting into the character where you want to meet Isaac's girlfriend who was on this ship. I think Half Life 2 did a better job with Alyx Vance, where you really interact with her throughout the game, so you wind up liking her towards the end quite a bit. Isaac's girlfriend doesn't have the same appeal, she feels more like any other side character you'd come across. Of course this makes sense, because part of the reason Dead Space is so terrifying is you always feel alone, so logically some aspect was going to have to suffer. Don't get me wrong, the girl is essential to the story line in some regards, but it fails to get you emotionally vested in the character.
Another part comes in the form of the overall storyline. This is a great story, but I don't think you'll really grasp that from just playing the game. I went out and I read the comic book series and watched the animated movie, so I had already been somewhat immersed in the Dead Space environment before even putting the game in my Xbox. I don't think the average user is going to get this same kind of experience out of the game. I really enjoy having supplementary material available for after I finish a game, but I also don't think it should be dependent for getting into the game itself. The game should, frankly, be its own stand alone product.
The other gripe I had with this game was the other weapons. Yes, I know they're supposed to function as tools, but I found them to be very unwieldy, especially when I'm trying to fight extremely fast creatures that charge you at great speeds. I'm sorry; I don't have time for a charging period. Frankly I just stuck with the plasma cutter and pulse rifle after I managed to get my 30 kills achievement with each weapon. One last part I didn't particular like much was their asteroids type part. Thankfully it only lasted a couple minutes and only took me a few tries, but I found this part of the game more annoying than fun. I think that had to do with the fact I didn't like the guns slow movement, so I didn't feel like I could really control the gun that well.
Over all I think this game is exceptionally well done, despite some of the minor flaws. The environment is incredibly immersive and it really is a scary game to play, especially late at night with all the lights shut off. It keeps the tension at such a high level, that you can't help but get into it. The sounds and overall ambience of the environment are incredibly well done, which only adds to the effect when things jump out at you and attack. I think the length of the game is very acceptable, being somewhere between 12 and 15 hours to complete. I also think it has some degree of replay value.
4.5 out of 5
Customer Review: my nephew
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this as a gift for my 15 year old Nephew and he liked it very much--First I asked in the forum here on amazon what would be a good game and this is the one they picked out--it helped and it worked!Customer Review: Very scary, great graphics, well done, but not fun after a while.
Summary: 3 Stars
I really wanted to like this game. The look and feel is eerie, it scared the pants off me at every turn, the graphics are good, the controls are good, but...it just wasn't fun after a while. Eventually you run near zero ammo and health, and there's just none to be found. You wind up going for a looong time in this near dead, out of ammo state, doing scenes over and over because you keep getting killed. It's especially frustrating when it keeps sending you way back to a save point (the game requires manual saves). Probably about 4 hours into the game, I just can't take it anymore. I like wasting a little time playing video games, but I don't like wasting time doing the same bits over and over and over and over. I'm glad I didn't buy it at full price when it came out!Customer Review: Pretty Amazing
Summary: 5 Stars
If you a want a game that is gory like Gears of War, feels kinda like Resident Evil but more fluid, has a solid story, and is really fun then look no further. And if you are the type of person that would love to be killing hordes of extremely disturbing looking creatures then this is definitely a must buy. Im not gonna write you a book but ill break it down like this:
Graphics-10 (space looks amazing btw)
Sound-10
Story-9 (very engaging)
Controls-8.5
Gore-9.5
All in all great game and you will never need a walkthrough of faq trust me on that.
-Andy
Customer Review: Must Play 360 Game
Summary: 5 Stars
I know I am late to the party in reviewing this game, but I just got around to playing and finishing the game. I can add to all of the other 5 star reviews in saying that Dead Space is really a standout Xbox 360 game. A must buy for anyone who likes the genre.