Turn off the lights, and close the doors!
I mentioned before, Dead Space is a brilliant mixture of a few other games. Elements from Doom 3, RE4, BioShock and Half-Life can all be found inside this sleeper of a masterpiece.
From Doom 3: The over all environment of being inside a dead ship, or ghost ship. It's dark, things go "clank" and you only get to use your flashlight when you weapon is drawn.
From RE4: I guess it is mostly the way you use your view, with the main character model being just slightly off center of the screen, as if you are looking over his shoulder most of the time.
From BioShock: The way the story unfolds, mostly through audio tapes that you find, and text blogs. Also, the way you are given to up-grade you weapons through a "store" where you can buy items such as ammo, guns and med kits, to the use of a bench where you can add stronger attributes to the weapons. Also, you get a special power unit that is very similar to something from BioShock.
Half-Life: I am talking about the original game, and Half-Life 2. From chasing a elusive "G-Man" type character, to using a anti-gravity type weapon.
Story: 9
The story here is top notch, and is delivered in multiple ways, and the best thing about it is that it's detailed, in depth, and never really interrupts the flow of the game. Most of the time you can continue to play as you listen to audio files, or read text blogs. There are cut scenes, but they seem few and fart between… yet they do a great job of moving things forward.
I felt the need to subtract (1) from this because at times, I was distracted by just playing the game while I should have been listening to the story… I am sure I might have missed some important story line information a few times.
Graphics: 9.5
Please do not do this game a injustice by playing on a standard TV. They may not be the flashiest out there, but they are very clean, and have TONS of detail on even the smallest of objects on the ship. The use of steam, smoke, flashing lights, darkness and textures really help submerge the player into the reality of the ship. Character models are very well done, and your main dude is very cool to look at as you upgrade this suit.
I had to subtract (.5 ) from this simply due to that at some points, even in a pitch black room the game was still just a little to dark.
Audio: 10
I said this before in a blog, I moved my entire surround sound system from the living room into the spare room where I play my 360 just for this game. The audio is simply AWESOME, it really makes you feel as if there ARE things falling down, and running around you that you can't see. Some of the monsters "moans and groans" will bring goose pumps to you as they sneak around behind walls, ceilings and floors! I won't even mention the very quiet "whispers" and singing of "twinkle twinkle little star" that you find in one level! The great use of bass really gives "weight" to objects such as doors when they open/close, or when you push or drop things.
Gameplay: 9
In general, game play is smooth, and controls are easy to use. One of the neatest things I fell the game does is brings your inventory to what I will call a "floating" screen, almost like a picture-in-picture where You can still move, run or use your weapons as you look for something in your inventory. It's very cool and helps bring the whole futuristic feeling to the game. Never once did I fell like looking for things, or using items got in the way of playing the game, never slowed it down.
Using the various weapons was simply enjoyable, each one has it's own unique way of being used. One thing that NEVER gets old is the ability to slow down a enemy so you can dismember it and watch the pieces parts float away in slow motion :)
Even though this whole game takes place on one ship, they did a great job of making each level seem different. They did make use of "backtracking", but again they did it in a way that just did not get old.
At times, you are forced to enter a "zero-gravity" environment, and I must say, if you get motion sickness or are susceptible to vertigo, then those areas may be a little difficult for you. They are done in such a way that what was up, is now down and left is right and just figuring out how to get across a room can be a challenge!
I had to subtract (1) here because at times I really wanted to carry, or use more than four weapons. You actually do get to carry all of them, but can only have access to use four of them at any given time. Anything that you have above the four, sits in your storage area, you can only swap them out when you visit a store.
TILTT : 10
In the end, for a game that was not even on my radar, I REALLY enjoyed this game from start to finish. Took me a total of about 12hrs, 15 minutes, which I am sure can be done quicker, but I ran around a lot just looking in ever corner and every door. Achievements are fun to get, and killing in the game NEVER got old. This is one of the very few games that I started over again, right after I finished my first run through!
Overall………. 9.5