Dead Space is on it's game. EA has a done something revolutionary to the genre, and will be remembered for a while.
While many argue that Dead Space is scarier than Silent Hill or Resident Evil, it isn't, it is just better presented. EA truly delivered in the graphics department, with maybe the best visuals in a game to date. And in a "horror" game, that makes the difference between a horrifying experience, and a boring wash-up excuse of a horrifying experience.
I beat Dead Space in under around 9 hours, and it was a long 9 hours. The reason being the game has a repetitive process. Find a lock door, get a way to open it, go through the door, fight a wave of enemies, fight a boss, rinse and repeat. It isn't long enough of a game to be annoyed by the repetitiveness, but a few plot twists evenly dispersed would be nice, rather than all at the end. With a few mini games like the target practice and Zero Gravity Basketball, it gives you a breather between the long hallways of mutant aliens that all look alike.
The game is very cinematic, with absolutely amazing graphics and a great cast of voice actors. Some of the greatest moments of Dead Space were in the video and audio diaries which reveal stories of the crew on the ship... Especially the Captain's Diary (wink wink!).
The plot is pretty basic, not in a bad way though: You respond to a distress call, find the ship completely abandoned, get on the ship, find scary aliens, and get the **** off! With this premise, you can't really go too out of control, which makes the plot easy to play and enjoy. I'm on no way saying EA stole the idea, but this game reminds me a lot of Event Horizon. For all who have seen the movie, you can agree, for those who haven't seen it, go see it :).
This is a great 8 hour game that was stretched out to be longer, but in the end, it's all worth it. Dead Space is a great game to rent, and if you like it enough, go buy it! With limited replay value, I recommend Dead Space to any and all action, horror, and Sci-fi fans.
-Frenzyd109