Brutal and gory survival horror with a decent storyline and superb atmosphere
The thing I enjoyed the most in this game are the details. Throughout each environment you traverse, there are echoes of violence and terror; body parts scattered around, writing on the walls in blood and disturbed survivors who have gone insane because of what they have witnessed. There is much enjoyment to be had in trying to find all these hints as to what has happened on the ghost ship that you are stuck on.
The gameplay is also fantastic, with an innovative way to kill enemies being the most noticeable difference this game has to any other of its type. Basically, you are encouraged to de-limb your enemies (!) by shooting them in places like the knees or elbows. Simply shooting them in the chest wont work. It is great fun to shoot the limbs off these monsters, but also challenging and never boring.
You can level up your guns and armour by collecting 'power nodes' while exploring the ship. Not massively original, but the best thing about it is the actual impact upgrading has on your weapons. You can feel the difference immediately after upgrading your weapon, and can also produce different effects on your gun, so this is always fun to do.
Dead Space is one of the best titles I've played in a while, and its awesome atmosphere and interesting storyline will hopefully provide a fantastic sequel.
Good - Terrifying atmosphere, superb graphics, replayability, good storyline
Bad - Saving system can be a bit of a pain, bosses are underwhelming