Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Amazing"

When Dead Space came out, one of my friends let me borrow it, saying it was a great game. The first night, I had nightmares after only playing an hour and had to only play the game during the daylight after that. Having played it before, I was not nearly as scared the second time. Dead Space, to me, is what the Resident Evil series started, but never finished. Set in space, the game sets up a terrifying scenario of being trapped in space with entities you can't begin to understand and a growing mental state that is perfect for hallucinations.

The game came out almost four years ago, but the graphics still look sharp and the game play is still easy to understand and enjoyable. After having played so many games since playing the first one, I expected there to be some rust on the game, but there was none. The game truly stood the test of time with graphics, game play and sound. While some of my friends commented that the backgrounds were tired and overdone (like a Scooby Doo cartoon), I thought the repeated backgrounds were actually well done because each time you saw it, you never knew what to expect.

The boss battles were oftentimes challenging, but not to the point of being frustrating. There were instances where the number of enemies far outweighed the ability to combat said enemies, but the environments always had an avenue to deal with this, it was just a matter of taking advantage of the surroundings.

What struck me the most on this second play through was how well made and told this story was. Though it didn't feel original, the concept a tired and true one from Hollywood, it still had me guessing at times and compelled to continue on as quickly as possible. There were points I didn't want to put the game down, and that says a lot. I often think that if Resident Evil had continued down the path RE4 began, there might have been a different series, something more like Dead Space. The game, no matter the age, is well worth playing. I had changed from PS3 to XBOX and can honestly say that I saw little difference for the two consoles, there was no image tearing or walking through objects, a very well-made game.