Dead Space is one of the best 3rd person survival horror games.
GRAPHICS: Jaw-dropping. Crisp & clear. After MGS4 this game has the best visuals for 2008. Everything you see in this game is simply stunning. Environments are very good, especially dark, eerie, covered in blood corridors of the USG Ishimura and the big, vast space with planets and asteroids surounding the ship. Characters are very well designed. Isaac's suit looks awesome and it gets looking better every time you purchase new one. Your suit is interesting because all the data about you are in it. This game has no HUD. Your health is integrated in your suit and your remaining ammo is visible when you point your equiped weapon. Enemies, the necromorphs, are highly detailed and very scary. Blood effects are great and it sticks to floors and walls. Dead Space is pretty brutal game and there's tons of gore. All this helps to make it scary and eerie. That's why it's one of the best horror games.
score: 9.5/10
GAMEPLAY: In basic it's like RE4 with ability to walk and shoot. You can melee your enemies and you can use two great tools, stasis and kinesis. Stasis module gives you the power to freeze and slow down fast objects and enemies for a short time making them easier to kill. Kinesis lets you move various objects that are getting in your way. You can pick up enemie body parts and other small and medium objects and shoot them as weapons. Aside from this, these two useful tools are very helpful when you're in zero G and when you're repairing stuff. Isaac has solid weaponry at his disposal. Standard and for me the best weapon is the plasma cutter which is somewhat of a modified space handgun. Other weapons are pulse rifle, ripper, flamethrower, line gun, force gun and the most powerful of them all is the contact beam. All of these are truly unique and every weapon feels different plus there's a secondary fire mode for each gun. In addition, every firearm is upgradable.
score: 9.5/10
STORY: Story takes place in future in deep space. You and 4 more people are sent to respond to a distress call from the USG Ishimura, one huge mining vessel. After landing ( in fact crush landing ) you find out that something isn't right... If I continue, I'll spoil it.
score: 9.5/10
SOUND: Brilliant. Outstanding. Breathtaking. Probably the best aspect of the game. Audio is what makes this game so scary. Your heart will be racing almost all the time and enemies are jumping at you from everywhere. Everything sounds perfect. Enemies make eerie and disturbing noise. When a necromorph pops out of nowhere Isaac will start breathing heavily and you can actually hear his heart pumping. Guns sound excellent too. Also what makes the atmosphere tense are the sounds of the ship itself. Audio in vacuum is superb. Voice acting is top- notch.
score: 10/10
REPLAY VALUE: For a single player game, Dead Space offers tons of replay. It is so good that I guarantee you'll play it one or two times more after you once beat it. If you want the trophies and if you want to explore the USG Ishimura then this is the game for you. You can't upgrade all your weapons and RIG from one playthriugh. There are 4 difficulties and other stuff to do.
OVERALL: Dead Space will keep you on the edge all the time with its engaging story, great gameplay and fascinating horror elements. A must have for any horror fan.