Dead Space™

The graphics are fantastic, story line causes interest. If this was an FPS it would be even better. Personally, the over shoulder view I find to be a little hard to control and there is a lot of keybinding controls to remember. If the game play was simplified I think it would be much more enjoyable. But, to each his own.

I do not own the GOG version, but I can tell you that Dead Space is a masterful thrill ride. You play as Issac Clark, who comes in contact with the Marker (an alien artifact that causes insanity and eventually death or suicide). Dead Space is a unique 3rd person shooter set in the distant future, all of your weapons and equipment are up-gradable and the game has great replayability. If you can't stomach scary gory settings, run away and never return. But if you can handle the fact that the developers studied a plethora of images featuring real-life mangles victims just to bring you as close to the brink of horror imagination possible, then welcome aboard!

Take one part Ridley Scott's Alien, mash it up with System Shock and Resident Evil 4, and you get Dead Space. And I will argue forever that Dead Space is BETTER than Resident Evil 4 because of the over the shoulder perspective in lieu of tank controls (which some people may find fine, but I despise). It's pretty telling the the Resident Evil series itslef went to the Dead Space-style when they remade 2 and 3. The Ishimura mining ship is one of the great settings in video games.

Dead Space is a survival horror game where you play a mute space engineer named Isaac Clarke. Isaac is a tragic character. When he was a child, malfunctioning SecuRom DRM prevented him from playing his favourite game. This traumatised him so badly he never spoke again. Although he occasionally yells "Fark EA", but nobody knows what that means. Isaac and his team are on their way to the Japanese mining ship USG Kutabare because a rare Pokemon that they want has been spotted on board. The USG Kutabare is a huge Chinko class mining ship that strip mines entire planets for rare minerals like Tiberium, Adamantium, Kryptonium and Unobtanium. Also, Isaac's attractive girlfriend Nicole is there and he's hoping to catch up with her for some surreptitious zero-gravity nookie. When they arrive near the USG Kutabare they suspect that something is wrong. Not only is the mining ship not responding, there are no Greenpeace ships in sight and no environmental activists chaining themselves to asteroids. Unbeknownst to Isaac and his team, something has indeed gone horribly wrong on board the ship, and its status is now officially 'clitical' (http://www.engrish.com/2002/10/status-clitical/). That means 'seriously bad' in Japanese. Upon docking, they find the ship strangely deserted, and this is where the true horror begins. Some chick named Kendra starts telling Isaac what to do despite her not being his girlfriend or his wife. Isaac go get the keycard. Isaac go open that door. Isaac go fix the tram. Isaac put the toilet seat down. Isaac has to do everything she says. Seriously scary stuff. Admittedly Kendra is rather hot and perhaps Isaac is hoping to catch up with her for some surreptitious zero-gravity nookie. Anyway after much faffing about, Isaac discovers a sinister conspiracy involving the colony on the planet below. Hoping that there might be some colonist's daughters he could rescue from their virginity, he decides to investigate further. Apparently the colonists found an ancient alien obelisk thousands of years old. They also unearthed a box of McDonald's Cheeseburgers buried in the dirt that was also thousands of years old, but still edible. However no one was impressed because you could still buy McDonald's Cheeseburgers from the colony cafeteria that were older than that. During the excavation of the alien obelisk, the colonists accidentally released a contagious alien saprophytic parasite that contaminated the entire colony. This insidious alien parasite is not only highly virulent but capable of transforming corpses into monsterous human-porkchop hybrids called Necrochops. Mistaking the alien parasite for Curry Vindaloo, the colonists ate most of it during their Thanksgiving celebrations and were sadly all transformed into slavering monsters. Dumb ass colonists. Following in the footsteps of horror themed luminaries such as the F.E.A.R. and Residential Evil series, Dead Space is certainly not an original concept. What it does do incredibly well however is the atmosphere. Soft, almost indistinct susurration permeate the ship. Corpses, severed limbs, and other unidentified viscera litter the claustrophobic corridors. Blood splatters decorate the walls like the abstract art of some deranged artist. Lights flicker and occasionally go out. The feeling of paranoia, dread, and unease is palpable. This is the closest you'll ever get to the experience of being afraid and alone on a desolated ship beset by monsters. Other than going on a Contiki Cruise as an attractive nubile female. There are obligatory jump-scares, although they are used sparringly and not ingeminated to the point of banality. Incidentally, never trust corpses. Not because they send scam emails but because some of them have a disconcerting habit of re-animating at inopportune times. Conveniently, Isaac has a stomp attack and it's your sacred duty to stomp every single corpse into so much tenderised porkchop. It's the only way to be sure. Because Isaac is only an engineer, and not some tough Space Marine, most of his weapons are construction equipment that he uses in ways that contravene every single Health & Safety regulation in existence. Who would have thought the humble Plasma Cutter would be a good for impromptu face reconstruction surgery. But desperate times and all that. Fortunately for Isaac, he's on a Japanese ship and you can buy everything from ubiquitous vending machines; from dangerous weapons and ammunition to schoolgirl panties. The action of Dead Space is similar to the tactical 3rd-person aim-shoot style of Resident Evil instead of the FPS run-and-gun style of F.E.A.R. and Bioshock. What Dead Space does uniquely is the innovative selective dismemberment combat system where the good old Double Tap head-shot just doesn't cut it anymore. Severing the various articulated appendages of your target is the key to victory. Isaac also gets a stasis ability that allows him to violate the Laws of Physics by slowing time. It's used mainly for crowd control when surrounded by Necrochops and useful for getting that perfect sirloin cut. Dead Space has a steep difficulty curve, similar to Bioshock and Resident Evil 4, where the game is initially difficult because of weak weapons and sparse ammunition but gets easier after weapon and suit upgrades. Isaac has a melee attack, but it's about as effective as arguing with strangers on the Internet. Completing the game unlocks a New Game+ mode that allows you to retain your equipment and upgrades in the previous playthrough, but only on the same difficulty. Starting a new game in a higher difficulty resets your equipment back to nothing. Barring a few exceptions, Dead Space has aged rather well. It runs in 1080p with good frame rates and still looks good. However there are some problems with VSync on modern machines that prevents progress but workarounds are available. Also glitchy PhysX can sometimes cause corpses to catapult around the room, but the effect is more hilarious than horrific. Highly recommended for fans of space horror movies like Alien, Event Horizon, Prometheus, and Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens. This is one of those games that is best experienced in the quiet of the night, in a dark room, wearing brown underpants. Also best played alone. In space, no one can hear your girly screams.

Great game and tense atmosphere! - This first game is a bad console game port control / design wise but ultimately a good game that is somewhat inspired by System Shock and Event Horizon with an Alien insecurity vibe - enough said! Unskippable intros are a gaming sin… this minor detail along with the clunky PC port / design aspect easily gives it a [-1 star] penalty - otherwise great game! By the way, in the worst case, try to get it on PS3 to enjoy a 5/5 game! P.S.: The beginning of the game until you get the controls / design flaws figured is quite frustrating but doesn't warrant a 1 star review like some people left!