There are a fair share of games in the horror genre out there that deliver big scares and compelling story. Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Alan Wake, and there’s a fair share of games that deliver a very very action packed horror experience, like latter day Resident Evil and Doom. There aren’t a lot of games that deliver both in equal measure, and that’s where Dead Space comes in. Landing out of nowhere in 2008 from Visceral Studios (then EA Redwood Studios), Dead Space fulfils that fantasy everyone has watching films like ‘Aliens’ and ‘Mars Attacks’ – grab a gun, stare fear in the face and show the alien scum what’s what, and it does it very, very well.
You control Isaac Clarke, a ship systems engineer who is part of a crew responding to a distress signal from mining starship Ishimura. The Ishimura has, of course, uncovered an alien artifact that has brought forth the mighty necromorphs, horrific creatures of nightmare with scythes as arms who kill and then re-animate human bodies in their own twisted vision. It’s standard fair as far as horror goes, but it works, and all we really need is for our hero to be able to kick ass and to know he has a reason to do so, and we do. The game has a very macabre tone from the outset, echoing films like ‘Event Horizon’ and ‘Aliens’ in it’s dark colours and twisted machinations – nothing feels comfortable on the USG Ishimura. Everything, including the survivors, has a sterilised, emotionless feel to it, which only goes to fuel your fear and paranoia as you wander the twisting corridors and deserted stairwells, wondering what’s around the corner, and whether you can kill or survive the encounter.
This is one of the few games I’ve ever played that truly gives you a sense of dread from your environment; you never fully feel comfortable, you never fully trust anyone and you never fully feel like you can save yourself. All you can do is wander deeper down the rabbit hole and hope you can take these necromorph sons of b*tches with you.
Now, onto the good part.
Y’know how I said you get to grab a gun, fuck fear in the face and show the alien scum what’s what? Well, I meant it. This game has gore by the bucket-loads. You are told that to kill the necromorphs you must SEVER. THEIR. LIMBS. That’s right. You have to disembody your enemies. The game doesn’t want you to one shot them in the head, or use a special type of weapon, it wants you tear the enemies apart limb from limb, and it gives you the perfect weapons to do so. Starting with a plasma cutter (most of the in-game weapons are engineering tools) that can shoot vertical or horizontal blades of plasma, later weapons include an assault rifle (Pulse Rifle), a flamethrower (Hydrazine Torch Flamethrower), and a freakin’ buzz saw launcher (Remote Control Disc Ripper). Not only does it launch buzz saws, but they’re remote controlled by your gun, so you can shoot more than one, and just have them gut a room full of enemies in glorious bloody limb filled bedlam. It truly has to be played to be believed.
This isn’t to say that the game is just an action game, I mean it when I say this game delivers on both horror AND action. As I mentioned earlier, the environment and the characters you encounter leave you with a grim sense of things, and only serve to feed you with dread. This is amplified by the enemy encounters. Unlike it’s sequel, which seemed to rely heavily on a more formulaic wave approach to the action.
This has a much more surprise feel to the attacks, and a greater sense of suspense. There are your classic elevator door opens and the enemy comes rushing in moments, and there’s a few moments where your grabbed from a vent that will have you staring at the walls more than once as you pass them, but my personal favourite touches were the really long draw distances for enemies and the zero gravity encounters.
The game has this really long draw distance for when you’re in an area, if you enter a stairwell that curves upwards, you could see enemies three floors up notice you, start running and then disappear into a corridor, only to reappear when you least expect it moments later. The A.I are incredibly smart for finding you and attacking you, and trust me, they will find you. The zero gravity encounters are genius altogether. In zero gravity, the sound is gone except for your breathing in your space-suit and your movement is impaired. Of course, the necromorphs can move uninhibited and will attack you in as great a number as they feel like, it’s usually tentacle babies for these sections too. That said, few things more satisfying than sawing baby necromorph in half with your plasma cutter and watching the guts fill the air, right? Just me?…. Oh.
Dead Space is as good as horror in gaming gets in my opinion. It is up there with your Resident Evils and your Silent Hills, and if it wasn’t for Alan Wake and Bioshock, would be my favorite horror game this generation. It combines action-packed gameplay with shocking horror without either feeling tedious or overused, in fact the only other game that comes close is Resident Evil 4. It fulfils your gore wants without being perverse, it gives you a story which is as grim as it gets and it gives you a universe that will fill you with dread each and every visit. Having now spawned two sequels as well as two great animated films, Dead Space is a game and a series you need to check out now.
You want to see what nightmares humanity could bring to life in the 2500’s? Play this game.
