Day Late and a Dollar Short Game Review - Dead Space



Published in 2008, Dead Space is a survival horror game. You play as Isaac Clarke, a mechanic sent to repair the USG Ishimura, a “planet cracker” mining a barren planet called Agies VII. It's sketchy as hell and they don't have the proper permits. Oh, and your girlfriend Nicole is stationed on the ship. It should be a happy reunion. Right?

The disastrous crew of the Ishimura found something while surveying the planet, so of course they brought it up to the ship for further study. Soon everyone is hallucinating and going crazy, then more crazy, like crazy homicidal maniacs. The mutations start and now we have Necromorphs, a virus like… thing, that can inhabit and reanimate dead flesh.

As you approach the Ishimura, your ship crashes and some of your fellow mechanics get eaten right away. The party splits up, and they spend the rest of the game demanding you to do stuff. Call me crazy, but I really just want to find an escape boat and GTFO. Armed with your lucky plasma cutter, it's your job to fix the ship, solve the mystery and survive.

Producer Glenn Schofield came up with Dead Space after playing many hours of Resident Evil 4. He wanted the same feel as RE4 but have it look like Event Horizon, which is apparent as you progress through the levels.

Movement in this game is top notch. The feel of your character is perfect and it changes depending on the environment. Low gravity makes you walk slower, and zero gravity, when your grav boots kick on, makes you feel heavier. You can still swing your arms and pull out a weapon, but it all “feels” slower.





Schofield made it a point to have no heads up display. Health is indicated by a few colored bars on your back. Ammo is projected from the weapon (these ammo counts are only what is loaded, not your total ammo count). As you gain upgrades, more status bars are added to your suit. Ammo is limited so save as much as you can. Turns out ammo isn't as big of a problem if you play on easy mode...

Also included in this game is a wayfinder mechanic. If you're lost, hit a button and it shows you where to go. This comes in handy as the game progresses. In my case, it has caused a few problems as I'm fighting the necromorphs. I'm shooting its limbs, trying to kill it, and I'm welcomed with a 1 second animation of me trying to find the door. I've been chomped, slashed, stabbed and swarmed all while accidentally pressing the RS button instead of gently moving the camera around.

Necromorphs are the main enemies in this game - a mix of zombies and the thing from “The Thing.” From Swarmers, to Regenerators, to Lurkers, to spider babies... You must cut off their limbs in order to kill them. Plowing a hundred shots into the chest of a Guardian, or as I call it, wall squid, won't do a damn thing unless you cut off the 6 limbs protruding from its belly. I learned the hard way and wasted too much ammo in doing so.





Pro tip: Get the force gun as soon as you can. It's great at killing Swarmers.

While most games feature large buildings and corridors, Dead Space is tight, even claustrophobic, at times. Running down a hallway avoiding a Necromorph isn't easy. Just one enemy will prevent you from moving forward. You're forced to confront it - fight or die isn't just a suggestion (it's the motto). And you will die, die often, and never swiftly. Cut scenes of your demise are woven into the fabric of this game. These WILL give you nightmares.

You can't help but just gasp in awe during the times when you do have an open environment. You don't have much time to look around though, as the game knows you're going to try. The game is counting on it - the bigger the room, the bigger the baddie.

It would be a travesty if I didn't talk about the sound design in this game. It is phenomenal. Slap on a set of headphones because anything less is a shame. You feel the rush of air from an airlock, the sound of heavy machinery, the clicking of swarmers... you're fully immersed in the game. When in low gravity, or low atmosphere, the volume of sounds aren't just turned down, they're muffled. This is how you would imagine it would sound in an airlock.

As someone with limited hearing, games that spend just that bit of extra time on sound make a huge difference for me. I can't hear someone in a crowded restaurant or a busy office, but I can hear the footsteps and groans of a lurker around the corner.

Last but not least, the graphics on this game were way ahead of its time. With normal Xbox or PS3 games, you can pick out the bad graphic stinkers (I'm looking at you Mercenaries 2). Both games are from EA, both games came out in 2008, but only one looks great in 2020, and one makes me wish I never bought it. Dead Space is obviously the former.

So why the hell am I playing Dead Space? Why am I risking a few weeks of nightmares? From eerie music to the numberless jump scares, I am having a blast. Maybe it's the adrenaline hits? It's probably the adrenaline hits...

Dead Space is a game everyone should own and play, even if you have to play at high noon with the blinds open and all the lights on.

Recommendation: Buy it now and remember to wear some nice headphones.

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