November 13, 2008 - Karma is a bitch.

Some people can malicious dimwits and rise to the most powerful posts in the world, not unlike a soon to be former U.S. president. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Take Isaac Clarke, protagonist of EA’s new horrorfest Dead Space, as an example. He’s just your average, hardworking, interstellar repairman, just looking to make his way in the universe. He wants to get back together with his girlfriend, who’s been posted to a deep-space mining vessel known as the USG Ishimura. So he takes the job, hitches a ride to repair what is believed to be a broken communications link, and hopefully patch up his damaged relationship along the way. Of course, he lands on the ship, repairs the broken comm-link, fixes his relationship, and rides off into the starry sunset.

Oh wait, we were talking about bad things happening to good people. I digress. Nice guy Isaac is immediately attacked by bloodthirsty mutants and isolated from his crew. Everyone on board has been either transformed into disgusting abominations, or been horrendously butchered and then transformed into the aforementioned abominations. With no help coming, it’s up to our nice guy to fix what needs to fixed to escape the floating hell hole, and maybe, just maybe figure out what is causing all this mess in the first place. It’s a truth that will have you on the edge of your seat as you uncover its secrets.

Dead Space wears its survival horror roots like a badge of honour, liberally borrowing from many scary pop culture staples. Dead Space borrows significantly from films such as Event Horizon, Alien, and even The Shining, while cribbing gameplay elements from action games like Resident Evil 4, Doom 3, Metroid Prime, and BioShock. All these elements are combined into something that handles comfortably, controls great, and still feels terrifyingly new.

Dead Space is played from an over-the-shoulder perspective much like RE4. By holding down the left trigger, Isaac will aim his weapon with a laser sight and will fire with the right trigger.

Also like RE, disturbing monstrosities pop out of every nook and cranny, just itching for a chance to cause Isaac’s head a little separation anxiety. Whenever you die, you’re treated to a gruesome death animation, but then have to stare at a load screen for about 25-30 seconds while the game reloads your latest checkpoint.

The hook for Dead Space is that you’re not meant to go for the standard head shot. You’re informed early on in the game that the only way to take these beasts down is to dismember them one by one. You’ll quickly learn that taking out an enemy’s head just makes them faster, crazier, and more dangerous than before. So the standard head shot becomes the standard arm or tentacle shot, but remains a neat twist on standard shooter gameplay. Don’t forget to stomp them down afterwards for extra gory fun.

The weapons you wield are both very cool, and feel very organic within the framework of the title. Isaac is not you gruff space marine, and therefore doesn’t have access to an earth-shattering cache of weapons of mass destruction. Most of his weapons are actually tools that resemble guns. My personal favourite was the Ripper, a handheld circular saw that allows you to hover a spinning blade in front of Isaac, perfect for slicing off legs and arms. You’ll also have a Plasma Cutter that resembles a pistol, the shotgun-like Line Gun, a flamethrower, a plasma rifle which acts as a standard assault rifle, and a Samus-like charge beam.

But that’s not all! At no extra charge, you’re also given a stasis kit and a kinesis module. The stasis kit allows you to slow down anything on the ship, from quick-shutting doors to the fastest enemies around. Slowing things down quickly becomes an essential gameplay mechanic, so it’s always ways to keep your stasis kit charged. The kinesis module on the other hand, essentially works like telekinesis, allow you to carry around items without physically touching them. From there you can either drop it or fling it through the air at your enemies.

The game truly shines during the moments where you’re thrust into the vacuum of space or in areas of zero gravity. There are moments where you’ll enter a huge chamber, only to be greeting by dozens or floating limbs as corpses. During these sections, Isaac can jump to any wall or ceiling, and there’s no true way up or down. Of course, this means that enemies can also come from anywhere as well. Adding to the tension is a constantly draining air tank that must be re-filled by leaving the vacuum or using one-time use air canisters. However, during combat it can be easy to forget that oxygen is a requirement to live, a very common problem in my life to begin with. One of the most memorable boss battles in the game has you running along the walls in a zero gravity tin can while avoiding the attacks of the creature nesting below. Or is it above? Or to the side? Now my brain hurts…