Initial impressions: Dead Space
I received my copy of Dead Space on thursday, and have had two medium sessions playing it. Firstly, it is as good as the hype and acclaim surrounding it, and i see it being reviewed very well. It’s shit scary with any corridor having the potential to make you run for fresh underwear. The story (so far) builds up at an appropriate rate, unraveling the mystery with audio and text logs found scattered around the ship. What you see around you also gives you clues as to whats happened, with words splashed on the walls and dead bodies EVERYWHERE.
The gameplay isn’t a game/genre changer and takes what worked well from other 3rd person survival games. It does however give you an interesting array of weapons, a couple being quite unique, and the way the inventory and map are dealt with is very impressive, if not a little frustraiting at times. Getting lost is never an issue, when at any time you can toggle a line in the enviroment which shows you where you should be going.
Everything looks very impressive, with a few jaw droppingly beautiful moments. Character models are detailed and the enviroment art style fits very well in the grand scheme of things. I haven’t seen anything out of place so far, and objects/items of interest are subtly emphasised to help you solve puzzles.
So far the sound has stood out the most though, from the dramatic score which fires up when enemies draw close, to the sublte sounds of tools crashing in the background (which send you into spinning frenzy trying to find what it was). The sound of Issac (MC) trying to breathe in the no oxygen enviroment is also quite haunting and adds to a sense of urgency to find an airlock.
So far so good! A full review will come when I’m done with the game.
