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Dead Space (PC) | 
| From: Electronic Arts
Category: Video Games
List Price: £34.99
Buy New: £26.99
You Save: £8.00 (23%)
New (5) Used (4) from £22.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  50 reviews
Sales Rank: 461
Platform: Windows Xp
Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Media: CD-ROM
Operating System: Windows XP
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5030930066253
ASIN: B0019840GW
Release Date: October 24, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews: Read 45 more reviews...
 Arthur C. and Asimov would be proud November 24, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Truly, this game has a story worthy of the sci-fi greats. The main character, Issac Clarke, is even named after them. The well thought out narrative style and characters, the referential treatment of well known sci-fi, the setting each of us sci-fi nuts has fantasised about many times...its all here. Survival against overwhelming odds, armed with rudimentary weapons against an alien menace that is creating horrible desecrations of human flesh to attack you, set aboard a giant spaceship. Oh, I think I need a cigarette.
So, why give it 4 stars and not 5? Why only give it a 3 for fun rating? The game loses out for a few reasons, not least of which the dodgy camera. It doesn't leap around, or switch angles suddenly, but it is very poorly placed. Too close to the character (and you can't change it), it moves too slowly to react properly to an attack from behind, for example. The interface is a little clumsy too, and managing the inventory is a chore.
Don't get me wrong though - this is really a fabulous game. The RPG style upgrading of equipment gives alot of depth and variability in play style. It is graphically a piece of art. Its sounds are deep and bassy, and the voice acting is far above average. It has a gripping story. The gameplay is also quite deep, requiring cerebral power as well as quick reflexes. The use of a localised stasis field and telekinesis module fit right in to the setting and aid greatly in involving the player in the world. You feel as though the activities you carry out are properly conceived of - restoring power to the engines to restore your orbit is an early goal on the damaged spacecraft, and sensible sci-fi-esque activities are a recurring motif.
Perhaps most importantly, for a game of this type there are a myriad of enemies, all quite genuinely horrifying. You do feel as though survival is not at all assured, and to be honest, while not exactly scared playing it, you certainly feel uncomfortable. I found myself saving and exiting to watch telly for a bit before diving back in.
I really would recommend this to anyone who likes sci-fi, or survival horror, or the resident evil series (its not all that similar to this, however - much deeper gameplay).
An Actual Review November 11, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
*DRM will not factor in my assessment of this game. For the record - I don't approve of the system, but I feel that the game is worth buying anyway.*
This is an action adventure game in the style of System Shock 2 and, more recently, Bioshock. In other words: it's an atmospheric adventure with a linear plot, a lot of shooting and some very light RPG character progression elements, which I will expand on later.
Premise:
The game's premise is hackneyed. You are a simple mechanic travelling on a support ship to investigate a huge mining ship that has ceased communications mysteriously. Sounds familiar? It is. In many ways this game is a tribute to the entire "In space, no one can hear you scream" subgenre - it borrows heavily storywise and thematically from films such as the Alien series, and Event Horizon. A sense of isolation and hopelessness is present throughout.
Plotting and structure:
As I mentioned, the plot is linear and tight. The pacing is carefully measured and the level design is well considered, with each area presenting a decent variety of different challenges and puzzles. The objectives you have to achieve are feasible in the contexts they are presented in, though occasionally it is obvious that the developers have added find and fetch goals that do little for the game but fill in time. There are numerous scripted events in the tradition of the games and films it was influenced by - creatures casting shadows round corners, crew members of the ship dying in various horrible ways, and environmental events such as explosions and fires.
Information about the situation on the ship is gradually revealed via video, text, and audio logs that crew members have conveniently left behind for you to pick up. This is a very "gamey" concept in that it is unrealistic, but still manages to increase immersion and feeling within the game. If you have played Bioshock or System Shock 2, you will probably recall the chilling audiologs you could activate, Dead Space uses them in much the same way, though it also includes videologs.
Gameplay and controls:
The game is controlled from an over the shoulder 3rd person perspective where your character's body takes up much of the screen, restricting your field of view. I have a feeling that this was a conscious design decision, as it makes for some very claustrophobic scenes.
I played the game with mouse and keyboard, though I understand that it is possible to play the game with a gamepad as well.
The mouse response is most sluggish than one might expect, particularly if you're used to playing control sensitive shooters. You aim and raise your weapon by holding down the right mouse button. This also enables contextual commands, such as using your static field or telekinetic abilities for puzzles, or to incapacitate/kill enemies. The movement and combat controls are ok, they don't limit you overly, and they aren't spectacular.
The weapons are powerful and satisfying to use. The enemies, while well animated, are not very intelligent and fairly easy to dispatch.
Much has been made about the fact that the game doesn't have a HUD (heads up display). The lack of HUD makes the game feel more realistic in a couple of ways:
You pick up a video log left by your girlfriend, and you project it with your suit, producing a rectangular picture in front of your character's face - the bloody corridor is still visible, and the mysterious clanks and rattles are still audible.
There is not compass map showing where you have to go all the time, instead, you can press B to produce a holographic line leading to your objective. It looks cool, and it feels like it fits in with the technology and style of the setting.
Critical information like ammo and health are shown on your character's gun and spine, respectively, which also fits.
I mentioned there was a slight character development element to the game. This comes in the form of upgrading your weapons, tools, and armour by using collectable power nodes. You are forced to either specialise or spread points thinly by the scarcity of these nodes.
Visual design, graphics and sound:
The design of the ship, weapons, your character's suit, and the enemies is top notch. Technology has sort of grimy, clunky feel that is almost steampunkesque, yet is lightened by sexy futuristic touches like the holograms. The broken interface looks slick, at least.
Shaders and bloom are used to give an eery, almost ethereal cast to the ship and its objects. The sound is similarly impressive. My 5.1 system is crap, but the sounds are still conveyed directionally and accurately. The noises, for example, of a man committing suicide by banging his head against a wall are disturbingly realistic - particularly how the dull thwacks travel down the metallic corridor as you approach him.
While the lighting is excellent, the textures are disappointingly low resolution, betraying their cross platform origins. Hopefully there will be an eventual mod to rectify this.
Conclusion:
The game creates a tangible atmosphere of daunting adversity, yet the tools and weapons it gives you are so fun to use and effective that the atmosphere is not too oppressive to be enjoyable. Perhaps the weapons are too good, and the ammunition too plentiful, as I've only died once, and that was when I was ambushed in a scripted event.
I'd recommend this game to anyone who likes survival horror, particularly those who also like science fiction horror, and especially to those who enjoyed System Shock 2.
A real review, not just DRM bashing November 10, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Dead Space is very visually pleasing; it loads of great effects and tense action. you can go through the game with that "what's going to happen next?" feeling, but then it gets very predictable. the enemies have very little variation to them and all you're doing through the whole game is just blowing of limbs and stamping on bodies.
It doesn't take long to learn that they will come when you pick up a certain object or when you enter a large room; you can predict them coming far too easily for my liking. When i first played this game it felt a little like Bioshock, trapped in a large area (city/space station), it's very dark, tense, jumpy and action packed with a lot of weapons and abilities. Sadly, this game is nothing to Bioshock.
The enemies at the start are you're standard close combat running and screaming enemies and you just blow off some limbs. They have tried to make them scary but failed completely, they seem really cool the first time you see them; but I'm afraid the novelty wears off fast. it's not an intelligent AI either, it just runs at you, doesn't use cover, doesn't use any real strategy, just runs and screams and crawls along the floor when you blow off its legs.
When you first start playing this game, you won't stop for a little bit, but then you won't pick it up for a while, it's the kind of game that you will play every now and then when the mood takes you; it won't really hook you and make you want to keep on going. it really does lack an addictive edge that makes a game enjoyable.
as a piece of programming it's brilliant, lots of effects, a fairly interactive environment but it won't astound you. You're not going to think "that's just awesome!" when you're playing this; I was disappointed with the result, i had really hoped for better.
I was very disappointed with the result; I think I'll go back on Gears of War 2 instead of playing this.
 Don't think I will buy it November 8, 2008
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
Reading all the reviews sounds like a great game!! However, I do hate being told what I can and cannot do so think I won't buy it!
 This is a Dead Space review, not a DRM review. November 6, 2008
9 out of 14 found this review helpful
I installed the Dead Space game, no problems.
My setup includes 2 x 8800GTX graphic boards in SLI mode and the games graphics are really good at 1920 x 1200 pixels resolution, I played it on the Vista operating system.
During over 3 hours of continuous playing the only problem I had with my system was the frights when mutated human things leaped out at me or upon me, definitely a case of wearing your brown trousers when playing this game as it is really atmospheric and the sound effects had me twitching and looking over my shoulder.
My computer system however had no problems at all with the game and it played as smooth as silk, which was nice.
If you like Science Fiction and shooting some really scary things then this game is for you! (I think the games designer must have seen the film "The Thing" by John Carpenter).
This game is unique in its approach and yes the keyboard layout controls take a bit of time getting used to but I managed to terminate quite a few things with extreme prejudice after they had almost frightened the life out of me and the good old foot stomp was not always needed but it channeled the adrenaline, released some stress and slowed the heart down to a more manageable rate after a near change of underwear.
I am really enjoying playing this game but its now 00:40 hours and I must go and get some sleep after all the shooting and stomping.
I need to be alert for my next mission, my mates are relying on me and I just can't let them down.
I just hope I don't have any nightmares.
Pay the money, Play the game and say Thank You to all the people who have worked so long and hard to bring you such good game entertainment.
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