So like many Dtoiders, I went out and purchased Dead Space this past week. To say I was excited for this game is understatement, what with it's supposed Resident Evil 4 style gameplay. In fact, when I called GameStop to see if the game was in on Tuesday, I flipped when I was told it wouldn't arrive until Wednesday. Of course, after calling Best Buy and finding they didn't have it either, I felt bad for the poor GameStop employee. Needless to say I was extremely disappointed. After all, this game was probably my most anticipated game of the year besides Gears of War 2. But I should have figured -- GameStop always gets games on Wednesday, usually telling me that Tuesday is the ship date. Hell, they even tell me Best Buy shouldn't be selling it on a Tuesday, as if they're doing something wrong. But enough about my disdain for that shitty store. Back to Dead Space.

The game bills itself as Survival Horror, the same as Resident Evil 4. The difference is, they're not stretching the truth at all like Capcom does. RE4 is a straight action game IMO. Dead Space truly personifies what the genre is all about, with it's scary as fuck atmosphere and very challenging gameplay. Monsters sometime come in swarms like RE, but not as much. Many times the developers resort to cheap "pop out" moments to scare you, but it works very well here. The opening scenes of the game really set the tone, letting you know you're in for one bone-chilling ride. Gameplay is a mix of shooting and some cool abilities such as stasis, for slowing down enemies, and Kinesis, for picking shit up and throwing it at monsters. It's pretty cool stuff, and the combat is even more enjoyable due to the diverse selection of weapons. You can have your basic handgun, but what's really great is weapons like the Ripper, which enables you to either hold a spinning saw blade in front of you or shoot blades long distance at enemies. Even better is that almost all the weapons have a useful secondary fire, something many games seem to fuck up.

Of course, you can't mention this game without talking about it's impressive visuals and audio. I daresay that this is some of the finest sound work I've ever had the pleasure of experienced. It's definitely up there in my top 5 or so. Screeching and roaring sounds work well, especially when you don't see any monsters. You're always wondering where they're coming from. This works even better in the Zero-G areas of the game, as monsters can come from anywhere on the map. Many times I've been jumping around in zero gravity only to get the shit scared out of me by some freakish enemy.



As for the graphics, they aren't the best I've ever seen, but the game certainly looks very good. This is only helped by the exceptional art design on display here. In fact, this is a prime example of graphics being important in a game. It just wouldn't be as good a game if it wasn't this pretty. Gore is also great looking, and I especially liked seeing the blood and body parts floating around in Zero-G. Very cool stuff, and it shows the level of polish that went into this game.

So in conclusion, I'd say if you're a fan of good shooting action or having the shit scared out of you then buy this game, preferably right away. I just hope I finish the game before Fable 2 and LBP come out. And Fallout 3. I'm only half way through the game. We gamers have a great couple months ahead of us, and this year may even eclipse last year in terms of great games. Anyway, stay awesome Dtoiders. I'll hopefully be blogging a bit more in the future. I miss you guys. Have a good one.