Money's a little tight this month, so deciding upon a game to buy was particularly agonising. A lack of PS3 meant that at least I was saved a decision as to whether to wait for Little Big Planet but that still left Fable II and Fallout 3. Then there's Dead Space, a game I have heard little snippets about but have largely avoided any sort of hype.

Nevertheless, that's the game I walked out of the shop with - I decided that what I needed right now was a game which guides me carefully through an experience rather than one that presents me with a ton of freedom and encourages me to carve my own way through. It's funny how my mood will switch from one to the other, but Dead Space is what it led me to and so far, toward the beginning of the second chapter, I do not regret my decision at all.


This not scaring you at all?

Not much scares me. I remember for some reason I was terrified by Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds when I was younger but aside from that curious anomaly there has been little that made me want to hide behind the sofa or such things. A couple of games have done it - Call of Cthulhu - Dark Corners of the Earth springs to mind and now I can add Dead Space to that very short list. What I find still more curious is how some people claim it is not a scary game at all - when I'm not the sort to be easily scared and it's doing plenty for me.

Now, I don't play a lot of survival horror games. I played Resident Evil 4 and enjoyed it, but I find the controls on many older ones frustrating and difficult to deal with. Maybe, then, it's that these people are more used to being scared in games and these particular scares aren't doing so much for them as they are for me. Or maybe it's just because the stakes are higher as I opted to play on hard (after hearing from someone who isn't usually into difficult games that even for him medium came in a little too easy). Or it's that I choose to play with headphones and the excellent sound design feels that much more present. More than once I've muttered 'Okay... what the fuck was that?'


Not just a leeetle scary?

Truth be told, I don't know what it is. Suffice to say, it's plenty scary enough for me. Fun, too - the whole experience has been slick and enjoyable as hell so far. I may offer up one minor gripe that the tutorial popups aren't always particularly helpful in teaching the controls. If you don't learn and remember what they're trying to teach you there and then, you can't get them back, so you either just have to learn by hitting buttons until you get the right combination (sometimes easier said than done) or else refer to the manual to set you right.

I'll no doubt have more to say on this game as I progress.


Not even 'worrisome'?