Dead Space Review

4 minute read

Updated:

I recently completed Dead Space, on PC. It’s a 2008 horror FPS game. Similar to Resident Evil 4 but with the tighter FPS experience, like Call of Duty.

Highlights

  • 10 hours in length
  • PC port is unsatisfactory, needs tweaking to make it usable
  • I encountered a game-crashing bug
  • Their v-sync implementation leaves much to be desired, causing 3/4 of the issues
  • Great music and sound, is large factor in setting up atmosphere
  • Unique and innovative gameplay, with unique weapons and enemies

Review

Plot

The premise is that you are called out to a mining asteroid operation to service their ship. Upon arriving, you find no sign of crew and release that there are monstrous creates aboard. Then the rest of the game is you trying to get the hell out of dodge.

It’s a solid plot, good enough to spawn off a compelling universe. Enough details are given to intrigue but much is left to the imagination to discover.

Gameplay

Weapons

The guns are unique. There are several unique guns with different gameplay mechanics associated. But I’ll discuss the plasma cutter, the bread-and-butter.

The plasma cutter shoots 3 beams and can be oriented horizontally or vertically. This lends to switching the orientation, with secondary fire, for strategic effect. For example, horizontal shots will cover wide base and is good for taking out the legs. Vertical shots are better for removing arms or tentacles.

Abilities

There is the kinesis ability, which is like the gravity gun in Half Life. It can be used to grab items far away. It can also be used offensively, by throwing the enemies sharp claws at other enemies.

This ability makes the game more playable, as the player is limited in mobility and agility. The play can only walk and run, they cannot jump or duck. Even though jumping and ducking are not game-changers, they restrict a degree of motion and greatly weaken the immersion. The ability extends the player’s sense of reach, which grants back a degree of freedom in motion.

Gravity

Within zero-gravity environments, the player remains planted to their surface due to their boots. But they can jump to different surfaces, at different angles. This was definitely very cool. It really opened up the environment because you could view the room in 3 or 4 different perspectives. Things on the ceiling could interactive items once you “made it the ground”. Enemies could appear on any plane, not only on the floor or higher or lower elevations. This was very well done and not over-utilized.

Enemies

The enemies in this game are unique. One cannot simply put more bullets into the enemies. Each has a different abilities and weaknesses. Each had different strategies and weapons that were more well-suited for the enemy type.

What’s unique about this game is that head and body shots are not effective. This inverts the common trope in FPS. The limbs are the weak spots, removing those allows for finishing them off with body shots. In fact, shooting the head off the Slasher enemy will cause them to frenzy and charge at you!

I enjoyed that there was enemy variety and tactics. Paired with the different level and stage design, this made each encounter unique and engaging. Unlike FPS, where level design can sometimes be the only manipulated variable.

Sound

The music in this game was phenomenal. It contributed so much to the atmosphere. There are sounds of the ship, such as clanking or pipes or gears and machinery. And then there’s the creepy whisperings of random gibberish. This helps set the tone of insanity or hallucinations but is not like F.E.A.R. where supernatural elements are involved. So you know not to expect a disappearing psychic enemy and that the sounds are solely to psych you out. But it still has an effect on you.

Atmosphere

The overall atmosphere of this game was great.

  • The sound and music set the ominous tone of a survival horror, a la Resident Evil, DOOM, and Half Life.
  • The tight corridors and spaces create a sense of claustrophobia, a la Aliens (films), Event Horizon (film), Resident Evil.
  • The gameplay is like Half Life
  • The pacing is excellent, keeping a balance between lulls and high tension.

Bugs

Even though it was released on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC at the same time, it’s clear that the original canvases were the console. To that end, there are many bugs surrounding Vsync:

  • mouse acceleration is decelerated…? This makes it unplayable
  • at one cutscene, the game will crash if vsync is disabled
  • field of vision is made for a 15-inch screen at 5 feet away. Joking aside, it feels like a 70 degree angle, when I need a 105 degree
  • zero-gravity game sections were rife with bug related to gravity jumping. At times, the player would not land and after 3 seconds, the game insta-gibs the player. This is annoying because it meant you had to replay those annoying game sections repeatedly. Reminds me of the old days of NES and Battle Toads.

But, unlike some games, once you work around these bugs with fixers, the remainder of the game is flawless. It’s unfortunate that there is this lack of polish, given how trivial it is. Compared to other ports, where there are large fundamental issues that result in a shoddy port experience, this one could have been polished by the developers themselves. Especially since the PC release was around the same time as the console release.

Summary

I feel like I missed out on a lot of the fanfare surrounding this series. Even though it’s now 12 years old, it’s fantastic. I can’t believe I didn’t hear more about this or at least it didn’t generate a strong impression on me.

I am wary, as I have heard that the sequels go too far in the less innovative direction. Something like it becomes more of a plain-old FPS. Or that the game was balanced but not for the better.