They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, if that’s the case gaming heavyweights Bioshock, Resident Evil 4, Doom 3, Portal and the Half Life series should all be veritably blushing as EA’s new survival horror title Dead Space bestows upon them all a mountain of compliments. Normally borrowing so many elements from different games to produce a makeshift great game compilation would be a recipe for disaster.  Dead Space manages to blend them all so well that while its many influences are blatantly obvious, it still manages to feel original and fresh whilst delivering an experience not previously savoured on 360 & PS3.

In a welcome departure from the stereotypical space marine, you play as an engineer named Isaac Clarke, his name paying homage to acclaimed sci-fi writers Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke.  A more fitting name would have been James Carpenter or John Cameron as a salute to the directors of cinematic classics Aliens and The Thing.  The plot borrows heavily from the two aforementioned films as well as Event Horizon and even the original Star Wars receives a nod.

You are part of a search and rescue party tasked with investigating a communications blackout on the USG Ishimura, a mining vessel operating in deep space.  The fate of the crew is of particular interest to your character due to the fact your girlfriend is amongst them.  Shortly after arrival your boarding party is involved in an unexpected ‘incident’ setting you on a path of survival and discovery as you attempt to escape and get to the bottom of the crew’s fate.

The presentation in this game is absolutely first rate in every sense.  You always feel as though you are navigating a massive, derelict space ship.  There are a couple of instances where backtracking is required but rather than feeling uninspired like we’ve seen in the Halo series, it adds to the immersion making the ship feel familiar as you get to know your way around.  In what could only be described as a design masterstroke, the developers have banished any semblance of an on-screen HUD allowing you to only see what your character would see in the world.  Health is represented as lights on the spine of Isaac’s engineering suit and conversations with other characters are video calls which project in front of you. During these moments you can spin the camera 180° and watch the video from the reverse side, a very nice touch indeed.  All the weapons have an LED display with remaining ammo visible whenever the weapon is brought to bear.

The weapons are all mining tools already aboard the ship and dish out appropriate industrial strength damage.  One of the most memorable is your first weapon, the Plasma Cutter.  It is basically a pistol that shoots a line of plasma either vertically or horizontally, coming in very handy as the enemies you encounter need to be killed by dismembering rather than going for the obligatory headshot.  Tapping of the RB (360 controls) allows you to alternate fire between the two modes as you switch from amputating legs in the horizontal to vertical aim for removal of the creatures’ arms.  As you traverse the ship you’ll collect nodes which you can use to upgrade your weapons, suit, stasis and kinesis powers.  You’ll never have enough nodes in one playthrough to upgrade everything so you need to make a choice and max out a handful of items rather than spreading them thin over everything.  As you continue to upgrade, all the weapons become very powerful making the shooting experience itself as satisfying as any third person action game going around.

The game is beautiful graphically, your character model and animation is excellent at all times and is another example where presentation sells the story.  Watching Isaac run around in the game’s zero-g environments with heavy legs as a result of his magnetic boots is pure joy.  On top of some story elements you will see visual tricks borrowed from Mr. Cameron’s sequel tour de force.  Your vision is constantly obscured by smoke emanating through the vents and floors and the familiar flickering lights are used to great effect.  Other times you may traverse an area rendered in complete darkness, one time I was being struck by a projectile attack and was only able to find my attacker with the light on my gun.  In fact I was reminded by Aliens so many times I kept waiting for Hudson to scream out “game over man, game over!”

As impressive as the graphics are, the true star of this game is the sound.  Few games have utilised sound to as great effect as Dead Space.  It constantly informs you, immerses you and just plain messes with your head.  Early in the game you learn the creatures inhabiting the ship use the vents to navigate Ishimura so you constantly hear scratching, clawing and bumping in the vents as you explore areas.  You can’t tell whether it’s right above you or echoing from another part of the ship but it builds tension beautifully.  Speaking of tension, you will encounter a certain enemy numerous times who you are unable to kill necessitating you flee rather than fight.  Once you have escaped through a door that will close behind you the creature will remain on the other side bashing and clawing whilst howling uncontrollably making it clear it has no intention of giving up the chase.  You’re left to explore the area escaped to during this not knowing for sure if your pursuer can actually get to you.  To say it is extremely unsettling would be an understatement.  Also of note sound wise are zero oxygen areas, you will hear Isaac’s breathing and heart beat above everything else.  All other sounds are muffled not unlike what you would hear underwater, you are almost feeling the sound rather than hearing it.  If you haven’t gathered already, the game is littered with ‘wow, that’s cool’ moments that would win over any fan of classic sci-fi.

It would be remiss to not talk of any negatives, there were only a few that really stood out and detracted from the experience but still only to a minor degree.  The story is of a personal nature for Isaac and yet he never reacts to any of it and never speaks.  Some quality voice acting kept to the bare minimum would have enhanced the character, particularly towards the end of the game.  The last boss is disappointing compared to the rest of the game and a little on the easy side.  At the end there is a moment copied straight from F.E.A.R. which cheapened the game’s conclusion.  My biggest gripe however is after completion of the game.  You unlock a new Impossible difficulty as well as a bunch of credits, nodes and a military suit more powerful than any acquired on your first playthrough.  The game is so enjoyable I have every intention of a second sitting but if you want to use any of the unlockables you cannot change the difficulty setting.  Having just beat the game without the new gear, why would I want to do it again without ramping up the difficulty?  When games start to ask for three playthroughs to experience everything that gets a bit much in my books.

If you love shooters you need to play Dead Space.  The presentation, production values and immersion are amongst the best I have ever seen.  Rarely does a game make me want to start over immediately upon completion (Mass Effect was the last), but that’s exactly what I wanted to do.  It is one of the best games I have played this year hands down.