A Look At Dead Space For PS3

I really can't tell you why it took me so long to play the original Dead Space on PS3 but let me tell you, I am glad I decided to play it before moving on to Dead Space 2. When I first popped the game in and got it loaded up I was ecstatic to hear the opening music, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, done in the creepiest version I have EVER heard! Keep in mind I had just got done crawling my butt through the tunnels from the last level of Dead Space Extraction which had recently been released on the Playstation Network, so to see the link between the two games so fresh in my mind blew me away. The same can be said about the rest of the games music and audio, absolutely mind blowing and particularly so if you are able to listen to it in surround sound.

That being said lets move beyond the main screen and see where we're at in the game. We find ourselves in time where mankind has exhausted the natural resources on Earth and must move on. Thankfully among these resources were spaceship parts! In order to keep mankind moving along we have developed planet cracking to produce essential resources. Sweet! Among the best of the best at accomplishing this task is the USG Ishimura. Unfortunately communication seems to have been cut off with the Ishimura, and that is we step in.

You are systems engineer and maintenance operator Isaac Clarke, sent in to investigate and repair the communications issue. It doesn't take long to realize there is a bit more going on here than a simple repair considering the hellish Necromorph beasts that you soon find out are inhabiting the ship. To make matters worse they are corrupting the ships systems which in turn causes you quite a few headaches, mainly getting the heck out of here! And that is the bulk of your mission now, find a way to escape the Ishimura and to flee the Necromorphs... Have Fun!

I thought the first few levels of this game to be fairly easy considering the numerous save spots which seemed to be around every corner, but I found these to be pretty useful in the later levels which I actually had to replay a couple of times in order to make it through. Multiple saves was also useful considering the health you have at the end of a level does not regenerate at the beginning of the next, also you won't receive many health drops so save, save often, and make multiple saves in order to get the most out of this game.

In this game you upgrade your weapons and suit via Nodes. The leveling system of the suit is fairly interesting yet costly. In order to upgrade one aspect of it you may need to spend 2 or 3 nodes, and you don't come by these puppies too often, and are also expensive to purchase so its a good idea to have a game plan for what you want to do with your character once you get the option to upgrade. These same nodes are also used to upgrade weapon capacity, strength, and reload times.

Probably one of my favorite tools and possibly the most useful in the game is the Stasis ability. When you use this ability you are able to freeze a Necromorph in its tracks allowing you to detach limbs with ease, or take care of other Necromorphs that may be bothering you.

This game truly is beautifully created as far as graphics are concerned. I was amazed at the attention to detail given by Electronic Arts. I truly felt immersed in the character and ship, not to metion the environment created by the billboards posted everywhere to direct and further the lives of the crew members. It seemed to make the whole experience all that much more creepy knowing how involved of a life the people who used to inhabit this ship had. Speaking of the crew, one of my favorite parts of the game was a scene at the beginning of the second chapter where you find a blindfolded female caressing and consoling a corpse missing its limbs. Whoa! And there are many parts of the game that are just as sadistic. I love it!
One of the only things that annoyed me with this game was being reminded over and over that I needed to shoot the limbs of the Necromorphs in order to take them out during the first chapter. I can understand maybe being reminded a second time, but four times? Unnecessary, but worth a laugh.

What more can I say. I love the sci-fi survival horror genre of games, and this one takes it to a new level. I do think they gave themselves room to improve in a few of the games mechanics, but nothing about this game made it unplayable by any means, infact I look forward to coming back to this one again someday. In a way I’m glad I didn't run through this game when it first came out since Dead Space 2 is now out and I can jump into it while the memories of the first Dead Space are still fresh!