Gamespot's first impressions of Dead Space

[Matt@Sim_Moves]

In Dead Space, set 500 years in the future, you'll fill the shoes of Isaac Clarke, an engineer sent as part of a support team to investigate the lack of communications from the USG Ishimura--a city-sized "planet cracker" ship used to strip entire planets of their resources.
Glen Schofield, Dead Space's executive producer, talked us through a number of playable levels in the eerie vessel of death. The first action we saw was part of the third level, which Schofield says will take around 80 minutes to complete. Some of Isaac's weapons will be mining tools, such as a plasma cutter, a "gk" gun--Dead Space's answer to Half-Life 2's gravity gun--and a dangerous-looking buzz saw that is fired and retracted along an invisible axis, but there will also be traditional weapons, such as a pulse rifle. You'll be able to easily access only four weapons at a time (with the D pad), but you'll be able to store more in your inventory, which is accessed via the menu system.

The lights up Isaac's spine are a handy indicator of how close he is to death, while ammo indicators by his weapon also prove useful.


The over-the-shoulder, third-person view follows what's happening with Isaac and his bodysuit. While you start with a suit called RIG, you'll acquire new suits and other upgrades as you progress. Vital information is presented onscreen around the bodysuit and weapons. Isaac's "stasis" meter (more on this later) and health bar appear on his spine. The story progresses through video, audio, and text messages shown on virtual video displays that appear in front of Isaac, so there are no cutscenes to interrupt the creepy atmosphere.
After an introduction to the game and a short firefight, we were shown a zero-gravity environment complete with debris and floating aliens. Previously acquired canisters provide a small amount of oxygen to allow you to survive in the vacuum of space, but you'll have to move fast while activating some equipment and taking out several angry scorpion-like aliens complete with tailwhips. In this zero-gravity area, there is no down or up--Isaac can attach to surfaces with his magnetic boots at will.
The sound effects in the zero-gravity environment are what you might expect to hear in a vacuum, such as hollow, muffled blasts from the weapons, and raspy, shallow breathing. This is a departure from the loud, screeching, intense environments in other parts of the game, which, for the most part, looked suitably dark and seedy.

It's not all doom and gloom aboard the USG Ishimura.


In Dead Space, you'll acquire and use "stasis," which, when fired directly at enemies or machinery, briefly slows their movements and gives them a handy blue tinge. These valuable few seconds can mean the difference between survival and death. This is useful in some of the more puzzlelike areas; for example, in one section we saw, you need to shoot a spinning shaft to slow it down and then use the gravity gun to drag it along a cylinder and connect it with some cogs to activate a room-sized centrifuge.
The action in Dead Space relies in part on "strategic dismemberment"--taking down aliens, one appendage at a time. For instance, severing the head from an enemy with slashing arms does little. If you cap his legs, however, he'll still approach you, but much more slowly.
According to Schofield, at times you'll be low on ammo and will need to use your gk gun creatively to survive. In one instance, if you use a regular weapon to dismember an enemy's sharp clawlike arm, it's possible to then grab the severed limb with the gk gun and use it to finish the creature off. As well as using your weapons and enemies' limbs, you'll be able to stomp on and kick enemies and will have to use some rapid button mashing to get smaller creatures off your back.
From what we could see of Dead Space's often dark, atmospheric, and eerie setting, the game looks promising, with subtle, detailed environments. Lighting effects, smoke, and other touches further the sense of isolation. While the parts we saw were mostly action-focused, EA has promised plenty of horror, but not necessarily much survival. Schofield said that you might go 20 minutes without bumping into anything actively trying to kill you, but those 20 minutes could make you "scared sh**less."
EA says that Dead Space, which is being developed at its Redwood Shores studio, is progressing well. The game is expected sometime this year, and EA hopes to be able to narrow down the launch window soon.

This really sounds interesting...

[Matt@Sim_Moves]

UK, February 7, 2008 - According to Wikipedia, "in physiology, dead space is air that is inhaled by the body in breathing, but does not partake in gas exchange." In the case of EA's upcoming space-bound survival horror-'em-up, Dead Space is, basically, Red Dwarf without the jokes.

We've already beaten the backstory to death in our extensive first look at the game but, for latecomers, you ARE engineer Isaac Clarke, stranded onboard the mining ship Ishimura and Something Has Gone Very Wrong. Which is to say, all the lights have gone off, someone's going nutso in the background with a CD of My First Scary Noises and the place is crawling with enough tentacles to win the gold medal at a Hentai convention.


Dead Space certainly promises much, aiming squarely at the somewhat under-represented Survival Horror in Space genre, and we had chance to clap eyes on some more of the game at a recent EA event, in an underground car park, next to a dry ice machine, wrenched to the point of seizure under strobe lighting and an industrial-strength bass amp.

We only bring that last bit up because it would seem like the ideal location to show off your brand new Scary Game. Trouble is, and let's get this out of the way right now, if you're after something in the way of sheer, brain-palpitating mental trauma along the lines of Project Zero, Dead Space might not quite be the cup of tea you're looking for. Certainly, it's infinitely more Doom 3 than it is, say, Silent Hill


For instance, there's little in the way of aesthetic originality from what we've seen, with the game content to wallow in the quagmire of nondescript future-industrial trappings – really, you're only likely to be shocked by your surroundings if you live in mortal fear of the colour grey. There's also the sense that the development team might have confused 'psychological horror' with 'flashing lights and loud noises'. Even the monsters all fall into that familiar body-horror-with-dangly-bits category – aside, that is, from the creature with a tiny alien face peering out from its own lady flaps. Maybe it's unfair to judge at this early stage but forewarned is forearmed - and if true terror is born of the unpredictable, the unfamiliar and the unknown, Dead Space promises to be as distinctly horrifying as a trip to MacDonalds.

All of which isn't to tarnish the game with a stinky brush at this stage of development. There do seem to be a number of interesting ideas at play here. Firstly, EA is keen to tout the non-linearity of Dead Space, each sizeable level offering a number of objectives at any one time. If all goes well, that should mean a refreshing deviation from the usual straight-line, corridor-bound shooting mechanics protagonists in peril have been forced to endure since games went spaceship. Hopefully, this should give plenty of breathing room to enable genuine immersion in Dead Space's Universe of Doom. We're also quite intrigued by the inclusion of zero-gravity. While our US comrades undertook some outer-vessel activities for their preview, EA showed off one of the game's many physics-based puzzles to illustrate Dead Space's free-floating mechanics.

more in post to follow...

[Matt@Sim_Moves]

One of your early objectives is to get the ship's giant centrifuge up and running, tinkering with the machine while fighting off some of your local, friendly alien mutations. Cue much hopping and thrusting for optimal positioning while you go about your duties. Not only can you use your TK gun (or gravity gun, if you rather) to latch onto drifting debris – some of which might be useful, whether oxygen canisters or ammunition – it's possible to push yourself off one surface and latch onto another. It's a uniquely disorientating trick and certainly impresses, but quite what its full gameplay implications are though is anyone's guess at this stage.

In this instance, two heavy clumps of machinery, replete with whirling gears, needed to be dragged into place with your TK gun, bringing the centrifuge back online. Trouble is, they spin much too fast to make a connection with the central shaft. Cue your other fancy bit of space gear: the Stasis gun. It's another one of Dead Space's nifty additions, creating a bubble that slows down time for anything inside it – be that a lump of metal or salivating, half-mutated crew member. It's always nice to see a focussed selection of weapons which have more gameplay ramifications than simply going 'BANG' at the right moment, so kudos to EA here.



Still, for all the puzzle-play, there's a definite emphasis on claustrophobic running-and-gunning from evidence so far. EA claims there'll be plenty of tense downtime to build up atmosphere, mind, but that doesn't mean there won't be something waiting to pop out a ceiling vent at any given moment. Fingers crossed, Dead Space will attempt to mix things up a bit though – and an impressive looking set-piece which sees a giant tentacle drag you along a corridor, weapons blazing in a bid to escape its clutches before you're sucked into its lair and chomped to bits, gives us hope for some creativity in combat encounters.

Mind you, the company's still being pretty coy about its weapon-load, with only the Stasis gun and TK gun really getting much screen-time at the moment. Neatly though, the bigger the gun, the meatier your melee opportunities are, with Clarke more than happy to smash any marauders round the chops with the blunt end of his arsenal. Given the relative scarcity of ammunition too, that's probably a good thing and you'll frequently need to think laterally, making the most of your unique toolset if you don't want to end up on the wrong side of an alien beer gut.


Speaking of guts, Dead Space features something of a first in the form of what executive producer Glen Schofield refers to as "procedural tentacles" – or physics-based entrails-swinging, if you prefer. Not only does that include the myriad fleshy protrusions on display across the various monster designs – ranging from ape-like meat walls to ceiling-scuttling runts that face hug and bury their bits into your back – there're are plenty of internal organs on display too, thanks largely to Dead Space's extensive dismemberment system. We've already gone over the many ways you can hack limbs from your foes, generally making things worse for yourself as they flail around in blind rage. However, at least one enemy encounter we witnessed – an obese, lumbering mutant with, oh, yes, tentacles – came to an impressive end when his belly flew off and his intestines flopped out, waggling splendidly in real-time.

It's impressive, but ultimately superfluous. And that, right there, is pretty much our concern with Dead Space at the moment. For all its pretty effects – fog shifting ominously across platform decks, free-floating holographic inventory systems and buckets of lovingly-rendered giblets – it's hardly breaking new ground in any category. All of which isn't to say it won't be fun, just don't expect to be blown away when Dead Space attempts to shoot your intestines out come release at the end of this year.

This game sounds better by the minute!