Consolation Prize

Over the last week I’ve been enjoying the highly atmospheric and amazing sci-fi survival horror game Dead Space. I’ve only just started Chapter 5, and although I realise that by only getting this short distance into the game after several days of play constitutes a rather lacklustre game pace, in my defence I’d like to state that this is by far the most frightening game to ever grace my Xbox 360.

You see, I tend to shy away from any game that ever decides to call itself “survival horror” - the only exceptions to that rule being the Resident Evil series which I’ve managed to become acclimatised to over the years and now seems to have become more about survival rather than horror. Looking back on those early Resident Evil games on the PlayStation I’m amazed they ever managed to induce so much fear and tension. I wonder if in years to come when I look back on Dead Space will I view it in the same light when playing the latest and greatest horror game on the Xbox 1080 or PlayStation 5. Probably not, but apart from the obvious future improvements that will be made to the graphics it’s hard to imagine bettering the atmosphere.

Dead Space really does impress, and through the clever use of sound, vision, and story creates a frightening experience. The sound design is simply second to none - bangs and creaks made by a spaceship under duress overload your senses, blood curdling and disconcerting noises from freakish enemies induce fear, and intentionally uncomfortable music scores aim to heighten the tension. Lighting is also used to great effect with flickering lights and shadows of unknown creatures cast onto walls. And of course the game then delivers the coup-de-grace with the truly horrendous Necromorphs - abominations created and mutated from dead human flesh and bone.

I couldn’t finish off my little rambling about Dead Space without also mentioning the brilliant head-up-display (HUD) design - or should I say lack of a HUD. Instead of actually displaying data directly on the screen as is the norm, the player is instead shown information as Isaac Clarke, the hero, would sees that information. Ammunition counters are visible on the back of weapons, inventory and map screens are projected in front of Issac, and video displays and messages from crew mates are treated in exactly the same way. It’s an inspired way of communicating that information to the player and truly takes the third person view to it’s logical conclusion.

So, if you’ve not sampled the horrors of Dead Space yet then at least make sure it’s somewhere on your future list of “games to play” over the next couple of months. Even given the glut of fantastic titles that have appeared in the last few weeks and are due to appear, this certainly shouldn’t be ignored.