poorisaac reviewed Dead Space for the Xbox 360...

...and gave it a 9.5!

When Dead Space was first announced I was actually not very impressed. Maybe it was the fact that it looked like any other run-of-the-mill sci-fi horror game that was out there, maybe because I loved the movie The Thing, and thought that it was just an uninspired knock off. When I finally got to take a look at the game play videos my opinion started waning. I actually started to like what I saw. When I finally saw the "Twinkle Twinkle" trailer, my mind had pulled a complete 180. This chilling feeling ran down my spine as that twisted song played over and over in my mind. When Dead Space finally released, it was absolutely everything that I wanted it to be. And more.

The game begins with the protagonist, Isaac, heading to the USG Ishimura for a general recon mission after the ship went quiet. What started as routine, regardless of how cliche this sentence is, became something more gut-wrenching-ly horrifying than anything I have ever seen in my many years of playing horror games. From the outset the atmosphere just wreaks of this dark sense of foreboding, like in a way, you already know how this is going to end. After being stranded on this planet cracker, you quickly begin to find what happened to the crew of the Ishimura. Turning into what can only be dubbed as abominations, the games fantastic combat system comes into play. Strategic Dismemberment. A lot of games boast being able to remove limbs, but they have always come up short. With the combat in Dead Space, everything feels perfect when it comes to aiming and shooting. With the over the shoulder view that was made popular through Resident Evil 4, it helps the player really feel like they are with Isaac. And with the lack of a hud except the hologram telling you how much ammo you have, and the life gauge running up your spine it makes you truly feel alone. The blood everywhere, random messages scrawled everywhere, and the ever present distant sounds of horrifying occurrences make this one of the most terrifying games ever made.

Visually the game is of amazing quality, from the detail of your totally awesome deep space welders suit, to the grotesque features of the wretched Necromorphs, this game pulled no punches. The lighting of your make shift mining weapons reflects perfectly off of the environment around you as you slowly move forward to what is probably your imminent doom. The Zero-G sequences are also done incredibly well as you navigate the outside of the ship. The debris floating through space, the cold pale light and the harrowing sound of Isaac's labored breathing as he starts running low on oxygen, everything fits.

Isaac is an engineer. That means he has little to no combat experience. So, without the knowledge of a soldier he has to rely on one thing he does know. A mining tool, when modified, can probably be a pretty good gun. Or at least enough to take off an arm or a leg. The basic and probably most useful gun you will find yourself using is the plasma cutter which is practically a pistol that rips things apart. Some of the other weapons (i.e. Plasma Rifle, Ripper) are cool weapons but are really useless when it comes to combat, so they feel really tacked on and unnecessary. Whether you end up liking some of these other weapons or not, you will most stick to two of them and rely on those in terms of combat and whether or not you want upgrade the others. The upgrade system for the weapons is pretty standard, you find "nodes" around the ship, bring them to a work bench and Isaac will modify certain aspects of them, whether its more ammo, faster rate of fire, or faster reload.
Along with your weapons your suit also can be upgraded by finding schematics much like you find nodes. Upgrading the suit leads to higher defense, more health, and more places to store your stuff you find. Plus the suits start looking more and more awesome as you progress through the game.

Isaac also has a melee attack, which is probably my favorite maneuver to use. The most forceful, labored, and absolutely devastating stomp I have ever seen. This moves makes short work of mutated babies, crawling monstrosities, and of course boxes, crates, and ammo boxes.

Wether it's the absolutely horrifying atmosphere, the ridiculously high amount of blood and gore, or the awesome visuals and combat you can't really go wrong with Dead Space. It isn't a perfect game but when it comes to sci-fi horror there really is no competition.

Get the full article at GameSpot

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