Skyward Fire

You play as Isaac Clarke, who is deployed to USG Ishimura to conduct an investigation over the events at that spaceship. The game was a welcome breathe of fresh air since this was amongst my first survival horror games in a long time. Dead space is very immersive, and moderately polished. If you’ve played Doom 3, you’ll notice similarities in the atmosphere of both the games. The controls and the weapons in the game are good, but pretty micro-intensive, and it doesn’t take long to get used to all of that. I quite liked the Line Gun & the Ripper. But then again, I’m not exactly much big on moving the cameras in third-person shooters so at times, it did get a little frustrating. Though the camera angles in-game are quite cocky, it’s probably just to create panic with a combination of the sound effects, about which I’ve written below. A major element that generates tension and puts you on the edge is determining the feasible weapon combination and what power you want to use. And that fact that you have numerous options is mentally enticing.

It’s difficult to determine multi-platform comparisons for this particular title. The game has no multiplayer component. Towards the end of the game, the difficulty level shoots up, and the sound effects & the dynamic shadows add to the stress element. The mobile visual story telling throughout the game is also a good add-on. Some people might consider Dead Space a victim of flawed designing since the setting inside the starship gets pretty repetitive and the flesh monster design wasn’t anything innovative either. To get through the various chapters just based off on the ammunition you find on the way is pretty bitchy too. I ended up buying ammo at a lot of instances. Having med packs in your inventory is also highly advisable. Under normal mode though, I don’t think you’ll have trouble with managing inventory and ammunition, since it’s available in plenty there. Comparatively, the combat system here is better than the one in Resident Evil 4.

Dead Space Fan Art by Esau13

Real-time inventory management during combat can be a little harsh too. May be it’s just to add to the whole theme of fear in the game, but for me, at times, it just got really frustrating. Half way through the game, there are times when I thought the game should have ended then and there, since there isn’t much of new stuff coming through after that, but the end is pretty wait-worthy.

The game is loaded with graphical features like deferred rendering, a high degree optimization technique that is also used in Killzone 2 & Alone in the Dark, and ambient occlusion. Framerate is consistent. The shadowmaps are flawed ‘cause they touch really low levels of resolution at times. If observed carefully, it would seem the game excludes self-shadowing, but with the dark atmosphere, it’s well overlooked. Jason Graves’ composition & the soundstage utilized in the game is excellent when it comes to emulating tension and stress. If you’re using good speakers with surround sound, you’ll notice the minutest details in the environmental music that you hear during missions. I got hold of the soundtrack, and I must say even listening while not playing the game can be a little scary at times.

The game eventually went on to get some great reviews from CVG, Game Informer, GamePro, X Play, and so on. For me, the game lasted for around 19 hours or so, and it does hold replay value if you’re planning on playing it just once on a higher difficulty level. It would be interesting to see what the sequel has to offer.

Skyward Rating – 8.7/10

Deals on Amazon – Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC.

Dead Space: Downfall (The Prequel to Dead Space) – IMDb, Official Site, Wikipedia, Amazon