The survival horror genre has been with us for many years and has spawned some fantastic games such as the original Alone in the Dark trilogy and many more Resident Evil and Silent Hill titles. Recent offerings in the genre have been hit or miss with 2005’s Resident Evil 4 being such a resounding success and this year’s Alone in the Dark failing to live up to high expectations. The big question is whether or not Dead Space has successfully carved out a place for itself alongside the genre forerunners.

This new kid on the block (not the boy-band, that’s a whole new dimension of horror) reminds me a great deal of The Thing, both the John Carpenter film and the videogame adaptation, and this is a very good thing indeed. If atmosphere is what you’re after then you’ll find plenty of it here and you’ll feel constantly uneasy as you wander around the mining ship in search of answers to help explain the mysterious mutations on-board.

While playing this game I found myself thinking back to Bioshock and it isn’t simply because the two share a common Science Fiction theme although I admit to being a huge fan of the genre. This has a similar feel with the combination of the lone character struggling to figure out what’s going on and being able to tinker with weapon upgrades. I also found that I was reminded of Half-Life 2 partly because it’s a similarly dark sci-fi title but mostly because of how the character dynamics seem familiar with the lone male going about his business while separated from a male and female duo. This juxtaposition of being part of a larger picture while simultaneously feeling entirely on your own works very well and really helps with the narrative as you it keeps you balancing on the edge of hopelessness.

At this point I’d normally have a few negative comments to make about things I found particularly frustrating in the game but I found those to be few and far between in Dead Space. About the only negative thing I can say about the game is that it can be quite repetitive and you’ll find yourself having to backtrack a lot. It feels almost wrong for me to bring this up as I didn’t mind the backtracking so much and I actually found it helped in adding to the crazy situation which the character finds himself in.

If you’re anything like me then Dead Space is one of those titles you’re going to want to take your time with in order to breathe in the atmosphere and savour all that this game has to offer. This should be considered a definite purchase by those who consider themselves huge fans of the survival horror genre and there’s more than enough here to ensure that sci-fi fans are kept happy.

9/10

Other TTB Posts Like This One

• Review: Fable 2 (Xbox 360)
• Review: Sonic Unleashed (Xbox 360)
• Review: FIFA 09 (Xbox 360)
• Review: Fallout 3 (Xbox 360)
• Prince of Persia – Screenshots