Dead Space (Xbox 360)

Issac is an engineer; he’s not a combat marine so his weapons are mostly geared towards that direction. There are some interesting choices here, some truly great designs and the plasma cutter will be your best friend since you can flip the aim vertical and horizontal to direct the thin beam. All weapons have an alternate fire-mode and the plasma cutter’s flip mode is important since you need to dismember your foes, shooting them in the body isn’t going to do much. Cut off an arm, a leg, their head and you might just take them down.

Even when you remove their limbs, some of the nastier creatures can still be a threat. You have to literally cut them into tiny bits to destroy them. Fortunately the developers have made the combat in Dead Space intuitive and pretty simple to do. Aim with the left trigger, fire with the right, launch alternate fire with the right bumper, run like hell on the left bumper. When you aim your gun it triggers the weapons in-built flashlight and holographic sighting system, you can see your ammo counter clearly displayed.

The game is in 3rd person so you are always looking over Issac’s shoulder, the camera might seem a little close for some in normal navigation but once you get used to it you should find it’s a comfortable fit. There’s no quick turnaround button, but since Issac moves at a reasonable speed it’s possible to flip him around 180 without the need for an automatic system (and a button to accidentally hit in combat). If things get up close and personal, you’re given a button (A) to press rapidly to get the nasties off you in time before they devour you in a gruesome way. Issac can also stomp (right bumper when not aiming) and swing his weapon (right trigger when not aiming) to add to his arsenal of attacks.

Placed around the Ishimura are certain stores where Issac can sell items he finds, buy weapons and ammunition and most importantly get access to new RIG’s. He can bring schematics he finds throughout the levels here and download them to add to his arsenal of tools and equipment. There are also power nodes to collect; these devices allow you to make use of the Work Benches on the ship to upgrade various aspects of the RIG and weapons that you find. You might want to add more hit points or air supply to Issac’s suit, or give that plasma cutter an extra few rounds in the clip that might make all the difference later on when you’re swarmed and reload in the middle of a group of bad guys.

Some doors can only be opened by power nodes, so there’s a trade off if you want to get access to an area. You don’t know beforehand what it might contain, so do you sacrifice the power node or put it in your suit. After all, something great might lie on the other side of that door. There’s also a kinesis module that will be familiar to fans of Half Life 2’s Gravity Gun, allowing you to solve certain puzzles and there are Zero-G environments where the game really shines. I’d have liked more of these since they were done extremely well and with the game’s excellent control combined with the Zero-G navigation system, it was a breeze to navigate and once again I never felt as though I was at odds with Dead Space itself.