I don't understand why Dead Space got so much praise from the critics. Yes, the game does some things exceptionally well - in fact, the graphics, game engine and artistic design are almost unparalleled. But that just makes it all the more agonizing to see the raw potential largely go to waste due to a complete lack of creativity in writing and level design.
The Good
Visually, the game is stunning. I played it at 1080p, all settings max, on my 37" Westinghouse and it was simply beautiful. The player models are superbly detailed, the lighting, shadow, HDR and blur effects are brilliantly used, and it all comes together for a very cinematic experience. I also liked the idea of not having a standard HUD in the game. Instead, all the info is visible in the game world itself - that is, the menus you need are rendered as holograms projected in front of your character. It may seem relatively minor, but it looks great and keeps you firmly immersed in the game.
The game world itself feels very oppressive and your character is almost always isolated. There is an abundance of gore and the focus of most fighting is dismemberment. Unlike most games, shooting enemies in the torso, or even blowing off their head, is pretty ineffective, so you'll need to learn to shoot off limbs. It's kind of dumb - how does the headless monster know where I am? - but it does help discourage spray & pray techniques, which is always a good thing.
Another neat touch is the inclusion of zero gravity areas, where your character's magnetic boots keep him attached to any surface while everything else floats around. You can then hop from surface to surface, which creates for some fun perspective twisting scenarios. It's not new - Prey, for example, did it better - but it's a fun twist.
On top of that, you have two other standard "powers". One is the ability to put enemies and objects in "stasis", which temporarily makes them move extremely slowly. This lets you get past fast moving obstacles and also gives you time to dispatch quick moving foes. You also have "kinesis", which is a gizmo that lets you pick up and throw certain objects in the game, similar to force powers or half life 2's gravity gun. It allows you to fetch ammo/health from a distance, use enemy body parts (such as claws) as projectiles, and to move specially marked objects to complete various objectives. I found the controls for kinesis to be a bit clumsy and slow, but it's a useful mechanic to setup puzzles and did help to change up the pace.
The Average
The sound design in this game gets a lot of praise, but I didn't find it to be too spectacular. Every time an enemy appears, you hear the extremely standard shrill violin type music you've heard in every horror movie/game. There are also random ambient noises designed to keep you paranoid, such as random clinks/clangs, also fairly standard fare. Guns, monsters and most sound effects are pretty generic. The voice acting is competent. In short, the sound is by no means bad, but it's nothing you haven't seen (err, heard) before.
As you play the game, you are able to collect money, which can be spent on weapons/ammo/etc at automated stores scattered around the levels. You can also find "upgrade nodes" which let you boost the stats of your weapons and armor. While both of these features work just fine, I don't think either of these gameplay elements added anything useful to the game. Somehow, shopping at colorful automated stores never felt right when standing in the middle of a blood soaked room that was littered with dismembered corpses.
The Bad
I'll just come out and say it: the plot sucks. I don't understand why so many reviewers seemed to like it: it's incredibly generic, cliche, and I was able to predict every "plot twist" (and the game's ending) hours before it happened. We've all seen this before: you're part of a repair crew sent to fix a space station where "something" happened. You get there and everyone aboard is dead. You're instantly separated from your crew by weird aliens. They are using the ventilation systems to get around. They create new aliens from the bodies of dead humans. There are strange conspiracies with the government and religious groups. I'll avoid any spoilers here, but I have to say that in the end, the story doesn't amount to much of anything and really feels like a huge waste of time. What 13 year old wrote this drivel? More importantly, why did so many critics enjoy it?
To compound the horrible writing, the level design is pretty weak, which contrasts sharply with the polished graphics and art design. Yes, there are 3 or 4 memorable set pieces, including some nice boss fights (I won't name details to avoid spoilers), but they probably comprise less than 30 minutes of this ~10 hour long game. The rest is spent dealing with incredibly repetitive scare tactics, with the same monsters jumping out of walls and ceilings over and over again. Riding a big open elevator? You can bet enemies will rain down out of nowhere in regular waves until the ride stops. Working on an objective that consists of several discrete stages? You can bet that a wave of enemies will come precisely after every stage. Walked into a nice, brightly lit room that's conspicuously free of enemies? You can bet the game will engage an arbitrary "quarantine" to seal you in the room with the bad guys until you kill them all (why is there never a quarantine before you get in the room)? In short, the gameplay gets real old, real fast.
Other minor quibbles include the third person camera, which is passable most of the time, but tends to be problematic in tight quarters and when upside down or sideways in the zero-g environments. Also, while your character has some melee attacks (including a powerful stomp), they are very clumsy to control. It's almost impossible to aim them and as they take a loooong time to execute, the price for screwing up is often pretty high.
Conclusion
At first, I was definitely sucked in by the beautiful presentation and a few of the great set pieces - it was like being part of a horror/survival movie. Unfortunately, it didn't take long to realize that Dead Space consists almost entirely of "find room X and push button Y" and that all the gimmicks (zero g, stasis, kinesis, store, upgrades, lame scare tactics) just can't make up for that. I kept going in the hopes that the story would develop into something interesting, but it never did. In the end, it's not a complete failure, but the game falls well short of its own potential.
Score
Graphics: 95/100
Presentation: 95/100
Sound: 85/100
Controls: 80/100
Story: 50/100
Gameplay: 70/100
Overall: 75/100
The Good
Visually, the game is stunning. I played it at 1080p, all settings max, on my 37" Westinghouse and it was simply beautiful. The player models are superbly detailed, the lighting, shadow, HDR and blur effects are brilliantly used, and it all comes together for a very cinematic experience. I also liked the idea of not having a standard HUD in the game. Instead, all the info is visible in the game world itself - that is, the menus you need are rendered as holograms projected in front of your character. It may seem relatively minor, but it looks great and keeps you firmly immersed in the game.
The game world itself feels very oppressive and your character is almost always isolated. There is an abundance of gore and the focus of most fighting is dismemberment. Unlike most games, shooting enemies in the torso, or even blowing off their head, is pretty ineffective, so you'll need to learn to shoot off limbs. It's kind of dumb - how does the headless monster know where I am? - but it does help discourage spray & pray techniques, which is always a good thing.
Another neat touch is the inclusion of zero gravity areas, where your character's magnetic boots keep him attached to any surface while everything else floats around. You can then hop from surface to surface, which creates for some fun perspective twisting scenarios. It's not new - Prey, for example, did it better - but it's a fun twist.
On top of that, you have two other standard "powers". One is the ability to put enemies and objects in "stasis", which temporarily makes them move extremely slowly. This lets you get past fast moving obstacles and also gives you time to dispatch quick moving foes. You also have "kinesis", which is a gizmo that lets you pick up and throw certain objects in the game, similar to force powers or half life 2's gravity gun. It allows you to fetch ammo/health from a distance, use enemy body parts (such as claws) as projectiles, and to move specially marked objects to complete various objectives. I found the controls for kinesis to be a bit clumsy and slow, but it's a useful mechanic to setup puzzles and did help to change up the pace.
The Average
The sound design in this game gets a lot of praise, but I didn't find it to be too spectacular. Every time an enemy appears, you hear the extremely standard shrill violin type music you've heard in every horror movie/game. There are also random ambient noises designed to keep you paranoid, such as random clinks/clangs, also fairly standard fare. Guns, monsters and most sound effects are pretty generic. The voice acting is competent. In short, the sound is by no means bad, but it's nothing you haven't seen (err, heard) before.
As you play the game, you are able to collect money, which can be spent on weapons/ammo/etc at automated stores scattered around the levels. You can also find "upgrade nodes" which let you boost the stats of your weapons and armor. While both of these features work just fine, I don't think either of these gameplay elements added anything useful to the game. Somehow, shopping at colorful automated stores never felt right when standing in the middle of a blood soaked room that was littered with dismembered corpses.
The Bad
I'll just come out and say it: the plot sucks. I don't understand why so many reviewers seemed to like it: it's incredibly generic, cliche, and I was able to predict every "plot twist" (and the game's ending) hours before it happened. We've all seen this before: you're part of a repair crew sent to fix a space station where "something" happened. You get there and everyone aboard is dead. You're instantly separated from your crew by weird aliens. They are using the ventilation systems to get around. They create new aliens from the bodies of dead humans. There are strange conspiracies with the government and religious groups. I'll avoid any spoilers here, but I have to say that in the end, the story doesn't amount to much of anything and really feels like a huge waste of time. What 13 year old wrote this drivel? More importantly, why did so many critics enjoy it?
To compound the horrible writing, the level design is pretty weak, which contrasts sharply with the polished graphics and art design. Yes, there are 3 or 4 memorable set pieces, including some nice boss fights (I won't name details to avoid spoilers), but they probably comprise less than 30 minutes of this ~10 hour long game. The rest is spent dealing with incredibly repetitive scare tactics, with the same monsters jumping out of walls and ceilings over and over again. Riding a big open elevator? You can bet enemies will rain down out of nowhere in regular waves until the ride stops. Working on an objective that consists of several discrete stages? You can bet that a wave of enemies will come precisely after every stage. Walked into a nice, brightly lit room that's conspicuously free of enemies? You can bet the game will engage an arbitrary "quarantine" to seal you in the room with the bad guys until you kill them all (why is there never a quarantine before you get in the room)? In short, the gameplay gets real old, real fast.
Other minor quibbles include the third person camera, which is passable most of the time, but tends to be problematic in tight quarters and when upside down or sideways in the zero-g environments. Also, while your character has some melee attacks (including a powerful stomp), they are very clumsy to control. It's almost impossible to aim them and as they take a loooong time to execute, the price for screwing up is often pretty high.
Conclusion
At first, I was definitely sucked in by the beautiful presentation and a few of the great set pieces - it was like being part of a horror/survival movie. Unfortunately, it didn't take long to realize that Dead Space consists almost entirely of "find room X and push button Y" and that all the gimmicks (zero g, stasis, kinesis, store, upgrades, lame scare tactics) just can't make up for that. I kept going in the hopes that the story would develop into something interesting, but it never did. In the end, it's not a complete failure, but the game falls well short of its own potential.
Score
Graphics: 95/100
Presentation: 95/100
Sound: 85/100
Controls: 80/100
Story: 50/100
Gameplay: 70/100
Overall: 75/100