AICN Games: Monki checks out EA's Upcoming DEAD SPACE!!

Greetings humans, Monki here with a look at Electronic Art's upcoming title Dead Space.

A few weeks ago I got the chance to go out to Electronic Art's Redwood Shores studio to get an early peek at the game. To prep the horde of video game dorks for Dead Space we were treated to a digital screening of Evil Dead 2 and Danny Boyle's Sunshine the night before we dug in to the game. It was a pretty great way to get that taste of horror/space in to our collective mouthes.

The next morning started off with a quick breakfast and then a jaunt over to the studios for a hands-on session with Dead Space interspersed with various presentations ranging from concept art design to lighting to a meeting with the producer of the game. It quickly became apparent that everyone wanted as much time with the game as possible, fidgeting and checking watches during the presentations was common as we all knew more alien dismemberment was awaiting us in the next room over.

In Dead Space you take on the role of Isaac Clark, a mysterious figure who somehow has ties to the USG Ishimura. (He is the one with the glowing helmet you see in the above photo.) Isaac finds himself aboard the Ishimura trying to figure out what the hell is going on and why exactly there are these enormous creatures running around trying to eat his face off. Oh, and the babies...fuck those creepy bastards.

The key to this game is something called "strategic dismemberment." You can unload a full clip of future-weapon in to a baddie's gut and they won't pause. You have to go all Splatterhouse on their ass and take off limbs in order to put them down for the count. Aim for elbows, femurs, kneecaps...these are the weak points of your enemies. Keep in mind though, this is a learning A.I., and I found after some time of blowing legs off that my targets would start avoiding my fire towards their legs...so off went their arms.

Another interesting development in this game is the complete lack of UI. (User Interface.) All of the details about your character and your weapons are located on Isaac himself. There is no health bar in the lower corner of the screen, there is no grenade meter on the top...it is all literally on your character. Isaac has a glowing backbone that represents your health meter and your ammo is shown on top of your weapon. This simple aesthetic choice makes for an immersive feeling in the game and helps add credence to the horror aspect of the title.

Speaking of the horror aspect, damn, does it work well here. You are constantly changing scenery, from industrial zone areas to the flora and fauna of a plant nursery to a medical bay...all very realistically too. In each of these areas though, an overwhelming sense of dread reeks from every crevice. Shadows hint at something behind the corner, the sounds of skittering baddies come from the grates overhead, messages written in blood adorn the walls. Not exactly the same kind of space that Richard Branson may be dreaming of.

The design of the game is excellent as well. There were a few moments where I had to pause and just take a look around at all the crazy shit that was going on around me, sort of like some of the early moments in Gears of War where you just were in awe of the level design...that kind of stuff comes up here. You'll spend a bit of time sightseeing, you know, if you aren't trying to not get killed.

Oh, and the difficulty...wow...it's been ramped up quite a bit. You can't really fuck around with this one. If you think you are just going to run and gun your way through Dead Space, you are severely incorrect. As I said before, the AI learns your techniques as you play and they adapt to your style. If you don't mix it up a bit you are going to endanger your controller as you sending it flying across the room.

Electronic Arts has really outdone themselves with the story of Dead Space as well. As opposed to traditional FPS plots (You are on planet X, kill Y.), there is actually a fully fleshed out backstory to this one.

EA has been releasing comic books that flesh out the backstory while simultaneously releasing the animated versions of them as well...you know, for the people who can't read good and stuff.

Also, if you have a free hour or three, go check out No Known Survivors.com. This is seriously one of the coolest game-based websites I have ever been to. The freaking menu is a series of floating body parts! Awesome! Here you can delve even deeper in to the world of Dead Space, and hopefully get a better understanding of what the hell these creatures are running around in a bigass space ship in the future.

I am anxious as hell to get my hands on the full version of this game. The brief couple of hours I got while I was in San Francisco were not nearly enough to satiate my desire. I need to kill more shit in space. I need to blow off more body parts! Good lord, October 14th can't come quick enough.

Alright, there is always more where that came from, until then though, back up the tree I go!

-Monki