Elite Review: Dead Space

So I recently finished Dead Space on the 360. It was a really fun game. Keep in mind though that I'm a fan of third person shooters, especially of the survival variety.

I had waited to play this game on an HD TV since the graphics are top notch and I'm glad I did. The controls were tight. The difiiculty was a good balance too. I ran into fights that I needed a few tries to beat. I hate when I can blast through a game without really dying. The mix of enemy classes and weaponry gave the fights a nice strategic bent. Especially in the ammo usage department.

The game reminded me most of Resident Evil 4 in terms of gameplay. There is a store scattered around to upgrade stuff. There are also benches here and there to upgrade equipment and I really liked the upgrade system.

The main difference between this and RE4 was in the fighting. Rather than going for headshots the idea is to shoot off the limbs of your enemies. You can also move while shooting.

The other big difference is having two special abilites at your disposal: Stasis, which slows things (like enemies) down and Kinesis which can pick things up from a distance and hurl them. You'll use both to solve enviromental puzzles and during fights. You can use Kinesis to pick up enemy body parts that have been blown off and shoot them at other enemies to preserve ammo. Honestly though, I rarely did that other than a boss encounter.

Conclusion: Great graphics, tight controls, fun story. Little replay value. I'm always up for trading this one.

Grade: A