Dead Space (video game): published by Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts: American video game publisher, founded in 1982
Dead Space: video game, published in 2008

The train takes me to the new area of the spacecraft.

I wish I wouldn't have to go out of the wagon, but I know, I don't have a choise.  I keep my linegun ready and slowly proceed, constantly turning left and right and backwards. Cause you never know where they might come from...

... it is quiet, too quiet. Suddenly I receive a video message. My teammates are arguing and even they don't know what to do. I can't trust anyone but myself. I enter some kind of big flight deck. It looks impressive and I can see the planet below and the stars above. Suddenly an asteroid crashes through the ceiling. I listen to my teammate's damage report and look for useful stuff, then I proceed to captain's cabin and listen to one of my teammate's assignment. I stop to admire the view for few seconds... then I'm on the mission again. I exit the captain's cockpit and there's still no sound or sight of the enemy. Shit, this is too much, I know they're out there, it has been quiet for much too long time. They are coming, I know it, but where the hell are they. Goddamn, come on you bastards, stop sneaking. Fight me!

I proceed back to the flight deck and then I hear it. Quiet stomping which quickly grows into loud booming. An then I see it, oh my god, it's HUGE. How I am ever going to get through this one. I panic, start to run way from it, but it's fast, always few steps behind me, no matter how fast I run. And there is no escape, doors are locked. I run madly around the deck, the beast at my heels. Few times I am able to turn around and try to take a shot against it, but for no good. How is it possible to kill it?! Think, goddamn, think, it must have somekind of weakness.

And finally, I don't have to worry or think or run anymore. The beast reaches me, grabs me by the neck and slashes me into pieces. There's blood and body parts everywhere. Last thing I notice, is that the "animal" has a yellow spot on it's back and them I'm dead.

...and I materialize back to my seat, sweating and gasping, with a controller trembling in my hands.

Electronic Art's Dead Space was one result of the company's new strategy of trying to create brand new first-class, innovative video game articles, not just sequels, from which the company is so famous of. The other result of this new approach was parkour game "Mirror's edge" and both, Dead Space and Mirror's Edge, are great games, with lots of personality and quality in them.

But no matter how original game Dead Space is, it also has it's predecessors in the history of video games. And they are System Shock, Doom and Unreal. Dead Space inherits the slaughtering of demonic enemies  from Doom and gradually built horror from Unreal, but the most important paragon is System Shock - one of the greates video games of all times. In fact, you can see Dead Space pretty much as the modern remake of the System Shock, if you want. The player travels from deck to deck inside a spacecraft/spacestation and faces different kind of enemies and obstacles on the way. The plot is revealed to the player one step at a time as he advances in the game. 

Many ideas of Dead Space come from System Shock. Just to name two: the Chapter 6 "Environmental Hazard" is remake of System Shock's "Alpha Grove" and  the enemy named "Infector" is remake of System Shock's "Inviso mutant".  Did you notice these similarities? Or do you agree? More this kind of details can surely be found and I would appreciate if the readers could point out other shared features of these two great video games. In the time of writing, many years have passed since I played those games, and I can't remember all the details very well anymore.

But I do remember what a masterpiece System Shock is and Dead Space gave me pleasent flashbacks about it. The implementation of the game is ultra-sharp and the makers have also added some fresh and new ideas of their own. The atmosphere of the game is uniquely terrifying, with extreme violence - so don't play this game if you can't stand it. But best of all, Dead Space feels like a work of art, not like a result of an industrial process. One warning though: the game is difficult, even with medium I had difficulties to pass some places. So don't try it with hard difficulty if you don't know what you're doing.

Blocker's Verdict: 4/5

Word of the day: predecessor = One who precedes; one who has preceded another in any state, position, office, etc.; one whom another follows or comes after, in any office or position.

Dead Space 2

This sequel I played recently. Everything that is said about Dead Space 1 applies to Dead Space 2, BUT, the sequel is still not a great game. It's mediocre. Every idea of  Dead Space 1 has been repeated in the sequel but somehow everything has also been milded, not always much, but enough to make the sequel clearly a second class game compared to the original. Story is less imaginative. Cutscenes are are cheaper. Atmosphere is less terrifying. Puzzles are easier. Level design is too straightforward and the overall structure of the game is weak. The way to the boss fight, for example, is not well rationalized or built. To put it straight: Dead Space 2 feels like a result of an industrial process, not like a work of artists. Sad, but, baldly, it was pretty much expected. And so, EA  really did with Dead Space what they are best at, make indifferent, unimaginative sequels.

Blocker's Verdict: 3/5

Word of the day: cutscene = A sequence in a video game over which the player has no or only limited control, breaking up the gameplay and used to advance the plot, present character development, and provide background information, atmosphere, dialogue, and clues.