You take on the role of Isaac Clarke, an engineer sent out with his crew to answer a distress call from the massive deep space mining ship, the USG Ishimura. They think they’re being sent to fix a routine mechanical failure, but it’s never that simple. Upon arriving they find the crew dead with the majority turned into alien life forms known as Necromorphs. Dead Space takes a lot of influences from classic horror movies such as John Carpenter’s The Thing, Event Horizon andAlien, and this is none more obvious than with the Necromorphs. They still maintain some of their human features, but they’re vile creatures that manage to get even more grotesque as the game goes on. The designs are outlandish and highly inventive which just makes it a lot more enjoyable to blow them up. They come in all shapes and sizes and you’ll need to adapt different strategies to defeat each one. It manages to keep you on your toes as you never know what kind of foe you’ll be dealing with next.

The Necromorphs are also a lot harder to kill than your average enemy. They cannot be killed by conventional methods, so headshots are out of the question; instead you’ll need to resort to using Strategic Dismemberment. This is the process of incapacitating enemies by shooting off their limbs or alien tentacles. Each enemy has a different area to attack so you’ll need to differentiate your methods for each fight. The starting enemies can be taken down by shooting off their legs to drop them to the floor, and then finishing them off from there; whilst others will require a lot more thought, but I won’t spoil that here.

Strategic Dismemberment is what separates Dead Space from other shooters and gives it an identity of its own. It’s an excellent gameplay mechanic that changes the way you’re used to playing, especially in regards to the usual headshot dynamic we’ve become accustomed to over the years with survival horrors.

Of course it’s difficult for Isaac to get his hands on conventional weaponry anyway. Being an engineer as part of a deep space mining operation he has access to many powerful mining tools; these can cut through solid rock, so using them on flesh would be the logical thing to do. There are plenty to chose from, each coming with a secondary fire option. You’ll spend most of your time with the default weapon, but it’s perhaps the most effective. The secondary fire lets you switch between vertical and horizontal shooting, and using the two is essential for most of the enemies.

To pack a much bigger punch you can also upgrade your weapons at one of the many work bench’s spread around the Ishimura. You’ll find power nodes around the ship and then the work bench lets you apply it to different categories such as damage, capacity and reload speed. You can also upgrade your suit and stasis and kinesis modules. Stasis lets you slowdown objects and enemies for a short amount of time, proving handy when dealing with foes or environmental puzzles and kinesis is very similar, allowing you to pick up objects instead.

You’ll want to upgrade your suit to take less damage, but also to give Isaac more air time. There are many points in Dead Space where you’ll need to venture out onto the hull of the ship, giving Isaac a short amount of time before he suffocates. These section speed up the game, and can get pretty frantic when dealing with enemies and floating debris, although it doesn’t quite compare to the excellent zero gravity sections. Here you’ll need to jump around the environment to reach your goal, whilst the Necromorph will also float after you. It shakes the usual gameplay up a bit, and it’s amazing to look at. You’ll see drops of blood floating in the atmosphere along with decapitated heads and other human limbs. Just trying to figure out a path up along the ceiling and walls is a puzzle within itself.

Dead Space is a stunning game to look at, the lighting and shadow effects are phenomenal, adding to the creepy and tense atmosphere aboard the ship. There are some aliasing issues with shadows on Isaac’s suit, but it’s not noticeable enough to detract from the experience, and the rest of the ship is superbly lit with ominous shadows that will keep you guessing what’s up ahead. Some sections of the Ishimura – especially those with views out into space – are simply awe inspiring, and it really catches that sense of claustrophobia even though it‘s huge.Dead Space may not get the recognition it deserves because of the vast amount of top quality games being released at the moment, but it’s definitely one of the best looking games ever seen.

Saying that, the audio manages to surpass even the stunning visuals. Necromorphs will move around the ship via vents and the sound does a brilliant job of freaking you out as you hear them rustling all around, never knowing where they’re going to pop out; they’re shrieking cries adding to the freight. However, the stand out moments comes when you’re outside the ship, as sound becomes muffled as if you were under water. Isaac’s yells echo within his suit, and enemies are almost inaudible. It adds a new dimension as you can barely hear what’s around you until it’s right behind you ready to rip its claws into your back; now we know what Alien was on about.

Put simply, Dead Space has production values out of this world. Everything comes together to create a cohesive experience that can match up to any of the best survival horrors of recent years.

It does, however, have its bad points. They’re few and far between, but they are there. One of the main gripes is with the amount of backtracking you’re forced to do. It makes sense in the context of the story, but with a ship as big as the Ishimura you would expect to visit brand new locations on every mission. It doesn’t hinder the experience too much, especially when there’s a handy navigation tool to help you out, but it can get a little tiresome. And the same can be said for the combat. It’s a great system, but after a while it does get a little repetitive. New enemies keep things fresh but there aren’t too many of those either. But of course it is the beginning of a new franchise, so we can expect more and more of this universe to be explored in the future.

And Dead Space isn’t a bad way to start a new IP. It creates a creepy, disturbing atmosphere that is often unnerving, and combines that with a deep and engaging combat system that is simply one of a kind. Dead Space may have floated under your radar, but it should be in plain sight by now; it’s one of the best survival horrors in years and looks set to become a prominent figure in video gaming in the years to come.

“Lost in Nightmares” is the first of two new pieces of downloadable content to be released for Resident Evil 5. It adds a new chapter to the game which will take the player around an hour to complete. Logistics aside, the enjoyment of the new content depends solely on the player’s level of immersion in the Resident Evil universe. If you love the story behind Resident Evil, then you’ll most likely enjoy it. However, if the Resident Evil back-story holds little interest to you, then this content does not offer enough to be worth your money.  Don’t expect more of the same, as this new chapter in the ever-expanding world of Resident Evil brings a few new game mechanics to the table in comparison to RE5, due to its “retro” nature.  Describing these new mechanics will force me to give away some of the events that take place, so be warned that the following may be considered a spoiler.

“Lost in Nightmares” covers an event which precedes the main story of Resident Evil 5. During the man campaign, Chris has a flashback of a mission he previously undertook with his former S.T.A.R.S partner Jill Valentine. The two have teamed up again to hunt down the man responsible for the creation of the Umbrella Corporation, Oswell E. Spencer. During the main game, small portions of this aforementioned mission are shown via cut scene flashbacks.  The scenes show Chris and Jill, sporting attire reminiscent of their clothing in the series’ original outing, infiltrating a mansion.  Sound familiar to anyone? This content is meant to bring back some of the classic Resident Evil style and moments.  The mansion is reminiscent of the mansion from Resident Evil 1 while the mode reintroduces several game mechanics from the original entry. Some of the original (and unforgettable) score has been amped up to today’s sonic quality and reused, which adds to the overall atmosphere of the game.  The gameplay is mostly puzzle and adventure based, forcing players to start with little equipment and relying only on items found within the mansion (unlike other modes in RE5, equipment doesn’t transfer over).

The recreated Resident Evil 1 mansion

Unfortunately, the thrilling experience provided by RE1 is not recreated. These mechanics were groundbreaking in the older games, but over the last decade the franchise and it’s core mechanics have evolved.  After spending time playing RE5, players have become accustom to the action the game delves out in spades.  But this content strips all of that away, leaving the player to complete mundane and trivial tasks in order to move deeper into the mansion.  These “puzzles” are very easy, requiring the player to merely look in several corridors for passwords and a crank. Some new information is presented about Oswell E. Spencer’s whereabouts over the last few years, but is doesn’t really provide a wealth of new information to overlook the shortcomings of the gameplay.

The next section of the game introduces you to a new enemy type, The Guardian of Insanity. As the name suggests, these enemies require a lot of ammunition to kill. Unfortunately, the lack of available equipment and items makes the task more frustrating than need be. This was a design decision made by the developers to recreate certain survival aspects from previous entries in the franchise. But, once again, this mechanic doesn’t transfer well to this new section of the game. RE5 is different from the other entries in the franchise as the survival elements are less profound. If you strip the player of the equipment needed to initiate this action it disturbs the delicate gameplay balance achieved in RE5.  Unlike the zombies of the original mansion, the enemies in this mansion are much larger and more difficult to defeat and the player simply doesn’t have the necessary arsenal to adequately deal with such difficult foes.

Only a couple of shots?! Oh common!

The biggest problem with “Lost in Nightmares” is the archaic mechanics. Capcom managed to recreate a nostalgic atmosphere from RE1, but at the same time, disrupted the core enjoyment derived from RE5′s combat.  Poor puzzles and unbalanced survival elements are inferior replacements for the suspenseful and thrilling components in RE5.  Completing the new chapter felt more like a chore than anything else. Therefore, this piece of DLC cannot be recommended to anyone besides fervent fans of the Resident Evil series.

Written by Casey Corrigan, Edited by Doug Buffone