Dead Space will move and look like survival horror–emphasis on horror. The calamity takes place several centuries into the future when humanity has begun a process known as planet cracking. Huge ships enter dead solar systems and tear up entire chunks of terra firma. The USG Ishimura is one of the largest ships in the galactic fleet until it fell silent. A routine inspection crew is sent in to see what might be the matter, including a scientist, engineer, security expert, and a few others.

You play Isaac Clarke, the armor-covered engineer who slowly creeps through the infected bowels of a ship the size of a city. Of course, alien infestation becomes clear when you see a hovering yellow space slug barf white puss into the mouth of a screaming soldier who melts under the corrosive fluid into a deformed, deranged alien beast. Then, when the melted, slimy ex-man shambles toward you with tentacles and cannibalistic intent. You level your weapon–an energy-based mining tool–and fire at the beast, decapitating it. Except the beast is still coming. It lunges and wraps itself around you, biting into your neck with a toothy maw protruding from where its heart used to be in its chest. You struggle, your blood spurts into free space. You take aim to slice off an arm, then a leg, causing it to flop onto the ground and drag itself toward you, one claw at a time.

Your only hope, as you make your way about repairing the ship, is to cut the creatures up before they make you one of them. To that end, dismemberment will take on tactical dimensions. You know from previous experience that a certain variety of alien scum runs really fast, so it’s better to cut off its legs. Faced with a fat, bloated alien monstrosity? You’ll slice into its belly only to see a couple dozen space leaches slither out across the floor. These leaches then slither up onto your back as the felled mother crawls toward you. Shooting the belly probably isn’t the way to go with those things. And those are only two manifestations of the space madness at the heart of EA’s upcoming journey into the abyss.

Dead Space looks dead gorgeous. Running on a proprietary engine, the textures, frame rates, and crazy giant ship-gut set pieces already seemed smooth. And the music was highly reminiscent of the nerve-wracking, cacophonous violins from Jerry Goldsmith’s Alien theme.

There’s no word yet on whether Dead Space will feature multiplayer content, but given the game’s focus on isolation and terror, we doubt it will feature cooperative play.

Publisher: Electronic Arts
Genre: Sci-Fi Shooter
Release Date: 10/08/2008

- Molly Celaschi