I had the pleasure of swinging by the EA Redwood studios to test the upcoming Dead Space video game. And by “swing by,” I mean take approximately 4 hours to get in. But damn it was worth the wait. First, I got to walk around a number of cool cubicles (I swear these lucky bastards have the coolest posters and toys, not to mention their very own friggen Starbucks and arcade area). I talked to Ben Swanson, the community manager, who gave me swag to take home. This immediately scored points for EA. Then I interviewed Art Director Ian Milham, which you must watch or else. But forget all that for now. What you really want to hear about is my experience with producer Rich Briggs who took me into a dark room with lots of couches. Sounds dirty, but this is serious work people. I got to play Dead Space on the big screen (actually about 3 big screens) while my cameraman Jesus Cruz complained that I was taking too long. He was just jealous.

I can’t even remember the levels I played, but by god I remember what the hell occurred in them. The atmosphere of the game is great. I felt like Lieutenant Fucking Ripley walking down the corridors waiting for those alien punks to jump out at me at any moment. The sound is amazing and I squealed several times. Seriously. This was caught on video. At one point, I just stood in a doorway trying to change my camera angles to see where the little prick was running around. Didn’t work. They just pop out of everywhere and move quickly, so good luck trying to predict where they will show up next.

By the far the most awesomest (is that a word?) room was the zero gravity area. I was able to jump to different sides and upside down while searching for a door. Oh and then those things came after me. Add a few floating dead bodies to confuse the hell out of me and I was flying around all over the place in a glorious panic.

You get to upgrade weapons by using nodes. You probably already read about this earlier somewhere else, I hope, and don’t need me to explain things again. So I’ll just tell you that I played with the Ripper, which is a circular saw that shoot blades one by one. This seemed relatively powerful. Then I used a Flamethrower (always a favorite!) to toast some critters like marshmellows. The best one to start with is the simple Ore Cutter (or Line Gun) mainly because it allows for larger area damage due to its three dot pointer for accuracy. Hard to screw up a shot with that. But I don’t believe it is as strong as some of the others. I also got to stomp the shit out of aliens just for shits and giggles. Even the stomping and whacking after their deaths reward you with blood splatter.

In addition to the bomb ass weapons, our dude can use psychokinesis. His super brain can move objects (used to help solve puzzles and what not). He can also use stasis to freeze or slow down enemies. This is particularily helpful during boss battles or when you need to reload or when you just feel overwhelmed by baddies.

The overall feel of the game is creepy and exciting. I’m reminded of Resident Evil 4 with the over-the-shoulder camera angle and the regenerating thingies. Speaking of regeneration, this looks a lot like John Carpenter’s The Thing, the game and movie. Story-wise I recalled old ass Martian Gothic (PS1, 2001), which can apparently only be located in my personal collection. Fans of Parasite Eve 2, Doom 3, and Quake 4 will feel at home here.

So the Dead Space team did such a kick ass job that they finished it early. Hooray! Hopefully the rest of the game plays as well as everything I saw so far. If that’s the case, this may easily be one of the Top Ten Games of 2008.

The release date is October 14th 2008. Get yourself a copy and prove me right.