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Dead Space gameplay update

• By Chris Morell
• June 25, 2008 18:51 PM PST
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Dead Space is more than a Resident Evil lookalike. We play through a new portion of the game and discover Dead Space's cinematic side.

In Dead Space, Isaac Clarke discovers he's not alone on a space mining ship.

Dead Space is one game you definitely want to keep your eye on. It comes from EA, but it's unlike anything the company has ever put out. With a track record of Teen-rated titles, Dead Space is one of the company's few Mature-rated games, and the development team behind it was given free reign to go gritty. The result is one of the most original survival horror games in a long time.

I won't bore you with the setup again, (but if you want some background on the game, read all about it here) as this was my chance to dive right into to an entirely new area of the game.

Everything that's been seen in Dead Space so far has been creepy hallways inside the mining ship that the game takes place on. But this is the first time that EA revealed a portion of the game that's drastically different. This section of a level takes place in the hydroponics section of the ship USG Ishimura. Plant life of all kinds thrives in this area, built to provide food for the crew. As I first walked in, it was quite cool to see this living area of the ship, but there was hardly a minute to take in the sights.

I was quickly pursued by several varieties of Necromorph, alien creatures that attack in different ways. And as I soon found out, each creature must be attacked in different ways. We encountered small Necromorph with flailing antennae-like limbs, their weak point. The same goes for the bigger creatures that charge and hack at you. Shooting off their legs is extremely effective. But when you finally do take a creature down, it's best to stomp their head just in case they are playing dead, which these clever aliens often do.

The over-the-shoulder view reminds of Resident Evil 4.

Armed only with mining tools, you have to use each of these "weapons" effectively. There is a plasma cutter, a pulse rifle, and even a flame-thrower function to light up aliens. But you will have to be careful how you use each. Take aim at a chubby alien's belly and you just might shoot loose a swarm of violent babies. Just sayin'...

Main character Isaac Clarke also has a semi time-stopping weapon called the Stasis Gun, and can be used to slow objects or enemies down to a manageable speed. And then there's a telekinesis tool that can toss objects, enemies and explosives...and that certainly comes in handy.

Clicking the right thumbstick reveals an objective path on the floor, which is nice if you don't want to bring up the 3D map. I was led through the rest of the demo level, searching for a few infected creatures that I had to kill. Poisonous green gas pumped into some of the areas, which made fending off Necromorph especially heart-pounding.

Later, I emerged in one of the ship's many zero-gravity areas. Fitted with magnetic boots, I could leap onto walls and ceilings and watch the camera perspective shift automatically. This specific area was a bit of a puzzle, where I had to use telekinesis to drag doors open, then hop through them in the right order. Obviously the creatures inside weren't making it easy. The last part of the demo was a Stasis-based puzzle that challenged me to slow down time to get through some fire-spewing machinery.

So far, Dead Space is at the top of my list of fall titles, offering up a cinematic presentation worthy of a solid sci-fi/horror flick. It definitely left me wanting more.

Stomping on a creature's head is just a little insurance that he's dead.

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