Chaos Raiden
Avid Gamer & Reviewer
This is one of the scariest, awesome, and great survival horror game that I have ever played, besides Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 2. In terms of horror and gameplay, I think this game is much better than Resident Evil 5.
Storyline
Isaac Clarke is an engineer who needs to fight hordes of deadly Necromorphs in order to find his fiancee, Nicole, and to escape the spaceship USG Ishimura with 2 survivors, Kendra Daniels and Zach Hammond.
The mining team (Isaac's team) received a distress signal from USG Ishimura. Isaac's fiancee, Nicole is on the ship, and sent a message to Isaac, which appears to be a goodbye message. Isaac felt something was wrong, and hoped to find Nicole in the USG Ishimura. However, their ship (Kellion) crash landed on Ishimura's dock, forcing them to find another transport after repairing Ishimura. As the team progress, deadly, grotesque monsters called Necromorphs annihilate the team, leaving three survivors, which are Isaac, Kendra, and Zach. The three of them worked together to find a way to escape from the Ishimura while escaping the Necromorphs.
The story is absolutely creepy, scary, and well told. This is one example where a good survival horror game that have good storyline. If you wish to know what happened in the ship, there are audio logs and data logs scattered in each chapters that will help give you better understanding on what's going on in the ship.
I find that Isaac's silent personality works well, however, there is nothing much to know about him, sadly. Other characters have great development, and there is a lot of suspense and plot twists that will make you surprise.
Gameplay
The game plays like Resident Evil 4, except some major differences. You can move while aiming. There is no HUD on the screen. You can check Isaac's health and ammo on his RIG (Isaac's suit). There is no menu pausing, and menu is real time based, meaning you can be attacked while using the menu. You can quickly change your weapons using your D-Pad. 90% cutscenes occur real time.
Different Necromorphs require different strategies to kill them. Headshots do not work in this game. Dismemberment is the only way to kill them, permanently.
Shooting Necromorph's heads is a bad idea. They can only be killed when they have their limbs gone. Shooting their heads may only make them much more aggressive. Usually, shooting their arms can kill them immediately, or dealing enough damage to the body. As ammo and items are rather limited in this game, it is highly suggested that you aim for their limbs to conserve ammo and to kill them quickly.
Isaac can also execute two melee attacks. Stomp and weapon bash. Both melee attacks deal minimal damage, and should be used to finish a Necromorph who is down, break breakable objects to get items, and as a last resort if you have run out of ammo.
You have to mash some buttons to escape from your enemy's grab attacks! Failure to do so will result instant kill or heavy damage on Isaac!
If Necromorph gets close to you, they will initiate QTE grab attacks to kill Isaac. You need to press certain buttons to escape, if not, instant death. Surprisingly, Necromorphs also dismember Isaac when killing him... This is damn scary...
Each weapons have their own secondary firing modes. For example, Plasma Cutter's alternate firing mode is firing horizontally instead of vertically. Experiment each weapons secondary firing modes on each Necromorphs for best results.
Stasis is an absolutely handy feature to fight the Necromorphs. It is needed to overcome certain obstacles as well as puzzles. In battle, you can slow enemies down in a certain period of time. It is extremely useful, as you can use this to escape in certain sitations and dismember your enemy's limbs.
Isaac also have an Oxygen gauge. Going to certain areas will activate the Oxygen gauge, if your Oxygen is reduced to zero, then it is game over, so you need to make sure that you reach a pressurised area ASAP.
Visit the Store to store your weapons and buy new items, ammo, and weapons.
Isaac has access to a variety of weapons, and each have their own pros and cons. For example, Plasma Cutter has good ammo capacity and high damage, but can only focus to one target. Pulse Rifle deals lesser damage compared to Plasma Cutter, but has a high firing rate and ammo.
You can visit the Store to keep any unused weapons, items, etc. You can also buy extra ammo, new weapons, and recovery items as well. You can also purchase armor upgrades to increase Isaac's defense, and it is highly recommended you do that as much as possible. Since Credits (money in this game) are rather limited, make sure you spend wisely. There are ammo, healing items, Credits, and Power Nodes scattered in each chapters, so make sure you find supplies as much as possible. Sometimes, killing Necromorphs can drop items, but it is rather rare, and usually they will drop supplies if you are out of ammo and healing items.
Power Nodes are used to upgrade your weapons, Stasis and Isaac's RIG. Each upgrade requires a Power Node. For example, increasing Plasma Cutter's attack power requires one. To fully upgrade Plasma Cutter's attack power, you need to spend 4 or more Power Nodes. You can only upgrade your RIG and weapons on a Bench, which is scattered through out the chapters.
I have no complaints with the gameplay, as it is extremely well done. It is very interesting to learn that the enemies in this game can only be killed by dismemberment, not headshots. Extremely well done weapons system, balance of difficulty, etc. The only thing I have problem is the rather lame melee attacks. The melee attacks proved to be the last resort on killing the Necromorphs as they are weak attacks, so it would be best to plan accordingly to kill Necromorphs. You don't want ever to fight 10 chapters without enough ammo to kill Necromorphs. That is the worst thing can happen...
Graphics
Creepy, eerie, bloody, yet awesome graphics.
The graphics are creepily awesome. Well detailed characters, scary atmosphere, detailed Necromorphs design, well detailed and bloody environments, etc that makes this game one of the best looking survival horror game.
The Necromorphs especially, are super scary yet well designed. Many players that I know of are afraid of them, especially when they attacked you on surprise attacks. I can only agree with them, as they are scarier than some creatures in other horror games...
Sound
Great voice acting, with an astounding suspenseful, scary atmospheric music.
Great voice acting in this game. Each voice actors did good job, especially during cutscenes as well as audio logs. They did good performance to realise the survival horror experience in this game well. The only thing is, Isaac does not have voice acting, except for grunts and shouts. If he has a voice actor, perhaps I could relate Isaac to other characters much better, especially with Nicole.
Jason Graves did a good job on scoring the soundtrack for this game. Totally creepy, eerie, and epic soundtrack. He also received a lot of awards for the soundtrack, which he totally deserved to get.
Replay Value
You can upgrade your weapons to the maximum in the second round, get Achievements, or play harder difficulties.
After finishing the game, you can play harder difficulties to challenge yourself, get new Achievements, or etc. Most of the players I know are too scared of playing it again, for obvious reasons. I can only conclude that the replay value for this game is medium.
Conclusion
Absolutely a worthy purchase. Just make sure you can withstand sudden surprises by the Necromorphs...
A worthy purchase. I have played the PS3 version before, but I felt that the Xbox 360 version has slightly better graphics. IF you are a fan of survival horror games, look no further. The game is for you.
I was surprised at first on how good this game is, and how it is way better than Resident Evil 5. Both have similar gameplay, yet Resident Evil 5's gameplay felt outdated. If you must choose between Dead Space and Resident Evil 5 for the maximum horror experience, get Dead Space. It is worth playing it.
Score
Story - 10/10
Gameplay - 9/10
Graphics - 9/10
Sound - 8/10
Final Score: 36/40 or 9.0/10.0.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Amazing and immersive storyline
- Great characters.
- Addicting, awesome gameplay.
- Provides rather great survival horror experience.
- Scary yet great music.
- Superb graphics, especially the Necromorphs.
Cons
- Lame melee attacks.
- Moderate replay value.
- Game may be too scary for some people.
- Some mission objectives are rather repetitive.
Storyline
Isaac Clarke is an engineer who needs to fight hordes of deadly Necromorphs in order to find his fiancee, Nicole, and to escape the spaceship USG Ishimura with 2 survivors, Kendra Daniels and Zach Hammond.
The mining team (Isaac's team) received a distress signal from USG Ishimura. Isaac's fiancee, Nicole is on the ship, and sent a message to Isaac, which appears to be a goodbye message. Isaac felt something was wrong, and hoped to find Nicole in the USG Ishimura. However, their ship (Kellion) crash landed on Ishimura's dock, forcing them to find another transport after repairing Ishimura. As the team progress, deadly, grotesque monsters called Necromorphs annihilate the team, leaving three survivors, which are Isaac, Kendra, and Zach. The three of them worked together to find a way to escape from the Ishimura while escaping the Necromorphs.
The story is absolutely creepy, scary, and well told. This is one example where a good survival horror game that have good storyline. If you wish to know what happened in the ship, there are audio logs and data logs scattered in each chapters that will help give you better understanding on what's going on in the ship.
I find that Isaac's silent personality works well, however, there is nothing much to know about him, sadly. Other characters have great development, and there is a lot of suspense and plot twists that will make you surprise.
Gameplay
The game plays like Resident Evil 4, except some major differences. You can move while aiming. There is no HUD on the screen. You can check Isaac's health and ammo on his RIG (Isaac's suit). There is no menu pausing, and menu is real time based, meaning you can be attacked while using the menu. You can quickly change your weapons using your D-Pad. 90% cutscenes occur real time.
Different Necromorphs require different strategies to kill them. Headshots do not work in this game. Dismemberment is the only way to kill them, permanently.
Shooting Necromorph's heads is a bad idea. They can only be killed when they have their limbs gone. Shooting their heads may only make them much more aggressive. Usually, shooting their arms can kill them immediately, or dealing enough damage to the body. As ammo and items are rather limited in this game, it is highly suggested that you aim for their limbs to conserve ammo and to kill them quickly.
Isaac can also execute two melee attacks. Stomp and weapon bash. Both melee attacks deal minimal damage, and should be used to finish a Necromorph who is down, break breakable objects to get items, and as a last resort if you have run out of ammo.
You have to mash some buttons to escape from your enemy's grab attacks! Failure to do so will result instant kill or heavy damage on Isaac!
If Necromorph gets close to you, they will initiate QTE grab attacks to kill Isaac. You need to press certain buttons to escape, if not, instant death. Surprisingly, Necromorphs also dismember Isaac when killing him... This is damn scary...
Each weapons have their own secondary firing modes. For example, Plasma Cutter's alternate firing mode is firing horizontally instead of vertically. Experiment each weapons secondary firing modes on each Necromorphs for best results.
Stasis is an absolutely handy feature to fight the Necromorphs. It is needed to overcome certain obstacles as well as puzzles. In battle, you can slow enemies down in a certain period of time. It is extremely useful, as you can use this to escape in certain sitations and dismember your enemy's limbs.
Isaac also have an Oxygen gauge. Going to certain areas will activate the Oxygen gauge, if your Oxygen is reduced to zero, then it is game over, so you need to make sure that you reach a pressurised area ASAP.
Visit the Store to store your weapons and buy new items, ammo, and weapons.
Isaac has access to a variety of weapons, and each have their own pros and cons. For example, Plasma Cutter has good ammo capacity and high damage, but can only focus to one target. Pulse Rifle deals lesser damage compared to Plasma Cutter, but has a high firing rate and ammo.
You can visit the Store to keep any unused weapons, items, etc. You can also buy extra ammo, new weapons, and recovery items as well. You can also purchase armor upgrades to increase Isaac's defense, and it is highly recommended you do that as much as possible. Since Credits (money in this game) are rather limited, make sure you spend wisely. There are ammo, healing items, Credits, and Power Nodes scattered in each chapters, so make sure you find supplies as much as possible. Sometimes, killing Necromorphs can drop items, but it is rather rare, and usually they will drop supplies if you are out of ammo and healing items.
Power Nodes are used to upgrade your weapons, Stasis and Isaac's RIG. Each upgrade requires a Power Node. For example, increasing Plasma Cutter's attack power requires one. To fully upgrade Plasma Cutter's attack power, you need to spend 4 or more Power Nodes. You can only upgrade your RIG and weapons on a Bench, which is scattered through out the chapters.
I have no complaints with the gameplay, as it is extremely well done. It is very interesting to learn that the enemies in this game can only be killed by dismemberment, not headshots. Extremely well done weapons system, balance of difficulty, etc. The only thing I have problem is the rather lame melee attacks. The melee attacks proved to be the last resort on killing the Necromorphs as they are weak attacks, so it would be best to plan accordingly to kill Necromorphs. You don't want ever to fight 10 chapters without enough ammo to kill Necromorphs. That is the worst thing can happen...
Graphics
Creepy, eerie, bloody, yet awesome graphics.
The graphics are creepily awesome. Well detailed characters, scary atmosphere, detailed Necromorphs design, well detailed and bloody environments, etc that makes this game one of the best looking survival horror game.
The Necromorphs especially, are super scary yet well designed. Many players that I know of are afraid of them, especially when they attacked you on surprise attacks. I can only agree with them, as they are scarier than some creatures in other horror games...
Sound
Great voice acting, with an astounding suspenseful, scary atmospheric music.
Great voice acting in this game. Each voice actors did good job, especially during cutscenes as well as audio logs. They did good performance to realise the survival horror experience in this game well. The only thing is, Isaac does not have voice acting, except for grunts and shouts. If he has a voice actor, perhaps I could relate Isaac to other characters much better, especially with Nicole.
Jason Graves did a good job on scoring the soundtrack for this game. Totally creepy, eerie, and epic soundtrack. He also received a lot of awards for the soundtrack, which he totally deserved to get.
Replay Value
You can upgrade your weapons to the maximum in the second round, get Achievements, or play harder difficulties.
After finishing the game, you can play harder difficulties to challenge yourself, get new Achievements, or etc. Most of the players I know are too scared of playing it again, for obvious reasons. I can only conclude that the replay value for this game is medium.
Conclusion
Absolutely a worthy purchase. Just make sure you can withstand sudden surprises by the Necromorphs...
A worthy purchase. I have played the PS3 version before, but I felt that the Xbox 360 version has slightly better graphics. IF you are a fan of survival horror games, look no further. The game is for you.
I was surprised at first on how good this game is, and how it is way better than Resident Evil 5. Both have similar gameplay, yet Resident Evil 5's gameplay felt outdated. If you must choose between Dead Space and Resident Evil 5 for the maximum horror experience, get Dead Space. It is worth playing it.
Score
Story - 10/10
Gameplay - 9/10
Graphics - 9/10
Sound - 8/10
Final Score: 36/40 or 9.0/10.0.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Amazing and immersive storyline
- Great characters.
- Addicting, awesome gameplay.
- Provides rather great survival horror experience.
- Scary yet great music.
- Superb graphics, especially the Necromorphs.
Cons
- Lame melee attacks.
- Moderate replay value.
- Game may be too scary for some people.
- Some mission objectives are rather repetitive.
rep +
