Dead Space Updated Hands-on

September 16, 2008 - If you've ever seen a horror or action movie, there's something that immediately stands out: a routine rescue mission never goes according to the routine, and the people sent out to perform the rescue frequently need saving themselves. That's definitely the case with Dead Space, EA's upcoming survival horror title set in the claustrophobic corridors of the USG Ishimura. We've followed the title for a while now, tracking the details of the doomed vessel and Isaac Clarke's struggle for survival, but we only recently had a chance to check out a preview build of the game, which provided us with a taste of what gamers will experience in early October.

Although we've been reporting on the game since it was publicly announced last year, we were really surprised at just how much of the story, gameplay elements and monsters that EA has kept under wraps. Up to this point, we'd known that the Ishimura was the crown jewel in Earth's mining fleet -- a planet cracker that was famous for its processing of worlds. After a prolonged period of radio silence, a smaller repair crew from another ship is dispatched to the Ishimura to provide a situation report on the communications issues. One of the crew members is Isaac Clarke, a systems engineer whose reasons for heading to the ship are much more important than fixing their malfunctioning equipment: Isaac has received a holovid from a woman named Nicole, who is obviously important to him, but who seems to be missing as well.

Unfortunately for Isaac and the rest of his crew, finding Nicole and solving the problems aboard the derelict craft quickly go from bad to much, much worse. Shortly after arriving on the Ishimura, their own craft is destroyed, leaving the crew stranded aboard the handicapped ship. Even worse, the crew is quickly attacked by a group of Necromorphs, who slaughter most of his companions and separate Isaac from the survivors. Now forced to wander the halls of the ship in search of survivors and a way off the vessel, Isaac is trapped in a mystery that only gets stranger and more disturbing the farther into the ship's decks he goes. We're staying away from revealing any other details of the plot, but let's just say that the events taking place on board the Ishimura are much more complex and frightening than they initially seem. This is particularly true as Isaac (and the player) start discovering the twisted, mutilated remains of the Ishimura's crew and the creatures that caused this damage.

Some of these elements are revealed in intriguing ways: for instance, players might see messages scrawled in blood on the walls, the last desperate words from mortally wounded crewmembers, or watch the deranged "survivors" in their final moments. For example, you'll come across a woman caressing the limbless and headless torso of her friend, trying to keep his spirits up for a rescue before eventually succumbing to her wounds. Players will also find a number of log files and audio journals that provide additional information on the ship and how things deteriorated as the Necromorphs started taking over more and more of the Ishimura. Isaac will sometimes receive holographic videos as he moves through the ship, warning him of specific hazards or tasks that he'll have to fulfill to proceed through each deck. On top of all of this, Isaac will take journal notes on the objectives that he'll have to perform, which gives a good perspective on what he's thinking as he moves through the ship. However, unlike other games where the action halts each time one of these sequences plays, Dead Space runs them in real time, meaning that you can still be attacked by any creature that comes across your path.


The Necromorphs are a rather formidable bunch of monsters, primarily because of their resilience to normal attacks. In fact, Isaac quickly comes across a message stating just how much damage the monsters can shrug off before dying, but also finds hints about eliminating the beasts by dismembering them. By targeting each limb and systematically blowing them to pieces, Isaac causes much more damage than aiming for center mass or for head shots. This becomes a requirement depending on the beast you go up against, because traditional shooter attacks can mutate these things into even more deadly creatures that will furiously strike at Isaac. Fortunately, Isaac will repurpose a number of tools for self defense, and can use items within the environment, such as explosive canisters or gravity anomalies to destroy creatures. He'll even be able to wield the severed body parts against the monsters themselves, impaling beasts with well-aimed attacks.