Andrew Kotwicki breaks down the whole history of Dead Space in this brand new article.
The Dead Space
series has earned a unique place in the science fiction horror genre of video
gaming. With its eerie television
commercial of a disembodied voice singing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” set
against a severed hand floating in space beside a derelict spacecraft, Dead Space announced itself as a sincere
throwback to the claustrophobic space horrors imagined by Ridley Scott and John
Carpenter.
With any brilliant idea for a series, time and tide can
shift one’s expectations and regard for the Dead
Space universe as a whole, whether it’s the tonal shift in gameplay, or
where its animated counterparts slipped off the rails. In an attempt to chronicle the journey of Dead Space, let’s begin by tackling the video game which reminded players just
what it is about deep space that brings out a primal scream of terror.
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| "This is my gun. There are many others like it." |
Dead
Space (2008 – 7/10)
Imagine the dark, claustrophobic deep space setting of
Ridley Scott's Alien with the
shape-shifting humanoid creatures from John Carpenter's The Thing, and you have a rough idea of what you're in for. Utilizing the over-the-shoulder third-person
perspective perfected in Resident Evil 4,
our avatar Isaac Clarke is thrust into the decaying orbit of the USG Ishimura
on the pretense that a damaged communication antenna needs some simple
repairs. It doesn't take long for Hell
to break loose as the repair crew is assailed by an army of deadly
creatures. Soon Clarke dons a heavily
armored space suit and weaponry to blast every transforming horror he
encounters to kingdom come. Borrowing
from some of cinema's most iconic science fiction thrillers, as well as popular
franchise games like Doom, it's a
scary, ultra-violent bloodbath set where no one can hear you scream.
In terms of gameplay, Dead
Space is a dimly lit, atmospheric exercise in old school terror, mimicking
the flickering lights and dark metallic corridors of Alien's Nostromo. Our hero
is loaded with a unique, customizable armada of weapons, power-ups and an
evolving space suit where you can increase your armor, and the size of your
inventory. Power nodes allow for either
an increase in stats or entrance into secret passageways with ammunition and
health kits. Both the puzzles and
monsters intensify in difficulty, sometimes involving a combination of your
slow-motion power-up and specified weaponry.
The lack of ammo and precise use of the plasma cutter to remove limbs
creates a fight-or-flight sense of anxiety to the gameplay; you’ll occasionally
have to run away to save your own skin.
There are moments where gravity and oxygen don't exist, and you're
racing against time, solving a puzzle to restore both necessities.
Gore-hounds will have a field day with the extreme violence,
either with grisly dismemberment of half-human monsters, or the elaborate
slashing our adversaries put Isaac Clarke through. Dead
Space is also fraught with psychological terror as Clarke experiences
inexplicable hallucinations. As a video
game steeped in classical science fiction horror, Dead Space comes closer to the promise of Alien than any of the games in the Alien vs. Predator franchise.
Dead
Space 2 (2011 - 8/10)
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| "Damn it!!! Where's Kurt Russell when you need him?" |
If Dead Space worked
within the framework of Ridley Scott's Alien,
then Dead Space 2 is the equivalent
of James Cameron's Aliens. Favoring the action thriller genre over
brooding, claustrophobic horror, Dead
Space 2 ratchets the action and adrenaline level to fever pitch
intensity. From the moment Isaac Clarke
awakens in an insane asylum, the nightmare follows close behind with an injured Clarke narrowly escaping an
alien outbreak. He is soon reunited with
his contemporary suit of armor and weaponry, and finds himself against human
security forces trying to contain the epidemic, as well as Unitologists, a
religious group partial to the extraterrestrial killers. Eventually you are pitted against deformed
mutant children, including a particularly disturbing segment involving a
nursery full of explosive infants, and a variety of other unspeakable alien/human
hybrid horrors. There’s a newfound sense
of urgency here missing from the first Dead
Space. You feel as though, if you
were to stop moving for just a moment, the Necromorphs will catch you.
Although the sci-fi horror atmosphere is toned down heavily
for this sequel, the adrenaline-laced gameplay more than makes up for the tonal
shift. Closer to the feel of Bioshock and Halo’s interior décor, this is clearly aiming for more thrills than
chills. The timing of special power-ups
like the slow-motion controller are more challenging than before. The first time you attain the slow-motion
power-up, you are only allowed a fraction of a second to use it before a
Necromorph bursts in and tries to kill you.
I recall a battle with a mutating beast which crashes through the
bridge’s glass windows into zero gravity, and the beast follows close behind
you, forcing you to battle while your sense of direction is spinning
uncontrollably. There’s also a
particularly uncomfortable puzzle to solve where you surgically implant a
device into the pupil of your eyeball, and one false move will simply poke your
eyes out. To say the deaths are gorier
and more creative in terms of violent dismemberments than its predecessor is an
understatement: This is an unbridled bloodbath the heads of Id Software would
drool over.
Ultimately, Dead Space
2 manages to succeed Dead Space in
terms of exciting and challenging gameplay.
It continues the saga of Dead
Space in a way that’s interesting, fresh and new without simply repeating
the high watermarks of the first game.
If Dead Space 2 were a
cinematic venture rather than a video game, it would most certainly be directed
by James Cameron, as it is closest to Aliens
for enhancing the adrenaline of its predecessor and, much like Ripley,
working to elevate its hero Isaac Clarke to the pantheon of the all-time great
science fiction heroes.
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| "I can taste your eyeballs!" |
Dead
Space 3 (2013 – 5/10)
What is it about the third time not being the charm? With most trilogies, fans often point to the
third entry as the one where their favorite series went downhill. Alien 3,
The Matrix Revolutions, Superman 3, Spider-Man 3, X-Men: The Last Stand, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The writing is on the wall. Somehow, all the creative energies are spent
on the sequel with little leftover for a third entry except corporate pressure
to produce a trilogy. The same can be
true for games as well, and it grieves me to say Dead Space 3 is a weak entry that overstays its welcome and
diminishes the quality of what was, for a while, the perfect video game answer
to Ridley Scott and James Cameron, making this the one David Fincher would be
ashamed of.
Isaac Clarke returns for a third time to battle the
Necromorphs, this time on what appears to be their home planet: A kind of Ice
Hoth Planet, a la The Empire Strikes Back,
with the idea being the planet holds the key to rid the universe of the
Necromorphs once and for all. The
designers added a wealth of new gameplay features including rolling and taking
cover to avoid being attacked. Weapon
design is entirely based on what you build this time around, and the game
presents more challenges than the previous Dead
Space games, including heavier puzzles to solve. Also new is a co-op mode for those who wish
to play Dead Space with friends, and
there are several side missions where you can grab additional power-ups. Power nodes, which were in the prior Dead Space games, have been dropped in
favor of simply gathering parts and/or disassembling weapons to make use of
parts for suit upgrades.
Where Dead Space 3
falls short is a less-than-compelling story, fewer scares, and more focus on
pure action. Where the first two games
consisted of about 10-11 levels, this one contains almost 20, and many of them
could have either been dropped completely or cut in half. In some instances, when you board an
elevator, it takes almost a minute to reach the destination, and for someone
who admits to sitting through Andrei Tarkovsky films, it really tested my
patience. Something about Dead Space 3 feels padded, and very
little of the game actually takes place in outer space. For the average gamer, you find yourself
growing increasingly bored with it.
Equally weak are the stock characters who interact with Isaac Clarke,
who feel phoned in out of a SyFy Channel movie.
I hate to go on like this, because Dead
Space 3 is not an overtly bad game; the visual and aural design is still
top notch and the new additions to gameplay are welcome. Still, it goes without saying it’s a
disappointment and strictly for die-hard fans of the series only. If I had to recommend any of the games to a
casual gamer, I’d choose Dead Space 2
without the slightest hesitation. That
was without a doubt the peak of the series over this sadly lackluster,
half-assed, overlong game.
Dead
Space: Extraction (2009 - 6/10)
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| "Is this a good time for us to make out?" |
Initially released on the Nintendo Wii before becoming a
downloadable add-on included with Dead
Space 2, Dead Space: Extraction
is a unique entry in the series in that it utilizes a new form of game play:
the first-person on-rails shooter.
Unlike the third-person perspective of the previous games, you see
everything first-person but don’t control where the camera takes you, a la House of the Dead. Functioning as a prequel to the first game
and simultaneously taking place during the chain of events occurring during the
animated short Dead Space: Downfall, Extraction navigates you through several
characters as opposed to just Isaac Clarke.
Often, the perspective changes from character to character every other
level. Although you are captive by
wherever the screen takes you, that’s not to say you won’t find yourself pitted
against equally difficult challenges than the previous three Dead Space games.
Because you are constantly moving, and you use your
crosshair cursor to fire and collect everything, there are times when you pass
by corridors and are only allowed a fraction of a second to grab whatever
power-ups and health kits you can while being assailed by an armada of
Necromorphs. Many of the same monsters
you are familiar with will show their faces here, as well as the hallucinations
plaguing all who come into contact with the Artifact. One area of gameplay which is very trying—in
contrast to the other games—is your weapon holster. You are only allowed to alternate between a
couple weapons at a time before coming across a new one and deciding which ones
to drop and keep. It’s a frustrating
change from the prior games, which allowed at least 4 slots and a wealthy
inventory to alternate between items. Oh
well, not major enough to kill the game I suppose.
Extraction bore the distinction of being a Dead Space game few players touched, with some detractors dubbing
it ‘more of the same’. The on-rails
gameplay takes some getting used to, but then again, so did the third-person
perspective of the other entries. While
fun, most newcomers may want to skip this entry in favor of playing the first
two games. For true enthusiasts of the
series (I know I qualify as one), it’s a decent entry that doesn’t bore or
disappoint. It also does a decent job
tying in to the first film in our next topic, the animated Dead Space short films.
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| "Why did you have to ruin my favorite towel? Oh well! Time to get naked!!" |
Dead
Space: Downfall (2008 – directed by Chuck Patton) 6/10
In conjunction with the third-person shooter based science
fiction survival horror video game Dead
Space emerged this animated prequel, Dead
Space: Downfall. A dose of fan
service and a surprisingly close interpretation of the game, this
straight-to-video short feature finds itself in the extraterrestrial horror
universe of Alien with the animation
style of Batman: The Animated Series
while satisfying the ultra-violent gamer's bloodlust. Unlike the game, we're thrust into the
perspective of a female heroine, a la Ripley from Alien, who sees the big picture and will stop at nothing to stop
the aliens from wiping out all of humankind.
Typical humans versus aliens fodder, but still entertaining if you have
a soft spot for that sub-genre. The
characterizations are obviously clones of James Cameron's colonial marines from
Aliens, but the voice acting is
decent overall. The Jerry
Goldsmith-inspired score hits all the watermarks of dread and unease of the
genre, and the creatures themselves seem to have walked off the set of John
Carpenter's The Thing.
Dead Space: Downfall is surprisingly above average for most direct-to-video
animated fare. It's refreshing to see
actual animation onscreen as opposed to total reliance on computer generated
imagery, and some of the gore borders on being cringe-worthy. It also does a fair job of maintaining
continuity with the look of the game, with deep, dark brown corridors and
flickering lights just hinting at unseen horrors lurking in the darkness. For being a loose companion piece to a video
game, clearly intended to be watched by fans of the game, Downfall has more replay value than most short movie offerings of
this ilk. It complemented the game, as
well as its overt influences, much better than I expected it would.
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| "I'm sorry, but I have to ask. Are those real?" |
Dead
Space: Aftermath (2011 – directed by Mike Disa) 1/10
Released to promote Dead
Space 2 and offer more animation to the Dead
Space universe, Dead Space: Aftermath
presents a disappointingly disengaged and inconsistent multi-director project,
much like The Animatrix. While unique on paper, one approaching Aftermath at face value will be in for a
frustrating venture with too many random characters we could care less about,
few and far between alien attacks, and some of the worst CGI animation this
side of Food Fight. Honestly, where the games sport some of the
slickest animation not in a major feature film, some of what's in Aftermath isn't far away from the
Playstation One. Where Dead Space: Downfall emerged remarkably
above average for a straight-to-video animated film, Aftermath nose dives.
Aficionados of the game will no doubt express embarrassment about having
this dead battery taking up shelf space.
I wish I could say more about this one, but it literally is that
empty-handed.
-Andrew Kotwicki