Dead Space (pc: 2008): Reviews

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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed games.

Dead Space


8.4

based on 24 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 53 votes
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Cheat Code Central

Official Website

In the bold and often-bloody Dead Space gamers step into a third-person sci-fi survival horror experience that delivers psychological thrills and gruesome action. Set in the cold blackness of deep space, the atmosphere is soaked with a feeling of tension, dread and sheer terror. In Dead Space, players step into the role of engineer Isaac Clarke – an ordinary man on a seemingly routine mission to fix the communications systems aboard a deep space mining ship. It is not long before Isaac awakes to a living nightmare when he learns that the ship's crew has been ravaged by a vicious alien infestation. He must fight through the dead silence and darkness of deep space to stay alive. [Electronic Arts]

PUBLISHER:	Electronic Arts
DEVELOPER:	EA Redwood Shores
GENRE(S):	Third-Person Action, Survival Horror
PLAYERS:	1
ESRB RATING:	M (Mature)
RELEASE DATE:	October 20, 2008

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

GameSpy

Integrating some nice variety into one game while maintaining its decidedly action-oriented dynamics, Dead Space is appealing across a wide cross-section of gameplay styles. Wrap an engrossing plot that is a veritable warren of intermingling themes around this and you've got a game that is basically a guaranteed experience.

Gamer 2.0

Overall, Dead Space is an extraordinary game with tons of shock value and action to whet any fan's appetite for some time, and with a campaign that lasts a steady 10-12 hours, that’s plenty of time to get lost aboard the Ishimura.

PTGamers

This is a highly recommended game for science fiction and survival horror fans, with its claustrophobic atmosphere and horrible creatures.

3DJuegos

Dead Space is one of best Survival Horror releases in years. Tense, violent and incredibly aggressive; playing it at night with a loud 5.1 sound system can provide you the most spectacular scare moments of your life.

Total PC Gaming

[Issue#13, p.54]

GameSpot

An incredibly atmospheric and disturbingly gruesome deep-space adventure that will haunt your dreams and leave you begging for more.

Boomtown

I know that no game is perfect but I can honestly say I had no technical issues with Dead Space at all. It did what it said it would and scared the hell out of me on a regular basis. Dead Space is one of the best survival horror games I have played and I look forward with baited breath to the sequel.

Gamers.at

Dead Space feels like an admittedly fetid yet refreshing wind to the old genre of survival horror. I’d certainly not recommend playing it by night or in total darkness unless you are of awesome health and gladly would give Alma a handshake without thinking twice about the consequences. Important advice: Play it to the end! If you dare. [Issue # 16]

PC Games (Germany)

Dead Space brings few innovations and a little too much gore but delivers an atmosphere that has no peer in recent action games. The best EA game in years.

GameStar

Dead Space is great entertainments for adults, not only because of the amount of gore and horror, but also because of the enthralling story with some nice twists. It's impressive how well pictures, dialogues and sound work together to form a cinema-like atmosphere.

IGN

Call it science fiction survival horror, but Dead Space does the genre proud with an engaging story; action that's tense, fast-paced and extremely violent; as well as atmospheric qualities that will get under your skin and make you jump.

PC Gamer UK

Dead Space is solid, but it's not entirely smooth. [Dec 2008, p.74]

Computer Games Online RO

From a technical point of view, Dead Space is alright. It’s not great, but it holds its own, especially for a console port. The framerate is good, and the bugs are negligible.

Meristation

Dead Space is a pleasant surprise, it takes the best elements of classic terror sci-fi films and combines them with some of the most notorious ideas of games like Bioshock, Condemned, Resident Evil 4 or Doom 3. Instead of an improved but unoriginal copycat, the team managed to give this mix a distinctive personality, making it a great experience on its own.

Gameplanet

Dead Space was definitely a risk for EA and it's great to see they were willing to run with it, because it is a fantastic game. It looks and sounds great, is a lot of fun to play and oozes atmosphere.

The Onion (A.V. Club)

But Dead Space is a reminder that influence and convention, sharply focused, can become terrifically creepy.

PC Zone UK

Dead Space is a potentially great game that's hamstrung by an attempt to completely ape a console controller with a mouse and keyboard. [Dec 2008, p.58]

PC Gamer

This would have been a much more compelling horror game if not for the bizarrely sluggish mouse movement, which feels strangely slow and floaty. [Holiday 2008, p.68]

PC Format

Not without epic moments, but even they can't shift the 'lazy console conversion' feeling that permeates the pant-soiling atmosphere. [Christmas 2008, p.90]

2404.org

A fine and very playable horror game, and while the relatively linear story line and straightforwardness of the battles don’t combine to offer much replay value, it’s still worth the price of admission.

LEVEL (Czech Republic)

Wait for the sunset then try this “Resident Evil of Space”. Soon you will cry for light. An unusual (especially for EA) horror game that stands out in design and atmosphere in permanent fear. [Nov 2008]

Total Video Games

Too much repetition and the occasional dip into unoriginality does make it a grind in places, but the story did just enough to pull us through.

Gamer.nl

Dead Space has enough new elements to make a memorable experience out of it. The lack of a HUD, the use of telekenetic powers and the original weapons all contribute to that. Even the setting, a spaceship, is done so well that there is enough variety in the environments. The controls could have been a bit more direct, but Dead Space is still a perfect way to have a few scary nights.

PC PowerPlay

Despite its by-the-numbers storyline, the game grabs you into its sucking chest wound of a world and keeps you there until the last chitinous spike has been blasted from the final suppurating torso. [Dec 2008, p.67]

The average user rating for this game is 8.4 (out of 10) based on 53 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Steven B. gave it a10:
This is seriously one of the greatest games ever made. And I think it has elements that will appeal to most every type of gamer. First, it's a FPS, and it does that well. The weapons are amazingly creative, and while some may be turned off by the lack of traditional weapons like grenades and rocket launchers; don't be! You'll have much more fun using a spinning saw blade on a tether that rips through enemies. The game also has elements of an RPG, where you purchase upgrades and decide how to level up your character's suit or weapons. The game is also not really linear as there are oftentimes multiple ways to go and multiple missions to address. For people that like linearity, or if you simply get lost, there's a breadcrumbs option that highlights the route you should take. And I haven't had any issues with the controls--at any level. I find them to be intuitive and extremely responsive; I really have no idea what people are complaining about. This is really the perfect game. It's immersive, beautiful, addictive, very creepy, and it has elements that all types of gamers will love. The only downside is the activation DRM. But that's the idiot executives at EA's fault--not the developers or creative crew.

Niclas G. gave it a6:
The game has a severe lack of atmosphere. I really enjoyed the first two to three hours of Dead Space but after that, the game hardly came up with something new. Even the audiologs - unlike in System Shock 2 - neither added something to the atmosphere nor explained what happened exactly on that Spaceship. In fact, the "Animated Comics" have more atmosphere than the game itself. There are a few nice moments throughout the game but the most time it's more like "Isaac do this", "Isaac fetch that", "Isaac rescue our butt.". The game has some - quite good - startling moments but it isn't scary at all. And even this startling moments stop to be startling, after they happen to you the third time. You are just running from A to B, following that blue Line which shows you where to go and kill stuff along the way and that's it. The game can be described as "What comes out, when you put 'Resident Evil' and 'System Shock 2' in a mixer while watching John Carpenters' 'The Thing'... without being scary and having much less story." Oh yeah, and with its 10 hours of gameplay it's quite short in my opinion.

Michael S gave it a9:
Long has Capcom been the herald of horror. And to the benefit of all horror genre fans out there...Capcom no longer has the luxury of resting on their laurels. EA has managed to create a game that not only is a great game on it's own...but has at last put blood back into the life of a genre that IMHO has been abysmal for the past couple of years. Dead Space is not a masterpiece, but it is masterfully done. I should add that though I don't much like EA as a publisher or developer, I am an avid fan of Dead Space. Indeed the worst part of all this is that I will probably benchmark newer titles to Dead Space.

Francis H. gave it a10:
Dead Space is an incredible game and a real surprise hit.You can clearly see the painstaking detail that went into creating it's menus, environment and character animations.This is probably the game with the highest production values that I've come across in recent times and just plays great. Gaming dynamics like dismemberment, holographic displays that keep you in the game even when accessing inventory and selective upgrading of your weapons always keeps the player interested. Plus I a have never seen such ridiculous amounts of gore like this, limbs fly all over the place and blood flows like water. On the difficulty side I'd say you'll have to play the game on Hard otherwise it might be slightly too easy. Talking about the length of the game well, I finished it in about 15 hours and I was taking my time. Replayability factor is definitely there though, because after you finish the game, you unlock some goodies for a second play through and also unlock impossible difficulty. Controls were a non issue for me, if you've played something like Mass Effect then you'll have a good idea of how it handles. In closing, Dead Space is a must play for any fans of gaming, particulary those that like a Sci-Fi horror setting .

Chris F gave it a9:
A great and totaly immersive game, best played in the dark with headphones. A slightly clunky control mechanism hightens the drama of the combat and works well with the overall experiance. It's let down by the forumlaic plot, but its so seemlessley sewn into the play that it's not to much of a loss. Had they got me to feel something for the npc's, made some of the enviroments more convincingly lived in, or given it an intro with the same emotional impact as prey this could have easily been a 10.

Karl gave it a6:
Nice art, its all very cliche though. I would give this game a better rateing but it has terrible controls, The mouse, everthing actually, lags behind delaying your actions half a second. And the 3rd person camera angle combined with the field of view and offset pivot is nauseating. I would recommend you play a demo first, except that there doesnt seem to be one. So perhaps skip it for now, maybe pick it up when its in the second hand bin.

Nick N. gave it a9:
This game rocks. I think it is way better than doom. Reminds me of system shock 2 a lot. but all organic creatures. The graphics are excellent although they could be better. A little repetitiveness in the level design. But most important it will scare the crap out of you. I like most people :-) arnt easily scared, and this game made me jump quite a few times. Whats really impressive is even after seeing the creatures over and over, they still are able to shake me. excellent game by far. Hope to see more.