the game is called dead space, its a sci-fi horror themed 3rd person over-the-shoulder- shooter, almost like resident evil, just with high tech gadgets. for xbox 360, ps3 and pc.

the unique feature of this game is that the menu's and all are real time,and this adds to the experience of it all, like when your choosing weapons or items, looking through your inventory or the map for routes to your objectives, an enemy could sneak up anytime and it's really cool too.

another thing i like is the absence of any heads up display whatsoever, everything's displayed on your character, ammo is displayed on your gun. it adds to the immersion, and i love the realism of it all.

since your character is an engineer (with some military training a.k.a NS lol), the weapons he uses are sorta of wielding tools or slicing tools, and it really adds to the gritty desperate nature of a survival horror game, although im not refuting how satisfying it can be using some bazooka to kill monsters, though realistically you wont find it anywhere except in certain army camps lol.

the way to kill them doesn't lie in head shotting them either (i can hear the cs junkies complaining now). the trick lies in dismembering their arms or shooting their legs or whatever other things. blasting away at the body or head makes thing worse, they crawl faster, or do erratic things that make it harder for them to be hit. and since ammo is scarce in the harder difficulties, i would say this is really a superb feature. and most of the time its not good to just leave their bodies there intact but rather dismember the dead bodies around completely, if not they'll just get infected again and you'll be wasting precious ammo. dont think i have to tell you this game is immensly gory.

anyways the story cut short would be your an engineer sent to repair this ship (that mines planets for raw materials) that has sent out a distress call. pretty cliche as it should be, most horror genres are fairly predictable anyway. and hey no surprises, your girlfriend is supposedly on board as well. cynics and critics would say that why send one guy with a few others to a ship so vast and stuff. but hey thats movies for you.

and add plot twists, character betrayals and a supernatural element into a sci-fi environment and you get a great recipe of thrills and enjoyment. the baddies are actually humans reanimated and transformed into "necromorphs". the only thing is that their mostly silent as hell, and there are different types as well. when i say silent anyway it's because the whole game is leaking with their groans and crawling sounds, since they travel around through ventilation shafts. the thing is, most of the time they won't appear. you'd see them, hear them, but most of the time they won't come. but of course it's always like that, and when they do, it's pretty close quarters stuff. given the fact that your attacks are ranged and your melee won't really work, it can get quite frantic at times, though the camera angles could have been better.

the music is appropriate and really adds to the dark ambience. there are many scripted shocking times where it would go to a crescendo and you'd be left smiling cos what you eventually see is just something hanging or just a dead body.

the last thing is the atmosphere and the sound, with the zero gravity environments that turn your world topsy turvy like it is in space, and the muted sounds when your out in the ship's open. everything gets muted outside and you can only hear your own grunts and suit noises, a very causthrophobic experience indeed.

though this game certainly steals elements from bioshock, system shock, resident evil 4, it really combines everything and gives you the best mix. the way the story is told is through creepy survivor's audio,video and text logs you find along your way, and it adds to the suspense and defintely would intrigue you. its the kind of game that you hate cos of all its intensity and shocking moments, but you just want to play more and satisfy your bloodlust and some boss battles are shocking, but definitely epic, borrowing hugely from god of war. still, its really a great fun filled experience.

graphics are top notch, sound is fantastic, plot is alright though there are some loopholes. but overall, i think every gamer should take a look at this game if you have the chance, definitely one of the more underrated games of 2008, its a pity it didn't get game of the year for many of the game reviewing companies.

final score : 9.5/10.

quick be a geek and play it!