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- Rax

We all have our reasons for playing video games. For some it is simply for escapism, and for others it can be for pure fun and enjoyment. It can be a social retreat or even a pure test of will and determination. Rarely do games instill genuine emotion in us, but every now and again something will come a long that will bring many a gamer to tears, or take them to nirvana… and sometimes absolute hell.

That’s where the survival horror genre steps in, screaming at you with the demonic eyes of Satan himself. 

1. Amnesia – The Dark Descent

You could say that Amnesia is the new kid on the block, but Frictional Games have been making frightful survival horror games for a while now. Their first was Penumbra, a first person puzzle solving adventure through a deserted and insanely creepy scientific research facility in Antartica. It’s rich with zombie dogs, dead people who have mutated into alien-like forms, and lots and lots of darkness.

Amnesia presents more of the same gameplay, but an entirely different setting with a delicious graphical update and of course a major upgrade as far as creepiness and scare factor is concerned. In Amnesia you play as a man who has amnesia, as the title suggests. You’re on a survival horror journey through what could be the most fear inducing castle known to man. It’s deeply atmospheric, immersive and should only be played on dark stormy nights with the curtains closed and the lights off.

You’ll explore the castle, solving puzzles and trying your best not to get killed by the monsters that lurk within, monsters so grotesque in form that fellow newbreview writer Mr Kieran Roycroft can’t even bare to look at them. Plus you’re unarmed, there are no weapons in this game, if the monsters see you you’ll have only one option, RUN AWAY AND HIDE IN A CLOSET LIKE A LITTLE GIRL. The game’s physics engine can be utilised to barricade doors with other items of furniture or boxes you can find strewn about the place, but eventually THEY WILL GET YOU. The only thing you’ll have is a lantern and a torch, the sweet embrace of it’s light is your saviour.

The game is all about keeping your sanity and many players have lost theirs in trying to do so, some being reduced to tears, many losing control of their bowels and the odd few have even DIED! Well… not really, but Amnesia regularly brings you pretty close to the point of having a heart attack. In fact if you’re interested in any way what a heart attack might actually feel like I suggest you run out and buy it.

2. F.E.A.R- If you want to make a game to scare people what better title than F.E.A.R (as in First Encounter Assault Recon) a game that Monolith Productions designed from the ground up to be a seat stainer. During production they went as far as asking the community to divulge their worst fears so that they may be included in the game.

Released in 2005 the game has done surprisingly well for itself, being one of the highest ranked FPS games money can buy. You play as the point man of a F.E.A.R squad, a government funded paranormal investigations team with some of the coolest firepower available. Normally it would seem wrong to give a bunch of testosterone-fueled soldiers guns to simply go ghost hunting, but this isn’t exactly your typical episode of Britain’s Most haunted: something has gone terribly wrong at an underground research facility and a lot of people are dead because of a menacing phenomenon in the form of a little girl. As Japanese film making has proved there’s nothing more scary that a little girl.

Throughout the game you’ll venture through a number of interesting but sometimes bland environments, blowing everything up and shooting anything that moves because you’re always on edge with this game. Floors will turn into rivers of blood, dead bodies dropping from the ceiling, and evil spirits play havok with your senses. The game is crammed full of references to great horror  films and other stuff that will completely mess with your head. I believe this game falls under the category of total mind f*ck.

It’s an enjoyable game, the super powers the protagonist has, including the ability to slow down time, make sure of that.

3. Dead Space- Dead Space has quickly  become one of the most popular games of this generation of consoles. It has won multiple awards for its fear inducing sound design and atmosphere that has left many copies of the game collecting dust on shelves because gamers can’t bring themselves to even turn the game back on so they can finish it. Yes, it’s that scary. And if there was ever a better setting it’s in space, where nobody can hear you scream as you get ripped into shreds by former shipmates who have mutated into grotesque monsters with blades for limbs and a taste for flesh.

You can’t rely on a trusty firearm either, this is a spaceship, the USG Ishimura to be precise, or rather it was a spaceship before it got near enough destroyed thanks to Necropmorphs. Despite playing the role of an engineer there’s no way your fixing the ship, so grabs your laser cutters, your nuclear powered chainsaws, your futuristic chainsaws and your sonic screwdrivers and man the hell up cuz there be monsters to kill. Don’t forget to aim for the limbs!

4. Silent Hill 2- When talking about scary games its only fair to mention the Silent Hill series. It takes the creepiness level to an entirely different dimension, dragging the player to a town where it snows ash, walls are made from barbed wire, and blood and guts decorate the hallways like a cannibal Christmas party. Not all of the Silent Hill games were a major success (at least not over here in Europe) but Silent Hill 2 is widely considered to be the best in the series. Evil spirits,witchcraft, necrophilia, torture, murder and a butt load of mind games are all present in this maddening adventure, accompanied by a superbly eerie soundtrack.

The game’s atmosphere has just as tight of a hold around your neck as the story, with the constant threat of Pyramid Head lurking in the shadows, waiting to pull your skin off and devour your soul.

You play as James Sunderland, a man who receives a letter from his wife letting him know that she is stuck in Silent Hill. The only problem is that she has been dead for years! You set off to the titular town in order to find out what is going on, and find yourself going on a terrifying journey through your own psyche, full of psychotic perverts, and deformed monstrosities. Perfect night time entertainment.

5. Left 4 Dead- These days it seems Valve can do no wrong and there’s no better formula for success than zombies + shotguns x gore = win. Everyone loves a zombie, especially the killing part. Left 4 Dead was (and still is) an incredibly popular team based survival game, and it’s certainly right at the top of the kangaroo scale when it comes to making you jump in a frenzied panic. The game is LOUD!

The zombie menace will come at you thick and fast, screaming at the top of their lungs, and you’ll be flailing whatever weapon you can find wildly, knocking off five or six heads at once. If that wasn’t enough the threat of super powered zombies, such as the insta-kill witch or (heaven forbid) a gigantic muscle-bound tank, lurking around the corner is ever present, leading to some severe brown trouser moments.

There’s just as much tension in-game as there is between your teammates. Each level builds up to a thrilling climax as you fight off wave after wave of zombies as you wait for a means of escaping at the end of each stage… that is, assuming you make it there without your three compadres betraying you for ammo or health kits, or even just for laughs.

6. DOOM 3- The Doom series is one of the grandfathers of FPS gaming and back in 2004 id software decided it was time to reboot the franchise, so they disregarded the storyline from 1&2 then made 3 and holy hell was it scary. Unfortunately scientists have made another boo boo and have accidentally opened a gateway to hell while conducting teleportation experiments in a research facility on Mars… as you do. An army of demons has come through, killing everyone they find, and have completely ruined your vacation because now, as one of the best space marines on Earth, you’ve been called in, along with a rag tag bunch of army buddies, to sort it all out.

Doom 3 has some of the best lighting effects ever: it’s a dark game, a very dark game, and your trusty flash light soon becomes your best friend. You can’t hold a gun and the flashlight at the same time, so you’ll progress slowly and cautiously. If videogames have taught us all anything it is that space is a really dangerous dangerous place and if we’re ever lucky enough to perfect intergalactic flights to other planets we should probably leave it alone. Stay the hell out of space and for god’s sake don’t ever got to Mars because that’s where the devil lives.

7. Resident Evil- If we’re going to talk about scary games it’s only fair to mention Resident Evil, the franchise was one of the driving forces pushing the survival horror genre out of the dark and into the public’s delighted, yet terrified, eyes. Again it’s the scientists who are to blame, bio engineering viruses that bring the dead back to life was never going to end well now was it? And to make matters worse you’re stuck in a huge mansion that was built by a crazy architect who liked to put spikes on the ceiling and secret doors everywhere.

The voice acting is laughably bad by today’s standards (in fact it was pretty by the standards of the time as well) but Resident Evil never lost its charm. It’s one of those games from the golden age of Playstation that almost everyone played. It is a game that is crammed full of so many memorable moments: the first time you see a zombie (oh I had so many nightmares about him) and the first time those zombie dogs come jumping in through the windows… it gets me every time.

8. Dino Crisis- And from one Shinji Mikami game to another:  Dino Crisis was an attempt to spawn a new sub-genre of “panic horror” with more of the same Resident Evil style gameplay, this time we’re swapping out zombies for an even more terrifying menace, those goddamn Dinosaurs. I’m pretty sure everyone is born with a pre-programmed fear of dinosaurs, therefore this game has widespread appeal as a dinosaur killing simulator, just in case an eccentric billionaire actually goes and brings dinosaurs back from extinction.

It’s a thrilling game overflowing with suspense especially when those quick time events kick in. Weapons and ammo are hard to come by, but thankfully when there’s puzzle solving to be done, the dinosaurs will leave you be. If you need another  reason to face your fear of dinosaurs, how about playing as a feisty redhead? While not being as popular, or as influential, as Resident Evil, Dino Crisis is still a genuinely frightening game that has the capacity to fill your underwear with little brown packages.

9. Bioshock- Now I don’t know about you but I’m scared of the water. I’m not a good swimmer, never have been and likely never will be. Eccentric billionaire Andrew Ryan didn’t feel that way, he liked the sea so much he decided to build an entire city underneath it and it was named Rapture.

In Bioshock you play as Jack, a man whose plane crashes in the ocean and leaving him as the only survivor, and sets him off on a course with destiny in this strange and eerie underwater city. Soon it becomes clear that not all is right in the city of Rapture. The entire population has seemingly gone insane, while murderous little girls and mechanical drones stalk the flooded hallways and, of course, the entire city is in a state of disrepair. Worst of all there are the Big Daddies, a foreboding and deadly menace with a drill for an arm and guns big enough to take down a elephant, who are tasked with protecting the aforementioned creepy little girls. They’re pretty scary, especially when you piss them off and what better way to do so than killing a small child so as to extract their very DNA? Why these big daddies have chosen to be full time baby sitters remains a mystery.

10. Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem- Although not a commercial success, Eternal Darkness received widespread praise, it’s one of the best games on the late great Gamecube and one of the scariest games of all time. It’s a psychological horror game where you play as Alexandra Roivas, a smart, attractive young girl whose grandfather unfortunately passes away. She spends a dark stormy night in his mansion in Rhode Island, a mansion that contains a terrible secret, one that could unmake all existence as we know it.

Throughout the game you’ll play from the perspective of twelve different characters across multiple time periods, all of whom have crossed paths with an ancient book known as the “The Tome of Eternal Darkness”. Puzzle solving plays a big role in this action adventure and there’s plenty of mind games to boot, thanks to the games most interesting feature, the sanity meter. The sanity meter has some interesting effects, under certain conditions in game the sanity meter is reduced causing walls to bleed, enemies to walk on the ceiling, horrifying screams from women and children to fill the air, skewed camera angles, and heads randomly exploding. When your sanity metre is depleated the game even breaks the forth wall by turning your TVs sound down, popping up with error messages, or tricking you in to thinking that your save file has been corrupted.

Needless to say this game left a lot of gamers confused and doubting their own judgment upon playing it for the first time. I know I asked myself “Is this really happening in game, or am I seeing things?” on numerous occasions. It’s an original and scary game, and we haven’t seen anything like it since, but you never know, a sequel could be on the cards, seeing as the developers have shown interest in expanding the series. Fingers crossed they’ll do so and hopefully it’ll sell twice as much and be twice as freaky.

- Adam Radcliffe

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[H:MM:SS] – Show Time Line
——————–
Opening Song (Innocent Primeval Breaker – Ys Seven OST)

[0:00:44] – Introductions

[0:02:43] – Jason’s Now Playing

[0:56:59] – Steven’s Now Playing

[1:09:04] – News

[2:19:38] – Wrap Up

[2:21:34] – End

Game: Dead Space
Format: iPod touch/iPhone
Developer: IronMonkey Studios
Publisher: EA

Taking place shortly before the events of Dead Space 2, you play as codename Vandal, an engineer that is performing an initiation in order to join the Church of Unitology. In a move that will not surprise those that played any of the previous Dead Space games, this inevitably spells disaster for all involved; unleashing the Necromorph hordes on the unsuspecting citizens of the Sprawl, much to the delight of the barmy church. It is then up to you to atone for your mistake, and try to stop the Necromorphs from proceeding any further.

The series' trademark limb removal combat system is as satisfying as the console Dead Space games

First impressions are incredibly strong; the game features a fantastic visual style that really captures the established look and feel of Dead Space games. Screenshots do not really do the game justice; from a distance you could almost believe that the graphics were those of the original Dead Space on Xbox 360 and PS3. Upon closer inspection the character models have fairly square features, and look a little rough around the edges, but that does not stop this from being one of the iPod’s best looking games to date.

From the outset this much is clear; Dead Space is a fantastic authentic addition to the franchise. The basic gameplay is incredibly similar to the console games. The controls are easily the best third person controls of any iPod game. Rather than having digitised analogue sticks for you to use, simulating those of a console controller, this control system is far less restrictive. You can move forward by sliding your thumb forwards and backwards on the left side of the screen and can control where you are looking by moving your thumb across the right hand side of the screen.

Weapon controls are just as simple. Simply press anywhere on the screen and Vandal will draw a weapon. Aiming is handled in the same way (fortunately you are able to move, albeit slowly, whist aiming) and all that is required to shoot is a light tap on the screen.

If an enemy grabs you, you can use your plasma saw to slice off their arm

While in most other games, performing a head shot is enough to take down your foes, anyone that has played Dead Space will know that shooting a Necromorph in the head will only make it angrier. As with the console games you need to shoot enemies limbs off in order to achieve maximum damage. This can lead to some wonderfully tense moments when a slobbering Necromorph charges towards you as you try to find your target. Should a Necromorph get their mitts on you then you will be required to swipe across the screen to use your blade to hack off a limb and gain your freedom.

Each of the four weapons at your disposal has a secondary fire mode that usually deals more damage. To switch fire modes you simply tilt the iPod. Although in some of the more frantic situations you may find yourself moving slightly and inadvertently switching fire modes, which is a real pain when the secondary fire function of your weapon happens to be a devastating explosive device.

Abilities included to aid you in your quest are the stasis ability, which can be used to slow down fast moving objects and enemies – granting you much needed breathing space – and Telekinesis, which allows you to pick up objects, including severed limbs, and fling them at enemies. Unlike the console Dead Space game, your stasis and health bars recharge quickly over time, which is a welcome feature.

Your Weapons, Suit, and Stasis ability are all upgradable at an in-game work bench using power nodes that are found around each level. The upgrade system from the first Dead Space remains intact, allowing you to improve a weapon’s damage, capacity, reload speed, and firing speed. Nodes are also purchasable at store booths, along with ammo for your weapons, and more powerful suits.

Each weapon can be upgraded with power nodes

One area in which this Dead Space game differs from the previous games is in its mission structure. The original Dead Space featured a great deal of back tracking and revisiting areas that you had previously thought conquered, while this game is far more linear. Your basic objective invariably revolves around finding the panels that are responsible for locked doors, smashing them, and then proceeding to the next area. Along the way, and with a reassuring regularity, you will come across large open rooms. Within seconds of entering, these rooms become sealed off, and will remain closed until you kill every Necromorph in the room.

If I had one criticism, it would be that during these lock-down events it can be difficult to see where the enemies are, simply because it’s so dark. While brightness settings can be adjusted in the options, turning the brightness right up does take away some of the game’s beauty.

At several points in the game you will enter zero gravity sections, including some on the hull of the station. This necesitates jumping from platform to platform in order to navigate your way through the area. To perform a zero gravity jump you simply aim your cursor at the area you wish to reach (the cursor helpfully turns green to indicate that you will make it) and shake the iPod. These zero gravity jumps are more like the ones found in the original Dead Space in that you cannot steer yourself after you have jumped. As someone that has not yet played Dead Space 2, in which you are able to move freely in zero gravity, this lack of freedom did not bother me in the slightest.

The Zero Gravity sections remain unchanged from the original Dead Space

Should you choose to register your game with EA and sign in to their website you will be rewarded with power nodes to use in the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Dead Space 2. Completing the game also unlocks a new outfit for Isaac, which offers some incentive for completionists to purchase the game – as if it being a great game wasn’t enough for you.

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 5/5 The greatest achievement of this game is the fantastic visual style that really manages to capture the feel of Dead Space. Dimly lit corridors, steam vents, oodles of gore, and the deformed Necromorphs create a fantastically creepy atmosphere.

Sound: 5/5 This creepy atmosphere is enhanced by the brilliant sound design, from the minimalistic music, the shrieks of the Necromorphs, and satisfying crunch when you stamp on a downed foe, to the subdued muffled sound effects when in zero gravity; Dead Space has some of the best sound design of any game.

Story: 4/5 As a device for setting the scene for Dead Space 2, Dead Space is quite successful. It manages to introduce us to the Sprawl, the setting of Dead Space 2, and gives us an insight in to the hierarchy of the base. Someone that has never played a Dead Space game before may find it hard to follow the story, as they seem to assume that we all know what a Unitologist is and what a Marker is.

Gameplay: 4/5 One of the best accomplishments is how the team at IronMonkey have managed to accurately recreate the experience of playing Dead Space on consoles. Couple that with some genuinely enjoyable scenes that to put you in to the crumbling mindset of the character – including one that makes you think that your battery is moments away from depleting – and you have one of the most interesting console like experiences you can find on a hand-held.

Longevity: 4/5 There are 12 levels in the game that take place in about six different environments. Playing through the game once will unlock hard difficulty, as well as a new game plus mode that will allow you to carry over your upgrades to your next play through. There are over 40 in-game achievements to earn that unlock wallpapers for your iPod, which may offer added incentive to completionists.

Overall: 4.5 out of 5

Dead Space is a brilliant portable downloadable title that successfully recreates the look and feel of the console game series it is based upon. With tight intuitive controls, great graphics, and brilliant sound design, it is hard not to recommend Dead Space to all iPod owning adults, especially those that plan on purchasing Dead Space 2 on their console of choice.

Dead Space is available to download right now from the Ap Store for £3.99.

- Luke Mears

In a few short months the sequel to the critically acclaimed and award winning Dead Space will be upon us. For those unaware of Visceral Games’ extremely atmospheric survival horror title; firstly, you should definitely check it out and secondly, you can read our review of the fabulous Wii game in the franchise; Dead Space Extraction.

The teaser trailers and recent EA conference at GamesCom in Cologne has certainly left many with questions about Dead Space 2. Lucky then that our very own roving reporter, Tom Wallis, managed to sit down with the Executive Producer on Dead Space 2, the enigmatic Steve Papoutsis.

Steve, can you tell us in what ways Dead Space 2 is different from the previous game?

Sure, so Dead Space 2 takes place three years after the original Dead Space. The premise is Isaac fights to destroy a government plot to resurrect the Marker. This story is focused around Isaac and his experience, and that’s kinda the set up for the game. In terms of what has changed between Dead Space 1 and Dead Space 2 there has been a lot of enhancements. One thing I want to be clear about is that we got the chance to make Dead Space 2 because a lot of people enjoyed and were vocal about Dead Space 1, so we want to make sure that we aren’t doing anything that takes away from what those people enjoyed about the first game.

With that in mind we had to make sure that Dead Space 2 was actually better than the last game; we had to do a variety of things to enhance the game. Those things start with the controller and move their way out, right? The most important thing about a game, as a game developer, is what’s going on with the player when they’re interacting and playing the game. So we wanted to make sure that the controls were very natural and were responsive.

When people, whether they are new players or returning players, pick up the controller it felt really good in their hands, they were able to jump in, kick ass, and start basting off Necromorph limbs. To that end we’ve sped up Isaac in general, from his locomotion speed, we’ve enhanced his melee attacks, the stomp, we’ve made Kinesis more responsive, so you can use it more often in combat; in the previous games, one of the personal complaints I had was that if I wanted to use Kinesis in the middle of a fight it was very clunky and hard to line up a shot. So we really made that much more responsive, so you can quickly pick something up and fire it back at an enemy just like the last game but we’ve added some other touches to that such as impalement.

In the previous game, sure you could grab an object or a Necromorph limb and shoot it at bad guy, it would knock them back. In this game if you actually grab a discarded Necromorph limb or a pointy object in the environment you’ll actually impale them to a surface, defeating them. So that is very different. We’ve done some experimentation around Stasis and the way that’s going to work. Those are just a few things right off the bat with the general controls.

Zero gravity sections have been completely reworked.

The next evolution has been our zero gravity sequences where we’ve given Isaac free 360 degree range of motion. In the previous game you had point to point jumping, so you’d pick a place to go, you’d jump, you weren’t able to shoot, you weren’t able to do anything until you landed. In dead Space 2 you’re actually able to move in 360 degree range of motion freedom and also have combat during those set ups.

Also we’ve really focused on the pacing of the game, so it is really important to a horror game that you have good pacing. The previous game, very tense, people were on the edge of their seat the whole time, but it was kind of a slow burner, it was like that the whole way through. I think that at points people felt it got kind of predictable ‘OK something is going to jump out at me… Boo!’. With Dead Space 2 we’re really trying to mix it up a bit, so there’s moments where you are extremely tense, and then there’s moments of epic release like we showed in that halo jump sequence, where Isaac is doing something epic, and very different, very out of the blue to what he is doing the majority of the time. The idea behind that is to vary the pacing, mix it up, so that players have, as I said, really tense moments and these moments of ‘What the fuck? This is cool! What am I doing?’ and then you’re right back in to the scary stuff, right back in to the tension building to the next big release point. So that’s kind of, in a nutshell, that’s a bunch of different things that we’ve done with Dead Space 2.

What are you guys demoing today? Can people get their hands on the game?

In terms of what they can get their hands on… we have our E3 demo and we’re also showing what we showed at the press conference at the press conference yesterday, and a little bit more. That’s not hands on, but the E3 demo is playable.

If someone is new to the franchise, is it easy to get in to the game and pick up and play without playing the first game?

In terms of story? For sure. We’re really sensitive to that as well. We’re hoping to attract a lot of new players. When the game comes out and the story kicks off from the get go I think it is going to make sense to players, or at least give an idea of what has been happening. From that point forward I think it is going to make sense to people.

One of the big reveals you had was the reveal of Isaac’s face. How do you think that went down?

I think, in terms of showing his face, some people didn’t realise that we showed it in the first game; like at the very beginning you could see his face, you just had to move the camera. So that was there, and I don’t want to spoil, but there is another point in the game where you can see his face. But when we showed Isaac in Dead Space 2, with the helmet coming off and all that, I think people got excited and liked that; it’s a cool animation. Again, just trying to let people connect more with Isaac. I think one of the more interesting things we’ve done, and one of the things we hear a vocal reaction to, is his voice. In the previous game he didn’t talk at all, he was a mute, and that made sense because a lot of the time he was by himself, so what do you expect, he’s going to walk around speaking to himself? That’d be nonsense.

Isaac's face will be shown on more than one occasion this time.

In Dead Space 2 there are going to be other characters that he is going to meet across the game, and it only makes sense to give him a voice so that he can voice his opinion, have conversations with other people, and actually relate some of the things that are going on in his head at times, because this story revolves around him,

Are you not worried by the fact that this increased communication may take away from the atmosphere? Because in the first game Isaac was mostly alone, so if you’ve got people speaking to you does that not affect the atmosphere?

I think people could assume that, but that’d be a bad assumption. First of all Isaac is not going to be walking down a corridor talking to himself, again that’d be nonsense, right? I don’t particularly go walking around talking to myself, I dunno about you. Now if he is in a situation, just like we are, it would be silly if he didn’t respond to people talking to him. I think the fear is, in a lot of other video games people tend to go over the top with the chatter, where they’re just commenting about ‘oh that pretzel looks awesome!’. That’s just ridiculous, who cares? It has nothing to do with the game or the story, it is just filler. We are not going to do that, that is not in Dead Space 2.

"Oh, that Pretzel is Awesome!"

What is in Dead Space 2 is a story that is something we’ve worked really hard to create and that we want to deliver, and it wouldn’t make sense if Isaac didn’t speak. People are going to have to play the game to see what I am talking about, but if anyone is concerned Isaac is not going to be walking down corridors, snapping off corny one liners, you know ‘oh I just blasted that Necromorph!’. That is not happening in the game, so if you guys can get the word out there, please do, because that that’s not what we’re doing here.

Who have you got to voice Isaac?

The actor’s name is Gunner Wright, he’s never been in a game before.

With plans for a new novel/manga/comic book tie in are there any plans to bring the game to the big screen?

That would be super cool; we have an animated feature coming out as well – our second one – but as far as a full feature film, we don’t have anything locked in for that.

Do you have any plans to release a demo to the public on Playstation Network, or Xbox Live?

We don’t have any plans for a demo, but we do have another game that acts as a kind of prologue to Dead Space 2 called Dead Space Ignition, which is coming out on Xbox 360 and PS3, that is a fun little thing that we are doing that’s actually a combination between an animated comic that has branching paths, so you’re actually able to pick different options as you go through the story. So imagine a motion comic where you can actually determine the outcome of what’s going on and then interspersed throughout those decision points are actual mini games that you’ll be playing- you’ll be hacking and doing some of those things – and that game dovetails nicely in to Dead Space 2.

Does the downloadable game bridge the gap between the first game and the second game, or is it a completely separate entity?

Dead Space Ignition is more of a prologue to Dead Space 2.

Isaac takes a page from Dante's book by shooting horrible babies.

Will there be a Dante unlockable skin in the game, as there was an unlockable Isaac skin in Dante’s Inferno?

Yeah, well I can’t really say, sorry. That’s a good question though.

How about the multiplayer?

We are going to have multiplayer and we’ll be talking about that really soon in more detail. Today all I can say is that you will be able to strategically dismember your friends.

How does the new weapon system improve upon the original?

So one thing that we’ve done, again trying to enhance everything about the game, we’ve gone back and put a lot of effort in to asking people what they thought of the original weapons. It’s kind of different in Dead Space, we had a ton of weapons and many people just used the plasma cutter. Each weapon had an alternate fire, so if you think about it we had about 16 weapons if we count those alternate fires, which is an immense number of weapons. People picked their favourite weapons, they used that weapon, they focused on that, and did some rig upgrades.

What we’re trying to do with the second game is give players more motivation to use an experiment with the other weapons, and that is going to come across in the upgrade trees that we have in the game. We’re still going to have the work bench, so you’ll be able to go in there and modify your weapons and enhance things like rate of fire, damage, etcetera. But we’re also playing around with the idea of letting players re-spec their weapons, so if they invest a lot of effort in to one weapon and they decide ‘you know, I don’t like that’ they’ll be able to modify that.

We’re doing a lot of things there, and another piece we’re looking at the weapons that people didn’t use a lot – and I’ve been asking a lot of questions about this on my twitter feed about this stuff – and getting feedback on which weapons you didn’t like, and then we’ve gone back and enhanced those. So, for instance, people thought the flame thrower looked really cool, but they felt like it wasn’t useful in the game. So we’ve gone back and made some modifications to that as well as a variety of the other weapons.

Is there a release date for Dead Space 2 yet?

Yeah, in Europe it is January 28^th 2011, and in North America it is the 25^th.

Are there any new exciting enemies that you can talk about?

Well, we definitely have a bunch of new enemies. So far we’ve talked about the Puker, an enemy that actually pukes on you. It has projectile vomit attack, you can actually use that against enemies so if you’re clever you can get other enemies to stand in the way so that it’ll damage them. He also has a snare ability which will, if successful in hitting Isaac, will actually slow Isaac down, which will modify the pace of combat. So when you see him you’re going to want to take him down quickly because if he slows you down the other enemies could get to you. We haven’t really talked about that, so that’s some new news.

The Necromorphs are as grotesque as ever.

We’ve also shown off the Stalker, and we’ve shown the Pack, and the Nest which we showed off in the Gamescom demo, that bulbous sack with the lady that comes out, the Crawlers, and the Cysts. Those are just a few that we’ve talked about so far.

When you’re coming up with new enemies who is it that comes up with them? Are they a bit missed up?

(laughter) Well that’s one of the cool things about the Dead Space team is that there’s just an immense number of very talented and creative people. We’re really focused on collaborating with one and other, it isn’t just one person that comes up with these things. We’ll have meetings and talk about ideas, and then our production designer Ben will actually then work with the art director to create the look of the enemies. It comes from a different directions; sometimes it is motivated by what the designers want from a gameplay perspective like the idea of Puker and the snare, that was originally motivated by the design need. Other times it comes from the artistic perspective, and the designers work around that constraint, and come up with interesting dismembering points and things around the enemy. There’s a lot of different people that work and contribute on that. As far as them being twisted, well yes, everybody on the team is pretty twisted.

Have you made an effort to make the game more gory, more visually visceral, than the original?

We’re definitely trying to enhance the visuals of the game, for sure. But one of the things that makes horror work, in my opinion, it isn’t just about buckets of blood and gore – that is interesting and gets a reaction – but what is really important about horror is it being relatable. When you look at the Necromorphs, I think what works with them is that they’re humanoid, they’re twisted, the fact that the slashers are missing their jaws, its the traumatic things on a relatable level. So you look at it and go ‘wow that would suck to have my jaw ripped apart’, so you immediately have a connection, whether you like it or dislike it, or are disgusted, horrified by it, whatever. That’s how you’re going to get a response from people, it’s not just having tons of blood or things splattering, that stuff’s cool but you want to use it tastefully.

We don’t go in to the game thinking ‘we’re going to have more blood than ever before!’, that’s not what we’re about. The other piece of the horror component is not only within the enemies, but also the environment. With science fiction you can get kind of touchy, there’s high fantasy science fiction like a Star Wars, where there’s magical powers, lightsabers, things like that. With Dead Space we want to make it more believable, again that’s because if you’re walking around an environment that you’re familiar with, say a school or a shopping mall or something like that, there’s something in your head that goes ‘Hey OK, I know what this is’ and when something happens on that spot it’s scary. If you put a person in to Fantasy Space Land then its like ‘OK,I don’t know what to expect’ so you don’t have that connection, and you can’t scare a person as easily, or it comes off as not scary.

In terms of environments is there going to be quite a big variation in it, what with the first game taking place primarily on the ship?

Yes, the Sprawl is a big City, so there’s a lot of different locations throughout the game. Again, focusing on that idea of relatable spaces, there’s going to be a lot of different spaces to see. So far we’ve shown the Church of Unitology in our E3 demo; today in the GamesCom room we’ve shown the Solar Aray, which is a futuristic almost lighthouse set up. Those are just a couple of different locations, and the end of the GamesCom footage also shows the transport hub through the Sprawl, the place where you catch the train to go to different places.

In terms of length how long do you anticipate it will take to finish?

Oh, probably about 10 minutes. (laughs) No, Five months? No, that’s how long we have to finish the game. I don’t know; so far it is definitely as long as the last game, although it might actually be a little longer.

Thanks for taking the time to talk to us Steve.

Stay tuned to The Newb Review for more exclusive interviews over the coming weeks, and a full review of Dead Space 2 before release.

- Tom Wallis

The trailer yesterday showed what Visceral Games are calling Dead Space 2’s “Epic Moments”, and I was able to have a closer look at this today. “Epic Moment” describes the more cinematic set pieces in Dead Space 2; which is an entirely new narrative element. The Halo jump saw Isaac fired towards the City Sprawl through space and having to dodge oncoming debris from the decimated cityscape.

This particular set piece was reminiscent of Lylat Wars, and ended in Isaac smashing through a plate of glass, tumbling down a kind of ventilation tube before landing on his feet at the bottom. It seems Isaac has become a lot more mercenary since the last game as he is in control throughout his freefall; quite a change from some of the skin-of-your-teeth escapes from the first Dead Space.

Isaac falls through the air with swan like grace

Another way in which the franchise has become more cinematic with this outing is with the video calls seen throughout the narrative. Whilst they were present in the first game, these videos now receive more emphasis by taking up more of the screen and being in colour. This is a minor change, but another example of how Dead Space 2 has moved away from the dank grittiness the previous title.

It’s clear at this early stage that Dead Space 2 is a dramatic departure from its predecessor. The first was built around tension, using the creepy sound design and relatively slow gameplay mechanics to create a gaming experience that had its feet placed firmly in the survival horror genre. The sequel is a lot more action oriented, with a lot more emphasis placed on the gunplay and Isaac himself very visibly sped up when compared to his first outing.

Whilst purists will despair at this news, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Sure, if you’re a die-hard fan of the first game and wanted the sequel to produce the same game with a different setting, you won’t find that here. However the focus on gunplay and action feels noticeably more mainstream, and it seems that this was a conscious decision from the development team.

Dead Space 2 trades some of the survival horror instincts of it's predecessor in favour of a more action orientated feel

The transition from Dead Space to Dead Space 2 is perhaps similar to the transformation of the Mass Effect franchise seen between the first and second game. Whilst Mass Effect and Dead Space were arguably niche titles, as a hardcore RPG and Survival Horror titles respectively, Dead Space 2 is a lot more of a third person shooter.

Notably, whilst the attacks of the new enemies gave some intriguing strategy to proceedings, the feeling of struggling for survival felt in the first game was lacking. With the more powerful arsenal at Isaac’s disposal comes the feeling that you’re capable of dealing with anything the Necromorphs throw at you with relative ease; so for better or worse, the survival aspect of the Dead Space franchise has truly been left behind.

As well as Isaac being noticeably more agile, his abilities have also been amped up. The developers were keen to show us how Kinesis has evolved; it is now more responsive and easier to pull off when being attacked by the various enemies. Perhaps the most exciting new feature I was shown was the implementation of impalement. Using Kinesis you can now pick up severed limbs from enemies and use them to attack. A particular highlight was the moment I managed to pin an enemy to a wall. I’m told that it’ll be possible to pin enemies to almost any surface in the game and will bring a key strategic element to proceedings throughout combat.

Another new feature is the reimagining of Zero G sections. Whilst Dead Space saw you jump from one point to another in Zero G, without being able to use your guns or change your direction, the sequel allows full 360 degree movement using boosters attached to Isaac’s suit. On the PS3 you click L3 to perform a Zero G jump and land. Pressing R2 automatically orients Isaac within his surroundings, which is a useful feature as during more intense sections your orientation to objects can become an issue.

The Zero Gravity system has had a overhaul

Among the new enemies I was shown were the Puker, Nest and the Pack. It doesn’t take a genius to get the gist of what challenge each new enemy will deliver, but I’ll briefly go through them anyway. The Puker spits acid at Isaac, slowing his movement and damaging him if it hits. The Nest looks like a pulsing blob of flesh that fires a kind of homing missile towards Isaac. Finally the Pack bear a striking resemblance to adolescent teens and jump at you, several at a time, in an attempt to claw you from nape to chops. In fact, stick hoodies on the Pack and it’s a lot like a Friday night out in Essex.

Just like the previous title, dismemberment is the key to success in combat. But there are benefits to varying your attack style, such as shooting the head off the Puker to stop its acid spit.

The massive Boss fights of Dead Space make a return, and seem to have had a slight increase in frequency. This could have been due to the section of the game I was thrown into, but I had to deal with three of the bosses in a fifteen minute section of the game. Again, like the first game, some of the fights will be more of a straight fight; others will involve a bit more strategy and may even require that you simply escape.

The Boss fights are as epic as ever

Dead Space 2 is shaping up to be a really polished end product. Whilst the focus on action over suspense will upset some fans of the first game, I remain cautiously optimistic for a decent title.

Dead Space 2 will be released for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC on January 28^th 2011. Expect a full review over at www.newbreview.com soon.

Dead Space PS3 £8.50 http://astore.amazon.co.uk/newrev-21/detail/B0019840IA Ask either Braindead_hero or Crofterz to name one of the scariest games of this generation of consoles and they would undoubtedly answer “Dead Space!”. Any regular listener of our podcast will have heard these guys talking in depth about their love affair with this critically praised title. Taking influence from films like The Thing From Another World, Alien, and Event Horizon, and mixing it with the play style of the Resident Evil games, Dead Space is a third person survival horror game that has you trapped in space on a ship filled with undead aliens out for your blood. Crofterz finds it so frightening that he has to play it in day light with the sound off. You can’t really get better than that, can you?

Gears of War 2 GOTY edition £14.99 http://astore.amazon.co.uk/newrev-21/detail/B002MXX2IA Our very own Crofterz wrote: “Gears of War 2 is a brilliant game and it stands out as one of the fewer games which actually get somewhere to meeting the standards promised by the Microsoft hype machine. Building on a great first game, the second takes what the first game was so good at and adds to them. Both campaign mode and multi-player mode are both very enjoyable and certainly earns it’s right to be one of Microsoft’s blockbuster games.” Also included in this copy is every piece of downloadable content released for the game to date, which would set you back by at least £15 if you wanted to buy them all directly from the Xbox Live Marketplace. It would almost be rude not to take advantage of this offer.

Viva Pinata Trouble in Paradise £4.99 http://astore.amazon.co.uk/newrev-21/detail/B001CSMAVG Who says every good game has to be filled with blood and gore? Certainly not the UK’s own Rare, makers of such classic titles as Goldeneye, Banjo Kazooie, and the Viva Pinata games. Rather than shooting fools in the head, you take the role of a gardener who sets out to tame a patch of scrub land and attract various species to your garden. Think of this as Pokemon and The Sims crossed with Ground Force, and add 100 Litres of pure charisma. Chuck in two player split screen, and four player online, Trouble in Paradise is a fantastic family friendly game that can appeal to people of all ages. And for less than £5, if you’re an Xbox 360 owner you would be mad not to pick it up.

Bioshock 2 360 £26.80 http://astore.amazon.co.uk/newrev-21/detail/B00175NQIA When this was announced, a vocal faction on the internet rose up to question why this game even needed to exist. The first Bioshock had a very clear ending, and while uneven, had one of the most engaging storylines in a first person shooter to date. In our review for the site Mightyles wrote “While the story is a lot more conventional and straight forward than the original, it is consistent with the Bioshock universe, and truth be told a lot more even. Playing as the Big Daddy adds a new level of strategy to the game, and the Multiplayer should keep people coming back for a good while to come.”

Darksiders PS3 £24.91 http://astore.amazon.co.uk/newrev-21/detail/B001CSME0I As War, Horseman of the Apocalypse, you must find out who has destroyed humanity by reigniting an eternal conflict between Angels and Demons and punish them with your mighty weapons. Mightyles wrote “While some may deride the game for being too derivative, I personally found the overall experience to be very pleasing. This game is ideal for those that like adventure games, particularly those that have never played a Zelda game but always wanted to try one without purchasing a Nintendo console.” and JoeFeesh wrote “There’s a lot to love about this game. If you ever wanted to see what a mature Zelda game would be like or hoped for more adventuring and puzzle solving in your action brawler games, it’s all here.”

Red Faction Guerilla PS3 £9.93 http://astore.amazon.co.uk/newrev-21/detail/B0015XIEYA Tom01255 is a big fan of Red Faction Guerilla, going as far as saying “Red Faction: Guerrilla really is a joy… I thoroughly recommend it if you’re stuck for something to play… Explosions, as you would expect from a game focussing on demolition, sound and feel real and gratifying. The gameplay certainly has some issues, but these issues don’t detract from the fun you can have with this game…”

MadWorld Wii £7.46 http://astore.amazon.co.uk/newrev-21/detail/B001J6NCAY Taking a very clear influence from Sin City, this ultra stylish gore fest arena combat game may lack depth, but it is viscerally entertaining. Mightyles wrote “There’s something utterly hilarious about taking a stop sign from the side of a road and ramming it into the head of an enemy you had previous trapped by sticking him in a dumpster. Did I mention that this dumpster was also on fire? Madworld is a fun, arcadey, gory, yet humorous game that will satisfy your inner child no ends.”

House of the Dead Overkill Wii £12.73 http://astore.amazon.co.uk/newrev-21/detail/B001EO6J8I It seems like the Nintendo Wii is the new home of Light Gun games. One of the best to be found on the console is the latest in Sega’s long running series, House of the Dead Overkill. Mightyles Wrote “The style of the game has been dramatically overhauled, moving to a graphical style similar to a 70s exploitation movie, and a world populated with quirky, over the top characters. There is a film grain filter over the graphics, and the script is pure trashy B movie material, with numerous hilarious moments. In short, it is fantastic.”

Okami Wii £12.99 http://astore.amazon.co.uk/newrev-21/detail/B0016OIITY One of the more unique games available on the Wii, and one that genuinely makes excellent use of the motion controls is Capcom’s Okami. While you play as a god in the form of a Wolf for the most part, you are able to perform special moves by using the Wii remote like a paint brush and drawing specific symbols in order to pull the moves off. JoeFeesh wrote “There is a debate out there that’s been going on for a long time; are games a form of art? Okami is a working argument that they are. The visual style is beautiful and… is what makes the game so pretty, not the technical prowess. It’s hard to understand until you see the game in motion, and see for yourself how the world moves and feels like a living painting.”

Preorder Multiformat Deal of the Week

Red Dead Redemption PS3 Preorder £34.49 http://astore.amazon.co.uk/newrev-21/detail/B0026IBHH4

360 preorder http://astore.amazon.co.uk/newrev-21/detail/B0026IBHGU

Superstar developers RockStar, makers of the Grand Theft Auto series, have a new game coming out on 21st May. The sequel to the fantastic Red Dead Revolver, Redemption takes place in America’s old west, casting you as John Marston, a former outlaw sent to bring law and order to the what remains of the Wild West during the early days of the 20th century. With RockStar’s trademark excellent voice acting and attention to detail, this game looks to be more than just GTA on horseback.

Game: Dante’s Inferno
Platform: PS3
Developer: Visceral Games
Publisher: Electronic Arts

If you were to imagine a developer trying to come up with a new idea for a video game, you probably would not place a 14th century poem high up on the list of subject matter. Yet that’s exactly what the minds behind last year’s Dead Space have done; although they have taken a few liberties with the source material. Whilst I have never read ‘The Divine Comedy’, I do not think there is a section in which Dante hacks The Grim Reaper to pieces, takes his Scythe, and uses it to destroy the legions of hell… With a massive red cross sewn in to the flesh of his chest.

The game is a drastic departure from the original source material...

To set the scene, Dante’s Inferno puts you in the role of Dante Alighieri, who is slain during the crusades after having butchered a number of natives. When the Grim Reaper comes for him, Dante is surprised to learn that he is going to hell; despite a Bishop telling him that every sin of his was absolved. Deciding that the Bishop has lied to him, Dante fights off the Grim Reaper, takes his Scythe and returns to his native Italy to see his lover Beatrice. Upon arriving, he finds her dead, and sees her soul dragged off to hell. Armed with his trusty Scythe, Dante must fight his way through a legion of demons and hell-spawn in order to rescue the love of his life. In terms of design and controls, this game plays almost exactly the same as the God of War games – you press Square and Triangle for light attacks, Circle to use long ranged attacks and X to jump. Use the right stick to dodge, R1 to block and R2 to grab. This game is essentially GOD OF WAR: The Catholic Edition.

The Power of Christ Compells Thee!

The basic aim in each battle is to beat your enemies to a pool of goo to release their soul, which you can then use to power yourself up and earn new moves. When you grab an enemy you can choose to either punish your target, or absolve them of their sins. Either option will reward you with what are essentially good points and evil points. These points can be used to unlock moves that are either good or evil. For instance, a basic good move dissolves your enemy and sends them to heaven, while an evil move will turn them to mush, leaving them as the damned creatures that they are. From the little I’ve been able to see from the demo there does’nt appear to be a huge difference between the good and evil moves, although I am sure that as you unlock the more powerful moves, the differences will become more apparent. As you progress further through the demo you come across a number of different enemy types – the basic weakling grunts, flying enemies, larger enemies that will take a severe beating, and huge beasts that you can eventually pound into submission and ride around yourself. When riding the beasts you can make them stamp their feet to crush enemies, grab them, or breathe fire on them. It is pretty satisfying to walk over to a group of about half a dozen enemies and stomp them into dirt.

Upon taking control of the beasts, you can have them breathe fire on unsuspecting demons.

A trailer at the end of the demo promises battles through the 9 circles of hell (Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Wealth, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, and Treason) with each level designed to specifically follow its own set theme. While the demo is about 15 minutes long, it does give a decent impression of what the final game will be like. The similarities to God of War are very striking, and whilst this is great news for 360 owners, as the 360 doesn’t really have a decent God of War styled game, does the PS3 really need another one with God of War 3 coming out later in the year?

The demo is currently available on the Playstation Network, and will be available for the 360 soon, with release set for early February. Despite still having a few reservations, this is definitely a title to watch out for.

Game

There has been something a of a resurgence of light gun games in recent years thanks to the release of the Nintendo Wii. At one time back before the days of flat screen LCD televisions there seemed to be a genuine excitement amongst the masses about the release of the latest Namco TIME CRISIS game, or Sega’s HOUSE OF THE DEAD series. There was little cooler than being able to stand in your bedroom and recreate the arcade experience, holding a plastic gun in your hand, and taking careful aim as you shot people to bits. The latest generation of high definition consoles appears to have moved away from recreating that old school arcade experience, and the representation of light gun shooters have come off particularly worse for wares. Just look at the PS3 TIME CRISIS game to see how far the genre has fallen. However, while the PS3 and 360 have seemingly abandoned the light gun shooter, they have found a new home in the casual arms of the Nintendo Wii.
DEAD SPACE EXTRACTION is the latest light gun game to be released on the Wii, and is a prequel to the excellent DEAD SPACE that was previously released on PS3 and 360. While the original DEAD SPACE was heavily influenced by games such as RESIDENT EVIL 4, and movies like EVENT HORIZON and John Carpenter’s THE THING, this game takes a lot of inspiration from classic light gun games and blends it with the style and sensibilities of it’s high definition predecessor. The story is a prequel, dealing with the events that unfolded on the planet Aegis VII when a large number of the colonists go insane following the unearthing of a stone monument known as The Marker. The colonists begin to kill each other, and the dead bodies are mutated and reanimated in to deformed Necromorphs. You are tasked with escaping the colony and making your way to the spaceship Ishimura that is in orbit of the planet. Impressively the game manages to maintain the high level of dismemberment, despite the Wii’s technological limitations. In order to perform the most damage you need to shoot off the enemy’s limbs. Just shooting their head’s off rarely has the desired effect, and can often make the creatures go in to a blind frenzy. Other features from the original game such as Zero Gravity sections and telekinesis make it through intact, making it feel like an authentic Dead Space experience. All of the weapons from the first game, such as the flame thrower and the force gun, are included as well as an all new pistol. In order to activate the secondary fire mode, you need to twist the remote sideways.

Despite the inferior graphics DEAD SPACE EXTRACTION maintains the same look and style of the original

Extraction is not entirely derivative of the original game and has a few new tricks up it’s sleeve. The game features a series of puzzles that take advantage of the Wii’s motion controls, requiring you to hack in to computer panels. Your task is to guide a laser beam along a set course without veering off of the path, and avoiding obstacles, similar to a Buzz Wire game. You can also create barricades at certain points by firing bolts in to the corners of specific pieces of metal. It is not much, but it serves to break up any monotony you may find in your typical light gun shooter. Having said that, there were a few instances in the earlier levels of the game where I found myself becoming impatient with the numerous scenes in which our characters stop and talk about how scared they are and how they cannot believe that this is happening. I understand that this is done in an effort to control the pace, build an atmosphere, and carry along the narrative, but I have reservations about just how suitable it is to have your character stand still and look at a group of people shitting their pants in a light gun game. Previous light gun games have been very heavy on the action, and less focused on the narrative. However, this only really applies to the first few levels, as the story elements that occur later in the game are far more interesting and surprising, and as such actually held my attention.

There is one new enemy type in this game – a head on the end of a long thin tentacle.

There are 10 levels to work your way through, and about half a dozen characters to play as. However, each character is tied to a specific level, so you will not be able to play as any character you like whenever you like. While it’s a nice touch, it does not really add much to the game, as every character tends to have the same sort of weapons. Speaking of the weapons, they can all be upgraded by finding specific upgrade collectibles in the story mode. At various points you will stop moving and be allowed to look around the room freely. At these points you can usually spot the glowing purple upgrade collectables, which can be picked up using your telekinesis. Other collectables include audio logs and text logs provided by the colonists, or the crew of the Ishimura. A series of challenges can be unlocked by making your way through the game. These usually involve making your way through a specific arena and killing as many Necromorphs as you can as quickly as you can. You also unlock episodes of the animated comic book that was released on Xbox Live and the PSN, which is a nice bonus. There are numerous difficulty settings to choose from with the highest being unlocked once you complete the game. The game will probably take about six hours to complete on the default difficulty, but due to the narrative nature of the game, and it’s linearity, you may find yourself with little motivation to return to the game once you have beaten it. If you are a fan of the original DEAD SPACE, and watched the animated movie, then you may find that this game initially treads a lot of familiar ground. You will be visiting numerous locations from the original game, which can bring with it one of two things; a pleasant nostalgic feeling, or a sense of familiarity which may in turn lead to boredom. For what it is worth, I found myself enjoying the game a lot more once the characters returned to the familiar setting of the Ishimura.

Yes, this is definitely Dead Space.

REVIEW ROUNDUP:

GRAPHICS: 5/5 The character models look very good, with some particularly decent lip syncing. The levels are well designed, and maintain the look at style of the original game. The enemies look suitably disgusting, with an impressive limb dismemberment system.

AUDIO: 5/5 Fantastically eerie music, and some excellent voice acting. The faint sounds in the space sections are particularly impressive. The sound design is of the same quality as the original game, which won numerous awards for it’s sound design.

GAMEPLAY: 3/5 The action can be very fast and frantic at times, and the shooting works particularly well. Each enemy is a puzzle of sorts, as you try to find the best way to dispose of them by shooting off a combination of limbs. The game is full of a number of great twists, particularly at the end of the first and ninth levels. However the game suffers a bit in the first few levels when you spend more time standing around looking at people freaking out, being led around by the nose, than actually playing the game.

LONGEVITY: 3/5 The single player will take a good 5 or 6 hours to complete as each of the 10 levels are fairly long. There are a series of challenges that are unlocked, as well as a series of higher difficulties. Yet, due to the narrative nature of the game, you may find little reason to come back to the story mode once you have completed it.

OVERALL: 4 weeping survivors out of 5. Fans of the Dead Space series will really enjoy this game, while it is still accessible enough for new players. There is a fairly nice variety in the gameplay, and the story is quite compelling, once you get past the first few levels.

[starreview tpl=16]

PRICE GUIDE (correct as of 12th October 09)

• Amazon: £22.10
• The Hut: £29.73
• Zavvi: £29.95
• Sendit: £29.89
• Play: £29.99
• Game: £29.99