The moment I saw my first necromorph in Dead Space is when I I fell in love with the franchise. I first stumbled upon Dead Space when I was looking through my cheat code book glossary. My mom was going to be taking me to the movie store where they also rented out video games and I wanted something new to play. I had an Xbox 360 at the time and didn't have too many games so I was looking to expand. I saw the words "Dead Space" and was instantly hooked.
I flipped the pages to that section and scanned over all the black and white pictures. I loved the look of it. So when my mom took me to the movie store, I bolted for their game section looking for this game. I was scanning the shelves until my eyes rested on the title "Dead Space." The cover made me want the game even more. It was a severed arm floating in space. The entire cover encapsulated the title perfectly. I knew I was going to love this game.
So my mom rented the game out and I took it home and popped it in ready to play. For anyone who has played Dead Space, loading the game is very creepy. The EA logo light flickers on revealing bloody marks and a hand print. The sound of when the lights flash is mechanical and rough giving you hints at what you are about to get into. That alone scared me. I then realized that this game, Dead Space, was my first ever horror game. This game is what go me started in the horror genre and I have loved it ever since.
Dead Space is the story of Isaac Clarke, an engineer. His mission and four others is too repair the communications array of a mining vessel known as the USG Ishimura. This ship is the largest in its class and holds the record for the most successful mining operations. Sadly, upon arrival the ship is in disarray and the crew has long been gone. Instead they are replaced with deformed human bodies called necromorphs. These creatures are not zombies, but aliens that are able to shape dead organic material at their will. This ability allows for some grotesque creatures such as the one below.
These creatures were all over the ship and the only way to kill them, was to cut of their limbs. As Isaac, you would uses tools or weapons in this case to cut off their limbs. Guns such as the plasma cutter and ripper blade were originally used for industrial use on a mining vessel, but are now cutting the limbs off what were once human beings. These morphed human bodies made for terrifying encounters across a dark ship.
What made Dead Space so great though, was its evolutionary heads up display(HUD). The HUD was simply non existent. Instead of a health bar in the corner of the screen, a health meter is built into the back of Isaac's engineering suit. A status meter is also added later on for slowing down enemies and objects. If you ever needed to know how much ammo you had, all you had to do was simply aim your weapon and the ammo counter would pop up on the gun. The lack of HUD allowed for the player to be immersed in the game completely. Quick menus were essentially gone in Dead Space other than you inventory slot and confusing map, but opening these up did not pause the game making you very vulnerable to lurking enemies.
Dead Space's game play and story made it a very popular horror game that set the standard for all survival horror games. Dead Space's environment made its setting scary and unforgettable. In Dead Space 2, known as the best game in the series, made the original Dead Space so much better. Increasing the amount of weapons, suits and necromorphs made this game perfect. Dead Space 2 kept the similar environment with dark narrow hallways but also opened up some of the areas with many enemies coming out at once.
So Dead Space was my very first horror game making me fall in love with the series and the genre. I now strive to find new and exciting horror games that will make me jump out of my seat. Dead Space will always be my favorite video game and will never leave my list of top games to play.
