Dead Space (video game)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dead Space is a
survival horror third-person shooter video game, developed by
EA Redwood Shores (now Visceral Games) for
Microsoft Windows,
PlayStation 3 and
Xbox 360. The game was released on all platforms through October 2008.
[3]
The game puts the player in control of an engineer named Isaac Clarke,
who battles the Necromorphs, reanimated human corpses, aboard an
interstellar mining ship, the USG
Ishimura.
[4] The game was met with positive critical reception, and has sold over 3 million copies.
Dead Space 2 and
Dead Space 3 were released on January 25, 2011
[5][6] and February 5, 2013, respectively.
[7]
Gameplay
Isaac battles a group of Necromorphs.
The player controls Isaac Clarke (named after
science fiction writers
Isaac Asimov and
Arthur C. Clarke[8]), a ship systems
engineer
who must fight his way through a mining starship infested with
"Necromorphs", human corpses reanimated and mutated by an alien virus.
The game is played from an over-the-shoulder third-person perspective.
[4]
Dead Space does not use a traditional
heads-up display; instead, all information is relayed to the player via
holographic projections
from Isaac's Resource Integration Gear (RIG) spacesuit and the weapons
themselves. For example, a small holographic display on the weapon shows
the ammunition count; also, the "health meter" indicating Isaac's
condition is integrated into the suit spine.
[9]
Via floating holograms projected in front of Isaac, the player can
check the current objectives and the 3D map, or access the inventory
screen to manage items. However, the game still progresses in real time,
so the player is in danger of being attacked while doing this.
[9]
Combat involves a mechanism called "strategic
dismemberment",
in which the player must cut off limbs or sections of the Necromorphs
to defeat them. For example, shooting most Necromorphs in the head will
have little effect, but they can be stopped once the player removes its
arms and legs.
[10]
Depending on how they are wounded, Necromorphs can adopt new stances
and tactics, even sprouting new limbs or giving birth to new enemies in
the process.
[11]
In keeping with Isaac's profession as an engineer, the weapons in
Dead Space are mostly
improvised from mining tools,
[9] such as a plasma cutter (for horizontal and vertical slicing), rotary saw, a hydrazine torch (repurposed as a
flamethrower), a high-energy contact beam, and a force cannon that emits powerful
shock waves. A military-grade
automatic rifle
is also available. All weapons feature a secondary-fire mode; for
example, the plasma cutter can be rotated 90 degrees for an optimal
angle for more effective dismemberment of vertical limbs (such as legs
on a normal bipedal humanoid).
[12]
The player must scavenge for ammunition and other various items, which
are found throughout the ship or dropped by Necromorphs when killed.
Automated stores throughout the ship can be accessed to buy and sell
items or store them for later use. Also, the player can use Bench units,
workbenches used to upgrade Isaac's suit and weapons with "power nodes".
Other than weapons, Isaac is also equipped with other tools to help
him survive, solve puzzles, and combat enemies more effectively. Isaac's
Stasis ability can be used to slow down enemies and objects
temporarily, and a Kinesis module allows Isaac to pick up and throw
items, which also allows him to impale Necromorphs.
[9] Dead Space also features
vacuum and
zero gravity environments, and Isaac can navigate through them using his
pressurized suit and magnetic boots.
[13] Isaac will eventually
suffocate
while in a vacuum or a toxic environment as his suit can only contain a
limited amount of air, so the player is forced to proceed quickly when
in these situations.
Synopsis
Set in the year 2508,
[14] when the USG
Ishimura (Japanese: "石村", lit. "Stone Village"), a "planetcracker"
starship, sends out a
distress signal to the Concordance Extraction Corporation (CEC) during a
mining operation on the planet Aegis VII. The CEC dispatches the USG
Kellion to investigate. After a guidance system malfunction crashes the
Kellion into the
Ishimura dock, the crew tries to seek other means of transport.
[15]
As they explore what appears to be an abandoned ship, they are attacked
by grotesque monsters, killing off all but Engineer Isaac Clarke,
Commander Zach Hammond, and Computer Specialist Kendra Daniels. Hammond
notices that many of the ship's systems are failing; he and Kendra
direct and assist Isaac in fixing them, so as to keep them all alive for
rescue.
[16][17]
As Isaac moves about making the necessary repairs, he discovers
various text and audio logs scattered throughout the ship, piecing
together the events that transpired prior to their arrival: during the
course of its illegal mining of Aegis VII, the
Ishimura crew
found the Red Marker, the most valuable relic of Unitology, an
influential and powerful religion. Captain Mathius, a devout
Unitologist, shifted focus, after being asked by the Church of
Unitology, from mining to retrieving the Marker.
[18][19] Soon after the Marker's extraction to the
Ishimura, humans from the planet's colony and the ship suffered from
mass hysteria and violent
hallucinations,
before subsequently killing each other. Mathius cut off traffic and
communications between the two sides, later going insane. Chief Science
Officer Terrance Kyne tried to relieve Mathius of duty, only to
accidentally kill the captain in a struggle.
[20]
An alien virus, the genetic coding of which is encrypted on the Marker,
then began ravaging the Aegis VII colony, infecting any available
corpses and turning them into "Necromorphs" - mutated and reanimated
corpses that violently slaughter uninfected humans to spread the
infestation.
[21][22] A colony shuttle carrying an infectious Necromorph caused the scourge to spread across the
Ishimura.
Though Hammond states that he is unaware of what the Marker is, Kendra
confides to Isaac that Hammond may be lying. Isaac later encounters his
girlfriend Nicole Brennan, a medical officer aboard the
Ishimura, though they are unable to meet.
[17]
After repairing the critical systems, Isaac's team launches a second beacon, attracting the nearby USM
Valor; however, the
Valor,
having picked up an escape pod with a Necromorph inside (jettisoned
earlier by Hammond) is overrun and crashes into the ship. Hammond
deduces, from the military equipment he finds on board, that the
Valor was actually assigned to destroy the
Ishimura (later confirmed through a text log found on the Valor.)
[23] Deciding that they must escape while they can, Isaac and Hammond retrieve the
Valor's
power core in order to repair an available shuttle, though Hammond is
killed by an enhanced Necromorph in the process. Dr. Kyne, one of the
last survivors of the
Ishimura, later contacts Isaac, urging him to return the Marker to Aegis VII, believing that it can restrain the "
Hive Mind", a creature that controls the Necromorphs (though originally created for military purposes).
[24]
After assisting Isaac in loading the Marker onto the shuttle, Kendra
murders Kyne, revealing herself as a government operative ordered to
retrieve the Marker for her superiors.
[17] She reveals that the Marker is a
reverse-engineered
copy of the Black Marker found on Earth, placed on Aegis VII by the
government to monitor its effects. She then leaves on the shuttle
without Isaac, but Nicole arrives and is able to help him recall the
shuttle via remote pilot, prompting Kendra to flee via escape pod.
[17]
Isaac takes the Marker back to the colony, pacifying the Hive Mind
and creating a "dead space" that makes all Necromorphs in the
surrounding area dormant (it is revealed in the "backstory logs"
unlocked by completing the game that "dead space" refers to the area
surrounding the Marker wherein the infection and reanimation processes
are subdued by the emission of various types of signals from the
Marker). However, this also disrupts the
gravity tethers keeping Aegis VII from tearing itself apart.
[17]
As Isaac attempts to escape the planet, Kendra appears and starts to
take the Marker back to the shuttle. She shows Isaac, through a
recovered distress transmission, that Nicole committed suicide via
lethal injection before Isaac's team arrived on the
Ishimura; his
visions of her were the Marker's attempts to bring itself back to the planet.
[25]
Isaac intercepts Kendra loading the Marker back into the shuttle;
before she can leave, however, the Hive Mind reawakens, violently
killing her, leaving Isaac to defeat it in a ferocious battle.
[25]
Leaving the Marker behind, Isaac flies off in the shuttle before the
colony is destroyed. As he sets course away from Aegis VII, Isaac
removes his helmet and watches Nicole's first transmission again; now
knowing how it ends, he turns it off before it can finish. Noticing
something in his peripherals, Isaac looks to his right and is attacked
by a vision of a bloody Nicole, just before the scene cuts to black.
[26]
Development
Electronic Arts first announced
Dead Space in September 2007. The game was developed at their studio in
Redwood Shores, California, whose other titles include
The Godfather and
The Simpsons Game. The game's executive producer,
Glen Schofield,
said that the team aimed to create something 'darker and creepier' than
their previous titles: "We are all such huge fans of the horror and
sci-fi genres; we wanted to create the most terrifying game we could,
and keep the player on the edge of their seat the entire time."
[27] The design team reportedly spent time analyzing a wide variety of horror films in order to find inspiration for in-game scares.
[28]
Previews universally drew attention to the high levels of gore and
violence in the game, in particular the tactic of "strategic
dismemberment" (emphasized by Schofield as "the primary theme of
Dead Space"
[9]).
The Necromorphs cannot be subdued by a single shot, rather they have to
be incapacitated by shooting off their tentacles and appendages. A
series of developer diaries released for the game had featured one
episode about the system, in which developers mentioned that using
conventional tactics, such as aiming for the head or torso would only
serve to aggravate some of the Necromorphs.
[29] In order to make the corpses look more realistic, the development team studied photos of car crash victims.
[30] The game was initially in development for the original
Xbox console.
[31]
Audio
Dead Space's credits refer to two people for the music
composition. Audio director Don Veca was quoted in an interview saying
"The music credits read 'Music Composed and Conducted by
Jason Graves in Association with
Rod Abernethy.' Early on, Rod was involved in initial brainstorming, but Jason actually composed, conducted, and arranged all the music."
[32] On November 11, 2008, Amazon.com and
iTunes released the soundtrack of
Dead Space for download.
In 2009,
Dead Space was nominated for several awards by the
non-profit Game Audio Network Guild (GANG): Music of the Year, Audio of
the Year, and Sound Design of the Year.
[33] By the voting of GANG members,
Dead Space was awarded Audio of the Year and Sound Design of the Year.
[34]
DRM
The retail PC version of
Dead Space uses
SecuRom copy protection as seen in the other EA PC titles
Spore and
Mass Effect,
which requires online authentication. Previously it limited the number
of times a user could install the game to five; however, in April 2009
the company released de-authorization tools which afford an unlimited
number of installs.
[35] The
Steam and
Impulse versions do not have this DRM.
Marketing
Electronic Arts and
Image Comics announced a comic book series based upon the game on February 21, 2008. Illustrated by
Ben Templesmith and written by
Antony Johnston, the six-book
Dead Space comics are a prequel to the game. Set on Aegis VII, the planet that the USG
Ishimura
is orbiting, the deep space mining colony pulls an ancient artifact
called "The Marker" from the planet which begins to affect everyone in
the colony. The first issue was released on March 3, 2008. However, a
limited edition version of issue #1 with exclusive cover art was made
available at
WonderCon 2008 to the first 25 people who went to the convention each day.
[36]
Electronic Arts and
Starz Media also announced an animated film,
Dead Space: Downfall, a prequel to the events of the game, taking place after the Necromorphs invade the USG
Ishimura. The film, developed by Film Roman, was released on October 28, 2008.
[37]
Electronic Arts released an Ultra Limited Edition of the game limited to only 1,000 copies. The package includes the game,
Dead Space: Downfall, a bonus content DVD, the
Dead Space art book, a lithograph, and the
Dead Space comic.
[37]
People who bought the game within the first two weeks of its release
could also download exclusive suits for free: the Obsidian Suit for the
PlayStation 3 version and the Elite Suit for the Xbox 360 version.
[38]
Initially,
Dead Space community manager Andrew Green stated
that Germany, China and Japan had banned the game. However, it has been
confirmed that this was a marketing ploy and that
Dead Space was not banned in any country.
[39][40]
Italian horror director
Dario Argento lent his voice to Doctor Terrence Kyne character for the Italian release of the game.
[41]
No Known Survivors
On August 22, 2008, No Known Survivors was launched, a website similar to an
alternate reality game that provides an opportunity for visitors to explore the narrative world of
Dead Space.
[42]
The site depicts two stories, each divided into four chapters and using
3D animations, voice acting, original video, Papervision 3D technology,
and various other interactive components.
[43] The first,
Misplaced Affection,
tells the story of an organ replacement technician who falls in love
with a capable P-Sec officer and slowly loses his sanity as Necromorphs
attempt to break down the door to his shelter. The second,
Thirteen, follows a
sleeper agent
who "makes the wrong decision for the right reason", set after Isaac
launches the distress beacon. The site is less like a typical alternate
reality game and more like a PC
adventure game, such as
Myst.
The site is based around a hub featuring nine severed body parts,
each of which represent a content release. The week before a content
piece was released, its assigned body part would mutate, finally
evolving into a mature Necromorph part. Starting on August 25 and ending
the week of the PC release, a new Necromorph part became active every
Monday, allowing visitors to continue the stories featured on No Known
Survivors up until
Dead Space's release. Following the release of
Dead Space,
ninety three prize winners were awarded a copy of the game on a
platform of their choosing, while ninety two prize winners were awarded
the limited collector's edition of the game and one grand prize winner
was awarded the limited edition of the game in addition to a life-sized
replica of Isaac Clarke's level three Rig helmet.
Reception
Dead Space has received positive critical and commercial reception.
Xbox World 360
awarded the Xbox 360 version a 91 out of 100, stating the game was a
"nail-biting experience," driven forward by a "film-worthy" script and
"inspired" setting, and that it was "
Rapture in space: every bit as disturbing, just as meticulously designed and easily as believable."
[63] PlayStation World awarded the game 9/10 and a PSW gold award, stating that
Dead Space
is the "world's scariest game", saying "This is bold, bleak gaming from
the haunting opening credits to the pulse pounding finish."
[64] IGN rated the game 8.7/10, saying it was "visually striking, everything from the holograms to the Necromorph is incredible."
GamePro awarded the game a 5/5.
1UP.com
gave the game a B+, saying that it is "incredibly polished", but
slightly repetitive and criticizing several gameplay elements that
detract from the game's horror theme, such as the waypoint system.
Eurogamer
gave the game a 7/10, saying "provided all you want from a game is the
opportunity to repeatedly turn evil monsters into red mush in gorgeous
HD detail.
Dead Space easily delivers on that promise, but fails
to turn its polished production values into something truly memorable
over the long haul."
GameSpot rated
Dead Space
at 9.0 out of 10, calling it "an incredibly atmospheric and
disturbingly gruesome deep-space adventure that will haunt your dreams
and leave you begging for more."
Game Informer
rated the PS3 version at 9.25 out of 10, saying "Although the reasons
for most missions are mundane, the game always falls back on its great
gameplay and atmosphere."
The Guardian gave
Dead Space four stars.
X-Play has also given the Xbox 360 version of
Dead Space four stars out of five.
Giant Bomb editor Brad Shoemaker gave the Xbox 360 version of
Dead Space
5 stars out of 5, saying it was "much greater than the sum of its
familiar parts. It's also one of the best shooters so far this year."
[65] GameTrailers
gave it 8.8 out of 10, praising the audio, the atmosphere, and the
dismemberment, saying that "it was interesting to unlearn the head
shot". Its main criticism was a lack of enemy variety, and no hot
buttons for certain items.
[66]
Dead Space was a commercial success, with EA CFO Eric Brown confirming 1 million sales in 2008 across three platforms.
[67] On August 3, 2010, EA announced the game has sold 2 million copies.
[68]
Sequels and related media
The success of
Dead Space has led to additional games, films and print media. In September 2009,
Dead Space: Extraction was released for the
Wii, a prequel to
Dead Space.
[69][70] Dead Space 2 was released on January 25, 2011,
[71] for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows,
[72][73] with Isaac reprising his role as the protagonist.
[74] Dead Space for
iOS was released on iTunes on Jan 14, 2011 and takes place 3 years after the first Dead Space game. It was later released for
Android and for
BlackBerry Tablet OS. The latest installment,
Dead Space 3 was released in February 2013.
Dead Space: Downfall is an animated film, and a prequel to
Dead Space. An animated sequel,
Dead Space: Aftermath, which takes place between the two video games, was released to tie-in with the
second game. On July 24, 2009, it was revealed that Electronic Arts was working with director
D. J. Caruso
on a live action feature based upon the game, intended to "bridge the
gap between the two games." EA will produce the film with Temple Hill
partners Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey.
[75][76]
A
Dead Space comic was released as a prequel to
Dead Space: Extraction. A novel was also released based on the video game series;
Dead Space: Martyr was written by
Brian Evenson and released on July 20, 2010 by Tor Books and Visceral Games.
[77]
The novel gives information on the Church of Unitology and the
discovery of the "Black Marker." According to the press release, the
book's main character, a geophysicist named Michael Altman, the founder
of the Church of Unitology, makes a key discovery that leads to the
beginning of
Dead Space.
[78] There was another novel written by B.K.Evenson, in the Dead Space lore called "Dead Space: Catalyst"
[79]
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