Dead Space (2008 video game)

This article is about a video game. For dead space in physiology, see Dead space.

Dead Space
Developer(s)	EA Redwood Shores
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Designer(s)	Glen Schofield (Producer) Bret Robbins
Composer(s)	Jason Graves
Engine	Godfather game engine
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows
Release	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Microsoft Windows
Genre(s)	Third-person shooter, Survival horror
Mode(s)	Single-player

Dead Space is a third-person survival horror-action video game, developed by EA Redwood Shores for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows. The player takes on the role of an engineer named Isaac Clarke, who battles a polymorphic, virus-like, alien infestation called the 'Corruption', which turns humans into grotesque alien monsters called 'Necromorphs', on board a stricken interstellar mining ship. A sequel to the game is already in development.

Gameplay

The player takes the role of Isaac Clarke (named after science fiction writers Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke), an engineer who must fight his way through a stricken mining ship infested with Necromorphs, a hostile, virus-like, free-roaming alien DNA with the ability to reanimate the bodies of the dead, turning them into grotesque monstrosities. The game features an 'over the shoulder' third-person perspective, similar to games Resident Evil 4, Dark Sector and Gears of War. The interface does not feature a traditional head-up display. Instead, information is relayed to the player via holographic projections, which hover over Isaac's weapons and armor. An in game store can be accessed where items can be bought and sold.

File:Deadspace1.jpg

Isaac battles the Necromorphs.

Zero gravity and decompressed environments also appear in Dead Space, and Isaac can navigate through them using his pressurized suit and magnetic boots. Some levels even lead out onto the surface of the ship's hull. Floating debris presents a hazard, however, and Isaac can lose his footing and simply float off into space. Isaac's suit also has a limited amount of air while in airless environments, which can allow him to suffocate, forcing the player to move faster when in these situations. In keeping with Isaac's profession as an engineer rather than a soldier, weapons in the game are mostly improvised from mining tools, such as a plasma cutter, hydrazine torch used as a flamethrower, and a force cannon emitting powerful shock waves, although a triple-barreled automatic military rifle is also available. Stasis can be used in the game to slow down enemies and objects temporarily, and a kinesis module to pick up and throw items. Text, audio and video logs can be found throughout the game which detail the final moments of the crew, and sometimes provide a bit of information on the story.

Combat in Dead Space becomes complicated when Necromorphs do not simply "die" after receiving a certain number of gun rounds. In fact, depending on how they are wounded, Necromorphs can adopt new stances and tactics, even sprouting new limbs and giving birth in the process. To defeat the Necromorphs, Isaac must use "strategic dismemberment," the methodical severance of specific limbs or sections of the Necromorphs. Dead Space's executive producer, Glen Schofield, has said that "the primary theme of Dead Space is dismemberment," and early previews of the game noted the high levels of gore.

Plot

Set in the 26th century, Dead Space revolves around Isaac Clarke, a space engineer who works for the Concordance Extraction Corporation (C.E.C.), a company that operates giant mining ships throughout the galaxy. When the C.E.C. receives a distress call from the USG Ishimura (a “Planet Cracker”-class ship that destroys planets in order to extract valuable ore), Isaac and four other C.E.C. employees set out on the USG Kellion to rendezvous with the Ishimura in orbit above Aegis 7. Their assumption is that a mechanical failure is the only problem. At the beginning of the game, Isaac is seen watching a video sent to him by his ex-girlfriend, Nicole Brennan, who is currently on board the Ishimura.

Shortly after crash landing on the Ishimura's flight deck, the crew of USG Kellion is attacked by hostile creatures called Necromorphs. These creatures reproduce by reanimating deceased human bodies, violently mutating and assimilating them to become one of their own (A process referred to by a scientific backstory log as "Recombination"). Isaac escapes down an elevator, and is separated from the rest of the team. At this point, Isaac, Kendra Daniels, and Zach Hammond are the only surviving members of the USG Kellion.

Throughout the rest of the game, Isaac is tasked with repairing different areas of the Ishimura such as Engines, the Automated Defense System and Communication, while constantly under attack by Necromorphs. Eventually, Isaac is able to plant an S.O.S beacon on an currently mined asteroid and sends it into space, which attracts a military vessel, the USM Valor. Unfortunately, the USM Valor picked up an escape pod containing a Necromorph prior to its arrival and is promptly infected and overrun, and it crashes into the Ishimura. Isaac, with the help of Dr. Kyne, retrieves the Valor's singularity core, and uses it to attempt to escape with Kendra and Dr. Kyne in order to return the Marker, a religious artifact that is somehow linked to the infestation, to Aegis 7, Hammond is killed in the process of escaping the damaged ship.

Just before the ship lifts off, Isaac is betrayed by Kendra, who kills Dr. Kyne and reveals that she is a government agent attempting to salvage the Marker, which is actually a recreation of the real Marker found on Earth. Isaac, left to die on the Ishimura, is saved by his love interest Nicole, who recalls Kendra's ship and resets it to fly her and Isaac to Aegis 7. After a long transport to the crater, the Marker finally brings the Necromorphs under control; until Kendra removes it and begins to try to bring it back to Earth. She tells Isaac that he is as paranoid as Dr. Kyne, and urges him to watch the "whole" of Nicole's message: which contains her suicide. The Marker used an image of Nicole to get Isaac to return it to Aegis 7. Kendra, as a final farewell to Isaac and the Necromorphs, unhooks the large chunk of rock the Ishimura was carrying in an attempt to kill the rest of the Necromorphs by smashing it into the planet.

Just before Kendra lifts off, the Hive Mind rises out of the crater and kills her, attacking Isaac also. He defeats the Hive Mind, and manages to lift off the planet just as the large meteor enters the atmosphere. Isaac, distressed and disheartened at the loss of Nicole, turns off her message.

At the sound of a small noise, Isaac turns and is surprised by a Necromorph looking disturbingly like Nicole. Whether this was another hallucination or a real Necromorph remains unknown.

Spaceships

• USG Ishimura - Massive Planet Cracker-class ship where most of the game is set.

• USG Kellion - Small long range craft on a repair mission to USG Ishimura.

• USM Valor - Military vessel in the area that has been waiting for the Ishimura to transmit its coordinates but later crashes into the hull of the ship after the crew has been killed by Necromorphs.

• USG Ishimura Executive Shuttle - The shuttle previously used by the higher ranked personnel of the Ishimura but later commandeered by Isaac to travel to the Aegis 7 colony.

Characters

• Isaac Clarke - The main character and silent protagonist of the game. Isaac is a systems engineer traveling aboard the shuttle Kellion to investigate and repair the USG Ishimura in company with three security personnel and a computer specialist. Unfortunately for them, they are thrust into the middle of the nightmare that the USG Ishimura has become. Clarke is also trying to find his Ex-girlfriend, Nicole, a medical specialist assigned to the ship, whose fate is unknown at the start of the game. Throughout the game Isaac stumbles onto something much bigger than him involving the Church of Unitology, the government and the realm of possibilities. Through logs activated after clearing the game we learn that Isaac's father, Paul Clarke, left for space when he was just a child and the anguish of losing her husband made his mother, Octavia Clarke, into a devout Unitologist who gave all her money to the church rather than finance her son's education. He went to a lesser-known college than the one he strives for but graduates with high honors, taking after his father and becoming a system engineer.

• Kendra Daniels - Kendra is a technology expert and part of the team sent aboard the Ishimura once the ship goes silent. She helps the player through the Ishimura in many ways, giving directions and assisting through areas of the ship that would otherwise be inaccessible. She frequently expresses distrust of Hammond, but turns out to know more about the situation than anyone previously thought. In a log after clearing the game, it is stated that she was hand picked for the mission by higher-ups.

• Zach Hammond - The senior security officer on board the Kellion who travels with both Isaac and Kendra to the Ishimura. Hammond's initial desire to complete the original mission and not immediately abort puts him at odds with Kendra, who finds this suspicious. Throughout the game he works to fulfill their original mission, but as time goes on, he becomes more disillusioned and focuses instead on getting himself and the rest of the surviving team off the ship. In a log after clearing the game it is revealed he asked for the information for both Isaac and Kendra, though the reason for this inquiry is not revealed.

• Dr. Challus Mercer - A doctor aboard the USG Ishimura and a devout Unitologist. In the wake of the calamity that has gripped the Ishimura, Mercer has become a religious fanatic, and attempted to convince the crew of the Ishimura to commit mass suicide. Mercer often works to bar the progress of Isaac and even attempts to kill him outright. Mercer sends a 'prototype,' regenerating Necromorph after Isaac several times through the course of the game. To Mercer, everything that has happened is God's will, and Isaac should die and allow their 'children' to take over. He submits himself to an infector and becomes an enhanced slasher and is then killed by the player

• Doctor Terrence Kyne - The Chief Science Officer of the Ishimura who appears later in the game and asks for help from the surviving members of the Kellion team. He seems to be a bit eccentric, perhaps deranged, but offers to aid Isaac in stopping the nightmare that has gripped the Aegis System and the Ishimura. Kyne attempted to relieve Captain Mathius of duty during the crisis on the ship but instead seems to have been complicit in the captain's death either in whole or in part. He regularly interacts with his dead wife, an apparition caused by the Marker that can't be seen by the player. He is one of the main characters of Dead Space: Downfall, which confirms rumors that he is a Unitologist. Downfall also shows that Kyne was the cause of the engine's shutdown in an attempt to crash the ship into the planet to return the Marker. He is shot by Kendra at the end of chapter 11. As Kyne kneels and succumbs to his wound, he says "Amelia, where are you going?" The insinuation is that, similar to Isaac's visions of Nicole actually being the marker manipulating him to return it to Aegis 7, Kyne's visions of Amelia stop because he is no longer able to bring the marker back to Aegis 7.

• Nicole Brennan - Isaac's ex-girlfriend and a medical specialist assigned to the Ishimura. She sent him a video asking for help and is one of the reasons he came to the Ishimura. He both sees and hears her as he moves through the ship and she repeatedly asks Isaac to "make us(/them) whole again." For the majority of the game it is unknown if it really her or a hallucination. However the final video log revels she cracked under the pressure of the infection and killed herself with an empty syringe

• Jacob Temple - Jacob is an engineer on the USG Ishimura who is, like Isaac, trying to find his own girlfriend, Dr. Elizabeth Cross. The player often finds audio logs left behind by him as he progresses throughout the game. They find each other in the crew quarters but their reunion is cut short by Doctor Mercer. Temple never makes direct contact with the player, he is a witness to his death. Isaac comes across several of Jacob's audio recordings throughout the game, especially in chapter three, where Isaac must travel down to engineering.

• Elizabeth Cross - Originally assigned as a horticulturalist aboard the USG Ishimura, Elizabeth Cross's experiences after the arrival of the Marker can be heard, like her boyfriend Jacob Temple, through the various audio logs you can find in many areas of the ship but particularly the herbology deck. Both her and Temple are captured by Dr. Mercer and stabbed in the head. While her death is not shown a female body can be found next to Temple's which contains the same wound. It is assumed this is Dr. Cross

• Corporal Chen - Pilot of USG Kellion, the shuttle which crashes onto the USG Ishimura, and one of the security troopers who comes aboard under Capt. Hammond.

• Corporal Johnston - The co-pilot of the USG Kellion. Johnston is also under the command of Sergeant Hammond.

• Captain Benjamin Matthius - The captain of the Ishimura. Matthius was revealed to be a Unitologist who is strong in the belief the Marker belongs to the church. His fate is shown in a video log found on the fourth level. He redirected the ship to collect the Marker and was experiencing dementia like so many of the exposed. He is relieved of duty by Dr. Kyne. He was killed when Dr. Kyne accidentally stabbed him in the eye with a hypodermic needle that contained a sedative, the fact it was a sedative was shown in Downfall. He is later resurrected into a Enhanced Slasher by an Infector, and is the first one you fight in the game. He is one of the main characters of Dead Space: Downfall.

Necromorphs

The enemies of the game, the Necromorphs as a whole are disturbing looking monstrosities, with similarities to the beast from John Carpenter's The Thing. They all originate from human corpses mutated by alien life, hideously deformed and reshaped to better suit the Necromorphs' needs. While all of them are indeed terrible abominations, their size and shape can vary greatly. Also, one peculiar characteristic of most Necromorphs is that they have an "enhanced" form which appears jet-black; these are usually twice as resilient as their ordinary brethren.

• Slasher - Slashers are the cannon fodder of the Necromorphs' "army", and the most obviously human of all. They stand upright on human legs, and their original human arms, which have been reduced to deformed, useless appendages, are located in a bloody hole in their bellies, through which you can see their viscera. From their shoulders protrude massive arms ending in scythe-like protrusions, hence their name. They attack by charging and flailing their scythes at their victims. Their heads are small and encased between their arms, and their lower jaw is missing, replaced by small red tentacles. It is worth noting that some Slashers bear vestiges of feminine characteristics, such as breasts and more female-like voices, albeit shrieking ones. They have an "enhanced form", and these can be recognized by its glowing eyes and charred appearance.

• Lurker - Lurkers are the result of the Necromorph infestation on a human baby, and thus looks disturbingly like monstrously mutated infants. They are small and walk on all fours, but can walk on walls and ceilings. They attack with three tentacles that protrude from their backs. The tentacles can also fire noxious needles with great range and accuracy. The Lurkers are individually weak, but their small size and ability to climb on walls and ceilings, and their ranged attacks, can pose a problem. They have an "enhanced form" as well.

• Infector - Infectors are the mutated bodies that help spread the Necromorph "infection". They take the appearance of a human torso, with skin stretched over two legs that have been snapped backwards to create a "wing" effect. These creatures can fly short distances but prefer to crawl along, stabbing deceased crew members with a long proboscis, converting their bodies into hosts of the Necromorphs. (The Infectors turn the corpses of the dead crew that the player encounters into enhanced versions of the slasher.) They are more interested in the dead crew rather than Isaac and so they will only attack him if there are no bodies to infect.

• Brute - Brutes are very large, lumbering, quadrupedal monstrosities formed by fusing many corpses together. As their name implies, Brutes possess enormous strength and attack by flailing with their giant arms, or charging their victims head-on. They also possess nearly invulnerable natural armor on their anteriors, though their posteriors are totally devoid of armor. They are vulnerable to attacks from behind, but given their speed and sheer power, getting into position for a clean shot is often difficult. Fortunately, Brutes are quite rare. They have an "enhanced form".

• Pregnant - Similar to the Slashers in that they walk on legs and have scythe-armed appendages, Pregnants are hideously obese and sickly green in color, with scything talons that are almost twice the size of a normal Slasher. They are usually slow and walk at a very lumbering pace, but when prompted to attack they can make frightening bursts of speed. While they are indeed perilous, the greater danger comes from their bellies: given its name, a Pregnant that is shot in its bloated body will spew several Swarms, adding to the number of enemies to defeat. Later in the game, Pregnants begin to release two Lurkers from their bellies instead of the Swarms.

• Swarm - Swarms are the creatures that come from a Pregnant who has been shot in the belly, and sometimes are found in independent swarms or inside item crates. They are extremely weak, but tend to swarm en masse and do a lot of damage to Isaac by attaching themselves to his body. However, their weakness and the density of their swarms can be cleverly used against them. They appear as a small lump of green flesh with small tentacles, and move by rolling with their appendages. They can leap great distances.

• Leaper - Leapers are scorpion-like Necromorphs, human corpses whose legs were merged together to form a long, muscular tail, and whose arms became crab-like. They are very fast and can leap great distances. They attack by flailing their long tails, or by biting viciously with their saber-toothed mouths. Leapers can be a problem when they ambush the player in Zero-G locations, taking advantage of their ability to crawl on walls and ceilings combined with their leaping abilities. They have an "enhanced form".

• Exploder - These are the suicide bombers of the Necromorph species. These former humans are twisted and mangled into a body with both legs entwined, one long arm and one arm that has grown into a pustule of volatile chemicals. When an exploder gets close enough to Isaac it will strike its exploding arm against the floor. This causes great damage to Isaac, the exploder itself (which is killed in the blast), and any other Necromorphs within range. If the exploding sac is separated from the Necromorph, it will instead attack with its remaining arm. The Exploder's face is slit down the middle, and as it walks its head flops open and shut.

• Divider - Disturbing-looking and extremely tall, Dividers have elongated limbs tipped with claw-like hands. They are very thin, slow (but capable of bursts of speed similar to other Necromorphs) and strong, and attack with tentacles from their bellies and striking with their hands. Also, as their name suggests, once defeated their head, torso, arms and legs become independent creatures, continuing to stalk and assault the player. As divided monsters they are fast and hard to hit, but much weaker.

• Twitcher - These Necromorphs were human soldiers whose bodies were infected and mutated into gray-skinned, bulky and more heavily armed versions of ordinary Slashers. While very strong, their most frightening virtue is their speed: as soldiers they all possessed Stasis Modules that were assimilated into their bodies during mutation. As a result, they are so fast that they're capable of dodging bullets in flight, and twitch uncontrollably as a side-effect. They are slightly less durable than normal slashers, but are a far greater threat. They tend to attack in volumes often delivering a few blows then retreating. When the stasis module is used on them they are only slowed to the speed of a normal slasher.

• Wheezer - These Necromorphs are almost completely humanoid, except for their grey skin and bloated sacs on their back. Incapable of movement, (Their limbs are fused together) they crouch on their legs while expelling extremely noxious gases from their sacs. They're harmless except for the contaminated air they expel, forcing Isaac to use his oxygen reserve when in their vicinity. Wheezers are different from other enemies in that they're only encountered in one chapter, and must be destroyed to purge the air in the Hydroponics deck. However, they are the weakest enemy in the game as only one shot will kill them.

• Tentacle - Usually found attached to larger Necromorphs (such as the slug), Isaac is also attacked by single tentacles. These tentacles appear from holes in walls, or from large crevasses on the ship (the cargo hold for example). They attempt to drag Isaac back to their unknown source several times during the game; some even attempt to crush Isaac. All tentacles have a glowing weak spot on their side that when breached, severs the tentacle and causes it to retreat.

• Guardian (or Fused) - Some of the strangest of all the Necromorphs, the Guardians are enormous lumps of flesh attached to walls, from which protrude a human torso with its intestines dangling under it. It always wails and screams in a human fashion as little, tentacle-armed sacs comes out from its abdomen. Guardians cannot move, and while they can flail their viscera in a whip-like fashion, with the creatures they spawn being their primary offensive capability. If Isaac gets too close, their squid-like tentacles can decapitate him, killing him instantly. Usually, as its name implies, a Guardian is found singularly or as in a pair near doors through which the player must traverse.

• Tyrant - A creation of Dr. Mercer, the Tyrant (as it is called in the game) is a hulking, more imposing version of a Slasher, armed with enormous scythe-like appendages. It can regenerate lost limbs or heal wounds at incredible speed; however, this only happens after it has become fully incapacitated. One of these beasts is unleashed to hunt down and kill Isaac, who is incapable of killing it by normal means (at best he can temporarily incapacitate the creature). The creature is ultimately trapped in a cryogenic compartment; it is imprisoned in liquid nitrogen and transported to another point of the ship. It escapes later, and is finally incinerated after getting caught in the exhaust of an escape shuttle fired by Isaac. It implied by an audio log that the Tyrant was the result of combining necromorphing tissue with a living subject

• The Leviathan - Initially described as a "ten-kiloton mass", this is the first major Necromorph of the game. It is encountered on the Hydroponics deck at the finale of the chapter, having made its nest in the enormous, cylindrical, zero gravity Food Storage room. As its name suggests, the Leviathan is an enormous, writhing mass of flesh and muscles with a central mouth and three long, thick tentacles. It attacks by flailing its appendages and spitting organic spheres from its mouth, which explode on contact.

• The Slug - A titanic blob of flesh, this monstrosity rests on top of the Ishimura, tightly attached to the ship's hull. It cannot directly damage the player, as he fights the beast from one of the ship's cannons, but instead makes use of its five massive tentacles to tear pieces of the hull and throw them, damaging the player's turret if they connect. If defeated, it will detach itself from the ship and float away into space.

• The Hive Mind - The source of the Necromorphs and their ultimate being. It is found on Aegis 7, where it nests inside a massive crater. The beast itself is nightmarish: it is a gigantic, segmented, worm-like monster, with tentacles growing nearly everywhere on its skin, comparable to a bole with limbs on its sides. Its sheer size dwarfs the player; Isaac himself is smaller than the creature's orifice (which is located on the tip of its tongue). The Hive Mind can create Pregnants from its mouth, and uses its larger tentacles to crush its prey. The Hive Mind has a cluster of strange organs around its mouth and behind its "ribs". These are vital to the creatures survival, and destroying them results in the Hive Mind's destruction.

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." The design team reportedly spent time analyzing a wide variety of horror films in order to find inspiration for in-game scares.

Previews of the game have universally drawn attention to the high levels of gore and violence in the game, in particular the tactic of 'strategic dismemberment' when battling the Necromorphs. The aliens 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. In order to make the corpses look more realistic, the development team studied photos of car crash victims.

Dead Space went gold on October 1, 2008.

Audio

Dead Space’s credits refer to two different people for the music composition. To be more specific, Dead Space Audio Director Don Veca was quoted in an interview saying “The music credits read ‘Music Composed and Conducted by "Jason Graves". {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help) in Association With Rod Abernethy.’ Early on, Rod was involved in initial brainstorming, but Jason actually composed, conducted, and arranged all the music.”

On November 11th,2008,Amazon.com released the soundtrack to Dead Space for download.

DRM

The PC version of Dead Space uses the same SecuRom Copy Protection scheme as Spore and Mass Effect, which requires online authentication and limits the number of times a user can install the game to five. Dead Space has received mixed reviews by gamers because of its DRM. As of November 9, 2008, out of 58 reviews, it has an average rating of two stars on Amazon.com. The game's inordinately low score when compared with other published reviews is atributed by user reviews to public protest against the copy protection used in the game, which restricts the usability of purchased software.

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 7, 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.

Electronic Arts and Starz also announced an animated movie, Dead Space: Downfall, a prequel to the events of the game, taking place after the Necromorphs invade the USG Ishimura. The movie, being developed by Film Roman, was released on October 28, 2008.

Electronic Arts released an Ultra Limited Edition of the game limited to only 1,000 copies. The package includes the game, the animated movie Dead Space: Downfall, a bonus content DVD, the Dead Space art book, a lithograph, and the Dead Space comic. People who also bought the game within the first two weeks of the release could also download exclusive suits: the Obsidian Suit for the Playstation 3 and the Elite Suit for the Xbox 360.

Italian horror director Dario Argento lent his voice to Doctor Terrence Kyne character for the Italian release of the game.

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. 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. 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 25th 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 third prize winners were awarded a copy of the game on a platform of their choosing, while nine second 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 Issac Clarke's level three Rig helmet.

Reception

Reception

Review scores

Publication	Score
1Up.com	B+
Computer and Video Games	9.1/10
Game Informer	9.25/10
GamePro	5/5
GameSpot	9.0/10
GameTrailers	8.8/10
IGN	8.7/10
PC Gamer (UK)	86%
X-Play	4/5

According to EA Dead Space has received critical acclaim 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 [a reference to the underwater setting of hit game BioShock]: every bit as disturbing, just as meticulously designed and easily as believable." 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." IGN rated the game 8.7/10, saying it was "visually striking, everything from the holograms to the Necromorphs is incredible." Game Pro awarded the game a 5/5. 1UP.com gave the game a B+, saying that it is "incredibly polished", but slightly repetitive. Eurogamer gave the game a 7/10, saying "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 claiming, "An incredibly atmospheric and disturbingly gruesome deep-space adventure that will haunt your dreams and leave you begging for more." Game Informer rated the game 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 Dead Space four stars out of five. Game review site Giant Bomb gave Dead Space 5 out of 5, saying it was extremely atmospheric and very good on the technical side of things as well. Gametrailers.com 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 types and no hot buttons for certain items, but claimed that the item problem only amplified its already frightening atmosphere. Initially, Dead Space community manager Andrew Green stated that China and Japan had banned the game.

External links

• Official Dead Space website
• No Known Survivors
• Official Dead Space: Downfall website
• Dead Space Wiki, an external wiki