Dead Space Review

Dead Space works because every decision serves one idea, which is that the Ishimura should feel like a real ship you are trapped inside. There is no heads up display. Health is a spine on Isaac's back, ammunition is projected off the gun, and the inventory is a hologram that does not pause the world, so opening it while something crawls toward you is a real decision. The necromorphs cannot be put down by shooting center mass, which retrains every shooter reflex you own and turns the plasma cutter into a tool for removing limbs at the joint.

Sound does the rest, with vents that rattle and a score that drops out so you can hear what is coming. Critics faulted the story, a serviceable assembly of better films with a mute protagonist and a religious cult twist visible from the first hour. Everything around it, the pacing, the zero gravity sections and the industrial art direction, made this the horror debut of its console generation.