There has been a serious shortage of "horror" games on the gaming market and just as I was starting to think that all hope was lost, "Dead Space" decided to prove me wrong. Be prepared to travel through the halls of the derelict space ship "Ishimura" in search of answers and to face the unfathomable horrors that lurk behind every corner. Are you up to it?

Your voice-less hero, Isaac Clarke is one bad ass mercenary, trained in the arts of combat, armed to the teeth, and with special powers such as telekinesis and stasis field. Ah, I`m just kidding, you`re just a miner... armed to the teeth and with the aforementioned special powers.

Responding to a distress call, Isaac Clarke is part of the investigation team that is supposed to fix the Ishimura. Unfortunately, following a crash landing and an attack by unknown creatures, your shuttle is destroyed and any intention of leaving the Ishimura is left at that stage. Isaac and the other two survivors must now do what they can to survive on the Ishimura and get to the bottom of the weird events that are taking place. And kill the entire mutated crew of the ship in the process, as well.

Of course, like any good survival horror game, you will find yourself all alone in your struggle to survive, as your friends from the shuttle seem to move from one safe place to the other, instead of coming to meet you. They do however provide you with objectives and helpful suggestions during the course of the game. They also have a nice habit of opening doors for you as well.

With enough twists and turns to make you curious, and with new characters popping into the picture, the story in Dead Space is probably not its strongest point, but it`s certainly good enough to provide the proper atmosphere, but don`t compare it to Silent Hill for example.

Let me get straight to the point and mention one thing: strategic dismemberment. This is probably the most important thing in Dead Space, one that you must pay constant attention to, and one of its most enjoyable parts. Strategic dismemberment refers to how you should dispatch your enemies, while conserving ammo in the process. Allow me to elaborate.

Enemies in Dead Space are tough; in fact they are so tough, that shooting them just doesn`t cut it. You can eventually kill one of the necromorphs that haunt the corridors, by shooting it in the body, but it`s much easier to shoot some limbs off, and this is where Dead Space excels. Shooting different body parts has been an important part in most first person shooters or action games to date, but few have implemented a system as good as the one in Dead Space. Head shots were usually considered enough and everything else was considered a body shot, with nothing special. Not anymore.