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Well, I finally got around to trying Dead Space for the Xbox 360, and I’ll say this much–that sucker was a surprise out of nowhere.  Best part was, the further in I got, the more I liked it.

I confess to personal bias; check out the plot on this beauty.  Basically, you’re part of a team of agents sent to recover a derelict ship in the middle of deep space.  No sooner do you get there and find the ship abandoned then your OWN ship suffers a catastrophic failure.  Now, your only hope for survival is to get the derelict working again so that you can call for backup and get out of there.  Of course, it’s never that easy–it’s what’s causing all the problems on the derelict that’s the REAL problem.  Specifically, a whole slew of giant monsters.  Now you’ve got to fight your way to getting the derelict back on her feet and getting you and the team out of there.

If the plot doesn’t sound at least slightly familiar to you, you haven’t been watching enough science fiction because you’re not recognizing the plot of one of my personal favorite titles, Event Horizon.  Sure, maybe you just needed it pointed out, but looking at the two, man, there are a LOT of similarities between the two.  The concepts are essentially the same.

The similarities alone are enough to give it at least a provisional win in my book, but this isn’t where the fun stops–oh no, not by a long shot.  Another sweet shot of joy in this package is the targeting system.  Now, most games, your initial instinct is to shoot for the head, or failing that, go for center of mass for the best chance to hit, right?  Yeah, of course that’s right.  But in Dead Space, your target of choice on the various monsters you’ll run into?  The limbs.  Talk about counterintuitive–I don’t think I’ve purposely taken a leg shot since, well, Fallout 3.  Meanwhile, walking around this ship of the damned has left me taking more leg shots than a Maxim photographer.  Who saw that coming?

Plus, there’s a good variety of guns in here to provide a great plenty of bang-bang, and some varied gameplay modes where you negotiate around barricades, handle a gun turret, and solve various puzzles to help get the derelict back on a paying basis.

It’s that variety, coupled with the well-realized plotline and abundance of action, that gives Dead Space an incredible fun factor.  Of course, it’s not without its problems–some of the puzzles aren’t exactly intuitive, and it would’ve been welcome to know about the importance of having air refills beforehand.  Nothing sucks worse in Dead Space than solving a puzzle and having all your hard work negated because you suffocated on the way back to a pressurized atmosphere.

But these aren’t exactly big flaws—a little advance preparation and a walkthrough on hand will take care of them, and you’ll be free to enjoy the sweet plotline joy.  There’s plenty to like about Dead Space, and the sci-fi bliss therein will only make things better.