Dead Space

David Hollingworth got a chance for some hands-on time with the new EA horror game, as well as having a chat with its producer.

We trekked out to the local EA offices yesterday for a brief but illuminating - or, more accurately, horrifying - look at the new property from EA, the hauntingly titled Dead Space. Also out from the US to meet with the gaming press was Exective Producer Glen Schofield, a passionate fan of horror and sci-fi. He's exceedingly proud of his and his team's creation, and we gotta say - we can see why.

The game is coming out later this year for 360 and PC, and the mix of levels we saw were gloriously dim and claustrophobic. The lighting and graphic design in particular is worth touting, creating an atmosphere of gritty lived-in-edness overlaid with considerable dread. "Dread," said Schofield, "is a word we used a lot during the design process of this game.

We've a small gallery of screens from the game, and I'm sure you'll agree that Schofield seems to have gotten it right.

"We spent a lot of time - over six months - on the design stage of the game, jsut to make sure that it all looked right. Lived in, gritty but still very believable." One thing that really stands out in each level are little touches like signage and graffiti. "There's been a war on, and so we wanted a lot of visual clues to reflect that."

A lot of effort has also been made to keep the game's interface in the game world, not hovering in the corners of the screen. "There's no floating ammo counter, except for the numbers on the weapon itself. Your health is measured by the lighting of your suit, too; there's nothing to pull you out of the game world."

After just a touch of the spooky world of Dead Space, we're simply not sure whether we can't wait to play it alone in a dark room, or are simply too scared to. We can't think of a better compliment.