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Dead Space IOS

Dead Space IOS

A hearty chunk of space terror in the palm of your hand, and one of the finer games available on iOS. This isn't no offshoot, but a integral part of EA's series.

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The mask may be similar, but the face behind it is not. Dead Space iOS outfits you as a new character, the recognisable garb of a engineer used as disguise only. And for the first time in the Dead Space universe, you're playing for the other team.

Well, for the opening section at least. EA throws the first of many curveballs at you by initially setting you as an instrument of the Church of Unitlology, the religious nuts trying to achieve eternal life. Its three years after the first game and you're now on the Sprawl, playing out a prologue of sorts to Dead Space 2. The Church has charged you with sabotaging several power conduits through the Sprawl. Your codename? Vandal.

You're Banksy in Space; more nuisance than religious zealot. A comparison proven when your work allowa the Necromorph parasite onto the Sprawl and you're are immediately double-crossed. Vandal's an unwitting tool, and we switch from an interesting take of seeing the outbreak from the other side of the conflict back to more familiar ground.

Dead Space IOS

You're repentant and pissed, swearing to clean up the mess and get your revenge. To that end, the narrative is an atheists' gaming dream; throwing off the promise of eternal life and just getting on with the hardship of life with gritted teeth.

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Non-religious allegory aside, the game packs a lot of blood-spurting heart into its tiny frame. Visually crisp, if lacking in the intricate detail of its big brother that's released today, the title forgoes scaling down any of the action or scares we're accustomed to with the series - you'll be guiding Vandal through a series of dimly-lit corridors and blowing chunks off marauding Necromorphs.

The control scheme works very well, even if it does have a few niggles in equating Dead Space's multi-buttoned control scheme to a series of gestures on one touch interface. A generous portion of the screen's left side controls Vandal, meaning you can keep your thumb locked at the bottom part and forgo obscuring the screen too much. A double-tap on the character will spin him 180 degrees.

Long-range weapons, which will be familiar territory for fans with the Plasma Cutter et al reappearing, and the firing of them are reserved for the right. hold and move your thumb to pan the weapon round, tap the screen to fire. We couldn't find a way of instantly holstering your weapon, and having to hover your thumb over the screen until Isaac drops his arms is irritating.

Dead Space IOS
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A nice little touch that plays into the iPhone's gyro-sensor plays into switching your arsenal's cutting directions. a quick twist up and left or down and right will alternate your firing angle for lopping limbs off, and adds to the gameplay when you're frantically holding off attacks from all sides.

Reloading is handled by tapping your ammo counter on your weapon of choice, and for melee attacks you need to swipe down on the very top left of the screen for Vandal to mirror the action in-game.

As expected though, re-learning the response and movement time to assaults due to touch screen controls takes a bit longer than you'd imagine, making the first few battles two-fronted assaults between alien parasite threat and syncing your camera and movement correctly.

This is compounded when you're trying to fire off a stasis field. While it seems handily positioned on Vandal's right shoulder, you need to remove your thumb from the screen and tap it to fire. You get used to the reflex after a while, but to us it would have made more sense to put the icon to the right of the screen in association with your trigger command.

It's in the game's scary moments that EA really excels itself, and proves that even switching from 5.1 surround sound to stereo headphones doesn't tame the nervousness or fear factor. The sound is exceptional for these moments - practically any time you're not face to face with a mutated dead crew member - with footfalls booming metallically, the hiss of steam valves, the echoing sirens, and occasional unearthly hiss.

Dead Space IOS

There are two sections early on that really screw with your noggin, and really help make the game stand out immediately. The first has you entering a small room with bodies piled at each of the four compass points. With no exit in sight, you turn around, only for the entrance to have disappeared. what follows next is a puzzle wrapped neatly in a psychologically terrifying sequence, and shows from the start EA isn't afraid to pull reality-bending tricks on you.

As for the second, well, you'll have to find out for yourself. Might be advisable not to play the title on public transport, else you jump out o your seat.

Even at £3.99, pricier than some other top-selling games on the format, its a worthy title of your daily iPhone play time, and we'd say there's a bit more meat on it even than Infinity Blade, for those that hate the idea of endlessly grinding levels for fun.

Dead Space IOS

The cynical could point out that its cheap bundling of an exclusive unlock in Dead Space 2 if you purchase this title is a poor marketing sell, and the ability to purchase in-game items for real-world money via the main menu's store option is a little on the cheap side. But we're unfortunately getting used to both these additions to our games in this day and age, and Dead Space iOS is a fantastic title in its own right without these additions.

Remember, there's always the proviso you don't have to partake in any of those extras offered. But you should partake in those scaring themselves silly this weekend; you'd be missing out on a great game, pure and simple.

Dead Space IOS
08 Gamereactor UK
8 / 10
+
+ Looks incredible + soundtrack is immersive
-
- getting used to touch controls in heat of battle can be an uphill struggle at first.
overall score
is our network score. What's yours? The network score is the average of every country's score

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Dead Space IOS

REVIEW. Written by Gillen McAllister

Waiting for payday but want to get in on some Dead Space action now? For under a fiver, you could do a lot worse than check out EA's iPhone version of its sci-fi action horror.



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