Dead Space (series)

Dead Space is a survival horror video game series created by Glen Schofield, developed by Visceral Games and published by Electronic Arts. The franchise centers on a series of video games of the third-person shooter and survival horror genres, and also includes two motion pictures and a comic book series, with more media planned for the future. The series began in 2008 as an eponymous video game aimed at creating, in Schofield's words, "the most terrifying game we could"; the game was a success and spawned a prequel and later a sequel released in 2011.

Each installment in the Dead Space series is a continuation or addition to a continuing storyline which began with the release of the original eponymous game. The game is set in a 26th-century science fiction universe featuring environments, weapons and characters typical of the genre. The series' chronology is not presented in a linear format, with sections of the storyline presented in the form of either prequels or sequels, and in different media aside from only video games. Generally speaking, the series focuses on a man named Isaac Clarke and the horrors that surround him.

So far the series has been commercially and critically successful, selling over 8 million copies; the first game and its sequel received widely positive reviews from the majority of critics and the first game has received a number of industry awards for many different elements of its gameplay and development.

On March 4, 2013, it was reported that EA had shut down production of Dead Space 4 due to lower-than-expected sales of Dead Space 3. EA Games Label president Frank Gibeau had previously said that Dead Space 3 needed to sell 5 million copies to be successful. The following day, EA said the report was "patently false".^[1]

Games

Main series

Spin-offs

Setting

The series takes place in outer space in the 26th century. Mankind has expanded into space and colonized other planets, but Earth herself is in ecological crisis, having been drained of resources. EarthGov currently resorts to "planet-cracking" - the processing of mining entire planets for the recovery of raw materials, with a fleet of specially constructed space-faring vessels. However, EarthGov is investigating a second possibility. During the 23rd century, the Chicxulub crater was found to contain a "Marker" - an artifact of extraterrestrial origin which acts as a relay for a persistent electromagnetic field signal, with no apparent source. Theorizing that the Marker's signal could be harnessed to supply limitless energy, EarthGov initiated research with the ultimate aim of duplicating the Marker through reverse engineering. Even though the project was highly classified, the leading researcher, Michael Altman, managed to leak its existence. EarthGov quickly had him assassinated, but the damage was done; Altman was hailed as a martyr, and a new religion called "Unitology" sprung up in his wake. Unitologists have seized on one element of Altman's research - that Markers will somehow provide unity or will "make us whole" via a phenomenon called "Convergence" - and now hail the Markers as the key to humanity's salvation.

EarthGov succeeded in creating copies of the Marker, dubbed "Red Markers" because human scientists substituted bismuth for other alien materials in its manufacture, and began to study it and the original Black Marker. Unfortunately, the truth soon became apparent: the emitted electromagnetic signal causes paranoia and hallucinations in the living, as well as the reanimation and mutation of dead tissue. The resulting zombies were dubbed "Necromorphs," and they are the primary antagonists of the Dead Space franchise. EarthGov closed the research projects and abandoned the Markers wherever they had been hidden, but between Unitologists, continued EarthGov investigations and the mere fact of the Markers' existence on documented planets, it was inevitable that someone would find one again.

The first game is played on board the USG Ishimura, the first and oldest Planet-cracker, which has gone radio silent whilst attempting operations on a distant planet called Aegis VII; the game then moves to a colony on the planet itself, where one of the Red Markers was hidden. The second game is set on Titan Station (also known as The Sprawl, a space station surrounding a shard of Titan, where yet another Marker is unleashed. Sequels and other followups take place on one of these two settings. Dead Space 3 primarily covers the hunt for Tau Volantis, an ice-covered planet whose colony went dark 200 years ago. Tau Volantis is believed to be where the Markers originated from, and the series' protagonists visit it in hopes of putting a stop to the Markers once and for all.

Gameplay

The Dead Space games are third-person shooters, with the player character visible at all times. All menu interfaces are diegetic, produced by the character's "Resource Integration Gear" spacesuit for ease of communication with other characters. For instance, the character's hit point meter, built into the spine of his suit, is intended to allow co-workers to monitor his health, and when the character moves into depressurized areas, a readout on his back displays his remaining seconds of oxygen. All sound is removed from gameplay during these segments save those which would be transferred to the character's ears by the vibrations of his RIG, such as rounds fired from his weapon. Since the menus are diegetic, opening them does not pause gameplay.

The character's RIG can be outfitted with two special abilities for use in combat and puzzle-solving. The "Kinesis" module allows the character to retrieve objects, often heavier or more distant ones than could be accessed normally. These objects may also be expelled at high speed for use as improvised projectiles. The "Stasis" module causes its target to undergo an extreme slowdown for a short period of time, allowing characters to dart through rapidly moving obstacles such as fan blades, or hinder onrushing enemies. The RIG also has a slot-based inventory for carrying around weapons, ammunition, healing items and other objects.

In first Dead Space and in 2, a store system is present, where players can buy or sell items for credits, a form of in-game currency, with only some items available at first. However, as the player progresses through the game, they can find schematics, which are then downloaded at a store for unlocking items. In Dead Space 2, upon starting a game of New Game Plus, Elite Suit Schematics can be found at various locations. This was changed in the third installment, where the store was scrapped for additional functions of the Bench workstations, and schematics exchanged for blueprints for weapons that can be crafted, and resources replacing credits in the previous games.

The Dead Space games take a different approach to gunplay. Because Necromorphs are re-animated and re-purposed corpses, often lacking brain tissue, respiratory systems and circulatory systems, the conventions of stopping power are largely irrelevant to them, and shots to the head or to center of mass are relatively ineffective. Instead, players are encouraged to engage in "strategic dismemberment" by shooting the arms and legs off of foes. Some Necromorphs can be easily defeated in this manner, but others may change attack patterns or even spawn entirely new enemies when slain. Relatedly, the game's weapons are characterized as being repurposed power tools or mining implements, such as plasma cutters, rotary saws and gravitic repulsion tools, though an increasing amount of dedicated military ordnance becomes available as the franchise progresses. RIGs and weapons can be upgraded at "BENCH" workstations. This was changed in Dead Space 3, where RIGs had to be upgraded at "suit kiosks" and players could not only upgrade at BENCH workstations; They could build entirely new weapons by putting weapon parts scavenged from various places together, which provides the player with an even more lethal arsenal.

Finally, as an added and somewhat grisly touch, each type of enemy has a unique way of slaying the player character, customized to whatever claws, blades, fangs or probosces they happen to possess. For example, the "Slasher" enemy would stab the player through the throat, leaving him/her to die of blood loss, and the "Puker" enemy rips off Isaac's helmet and expels its acidic bile into his mouth, dissolving his digestive system.

Characters

Isaac Clarke

Isaac Clarke is the main protagonist of the Dead Space series. Originally a ship systems engineer, his life changes for the worse when a seemingly-routine repair mission becomes a struggle to survive the Necromorph scourge. Clarke originally chose the mission to make contact with his girlfriend who was stationed on the damaged vessel. Clarke is named after science fiction authors Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. He is voiced by and modeled after actor Gunner Wright.

Development

During development for Dead Space, EA Redwood Shores (now Visceral Games) gave Isaac a portmanteau name from the science fiction writers Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke.^[15] Isaac's parents Poul and Octavia take their names from science fiction authors Poul Anderson and Octavia Butler. During development for Dead Space 2, Visceral Games decided to give Isaac a voice and chose Gunner Wright.^{[16][17][18][19][20]} As Wright's performance was motion captured this influenced Clarke's appearance and movement in the game.^[21]

Reception

PlayStation Universe described him as a "corpse-slaying badass," saying: "starting off as the mute hero of the original Dead Space, Clarke was finally given a voice and personality in the sequel, becoming a standout character in his own right". They added: "his willingness to help others and strong morals makes him an ideal partner", and stated his best characteristic to survive is his adaptability.^[22] GamesRadar ranked Isaac, who has "a cool demeanor, and an even cooler suit of futuristic armor," as the 22nd "most memorable, influential, and badass" protagonist in games,^[23] also including him in other three "Top 7:" at the fourth place in their list of "The Top 7... Mentally damaged characters we love;"^[24] as the sixth most badass game character of the generation (as of 2012),^[25] and his romance with Nicole Brennan was ranked as the fifth most disastrous in video games.^[26] GamesRadar further placed him at number 30 in a list of the 50 best game characters of the generation.^[27] Isaac was featured as one of the characters IGN would like to see in an ultimate fighting game, adding "He may lack the pizzazz of some other fighters on this list, but try making fun of him when he holds a space-age nail gun to your forehead."^[28] In 2013, Complex ranked him as the sixteenth most badass character in video game history.^[29] In addition, his helmet was listed by UGO Networks at six in "The Coolest Helmets and Headgear in Video Games" list.^[30] Although Clarke ultimately did not make the cut, Game Informer staff considered his inclusion in their "30 characters that defined a decade" collection, with Ben Reeves saying, "Not only does Isaac manage to combat his own battered subconscious, but he ends up saving the universe from the spread of a deadly alien menace. That’s a true definition of hero in my book."^[31]

Nicole Brennan

Nicole is a medical officer aboard the USG Ishimura, and Isaac's girlfriend. She appears at Isaac's side at times of struggle, but later logs reveal that she committed suicide long before Isaac arrived; her appearances have actually been hallucinations created by the Markers with the intent of manipulating Isaac into furthering their agenda. She appears in a similar guise over the course of the second game, serving as a sympathetic antagonist. She is voiced by Iyari Limon in the first game, and Tanya Clarke in the second.

Nolan Stross

Nolan Stross appears in Dead Space 2 and was one of the protagonists in the animated feature Dead Space: Aftermath. Stross was once a high-ranking scientist but suffered from dementia after coming into contact with the Red Marker, and was placed in a psychiatric ward of a hospital on Titan Station. Clarke meets Stross in this area.^[32] Like Clarke, the character is named after two science fiction authors, in this case William F. Nolan and Charles Stross. While he and Clarke attempt to band together to destroy the Marker causing the events of the second game, his madness gets the better of him and Isaac is forced to kill him. He is voiced by Curt Cornelius.

Ellie Langford

Ellie is a major non-player character in Dead Space 2 and 3. In the first sequel, she and Isaac work together to escape the Titan Sprawl, and between the two games they begin a romance. However, by the time of the second sequel they have separated, partially because Isaac is hesitant to wager his life stopping the Markers. Ellie, with the help of Earth Defense Force Captain Robert Norton, discovers evidence that the planet Tau Volantis is the Marker homeworld; she sends Norton to recruit Isaac, kicking off the events of the third game. She is voiced by and modeled after actress Sonita Henry.

John Carver

Sgt. John Carver, Earth Defense Force, is a character in Dead Space 3, and the protagonist of the tie-in graphic novel Dead Space: Liberation. The graphic novel depicts his past as a loyal EarthGov soldier with a troubled home life. Damara and Dylan, his wife and son, are killed by Dead Space 3 antagonist Jacob Danik, and Carver joins forces with Ellie Langford to prevent Danik from triggering Convergence. He is voiced by and modeled after Ricardo Chavira.

Under normal circumstances, Carver is a non-player character, dispensing advice and guidance to Clarke but not assisting in gameplay. However, Dead Space 3 features "drop-in drop-out" co-operative multiplayer: the game's single-player campaign can at any time become a co-operative experience if a second player joins via Xbox Live or other networking services. If a second player does join, Carver is that player's in-game character; as such, he can be seamlessly written in and out of the campaign at any time to facilitate the presence (or absence) of said other player. Additionally, if a second player is present, side missions become available that deal with Carver's guilt concerning the way he treated his family, as well as over their deaths.

Daina Le Guin

Daina Le Guin (named for Daína Chaviano and Ursula K Le Guin) is voiced by and modeled after Tahyna Tozzi.

Related media

Dramatizations

Printed

Music albums

Film adaptation

Filmmaker John Carpenter is interested in making a Dead Space film, it is said to be very appealing for a horror franchise movie that might surpass Resident Evil.^[55] Justin Marks will write the script but adapting the game storyline and the characters makes the movie production easy. EA has plans to adapt the Dead Space videogames into a potential film franchise.^[56]

References

External links

• EA's official Dead Space website
• Dead Space on Twitter

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