Aiding you in your alien extermination are a variety of weapons including a Plasma Cutter (your mainstay), a Line Gun that can split an enemy in two in one shot, a Pulse Rifle and The Ripper which is a sort of extended arm with a big sawblade on the end of it. You can carry up to four weapons at a time and much like the early Resident Evil games, you can store excess weapons in the safe at the store which can be accessed from various points around the levels. Weapons can also be upgraded using various "nodes" which are scattered around although sometimes difficult to find. If you run across a bench and have the nodes handy, be sure to upgrade your weapons or suit armor because you will need them at top form to take on the hideous enemies that are seemingly around every corner.

The character design on the enemy "Necromorphs" is truly the stuff that nightmares are made of. Particularly if your nightmares run along the lines of John Carpenter's The Thing. Vaguely humanoid like creatures with extremities coming out of all the wrong places. There are various types with different functions and abilities, but all are equally as horrifying to look at. However hideous they may look, they all have one thing in common: they want to kill you. And doors will not keep them from their goal. If you think your safe from them, you probably aren't. My advice: keep an eye on the vents.

One of the great things about Dead Space is the incredible art design. I am a sucker for a well designed environment and Dead Space has them in spades. It reminded me a lot of the first time I saw BioShock and how taken I was with it's overall look. Sure, Dead Space doesn't have a fabulous Art Deco decor, but it makes great use of its outer space theme without seeming cliche. The depth of detail is fantastic from the machinery and walls to the various posters and signs that decorate them. It all blends together perfectly to create an ominous and totally immersive environment.

A conscious choice was made not to have a visible HUD, something that really adds to the cinematic quality of the game. By pressing the Y button you can bring up your HUD that includes a 3D map and your inventory screen. The HUD itself is a bit of genius design that looks like a hologram floating just to your right. It moves along with you which comes in handy considering that accessing your inventory or map during the game does not stop the action. In other words, the game does not pause when looking at your map or trying to refill your health leaving you open to attacks in true survival horror style.

Much like BioShock, most of the detailed story is told through various text and audio logs found lying around in the game. The story is actually quite intriguing, but to talk about it too much would mean giving away the plot of the game. It doesn't have quite the personal tie-in to your player character that BioShock did (at least not from what I saw) but it is quite an effective and intriguing plot nonetheless. The plot is further expanded by the Dead Space comics and DVD animated feature which were added because the team simply had too much back story to tell in the game itself.

There is so much more I could say about Dead Space and how excited I am for its release, but I almost feel as if I have said too much already. Keep an eye here over the coming weeks for more on Dead Space including a look at some of the incredible art design that I mentioned earlier. If you are a survival horror fan, this is one title I can guarantee you will want in your collection when it hits your 360 or PS3 on October 21.