Electronic Arts’ heavily promoted sci-fi/survival horror game Dead Space hit store shelves this week, accompanied by an adult-oriented animated feature film and a 160-page graphic novel. Xbox 360 owners in North America can log onto the EA Store and try to get their hands on the Dead Space Ultra Limited Edition, which contains all three productions, as well as a 97-page art book. Only 1,000 copies of the set have been produced, so most people will have to purchase the individual elements separately. The movie, Dead Space: Downfall, is available from Anchor Bay, and the graphic novel can be found at comic shops via Image Comics. To learn more about these diverse media experiences, we spoke with Chuck Beaver, senior producer of the Dead Space game and producer in charge of all three storylines.
Dead Space is set 500 years in the future. Humanity has exhausted much of the Earth’s natural resources, and competition for survival is tight. In response, Earth’s mega-corporations send immense mining ships called ‘Planetcrackers’ into deep space to rip planets apart, smelt them down and then bring all the material back to Earth. When all contact is lost with the most famous Planetcracker, the Ishimura, Isaac Clarke and a small repair team are dispatched to restore communications. They find the ship nearly powerless and the crew horribly slaughtered and transformed into terrifying abominations. Cut off and trapped, Clarke and his team are overwhelmed in a desperate fight to survive.
The graphic novel, the movie and the game were all designed as stand-alone stories that also intertwine to tell one larger, spine-tingling tale. The comic deals with a mining colony sent to prepare a planet for extraction by the Ishimura. When they uncover a mysterious artifact referred to as ‘the marker,’ all hell breaks loose and an outbreak of ‘Necromorphs’ destroys the entire colony. Directed by Chuck Patton and produced by Film Roman for Starz Media, the animated movie picks up the story there as the outbreak makes it was on board the Ishimura. The game then puts players on Clarke’s crew as they investigate what happened to the Ishimura’s crew.
We’ve seen animated movies released in conjunction with feature films such as The Chronicles of Riddick and Van Helsing, but Dead Space is a pioneer among video game properties in this respect. ‘We are probably the first to tackle all of it at once, on the same release date, so it’s new territory,’ Beaver comments. ‘With the game, we had built such a big story that we couldn’t really tell it all within the space of the game. Glen Schofield, our exec producer, wanted to tell all of what we had put together, so he started looking for different media and properties to tell the story.’
Beaver says that because there are a lot of science-fiction games and a lot of horror games, people seem to think that there are a lot of science-fiction/horror games. However, outside of Doom, there are very few, making Dead Space a unique property. ‘For us, the first big differentiator is it’s science-fiction, so we have a whole new setting to be in,’ he explains. ‘Then we have a lot of mechanics based on the science-fiction element. We have zero-G because we’re in space; we have a thing called stasis, which can freeze enemies in time for a brief period; all the weaponry is based on futuristic mining tools that you would find on the ship; and we have a thing called strategic dismemberment, which is how you kill everything. You have to basically rip everything limb from limb before it really dies. A headshot might just send them into a sort of berzerker rage and they start coming after you blindly. You can shoot off both their legs and they will still use the talons they’ve grown out of their backs to continue to crawl toward you. All of our enemies have some way to locomote and come at you after all their limbs are gone. That’s a big, core part of our gameplay.’
While most game developers are focused on building expansive words for gamers to explore, the Dead Space team at EA Redwood Shores wanted to create a more claustrophobic feeling for much of the game, drawing inspiration from a number of classic sci-fi and horror properties that have done the same to great effect.
‘We are all really big science-fiction and horror fans, so we’ve pretty much seen every bad horror movie that’s ever been made and we have a pretty good nerd shorthand for all the science fiction films and our favorite parts,’ says Beaver. ‘You’ll see some of the same answers come out of our game as were handled in John Carpenter’s The Thing, [particularly] his approach to enemies and what makes them scary’the humanness and the human body parts. Event Horizon gets mentioned a lot but it probably has more to do with visuals and the atmosphere than the story. Their story deals more with Heaven and Hell and a sort of religious aspect of why things are scary or ominous, and ours is more just hard science, trying to be more grounded in reality and having things that are happening seem possible. And you can’t leave out the first Alien. That was a really big emotional target for us because you’ve got Ripley alone after her crew gets picked off and she has to go through this big, scary ship. There’s a lot of that feeling in the game.’
Beaver tells us that animation played a big part in the overall Dead Space experience, particularly the game. ‘The effectiveness of horror sort of relies on believability and keeping you immersed in the space,’ he remarks. ‘If you’re seeing things that don’t look real, the horror we’re going for isn’t quite there. Everything for us needs to be as real as it can be, and then, of course, we shoot for the uncanny valley for the enemies where they are human but there’s one small thing that’s very weird and not human, which is the eerie factor we’re going for.’
The film and the comic each have a look that is very distinct from the game so they wouldn’t be compared. Beaver explains, ‘The game is hyper-realisitc, so for the animated feature to do that, it would basically have to be a live-action feature. We let them pick their art style, and they were all excited about going with a mix of American and Japanese horror in the animation style. It’s reminiscent of Aeon Flux with the characters’ exaggerated proportions, a lot of eyeball shots and lots of tentacles. They did a great job.’
Dead Space will be in stores in Europe on Oct. 24 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Players who buy the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game within the first two weeks of release will have the opportunity to download a platform-exclusive suit. Xbox 360 owners can download the Xbox-themed Elite Suit on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace, and PS 3 fans can download the PlayStation-themed Obsidian Suit on the PlayStation Network. Both suits will feature new looks and increased toughness and inventory slots.
The game has been rated M for Mature due to blood, gore, intense violence and strong language. The title will be available for the suggested retail price of $59.99 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and $49.99 for PC. The Dead Space Ultra Limited Edition will be available on the Xbox 360 for $149.95. For more information about the property, go to www.deadspacegame.com.
