Back to earth.

I can't believe I actually waited this long to play Dead Space.

The game is incredible! I followed the advice of friends and waited until I had the proper sound system to play the game. Waiting to purchase the game actually worked out well because I won the game as a prize in a tournament I participated in. When I found out I had won, I purchased the Turtle Beach X1 headphones. They weren't the first choice on my list but due to the big crunch, they fit my budget. I have to say I'm really pleased with them and they made the Dead Space playing experience ridiculously good. It would have been a gross injustice to the game had I just played it on regular TV speakers. As a matter of fact, I'll never game without them now.

Anyway, if you have not played it, do yourself a favor and at least rent it. You can finish it in twelve hours. It is so cinematic in terms of visuals and sound that at some points you almost forget you are playing a game.  Oh...and the whispers.  Chilling.

And to the detractors, yes, it goes for the cheap thrills but it does them very well. Remember the dog in the first Resident Evil and how that was scream-out-loud scary? Think that every 15 or 20 minutes. Add in the sense of impending doom when your supplies run short, and you're trying to find your stasis module in the active inventory menu while being chased by an alien that wants to tear you in half... your adrenaline will be pumping, your aim will be wild, and your trigger finger will be reflexively pumping in sheer panic with hopes of just trying to slow that thing down for 2 seconds.

This is great scary fun. Fallout took all of the awards, Gears got all of the hype. Dead Space just provided one of the best looking, sounding and playable games of 2008.