While there are quite a few first person shooter apps on the iPad, few have the sort of horror movie feel that Dead Space can bring to the tablet. If the name of this particular game sounds familiar, it should as it was one of the most popular console horror/shooter games in history. Dead Space was actually so popular and so spooky that there have been a couple of different animated movies made in an attempt to tell more of the back story.
What makes the Dead Space app for the iPad so good is that there doesn’t seem to be much left out of the iPad version that was in the original. The graphics on the Dead Space for iPad app are almost as good as what you would see on the Xbox360 or the PlayStation 3, though obviously miniaturized a little for the screen. The basic premise is almost identical in that you arrive aboard a space station only to find it deserted … or at least MOSTLY deserted. After wandering around the station trying to get your bearings and learning how to play the game you eventually run into some truly evil creatures who seem intent on tearing out your throat.
The controls for running through the station are fairly easily, swiping along the left side of the screen will actually have you moving in whatever direction you would like to go. Swiping along the right side of the screen will allow you to look around, hopefully seeing the evil that is coming your way before it gets to you. While some people are certainly going to want to play the story mode, that goes along with the console game the iPad version does bring some different options.
Dead Space for the iPad also allows you to select the “Endless” feature which is pretty much what you would expect. There’s no health regeneration and no time limit, simply kill as many bad guys as possible. The “5 Minutes to Kill” game is like endless except you are trying to kill as many as possible before the timer goes to zero. Each kill will tack on a little extra time.
You can also decide to enter any chapter of the game that you have already gotten through, so if there’s one level you especially enjoyed you can play it over and over. One of the coolest features of this particular game is that EA offers quite a bit a downloadable content and while some is the usual junk you see on most iPad games, some of the content is actually helpful if you want to beat the game.
Obviously there are going to be some who balk at any app that is coming in with a $9.99 price tag, but this is the kind of game that is actually worth that price tag if you are a fan of immersive first person shooter game in a world where most games are little more than nice time wasters.
App Store: $9.99
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