On the other hand, in the Dead Space remake you’re given the ability to shuttle back and forth between the various decks of the USG Ishimura, and you’re incentivised to do so with locked doors that can be accessed as Isaac’s security level increases. Striking Distance Studios’ artists did an incredible job at realising each area of the Black Iron Prison, so it’s a shame it largely all passes by in a blur with little reason to ever stop in order to scrutinise your surroundings. It just sluices you through them in a surge of forward momentum, slamming the door shut behind you at the start of each chapter with no way to backtrack for secrets you may have missed. It certainly serves up some striking and unsettling locales like its opening prison cell block and fetid waste management, but rarely does it give you a moment to linger. The Callisto Protocol’s level structure is equally as narrow as its number of enemy types. At any rate, it’s clear that Dead Space’s creature designs are a cut above and they come in more shapes and sizes, from tiny tentacle-sprouting babies to a towering Leviathan that can only be described as looking like the largest arsehole in the universe this side of Uranus. Or I guess, moviemaking gamer recognises game inspired by moviemaker’s movies. There’s a reason that horror movie maestro John Carpenter would love to make a film out of the Dead Space series, and it’s because game recognises game. ![]() Dead Space’s nasties, on the other hand, are the stuff of proper cosmic horror nightmares. As I stated earlier, The Callisto Protocol’s vivid depiction of viscera is not to be undersold, but most of its enemies are gross in a reanimated roadkill kind of way. Isaac is also pitted against a decidedly more ghastly group of ghouls than what Jacob has to contend with. There really is no contest when it comes to combat variety and balance The Callisto Protocol’s Jacob is a blunt instrument, while Dead Space’s Isaac is a sci-fi Swiss Army knife. It’s fun to quickly Force-push mutants to their doom like you’re a Jedi who’s running late for a council meeting, but it hardly maintains a sense of tension. However it’s overpowered and too easily abused, allowing you to lift enemies off their feet and hurl them into the always conveniently placed spiked walls and exposed fan blades, meaning you’re able to clear entire areas of threats with a few hand gestures before they’ve had a chance to notice you. While sadly there’s no Stasis in The Callisto Protocol, there is a Kinesis equivalent. Each of these work perfectly in tandem with Dead Space’s object-throwing Kinesis and enemy-slowing Stasis abilities, giving you a variety of ways to problem-solve your way out of each roomful of angry undead astronauts. ![]() Meanwhile the Contact Beam literally hoses the decaying flesh right off each necromorph’s bones like you’ve somehow stumbled onto an R-rated patch for PowerWash Simulator. ![]() The Ripper’s spinning saw blade lets you prune the parts off each freak with vengeful glee like you’re attacking the annoying tree branches coming from over your neighbour’s fence. The swiveling head of his Plasma Cutter may as well have been engineered by the Gillette razor corporation for how effective it is at shaving the stubborn limbs off necromorphs no matter which way their bodies are angled. To its credit it does differentiate itself with a melee-heavy focus in its opening hours complete with axes and stun batons, but while going toe-to-toe with two-headed titans isn’t a complete swing and a miss, the slightly fussy timing of the melee mechanic means as a feature it lands as more of a glancing blow than a knockout punch.īy the midpoint of Dead Space, however, Isaac is truly spoilt for choice when it comes to creative killing. The Callisto Protocol is saddled with an ordinary ordnance limited to pistols, shotguns, and an assault rifle, which feel satisfying enough to shoot but are ultimately indistinct from the firearms featured in any number of other action games. Much like Dead Space, Striking Distance Studios’ prison break game involves prison-breaking the arms and legs right off its mutated inhabitants, but the tools you’re given to get the joint-severing job done just don’t have the same kind of panache as Isaac Clarke’s iconic arsenal of repurposed mining implements.
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