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The “well rounded gamers” at Four Fat Chicks take an intimidating dive called “What Not to Fear” into exactly what makes scary games scary, and therein why Dead Space falls short. Let me be clear that I haven’t played Dead Space yet, but the (now almost) universal acclaim I’ve heard has put the game on my short list of PS3 games I will buy and play at some point. Still, reading this article has put those plans on pause, because it was the “scary” claim that made me want to play it so much. Maybe I should spend my money on Silent Hill instead? Or better yet… System Shock 2. Maybe Fatal Frame.

Although‭ ‬Dead Space borrows heavily from well known science-fiction convention,‭ ‬it manages to establish a reasonably eerie atmosphere before mucking it all up with chronically over-exposed flesh-eating horrors.‭  ‬The concept of‭ “‬cracking‭” ‬a planet open for mining purposes and instead finding only suffering and death and making the player an engineer rather than some Duke Nukem/The Rock variant had enormous potential.‭

Aaah, spoilers! Dammit! Seriously, though, the article is a very thorough and entertaining read. Stay tuned for the contrast of Dead Space‘s tools-as-weapons plot device against that of Fatal Frame.

Source: What Not to Fear by Jason Dobry, Four Fat Chicks. Image of Silent Hill from the article.