Gamertell

Title: Dead Space Downfall
Release Date: October 28, 2008
Company: Anchor Bay
Rating: Not Rated
Length 74 minutes
Pros: Strong story as a prequel. Great character development. Monster, environment and perspective animation is spot-on
Cons: Voice acting didn’t work as well as it could have, character animation has inconsistent quality, tiresome pace
Overall Score: Two thumbs sideways, 74/100, C, ** out of five

Dead Space, EA’s new survival horror game (PS3, box 360, PC/Win), already has a film adaption titled Dead Space: Downfall. It’s an adequate yet irritating sci-fi/horror cartoon that acts as a prequel to the beautiful and horrifying game.

The Good

The film’s aesthetic is an exact replica of the look, style and atmosphere of the game. Darkness and tension does play on the viewers. It also follows suit with the standard horror belief of either keeping the monster(s) in the dark or making it noticeable that at one time or another they were once human.

Sound design is one of the best things about this cartoon sci-fi/horror movie since the acoustics of the ship can be strange and sounds could come from literally anywhere. Shrieks, creaks and groans of stressed metals are creepy by themselves but sounds of mutating flesh and the shrieks of dying agony really start to add to the tension.

The intermittent darkness is also something that works in the movie’s favor with vision being at least partially obscured by lighting, especially in the perspective shots.

The Bad

Voice acting, though it has its moments of promise, end up falling through because it often sounds forced. If it were forced like labored breathing, from extended periods of running, fighting or just fear due to either physical exertion or injury, like a collapsed lung, it would make more sense. The way the acting sounds half the time is like that of someone with a horrid case of constipation.

The pace is tiresome and irritating most of the time. It takes a lot of time to actually get into the meat of the story. Sure, the atmosphere of the movie during the development of the story is creepy. However, until the majority of the action happens, it’s very slow. Whether the bulk of the action is going on though, the story is almost completely thrown out. It’s still atmospheric but it’s just the bare bones that are left for the story.

The Ugly

The character animation and some of the “strategic disemboweling” scenes are sketchy (yes, the pun was intended). It’s inconsistent where in some instances the differences in character animation are so numerous that the only things that makes characters discernible are hair (or lack thereof) and skin color.

The “strategic disemboweling” scenes just don’t look right, and not for the right reasons. Sure, most of the monsters are mutated people but they are still technically humanoid. This means that they should fall apart roughly the same way as humans. Yet, a standard bullet from a handgun is able to tear off a limb of a monster made from an adult but not tear a limb off a monster made from a baby. Sure that might be a bit much, even for a movie and game such as Dead Space. Still, it’s a matter of consistency. If something is small, the thing that would make it difficult is actually hitting it. However, if you do hit it, it would take much less to tear a chunk out of it than an average height adult.

The special features are only on the Blu-ray disc release while the DVD’s biggest pull is the movie itself.

The Bottom Line

It can be fun to watch and it’s brutally accurate to the game. It’s one of the few prequels that ends up working. Still, even with all this good, it’s dead-flat average.

There’s really not much in the way of substance or consistency, other than that which was listed in the good.

Getting this movie all depends on whether or not you really enjoyed the game. If you enjoyed the game, you’d probably feel better about shelling out $23.99 for the DVD copy or $32.99 for the Blu-ray copy. If you didn’t enjoy the game, chances are you will absolutely hate this movie and should avoid it. If you have a Blu-ray player, you’re better off getting the Blu-ray copy simply for the special features.

Site [Dead Space the Movie]