If you are a regular reader of my irregular, incoherent ramblings, you know that I like science fiction. You also probably know that I’m not that fond of the suspension horror genre. I’ve not yet been able to sit through The Shining, for instance, and thinking about The Exorcist and that freaking kid running down the stairs in reverse spider mode makes every hair on my body stand straight up.

So what happens when you take something I like and mix it with something I don’t like? Let’s say you take a science fiction game and add tons and tons of suspension horror. You get Dead Space. After having discussed various horror movies and genres with a friend on Monday, I, for some unknown reason, bought the game on Tuesday and I soon realized I could have spent my money far better by buying something else, like a The Adventures of Bambi DVD.

I just don’t have the stomach to play the game, the tension is killing me. All I want to do is to find a quiet, well-lit corner and wait there for someone else to come and kill all the monsters. I even tried to convince Terje to come play with me because playing alone was too scary. Unfortunately, he had other plans. Today I had support duty and since it’s not possible to leave the apartment to pretend I’m social, I decided to give Dead Space another go. I ended up playing with the the sound off, something that probably ruins the setting intended by the game designers, but it works very well for me.

On the other hand, playing with the sound off makes it impossible to hear if there is a four legged monster behind you trying to embed a claw in your brain.

Ben Croshaw, probably best known for his Zero Punctuation series of video game reviews isn’t as easy to scare as yours truly and he didn’t like the game that much either. But he makes entertaining reviews.