Dead Space (Xbox 360, PS3)

With Resident Evil 5 not making its appearance till next year, the door was wide open for new survival horror in 2008, and the biggest splash was easily made by Dead Space. A new property from Electronic Arts, Dead Space tasks the player with exploring the fate of a “planet-cracking” vessel, the USG Ishimura. You soon realize that you and your team are not alone on the Ishimura, and the incredibly gory action begins. If all this sounds familiar, it’s because Dead Space clearly owes much to not only previous survival horror games, but also to sci-fi horror films like Alien and Event Horizon. Extraordinarily grim and bloody, Dead Space is a great gift choice for any fan of the survival horror genre, and arguably of action games in general. [$59.99]

AMAZON