These third-person death animations bear a striking resemblance to those featured in Resident Evil 4, a game that featured a record-breaking amount of death scenes for its time. Isaac might not have any dialogue in that game, but seeing him get torn to pieces is sure to make players feel for the guy. Aside from producing some excellent compilations on YouTube, the Dead Space team saw these grisly ends as necessary to help the audience connect with the then-silent protagonist of the series - Isaac Clarke. Enemies will frequently grab the player and attempt to eviscerate them, leading to many a violent game over screen. The original Dead Space is infamous for its numerous, gory death animations. This illustrates how Resident Evil 4 continued to influence Dead Space even as the franchise moved on to its sequels. After the surprise success of the original game, the developers of Dead Space 2 used their expanded budget to include dramatic action setpieces that share many aesthetic sensibilities with Resident Evil 4.

Most impressive, however, was their level of technical sophistication and overall production values.Īlthough the Dead Space team was deeply impressed by the over-the-top cinematics found in Resident Evil 4, they didn't have the time or budget to include scenes of similar scope in the original Dead Space. The game had a Hollywood-esque quotability to it, with its protagonist Leon Kennedy, one of the best characters in the Resident Evil series, constantly spouting one-liners that would feel right at home in a James Cameron film. Upon its release, audiences (the Dead Space team included) were taken with the impressive, cinematically styled cutscenes featured in Resident Evil 4. Strategically targeting different parts of an enemy's body to produce different results is a system that carried over elegantly to Dead Space, and helped make that game the worthy successor to Resident Evil 4 that it's considered to be today. In a system that was revolutionary for the time, Resident Evil 4's enemies would react realistically to taking a bullet - falling to the ground if shot in the leg, dropping their weapon if hit in the hands, and being left open for a melee attack if hit in the face. One of the reasons that Resident Evil 4's combat still feels so fresh is the incredibly detailed and responsive ways that enemies react to being shot. It's also possible to trace this DNA back to Resident Evil 4. This system is so central to the appeal of the game's combat that it's one of the most exciting ways that the upcoming Dead Space remake can improve upon the original experience, with considerable effort apparently being given towards making this mechanic feel even more visceral and intense.

The game's enemies cannot be killed efficiently with shots to the body, so the player has to lop off their limbs to slow them down and eventually defeat them. The focal point around which Dead Space's combat revolves is tactical dismemberment.

Resident evil 4 screen shots