The player must fight their way through various levels of a stricken mining ship, which has been infested with an alien species known as the 'Necromorphs'. The game features an 'over the shoulder' third-person perspective, similar to games such as Resident Evil 4 and Gears of War. The interface does not feature a traditional 'heads up display'. Instead, information is relayed to the player via lights and translucent screens which hover over Issac's weapons and armour.

The player will encounter weightless and decompressed environments, which Isaac can navigate using a pressurized suit equipped with magnetic boots. Some levels will even lead out onto the surface of the ships hull. Floating debris will present a hazard, and Issac can loose his footing and simply float off into space. In keeping with Issac's profession as an engineer rather than a soldier, weapons in the game are mostly improvised, and consist of an array of bolt cutters, stasis guns and rudimentary energy weapons.

Combat in the game is complicated by the fact that Necromorphs are not simply rendered 'dead' after a certain number of rounds have been fired at them. Rather, they can adopt new stances and tactics, and even sprout new limbs, based upon where they have been wounded. Hence, the player must find and exploit specific weak points. The game's Executive Producer, Glen Schofield, has said that 'the primary theme of Dead Space is dismemberment', and early previews of the game have noted the high levels of gore.

Who cares?? Pretty sure this isn't a STALKER thread. So shut it.

Obviously none of you guys have played the whole way through STALKER on hardest difficulty, notably the X18 lab

I have!  I've got like 90+ hours on that game!