I think we can all agree by now that the act of responding to a distress signal in deep space is about as sensible as answering a late night phone call from an unknown caller, or picking up a lone hitchhiker on a deserted highway. You are likely to wind up strangled, stabbed or shot (out of an airlock as the case may be). Fortunately, for our entertainment, no one aboard the USG Kellion, a repair ship answering said distress signal, seems to be the wiser.

In Dead Space, a brand new third-person action game from EA, the small crew on Kellion charts familiar sci-fi/horror frontier as they investigate trouble aboard the USG Ishimura, a planet cracker class ship. After a less than successful landing, the protagonist, Isaac, becomes stranded on this vast mining vessel in the company of vicious aliens, other human survivors with diverging agendas, and worse, a character that seems to have mistaken the Ishimura for the setting of a new season of Survivor, as she out-whines her way to the bitter end. Your task, for the next dozen hours or so, is to lead Isaac from one predictable genre convention to the next in a frantic bid for survival.

As part of EA's Dead Space 'trilogy' that started with a comic book, followed by an animated feature, and concluded in the game proper, this story about a deep space mining operation gone wrong is wrought with extraneous background and characters, from a religious sect bent on retrieving a sacred artefact to a secret government conspiracy. However, none of these ever come to bear and merely serve as bullet points in a plot synopsis for what is basically an age-old survive-the infestation tale.

A derivative story aside, just about everything else about Dead Space serves as a shining example of deft game design and expert execution. For starters, it's a meticulously paced action game. From the first breathless crash-course introduction to your dire situation, until the final climax, the game functions like a well-oiled and artfully engineered amusement park ride – one that repeatedly builds up tension and releases it in a barrage of adrenaline-inducing encounters. These range from intense fire fights in small confined spaces, to epic boss battles in zero gravity that are almost always intense and satisfying. What really elevates this experience is a handful of interjected moments of quiet and contemplative beauty that acts to remind you that, yes, you are in space, and yes, it is vast and stunning.

The trade-off for this carefully engineered thrill-ride is that Dead Space is a linear corridor shooter that leads you on a strict path, conveniently indicated by a holographic guide line that shows you exactly where to go at the press of a button. Fortunately, the linear experience holds up absolutely due to the expert pacing and inspired ship design that is at once logical, and also varied and beautiful. Even during sequences where you have to retread previously visited locations that would've broken lesser games, Dead Space never flatlines, as your objectives make sense, and finding your way around is simple thanks to the aforementioned holographic guide line.

Speaking of holographic guides, the developers have opted to strip the game of any kind of on-screen HUD that indicate your health or ammo. Instead, everything you need to know is built into your protective suit, with your health level a gauge running down your spine, and ammo count displayed clearly on your weapon. Even inventory management menus and video logs are taken care of the same way with holographic projections from your suit. This works very well to immerse the player in the game, as it strives to keep you in the experience by integrating everything within the context of the game.

Much of your time aboard the Ishimura will be spent dealing with the alien infestation threatening to take over the ship. The good news is that these extraterrestrials aren't heavily armed. The bad news, though, is that they are heavily armed. Once they take up residence in a human corpse, the transformed 'necromorph' has a tendency to sprout extra limbs to aid them in your dismemberment and whatever they lack in futuristic weaponry, they make up for with brute strength, agility, and raw enthusiasm for your grizzly demise.

The game features a small regiment of alien invaders, with varying behaviours and strengths, from small critters that hop onto your back for a nibble, to hulking behemoths that take pleasure in knocking you down, and even 'infectors' that seek out corpses to reanimate. They do, however, share a common weakness. Early on in the game, you'll find out that contrary to what you've learned from past video games and bedtime stories, shooting your enemies in the head do not put them down for good. Instead, the necromorphs have a strong attachment to their limbs, and severing them is the only way to ensure a swift death. It is seemingly a small variation, but actually impacts gameplay in interesting ways, as cutting off the legs of bipedal necromorphs transforms them into creepy crawlers still bent on killing you.

As the Ishimura is a mining ship, and Isaac more of a pre-Aliens Ripley than a bug-crushing confederate Starship Trooper, the majority of your weapons turns out to be modified mining tools, such as your starting plasma cutter and the ripper. This works out very well, since they are built with the express purpose of cutting things up, even if it wasn't with alien limbs in mind. The rest of your arsenal is rounded out with more conventional fare such as a pulse rifle and flamethrower. While each weapon is powerful and useful in their own right (with the exception of the disappointing Ripper), certain guns work a lot better in specific situations.

The game also features a robust upgrade system, which allows you to trick out your weapons and even your suit to offer more firepower and protection against the elements, with the use of power nodes. The nodes can be found littered around the ship, or purchased from vending machines located throughout that also offer ammunition, new weapons and suits, as well as serve as item storage for excess baggage. To upgrade your gear, you will go to a workbench, which allows you to insert power nodes into different slots on branching paths that may reduce your weapon's reload time, increase damage, and more. It's a well designed system that allows you to drastically enhance your favourite weapons and then watch as they cut through your enemies like soft butter.

Unfortunately, this is where Dead Space falters in its intention to provide a scary survival horror experience. It would be hard to feel for Little Red Riding Hood if we knew she was hiding a pump-action shotgun in her picnic basket – and Dead Space does just that by delivering you basketfuls of powerful weapons, with a steady influx of ammunition. On top of this, you even get the abilities of stasis and telekinesis that make sure you never feel vulnerable past the initial 30 minutes of the game. It still makes for an exemplary action game, but one where your survival isn't so much in question. Bumping up the difficulty level (of which there are 3, with an extra Impossible mode on completion) helps to ramp up the tension, as the enemies are served with a lot more bite.

As the proverbial icing on an already delicious cake, Dead Space features one of the best presentations to be found in any game this year, with superlative visuals and excellent sound design throughout. The expertly crafted levels are complemented by a great lighting system that casts dramatic shadows and throws dazzling light beams in all the right places. The zero-G sequences are especially memorable as they are adorned with impeccable detail, such as free-floating debris and escaping blobs of liquid from broken pipes. And for the gore hounds, let's just say that Dead Space allows you to indiscriminately commit vile acts of disarticulation with disturbing ease, such that the janitor aboard Ishimura probably gladly chose death just to avoid mopping up after.

Even more than the visuals, the densely layered sound work in the game serves to place you right there on Ishimura with Isaac (slightly behind and to the right, to be exact). Everything from ambient noise, weapon fire, and the bloodcurdling howls of the necromorphs are perfectly engineered, right down to the way they reverberate along narrow corridors. Sounds also become muffled and muted when you venture outside the ship, which strikes a great balance between realism and dramatic effect, and creates some tense moments as you frantically look around to avoid ambush.