Silver Screen: Dead Space: Downfall feature

As a standalone film Downfall could be considered a disappointment. A story that doesnt have a clear beginning and end, its obviously a product sandwiched between two different mediums, with the comics taking place before and the game taking place after. If youre coming into this knowing beforehand that youll never pick up the game then youve just wasted your money on something thatll mean nothing to you. Having played (and loved) Dead Space, Gamestyle can actually see some cleverness between the cracks.The film revolves around a mysterious statue known as a marker which is believed to be of alien origin. The USG Ishimura, a planet cracker (a ship that breaks apart planets harvesting them) brings it aboard and as youd expect all hell breaks loose. If youve followed the animated comics on Xbox Live then youd know that the colony that discovered the marker went crazy and major bloodshed ensued, Downfall follows that pattern in the confines of this massive ship. Whats quite clever is how it borrows elements from the game. The health meter, which is shown by a blue light on the back your character is here and when a character does die you actually see it deplete. The popup videos also make an appearance when characters are contacting one another, its certainly an interesting visual moment.Where Downfall falls apart (quite badly) is in the tension and fear. Being animated the movie can never recreate the games feeling of suspense and dread; and the few jump moments that happen arent handled the best. It also has a weird Saturday morning cartoon look to the art style, it looks far too clean for the horrors that ensue. The animators obviously felt that what scared people was blood, and there is an absolutely ridiculously amount of claret flying all over the place. It certainly makes use of the 18 certificate. Well, that and the hilarious amount of cursing. What could be the movies biggest downfall (pun intended) is that maybe somethings are best left unexplained. By filling in the gaps left by Dead Space it takes away the mystery and intrigue. Gamestyle watched the movie before finishing the game and therefore were slightly disappointed that we discovered so much. Perhaps, despite being a prequel, this experience is best left till the game is done and dusted.If you take Downfall on its own merits as a standalone product then there is really nothing here to get you interested. The plot is clichd to the extreme and aside from a spiritual native American and a captain losing his mind the characters are badly realised. Even the main character is so forgettable that we cant even remember her name without looking it up on Wikipedia. The only thing we can tell you about her is shes your standard Ripley clone with a bad attitude and is voiced by Kelly Hu. The rest are just your standard space marines that wouldnt look out of place in your generic Xbox FPS.The movie itself isnt the only disappointment with this package. Available on both DVD and blu-ray the extras are almost non-existent. The only two things of note is a trailer and a deleted scene. The latter of which isnt even animated, only using badly drawn storyboards. Its a wasted opportunity.If youre desperate to get the full story of what happens in Dead Space then you may get some enjoyment here, and EA have certainly taken a lot of time in creating a world that people will love to delve deeper into it. But a boring plot and dreadful characters mean the true story of the USG Ishimura is best left unexplained.