Dead Space

As an engineer called upon to check on an incommunicado salvage vessel, or a "planet cracker," protagonist Isaac Clarke is no warrior. He's your average Joe Future-Schmoe, thrust into an insurmountable situation, the odds always firmly stacked against him. He lumbers about slowly by default and he doesn't even have a proper gun to speak of. Since Iaasc can't rely on any inate brutality, he'll have to employ his tactical engineering prowess to fashion seemingly innocuous tools of his trade into instruments of unbridled death.

Above: To maintain a level of immersion, Dead Space avoids a traditional HUD by placing ammunition levels directly over your weapon. And the neon spine? That's your health bar

Just as we've seen with games like BioShock and Resident Evil, ammo is scarce, so dismembering a foe isn't just fun - it's a means of survival. When the coast is clear you can assemble weapons like the Line Gun, which has a spread like a shotgun but also lays mines as secondary fire. The stasis gun acts as bullet-time evolved. Rather than simply slow down time, it creates a bubble of slow-mo around an intended target in order to give you ample time to, ahem, get the job done.

Did we mention the game is scary as hell? As depressing and horrifying as the visuals appear, they're undeniably gorgeous. In addition the uniquely designed enemies and environment, it looks like a genuine masterwork of lighting and mood.