Dead Space is one of my favorite single player games of the year.  The game had the rare ability to keep my attention focused on the story so it was really a no-brainer to give the animated film a shot.  Dead Space: Downfall is a prequel to the events that took place during the game.  Overall I have to admit I was entertained and that’s the point right?

I am not going to pretend to be a pro when it comes to judging animation in a film.  I am not into anime at all and I barely watch regular animated shows but I can say it kind of feels like a crappy Titan A.E.

The violence is way over the top and the middle to end of the film has extreme amounts of cursing so this isn’t one for the kiddies.  Actually, it took a bit of convincing from me to get the wife to watch it and in the end that was probably not my most intelligent decision.  I should have known better because the game is extremely violent but the animated film takes it to the utter extreme.

The voice acting for most of the characters was beyond my expectations.  There aren’t any recognizable voice talents in the credits but most of them deserve a pat on the back. The problem with the voice acting really boils down to the main character in the film.  I could have dealt with some of the secondary characters having bad voice acting but that wasn’t the case and I sincerely wish it had been.  The main heroine in the film had to be the worst in the bunch.  The character was just too over-the-top in every scene she was in.  I had so much disdain for her that when she was first introduced and I didn’t even know she was the main character I said to myself, “I hope she dies first.”   She didn’t entirely ruin the film for me but she came pretty close.

I have to come back to the over the top cursing for a moment.  Before I had rented the film on Netflix I read through some of the user reviews.  Most of them were turned off by the swearing in the film but when I see horror films I always think that there should actually be more swearing.  Who just runs and screams when scary shit is happening all around them?  I would be dropping curse words one after another like every other normal human being so it is somewhat excusable for the excessive amounts of it.

The story sets up the game.  A mining team has cracked open a planet and has found an alien artifact.  The crew of the ship and the mining colony start losing their minds and everything goes terribly wrong.  I would actually recommend playing the game before watching this film.  I know it’s a prequel but it would definitely ruin some of the major plot twists in Dead Space and the game is the more entertaining medium here so why ruin it?  The film ends where the game begins with Isaac Clarke and his team boarding the USG Ishimura.

In the end, the film is worth the time to watch, but only if you thoroughly enjoyed the game.  You have to put that film critic part of you aside and just enjoy it for what it is.  Dead Space: Downfall serves it’s purpose, but only as a rental.  I just have to warn you once again that Necromorphs tear everyone aboard the ship limb from limb so if you don’t enjoy a good blood bath, stay far away from this animated prequel to Dead Space.