If there's one thing gamers hate (other than loot boxes), it's mobile titles. Every time a new one gets announced comment sections across the internet are set ablaze with vitriol and repulsion. One could hardly blame them for their cynicism however, as even in the days before microtransactions were a thing the technological limitations of cellphones from back then meant that what they were getting was rarely anything to write home about. Believe it or not though, there was a period in the currently ongoing lifespans of the Android and iPhone where it looked like that device you text on could have been a legitimately viable platform for gaming on the go with some great exclusives. When you could buy gems like Spider-Man: Total Mayhem and this for just $6.99. There's a parallel universe out there where the industry continued down that path, you can play Elden Ring on the bus between selfies because it's always in your pocket, Game of Thrones had a good ending, and I have regular threesomes with actress Meagan Tandy and UFC fighter Mackenzie Dern. A perfect world, if you will!

The team at IronMonkey Studios, which has since been merged by EA with Firemint to create Firemonkeys, were a bunch of wizards. They set out to deliver a home console caliber Dead Space adventure that you could take wherever you went, and goshdarnit they succeeded! Let's start with the presentation. Graphically this is still on par with a lot of the best looking modern releases, perfectly capturing the franchise's signature industrial sci-fi look and macabre sights. I was particularly blown away by the voice acting which is on the same level as a triple-A production; a fact that really bolsters the storytelling. The plot itself, which is actually an original tale complete with its own entirely new protagonist that serves as a prequel to the second game, is a tad predictable. I was able to accurately guess things like a side-character's betrayal and the truth behind the lead "Vandal's" (who would totally kick Isaac's butt BTW, especially the new one's) identity long before they were revealed despite having not yet played the entry it's leading into for example, but I found it to be a memorable and well-told narrative nonetheless.

Yet, while all of its auditory and visual splendor is certainly worth celebrating, they would ultimately mean nothing if the gameplay wasn't good. Luckily, OHMYFREAKINGGOSH did they NAIL IT!!! I think everyone knows by now that the property's claim to horror isn't cerebral frights or even the grisly imagery. It's nail-biting action sequences where you have to carefully plan each dismembering shot while juggling multiple different threats coming at you from several directions at once in often cramped spaces and managing a small ammo supply. Those show up here in spades. Shooting with touchscreen controls has never felt better. Everything from dragging your finger to aim or quickly tilting your device to change your weapon's fire mode is smooth, accurate, and reliable. There is some minor input clutter due to how many actions are tied to tapping the screen, leading to moments where you'll accidentally pull your weapon up to aim when trying to activate a panel or pick up an object with kinesis, but these instances are merely slight annoyances at worst. Intense combat isn't the only method the devs use to get your heart racing either. Regular hallucination segments occur that are typically punctuated by surprisingly effective jump scares. A few of them can even get quite mind-bending in design, which is only all the more impressive given the platform.

After reading all the praise I'm heaping on this you're probably thinking right now "dang, I better go check it out for myself!" Weeeell, unfortunately you'll run into a bit of a problem there. You see, the sad nature of mobile gaming is that the vast majority of these experiences are here today and gone tomorrow, as they're regularly removed from digital storefronts thanks to the rapid evolution of the hardware making them obsolete in an instant and development studios understandably not finding it profitable enough to stay on top of putting out the constant stream of updates necessary to keep them listed. What you're reading about at the moment is one such casualty. The only way to play it these days is by downloading it off of some shady .apk site and ignoring the warning pop-ups from Play Protect about the potential risks like I did. A method that works strictly for Androids. iPhone users on the other hand must use a third-party program after locating the right .iso file to install it for them, and must also have an appropriately older model for it to even run at all. It's an altogether more tedious, demanding process that serves as another example (alongside the variety of emulators that are available on the Play Store) of why Apple's aforementioned competitor is by far the better option for hardcore gamers.

Whatever brand you roll with though, it is absolutely worth the effort of jumping through the various hoops required to play this. It's a staggering achievement that shows the true gaming capabilities of these little boxes we spend so much of our lives staring at like no other title. The sole complaint you could have is that it's pretty short at about 2-4 hours for a first playthrough, but features such as new game+ and multiple difficulty levels paired with its timeless mechanics make it worth returning to again and again until you fully upgrade all your guns and armor. Here we are 12 years later and it might still be the best mobile game ever created. It's Dead Space on your phone, man. What more could you ask for?

10/10