In space, no one can hear you scream like a child when the video game gets too scary

"Dude, he's right behind you."

Much of this past weekend was lost playing "Dead Space." And by "playing" I of course mean sitting on the couch next to The Husband while he plays because I suck at video games and usually end up spending a good 15 minutes walking my character into a wall while monsters rip his legs off. So mostly I helped this weekend by shouting things like, "Shoot it! Shoot it!"

"Dead Space" involves a dude in a cool looking space suit searching through a space station that was the site of lots and lots of carnage. A few humans survived but for the most part, the area is filled with murderous monsters that are either the result of genetic experiments or alien involvement. It's the dude's job to find out what happened and also see if he can find his chickie...so it's kind of like Super Mario except the princess might have been turned into a space zombie and Yoshi was likely eaten by a critter with really long arms and six-foot long claws for hands. Also, no magic mushrooms...yet.

I pretty much love this game. It's like working your way through an interactive movie. The graphics are great and the storyline is extraordinarily suspenseful. And holy cow, watching this thing with the lights off is a severe test of the human nervous system. Mostly, this has to do with the sound effects. You can hear creatures skittering around in the air ducts, somewhere above or just over your avatar's shoulders. You hear them but you can't tell when or from where they're going to leap out at you. The music is terrific, too, rising and falling and helping to build the suspense. There were more than a few times this weekend when The Husband and I both jumped out of our seats and yelped as big scary creatures attacked from out of nowhere, made all the more scary by the ominous notes fluttering just under the auditory radar.

The game play is good too. I've played watched some games where the objectives are just non-sensical and don't seem to push the plot forward. Everything is very fluid here and using logic to solve problems actually pays off by moving the story. The shootin' and the fightin' are way cool with things actually disintegrating when you shoot at them instead of getting frustratingly elusive.

I should mention that the carnage in this game is really heavy duty: decapitations, spewing organs, enough blood to make Dracula hold up his bat hands and say, "Enough vith ze gore."

But it's such a cool game. If you're looking for something moody and perfect for the Halloween season, you have to check out "Dead Space." And if you're a sissy like me, you might want to have someone else work the controls so you can close your eyes at the really scary bits.