"Downfall" is the movie prelude to the "Dead Space" game. The overall story focuses on the events aboard the Ishimura, an intergalactic space ship. An alien artifact has been brought up from the planet below. Some think it’s a religious icon to be worshiped, others see it as a curse needing to be destroyed because along with it come nightmarish creatures that kill the crew then utilize their bodies to propagate their monstrous species.

The game focuses on a repair crew landing on the ghost ship of the Ishimura. The movie is all about how it became a ghost ship. The focus is on the security detail and their attempts to contain the murderous monsters. It ends with the approach of the ship you’re on at the start of the game.

Other than that short overlap, the overall concept (which should be a given), and a couple of other events and characters (like Dr. Kyne and his conflict with the captain) there really isn’t as much specific tie-in between the movie and the game as I expected. The areas we visit in both bear only passing resemblance to each other, and there are very few moments in one of saying “hey I recognize this from the other.” Wouldn't it have been cool to get an introduction to Nicole (an Ishimura crew member who plays a major part in the game story), see the guys using kinesis or stasis, show some zero gravity areas on the ship (seems like that would make for some cool battle sequences), or conversely in the game run across the bodies of people that die in the movie or other remnants of their stories?

There is some story setup for the planet and the religious artifact which will play into the revelations in the game. It’s also the only information you as a player have that your character doesn’t. Otherwise you only know what Isaac knows, though really that only amounts to where the artifact came from and the dangers that await the game characters.

One of the weak points of the movie is the lack of story. This is mostly a bunch of action scenes. While those are well done and appropriately tense it feels like the creators put so much effort into those that they didn’t create enough story. I’m sure they were trying to be conscious of giving away too much so that the game could make its revelations or were attempting to avoid spoiling the tension with exposition. Still, some additional plot would have been welcome.

Very little information is revealed and we barely get to know any of the characters. There is a conclusion to the plot of the movie characters we have been following but not to the larger story. This is a prequel after all. There is nothing here that is vital to the understanding of the game, though it does enhance the understanding of what is going on (in other words the game story can stand on its own). However the game is necessary to get a satisfactory conclusion for the movie. If you just want a movie for nothing more than the movie, you will probably be left dissatisfied.

As I said, the action does look good. This has a lot to do with the quality of the animation. It’s detailed and smooth. It has an anime style about it. I expected something a little more realistic looking but feel like the style works well. The big scenes tend to have a good balance of chaos and placement which keeps the viewer from getting lost.

Acting is pretty good for the most part. Several members of the cast are well renowned voice actors which helps. Jim Cummings, Kevin Michael Richardson, Kelly Hu, Bruce Boxleitner, Phil Morris, Maurice LaMarche, and a number of other familiar names add credibility to the characters. The expressions and gestures of the animation are good, and even though we don't get to know hardly anyone all that well there's no point that had me wondering who was supposed to be who.