all games are not created equal

In both games, you arrive at a location that has been transformed because of previous events and you'll find out over the course of the game what happened. They tell the story through logs that you find throughout the game. It's nice because it keeps things pretty mysterious and doesn't get too much in the way of gameplay. Both games do pretty well with this, so no complaints there.

One place where Bioshock clearly outshines Dead Space is in the upgrade system. You can upgrade your weapons, rig and accessories in Dead Space, but I had a problem noticing that my upgrades really did anything at all. The obvious ones like increased ammo are clear to see, but stuff like .1 seconds off your reload time or an extra point of damage per shot are really hard to notice. The upgrade system also didn't motivate me to level up my stuff just because I didn't feel like it was doing anything. In Bioshock, when you upgraded something, you knew it. Added abilities were the clearest, but weapon and ability upgrades were pretty clear too.

One thing that was pretty bothersome in Dead Space was the lack of a good melee weapon. Bioshock had a wrench that you could pound on people with if you ever ran out of ammo. Dead Space gives you hands and feet. Out of ammo? Then swing awat with your fists at the wave of monsters and watch as they don't die. You really really really need ammo in Dead Space because once your out, you're really screwed.

Both games do have a pretty convincing atmosphere, but Bioshock wins for lasting impression. Dead Space achieved this through some cheap scares at times, which I always frown upon. In Bioshock, I was always waiting for that scare to help relieve the tension that the environment created, but it never came.

None of this is saying that Dead Space is a bad game. Not at all. It's actually a pretty good game. It just isn't as good as the total package that is Bioshock.