When I first heard of DS, I was like "original title from EA? bullshit." Then I played the first game as soon as it came out, because I'm a sucker for survival horrors and I must say that it was everything I wanted it to be and more - aside from the action-oriented final 2 chapters, it was pretty friggin' intense, to the point of forcing me to stop playing every 3 or 4 hours to regain my composure. Dead Space 2 wasn't all that good, because it was less focused on horror - but then again it still held its ground. I didn't even play Dead Space 3 yet and my hopes aren't all that high for obvious reasons.
I'm not going to compare it to RE1-3, because RE1-3 is god and it defined the genre. Same with Silent Hill. Still, I believe it's way better in continuing the tradition of survival horror than RE4 and 5 and the new installments of the SH series... in the end, Dead Space 1 is a classic, 2 is questionable and the rest can disappear for all I care. The books, movies and micro-games are cool if you enjoy the universe though.
By the way, I remembered an experience I'd like to share. First RE2 playthrough, B scenario, me vs blob on the train, short on ammo for everything. No healing items, just magnum, shotgun, pistol, knife (yeah, it was that bad). I emptied everything into that asshole and he still wouldn't die. Oh well, switch to knife, hope for the best. 3 swings and Danger life status later, I was watching the final cutscene. Definitely one of the best videogame experiences in my gamer career