Dead Space 3 (Photo credit: gamerscoreblog)
Written by:James VanGorden
When I initially heard about Dead Space 3 and that it was getting co-op and then battling humans on top of that I have to say I was skeptical. I asked myself is this awesome survival horror game that I loved just turning into some gears of war action fest clone? But it proved me to be wrong.
When I started Dead Space 3 I expected to begin on a wide open ice planet but, the first part of the game I felt right at home in the confined corridors of spaceships. Cutting through familiar necromorph limbs and looting what ever ammo I could find and horde. On a couple of chapters space walking from deserted ship to deserted ship was one of the games highlights. The moments of space walking were awesome fun, flying around with my co-op partner battling those nasty looking baby necromorphs, spiders, scavenging for air canisters, and collecting ship parts to get ours going again.
As soon as we get the ship going things get worse, and we end up on Tau Volantis. A massive icy planet crawling with swarms of necromorphs. This is where the game’s story started to get very tiring for me. But before I go on to the stuff that rubbed me the wrong way I want to talk about all the great new stuff visceral did with its franchise. First and foremost the new bench system is amazing! I love that you can craft just about everything you need, from weapons, weapon parts, circuits to upgrading your weapon, heath, ammo, and just about everything else. Also when your playing co-op you both get your own loot so you don’t have to feel as if you’re hogging it all or vice-a-versa. The combat was also very solid when you fought the necromorph. They also had a great variety of the creepy weird-looking things, so they always kept you on your toes. The bosses were also cool but not that challenging to me (ex. Just shoot the glowie bits). There was a part where Carver asks Isaac “How do we kill these things?” and Isaac replies “Shoot the yellow parts!”. It just made me laugh.
Dead Space – 3 (Photo credit: SS Games Online)
There were only a couple of things I felt the game was lacking at. The story was very repetitive, go here turn on power, fight waves of necromorphs while the door, elevator, or whatever it is gets power, and then leave. Also had a lot of deja-vu moments of “Have I been here before?” and “Did I just walk in a huge circle?”. Some of the characters were very inconsistent such as, Ellie got mad at Isaac for shooting someone who wanted to betray them and kill him but then later Carver kills a woman who Isaac could’ve saved and she acts like its ok. I felt that the combat with other humans was lacking originality and wonky. There was no cover system all you could do was crouch behind a box or two for cover. Then when you aim down your sights, it forces you to stand which can get annoying especially when your low on health. I wish they would’ve just left those parts out in a way. I’m fine with just killing the necromorphs.
Closing comments:
While the story, characters, and human fighting weren’t the greatest, Dead Space 3 is a great game. The necromorph battles, crafting, sound, graphics, and mix of tight corridors and large areas is what makes Dead Space 3 an awesome game to me. Visceral tried some new things and they worked out nicely. If you’re a big fan of the Dead space series then you’ll definitely want to play the latest from EA and Visceral.
Ratings:
Gameplay: 8.5
+Fighting the necromorphs is so fun.
+The new crafting system f-ing rocks!
-Fighting the humans is wonky and feels shoehorned in/ glowie bits on bosses.
Graphics: 9
+Beautiful open landscapes and super dark and creepy corridors.
-In some cut scenes people would be missing limbs. Once Carver was missing his head for the whole scene. WTF?
Fun factor: 9
+Having a co-op partner made the experience much more fun for me.
+Slicing off limbs still hasn’t lost its appeal. Especially with the new weapons you can craft.
-Having a lot of deja vu moments and the repetitive nature of the mission types.
Lasting appeal: 8
+New game plus is nice. But not sure if it’s enough for more than two playthroughs.
+Plans for DLC have already been announced.
ElectricSproket 
Missing limbs and heads during cut scenes?! Sounds like a plus in my book.
I’ve never played any of the deadspace games but I’ve seen some of the game play and it’s looked interesting but this review makes me want to go out, buy it and play it myself 🙂
The negatives of the game would have destroyed the survival horror aspect of the game for me, limping along as it is. If variety is a spice, then repetition is some kind of mould, or perhaps a skin-eating virus. I like that you focused on the positives, and it sounds like every other aspect of the game besides the horror was well put together. How did the asymmetrical dementia pan out in the multi-player?
I agree with you about the horror being not there much but I think maybe the first 5hours were awesome. It felt like the original dead space and that was my favorite. They handled the dementia well in co op. I played as carver and I would see stuff that my partner wouldn’t and it work good with the way they set up the looting. I would consider consider this an action game first and horror is like a side dish. Unfortunately I felt they were headed in this direction when I played 2.
Nice Review of a cookie cutter game. Dead Space needs to go beyond it’s rail shooter roots.
I look forward to playing it
Got me sold! Can’t wait to pick it up.