There’s no disguising the fact this isn’t a horror series
anymore. A series with horror elements in the same sense as Bioshock perhaps but not an actual
horror series.
While the first two games were certainly criticised for the
amount of bullets and weapons you had to mow down space zombies, there was
often at least this attempt to have horror moments. Dead Space 3 doesn’t even bother with that and at the end of the
day it’s closer to Borderlands in
some respects than the previous games. But does that make it bad? Far from it.
Set several months after the events of Dead Space 2, 3 follows
the story of Isaac Clarke as he is forced to confront the necromorphs and space voodo scientology Unitology once more. With Unitology having
effectively overthrown EarthGov in their secret war and initiating repeats of
the Sprawl incident with artificial markers, Isaac is recruited by a few
remaining loyal soldiers. Their mission: To try and find the source of the
alien devices and end the threat once and for all. However his recruitment is
driven by more personal reasons with his love Ellie Langford having gone
missing scouting out the planet Tau Volantis, where this seemingly all began.
It’s about as good a tale as you’d expect with this game and
despite the lack of emphasis upon horror it’s not suffered. The settings,
ranging from frozen wastelands to orbiting derelicts, definitely help enhance
the experience of the game adding a great deal of tension. Not to mention
fantastically atmospheric visuals of landscapes, perhaps the most memorable
since the first Assassin’s Creed. At
least as much as you’d find in the flickering, failing habitation areas of the
collapsing Sprawl. All the text logs and lore-porn are there to keep anyone
invested in the storyline interested even at the game’s slowest point.
The level design of each area seems to reflect the title’s
greater emphasis upon action over horror as they resemble more of what you’d
expect from an action orientated TPS title than the corridors of the Ishimura.
While lacking row upon row of chest high walls there’s none of the backtracking
there was before and far more open areas to allow for running gun-battles. Greater
emphasis seems to have been placed on individual, violent spectacles. The sort
of hectic one shot events which you rush through and block you from ever going
back, like running around the base of an out of control giant mining drill.
None of this is to say any of it is bad, quite the opposite in many places,
simply that the design is extremely different from before. Thankfully what has
been kept is what worked previously, such as the returning zero-G sections
where you fly between derelicts orbiting above Volantis.
If you’ve kept track of the promotional campaign or have
played the demo you’ll know that Dead
Space 3 has a major co-op element. While not necessary for just playing the
game it does prove to be an interesting feature, doing more with the idea than
the similarly horror turned action Resident
Evil 5. The trick to this is through the mental state of the character
accompanying Isaac, Sergeant John Carver, who is starting to suffer from
delusions and hallucinations as Isaac did in the previous games. In co-op
sections of the game feature the person playing Carver seeing one thing while
Isaac does not and the game splitting entirely in some sequences where he has
to fight his way back into reality. This gives more incentive to play co-op
along with single player due to the differing experiences and enhances
replayability. Something which the first and second game were definitely
lacking.
The actual gameplay and shooting is much closer to what was
found in Dead Space 2 than the
original. Lacking the close claustrophobic camera angles and slightly clunky
movement in favour of the more fluid combat dodges and distant camera to make
movement easier and gunfights less of a frantic mad rush. While again this is a
choice which diminishes the title’s horror it turns the combat into a major
strength, turning it into a solid fast-paced shooter and boosting the effectiveness
of its new feature: the weapon customisations.
While the series has always been known for its bizarre designs
of guns, usually repurposed tools, Dead
Space 3 amps the insanity of its firearms up to new heights. Benches now
give you the option to build and rebuild unique variants of guns with the parts
you pick up, allowing you to create the sort of overpowered futuristic weapons
you’d usually expect to find being wielded by the Chimera. Best of all however
is the fact that you can create combi-weapons, single guns which double
together two other others present in the game. So if you ever wanted to combine
a line gun with a contact beam, you can go right ahead. Thinking of welding
together two shotguns just for the hell of it? Yeah that’s available, as are
variants with melee extensions and expansions to help with your firepower. Plus
there’s always that moment of hilarity when you realise just how many laser
sights certain combos have, such as with the ten you get when mounting a line
gun atop a line gun.
That being said there is a few definite bad choices made with
the weapons. The most notable one is the decision to make every weapon share
the same ammo. While this might make
some sense considering the limited inventory space, multiples ammo typess in
levels are usually something which can be used to have players make full use of
the game. Switching between guns when they run out of ammo and not run through
the entire campaign by specialising in one weapons you’re obscenely good with.
Admittedly the first game did screw this up in a multitude of ways, but this is
less fixing the problem than completely removing a flawed but essential element
of the title.
Despite all the criticism behind it, Dead Space 3 has also opted to limit Isaac to only carrying two
weapons at a time. While this is somewhat excusable as it stops you abusing the
combo-gun mechanic to carry the game’s entire arsenal on your back, it’s still
a frustrating limitation. Feeling like a huge step down from the original and something
which causes far more problems than it should. Though Isaac’s all powerful boot
is usually enough to keep most enemies down as an absolute last resort you can
still be left armed with guns which are
not suited to the foes you face with no way to switch weapons.
Also that unnecessary requirement for you to kick bodies for
items to actually drop is back. Apparently no one on the staff considered
removing the busywork behind looting to be a worthwhile improvement.
In spite of the game’s complete genre shift, this is still
an extremely solid title. Most of its real weaknesses come in the form of minor
issues and awkward decisions which are more of an irritation than any outright
problem. The shooting is good, the story while not outstanding is up to par
with previous instalments and for the most part there have been nothing but improvements
on what came before. If you’ve enjoyed any of the tactical dismemberment from
the last titles, are interested to see the story to its end, or even just want
a decent shooter with co-op capability definitely look this one up.
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Dead Space and all related characters and media are owned by Visceral Studios and Electronic Arts.
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Dead Space and all related characters and media are owned by Visceral Studios and Electronic Arts.
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