Dead Space 3 Review

Posted By Austin Yorski about 3 months, 1 week ago

Dead Space 3 Review

Dead Space 3 to Feature Weapon Named After Viral Video, 10.0 out of 10 based on 1 rating

It seems to be an immutable law: As a horror franchise ages, it becomes more and more action-oriented. It doesn’t matter if it’s Silent Hill or Alien–sooner or later, scares give way to gunfights. The question isn’t whether or not the change is welcome, but rather how well it is executed. A smooth transition begets a Resident Evil 4, combining the best elements of the original atmosphere with appropriate action beats. Go too far… and you reach Resident Evil 6.

Dead Space 3 walks a precarious line between its roots and the inevitable siren call of mass market appeal. On one hand, the jump scares and body horror are as effective as ever. Visceral Games is uniquely adept at capturing the existential terror of the moments between enemy encounters, even as it throws some of the most disgusting monstrosities ever conceived right into the player’s face. However, the opposite side of that coin is riddled with chest-high walls and the rapid disintegration of plot, motivation, and novelty.

Meet the red shirts–er, I mean new characters.

Take, for example, the game’s basic premise. After two harrowing experiences with The Marker, the necromorph threat, and the Church of Unitology, it seems reasonable to assume that protagonist Isaac Clarke would do everything in his power to stay far, far away from these abominations. Yet, just like poor Sigourney Weaver in James Cameron’s Aliens, the poor engineer somehow finds himself duped into facing the galaxy’s gooiest threat once again. The plot may be contrived, but this introduction does provide a natural departure point for a series that needed to evolve.

Gone is Isaac Clarke the silent everyman. Gone are the convenient power tools, power nodes, and vending machines. Long gone is the sense of merely surviving an unfortunate accident. This time Isaac (and therefore, the player) are on a bug hunt. Is the result less scary? Yes, absolutely. However, that isn’t necessarily the death knell of the Dead Space brand. In real life, fighting for your life against twisted flesh beasts would be traumatic and scarring every single time, but from the safety of our couches and computer chairs three times is asking a bit much. This time around, we are Ripley, Ellie is Newt, and it’s about time to bring down some Markers with a power loader.

See? That’s why you should always wear sunscreen.

Once you accept Dead Space 3 as a third-person shooter with horror elements, it is easier to wrap your mind around its strengths and weaknesses. Said successes are as obvious as they are numerous. Befitting an EA title, the game bleeds polish from top to bottom, whether in attention to graphical detail or in the fantastic sound design. Meanwhile, the addition of human enemies and cover-based shootouts reek of executive mandate. It’s almost as if every shallow attempt to pander to the lowest common denominator is paired with a solid step forward. By the time we get to Dead Space 6, we will have reached some sort of Portal-meets-FarmVille singularity of brilliance and inanity.

Case-in-point: The weapon crafting system is inspired, despite a cloying sense that it was designed with your wallet in mind. Instead of accumulating an arsenal of saws and projectile implements, Isaac instead scavenges scraps from the environment to create new tools of death. This limits your armory to a reasonable two guns, but also opens up limitless possibilities for creativity and experimentation. You can pay for materials if you want, but you will never find artificial difficulty spikes meant to force your hand. The game is not pay-to-win.

I want a shotgun that shoots bees.

Meanwhile, the online pass inside the game case is there for a reason. Before you even see the title screen, you’re going to need to input a code to enable online cooperative play and to make way for the rising tide of incoming downloadable content. While the timing of the first DLC pack is a bit tacky, it is safe to say that the addition of co-op is ultimately for the better. The single-player campaign is already robust and ripe for replays, but with the addition of a unique perspective on the game’s events, the whole package amounts to a considerable value for your dollar.

Make no mistake, John Carver is no Sheva Alomar. The EarthGov soldier isn’t an intensely interesting or rounded human being, but he does have his own hallucinations to contend with and it is clear that effort was put into making his route unique. Whether it be through exclusive gameplay scenarios, his role in a single-player run, or the cooperative aspects of environmental puzzles that are absent during solo play, Carver makes for a fulfilling New Game+ buddy. At the end of the day, you are going to need to play through DS3 at least twice, but with all of the advanced difficulty modes it will likely end up being more.

Fur is murder, isaac. Even in space.

Even if the co-op and gunsmith systems add variety and longevity to the experience, what good is that to fans of the first two Dead Space titles? As it turns out, the results are mixed. The curse of the third game in a trilogy is that the bar has been raised once, but doing so again can seem like spectacle for its own sake. Sure, Isaac confronts huge bosses, free-falls through the black void of space, and mashes his way through some quick-time events, but the experience sometimes gives off a sense of only going through the motions. Very little of the core adventure should be considered outright bad, but those looking for a refinement of the previous formula will likely be left disappointed.

Likewise, Visceral fumbles the storytelling ball a few times before crossing the finish line. The first two games had highs and lows in their plotting, but ultimately delivered satisfying psychological thrillers with a side of religious satire. As others have pointed out, this entry pushes suspension of disbelief to its breaking point. In addition, the writers have taken the character of Ellie and seemingly demoted her to a plot device, before the narrative goes off in new and strange directions for its final act. If nothing else, I was surprised.

Plot twist: L. Ron Hubbard was right!

Despite all of the dessicated corpses, Dead Space 3 is a meaty experience. There is no shortage of things to do, build, and murder, as long as you are willing to engage in said actions without being scared. If you approached this release with skepticism due to the cooperative aspect, DLC, or micro-transactions, consider your fears unfounded. If you were holding out for horror, then it appears that I am the bearer of bad news. You are going to have to hold out for Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs.

A copy of the game was purchased for review purposes and was completed in about 15 hours. The title was played on PS3, but is also available for Xbox 360 and PC.

Also, follow me on Twitter @austinyorski (please).

Dead Space 3 Review

By Austin Yorski

Co-op in my Dead Space? It's more likely than you think.

Sage Reviews: Dead Space 3

By Bennett The Sage

The sequel that Dead Space 2 should have been.

Dead Space 3 Review (PC) - ZGR

By ZGRDaniel

Having not played the previous Dead Space titles, did Daniel enjoy Dead Space 3? Dead Space 3 Review (PC) - ZGR