February NPD: Dead Space 3 Out on Top, Wii U Struggling
The February NPD numbers are in, and Issac Clarke has taken the top spot with his necromorph-slicing weapons in Dead Space 3.
Dead Space 3
Players: 1 Offline, 1-2 Online
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Genres: Horror, Third-Person Shooter
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Genres: Horror, Third-Person Shooter
Release Date: February 5, 2013
Developer: Visceral Games
MSRP: $59.99
Developer: Visceral Games
MSRP: $59.99
Dead Space 3 brings Isaac Clarke and merciless soldier John Carver on a journey across space to discover the source of the Necromorph plague and uncover the secrets that lay within Tau Volantis. Play alone as Isaac Clarke or with a friend as John Carver in seamless drop-in, drop-out co-op. Amplify the action with Kinect and add voice to your arsenal in single player or co-op.
Sage Reviews: Dead Space 3
Posted By Bennett The Sage about 4 months, 1 week ago
Sage Reviews: Dead Space 3, 
The sequel that Dead Space 2 should have been.
Follow me on Twitter at BennettTheSage
Visit my site here
Dead Space 3 Review
Co-op in my Dead Space? It's more likely than you think.
Sage Reviews: Dead Space 3
The sequel that Dead Space 2 should have been.
Dead Space 3 Review (PC) - ZGR
Having not played the previous Dead Space titles, did Daniel enjoy Dead Space 3? Dead Space 3 Review (PC) - ZGR 
Dead Space 3 Review (PC) - ZGR
Having not played the previous Dead Space titles, did Daniel enjoy Dead Space 3? Dead Space 3 Review (PC) – ZGR
Want a Free Copy of Dead Space 3?
In space, no one can hear you win games. Or anything else, for that matter. Sound doesn’t travel in space.
Dead Space 3's First DLC, Awakened, is Inbound
Dead Space 3 is going to get a bit bigger next month…
UPDATED: Dead Space 3 Includes Permadeath & Classic Modes; Pre-Sales Up Overall
Hardcore Dead Space fans take note: you are going to want to read this story.
Dead Space 3 to Give Mass Effect Fans Tidy Little Bonus
Very snazzy. Now that is killing Necromorphs in style.
February NPD: Dead Space 3 Out on Top, Wii U Struggling
The February NPD numbers are in, and Issac Clarke has taken the top spot with his necromorph-slicing weapons in Dead Space 3.
Want a Free Copy of Dead Space 3?
In space, no one can hear you win games. Or anything else, for that matter. Sound doesn’t travel in space.
Dead Space 3's First DLC, Awakened, is Inbound
Dead Space 3 is going to get a bit bigger next month…
UPDATED: Dead Space 3 Includes Permadeath & Classic Modes; Pre-Sales Up Overall
Hardcore Dead Space fans take note: you are going to want to read this story.
Dead Space 3 to Give Mass Effect Fans Tidy Little Bonus
Very snazzy. Now that is killing Necromorphs in style.
Dead Space 3 Demo Coming Soon, New Trailer Here Now
Get ready for your first taste of the newest fear this January.
Dead Space 3's Gamestop Pre-Order Could Use Some Work
Ladies and gentlemen who made fun of the rivet gun, I present to you the EG-900 SMG.
Dead Space 3 Review
Posted By Austin Yorski about 4 months, 1 week ago
Dead Space 3 Review
Sage Reviews: Dead Space 3, 
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.
| PROS | Shooter/horror hybridization, Weapon crafting, Production values, Co-op |
| CONS | Cover-based segments, Micro-transactions, Story missteps |
| WTF?! | Biomass does not work that way. |
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).
7/10
Dead Space 3 Review
Co-op in my Dead Space? It's more likely than you think. Sage Reviews: Dead Space 3
The sequel that Dead Space 2 should have been. Dead Space 3 Review (PC) - ZGR
Having not played the previous Dead Space titles, did Daniel enjoy Dead Space 3? Dead Space 3 Review (PC) - ZGR-
February 08, 2013 at 06:19pm
There is a shotgun that shoots bees in the new Serious Sam Double D!
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February 08, 2013 at 04:18pm
I don’t get the fur thing. I mean it looks cool I guess but it just doesn’t make sense that you’d wear it when your armor is some sort of vacuum sealed super armor.
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February 08, 2013 at 02:50pm
A 7 or 8 is pretty fair I think, though for me the previous two games were more in the 9 range. I think this games biggest weakness is that they didn’t take opportunities to build upon the horror aspects of the optional missions. I won’t spoil anything, but at least three of the optional missions had an excellent premise for horror, but they were generally only touched upon. The thing about horror is that it is highly dependent upon details, and such details can make or break it depending on how they’re used. Corpse Party is a good example of using details to incite horror. If they played more with the warped psychology of people in horrible situations, then this game could’ve been a lot scarier.
Still, the game was pretty good otherwise. The crafting system was brilliant (and admittedly made more sense than the vending machines in other Dead Space games)the gameplay was good, and the environments were impressive. As someone who played RE6 and was completely infuriated with that trainwreck this was much better, if not very scary.
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February 08, 2013 at 02:40pm
“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.”
Still won’t stop the cries of BETRAYAL though if Resident Evil 6 is anything to go by.
The Microtransactions are bad. I’m glad that the game does not make them a requirement to proceed, but they shouldn’t even be there. It’s step 1 on the path to Microtransaction Hell. Who’s to say this isn’t a trial run and they turn up the Microtransactions for Dragon Age 3 or something similar?
Not to mention game balance is ruined. A standard game would only give you guns that are appropriate for that area. You have weak guns for weak enemies, and when stronger enemies start popping up, you start getting stronger guns to deal with them.
The microtransactions take that out, you have a strong gun for the weak enemies and the strong enemies and the progression system is ruined. That stuff should not happen. Pay-to-Cheat is no better than Pay-to-Win. Why even bother playing a game if you can just buy an “I Win” gun?
That’s what is a major bother to me about the Microtransaction system and it really shouldn’t be there. Suppose it’s ok the game is alright, but it sounds like if I want to get a first time experience of this series. The original is the best one to go with. Then wait for a DLC Complete version or something similar. Espicially if the first DLC pack is one month away (Announcing it on Launch Day just stings as well.)
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February 09, 2013 at 07:36am
Unlike RE6, Visercal actually salvaged DS3 by still keeping the core elements of Dead Space alive, as much as how bad the microtransactions and the cover sections are – they don’t entirely dumb the game down and Co-op isn’t forced upon. Also the microtransactions are absolutely useless, more useless now that their is an infinite item exploit in chapter 8.
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February 08, 2013 at 02:35pm
I have been a Dead Space fan ever since the first one, but even though I want to defend this one, I must agree that this game is only a 7/10… well, 8/10 because I’m biased.
It does make me a bit sad to see the horror elements diminish like this, but It is sadly inevitable, not only because of COD mentality but also due to the evolution of the in-game story.If this was a different protagonist, it would be different but Isaac has faced these things twice now, so it was inevitable for the 3rd round to be action over horror.
I am not defending it, nor accepting it but I do understand it. its just sad it happened to this franchise like this. Extraction was a good example of how to do action without losing atmosphere, but DS3 for its detriment did not try to do the same. Another example of why abandoning your roots to appeal to mainstreamtards stunts and damages horror games, even Dead Space.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed it as a fan, but as an objective gamer it leaves me with a sad feeling to know that developers have once again ignored its loyal fans over mainstreamtards. On the upside; its not nearly as horrible as Resident Evil 6.
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February 08, 2013 at 12:40pm
So if you never need it, why are microtransactions there?
Are we monetizing 1 use only cheat codes now?
If you cheat yourself 9999 metals to build all the guns, is that piracy?
What’s the point of having an overpowered gun that ruins the whole experience anyway?
If the game is too hard and you want to see the end, you can always enable easy mode and bitchslap everything to death in 1 hit.
Is this aimed at people who want to brag about how they beat the hardest difficulty by paying 20 bucks to get the cheat gun or what? -
February 08, 2013 at 12:17pm
I still don’t know if I’ll ever play Dead Space 3, still haven’t even touched 2.
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February 08, 2013 at 11:52am
As much as I enjoyed the game, this review is actually pretty much spot on. It’s pretty much a 7.5 out of ten for me.
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February 08, 2013 at 11:20am
I won’t deny some faults with the game but I certainly enjoyed Dead Space 3.
Dead Space 3 Review (PC) - ZGR
Having not played the previous Dead Space titles, did Daniel enjoy Dead Space 3? Dead Space 3 Review (PC) – ZGR
Want a Free Copy of Dead Space 3?
In space, no one can hear you win games. Or anything else, for that matter. Sound doesn’t travel in space.
Shame this is an EA, or I might have actually bought it. I hate EA, nothing but contempt for them. I hope they fail and all studios they enslaved get rescued.
Doesnt feel like a DS game to me. I dont know why
I’d like to play it but I’ll wait until I can pick it up used. That is what I plan on doing with all EA games that I am interested in from now on. I don’t want them to have a single cent of my money just so they can use it to support groups and agendas that I don’t agree with. It is their right as a company to do what they want with their money, but it is my right not to help support them in their endeavors.
I’d agree with you dude, but if your going to buy used then just skip this game. Since one of my friend bought it and in the box was an activation code. so it can only be played by the person who bought the game and if you want to play it used you got the buy a new code from EA to do it. I’ve played the game and its good no doubt, but I really can’t support the game with EA testing our patience again with more crap.
I think there’s a lot of people hating on it for no other reason(s) than “they changed it now it sucks” and/or “oh look another EA sequel”. Personally? I haven’t played it yet, but I generally try not to judge something as crap just because it’s been altered a little or because it’s EA produced, and from what I’ve seen of it I’m really interested. I actually quite like barren tundra-like environments, especially in video games and horror.
Personally I felt that while still a very good game, DS2 is still the best of the series. For one thing whether you play alone or with a partner you can still see the seams of compromise between the two styles. The puzzles that were obviously made for two people and situations like Carver magically appearing at the bottom of a huge fall despite only seeing Issac fall, things like this broke the immersion if only for a moment that this is a game trying to accommodate both crowds.
Also I felt the story and acting just got laughable a the game went on. The villain has a head start and is going to unleash doom on mankind…but its okay lets stand around and have 2 min long bro-mance moment. Speaking of the villain, just being some smug douche with an accent isn’t very threatening. And so much for Ellie being a strong, smart woman. At one point my partner and I both stopped and yelled out “you stupid cunt!”
Complaints aside the combat is still fun, there are some truly breathtaking views, and the weapon crafting is very addicting. It’s certainly worth a purchase though I feel it doesn’t quite surpass DS2 overall.
While I agree that Dead Space 3 is a stellar game, to me it just doesn’t feel like a Dead Space game. It feels like it changed a lot of what I liked about the series (for better or worse is up for debate). For instance, I hate the fact that now you are fighting humans along with necromorphs, though I am growing a liking for the new weapon system. The same cannot be said for the Rigs though, in the sense of upgrading and availability. And then there’s the whole fat with the fighting on a planet instead of a ship but that’s another rant on it’s own.
In all, it feels like that one guy in a trio of friends that stands out but you can’t help but like him just as much as the others.
Seeing as how DS3 is basically selling like hotcakes, it’s not farfetched to see Visceral developing another sequel to the franchise.
However I think with the ending, they are definitely going to require a fresh start, a brand new protagonist, a deeper plot that involves dismantling the Unitologist movement.
Personally, I would love for them to do a video game based upon the Dead Space novel which explains to us the origins of Unitology.
If they make Dead Space 4 the main protagonist will be a generic Space Marine. I’m kinda glad I skipped this whole series. There are way too many “Jump Scare” simulators out already.