Consensus On Dead Space Series

Recently, I watched a three-part take on Dead Space series, and it got me curious to see what's the consensus on it here at System Wars.

Haven't played the first one, but enjoyed playing the second entry and man what a forgettable and underwhelming experience the third one was, losing the identity of the series with a desperate attempt at catering to a wider audience.

Besides that, I have two more questions:

How do you think the first game stacks up against Resident Evil 4?

And, would you like a reboot adhering to the roots of the series?

I loved the first two games, and then I have not played any of the others.

Meh.

Nah. Just leave it.

It had its run.

Meh. I beat the first game in one long session, which usually means I like a game, but I was honestly just sold on the spectacle and gore. Couldn't even push myself through the second game. Never played any beyond that.

Not even in the same ballpark man. I get why comparisons are made, though they're completely superficial.

I loved all of them, the last one is not the best at survival horror like the previous two, but it has co op and some amazing space missions.

Dead Space 1 was an amazing game, I thought. It didn't have quite the impact RE4 did for me, but it was awesome. Since Resident Evil started to suck after 4, I thought Dead Space was the new series to take its place. I was wrong, as Dead Space 2 was a bit dissapointing with the following 3rd game that just plain sucked.

So DS1 - amazing game which I recommend. The other ones can be ignored.

I didn't expect this much of "meh" lol

You really should play the first one, OP. It sorta lost its steam in the later entries. Dead Space 1 is one of the best horror games in my opinion. Up there with Silent Hill 1, 2, 3, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Resident Evil 4, Alien: Isolation, SOMA.

I loved all 3 parts.

I played the 3rd part in co-op which was awesome.

Can't speak of the other guys, but that's basically my way of saying "not bad, but nothing remarkable". Average.

I had a good enough time with the game, but quickly forgot about it and moved on to the next thing.

I played DS2 first. I loved it and beat it 3 times in like a month.

I enjoyed the first as well, although I'd probably say 2 is better.

I recently started playing the 3rd one and stopped a couple hours in, I'm waiting to play it in co-op with a friend. I kinda agree with "losing the identity of the series with a desperate attempt at catering to a wider audience"

Same here, "Average" is what I interpret from "meh"

Played it in co-op mode but even with a friend the game didn't capture my interest.

Same, like a 5 or a 6 for that first game. It's got an exceptional presentation, but the brand of horror it is happens to be more startle happy than all that impressive in terms of tension, and the action combat is formulaic to a fault. And no amount of "but it's a horror game" would make the action less engaging. Resident Evil Remake's action are a product of tank controls, but it's tense all the way through and positioning plays more of a roll in those games. Resident Evil 4 combat mechanics have more depth and the game all around has more variety than entire franchises. In fact RE5's mechanics have more depth.

They don't go nearly as far with the limb dismemberment thing (Binary Domain does cooler things with how the robots behavior changes depending on what you shoot off, albeit that game had 5 years of hindsight to make good on that mechanic), the bosses aren't satisfying, the basic navigation hints at this Metroid like back n forth, but again, even that aspect of the game is just rigid. The narrative stuff is shit, but I mean come on, and that stupid asteroid part is boredom fuel.

It had a lot of neat systems in a vacuum, and whatever conceptually it's pretty derivative, it just didn't come together to make a strong, consistent core. But sure everything that game does from a presentation standpoint: From the audio, to how menus are handled, to how your health is presented, to the atmosphere is all ace. But, the gameplay is at best aight.

I need to go play it. I tried way back before I had a good PC and quit in the first 5 min because it didn't run well.

@mjorh: I love the first Dead Space, it brings out the immersion. Issac doesn't talk in the first game which made it good, browsing through the ship was fun for it's time, the mining weapons were all good but I pretty much stick to the Plasma Cutter as my one weapon through the game and it was like my only weapon to survive. Dead Space 2 is good but having Issac talk kinda ruins it but still, a solid game and less scary then the first one. Having playing Dead Space 3 on PC last month, it was okay but until you get to the Ice Planet, it all falls apart and it's why the series is in hiatus due to low sells and wasn't as good as the other 2 Dead Space.

Dead Space: Extraction on Wii was god awful.

Edit: I also own the 2 Dead Space Anime mini movies.

I loved all three games. I still don't get the hate for the 3rd installment. I think people just hate on anything nowadays.

@ivangrozny: Taking a guess here, but I think people hated 3 for having way less scares/being more of an action game, having co-op ruining the horror experience the first and the second provided, and the microtransactions than "just hating on anything nowadays"

Dead Space: Excellent horror game. Creepy atmosphere, phenomenal sound design, voice acting and ambient tech. The game was also very immersive.

Dead Space 2: Excellent horror game but not as creepy as the first one since main protagonist was voice acted which broke immersion a little bit. Sure I like Issac's character in DS2 and voice acting had its own benefits but it also gave you this feeling that you are controlling someone else instead of being there yourself.

Dead Space 3: Terrible start. I stopped playing it for a week and was so disappointed to see action focused opening moments of the game. Few days later I started hearing that the game gets better later on. So, I continued the game from where I left and kept playing it. After few hours it started to get better. Then later it really became a Dead Space game. I enjoyed rest of the game after first few boring hours. A great game I'd say.

Overall, a great trilogy. All of them are well optimized as well and run at silky smooth frame rates even on a potato despite looking great.

For reals? I might have been too quick to judge then. I only played for a few hours (iunno, 4 or 5) and thought that was what the game would be like. Maybe I should go back and try it out again..

Its one of my favorite series, 2nd one is my favorite, closely followed by first. Good psychological thriller, these types of games on space stations and spaceships are some of my favorites. Gameplay is fun, always loved putting on a new suit, loved their designs. Atmosphere and story is awesome and I watched the web series and 2 movies they came out with. I like the lore of the series. The games could have used better character development, but overall I was quite satisfied.

Unfortunately the chances of seeing Dead Space 4 are slim, but I'm happy we have Prey as there are some similarities especially in the setting.

Definitely check out the first Dead Space. If you combined Ridley Scott's Alien and John Carpenter's The Thing, Dead Space would be the result.

I personally don't want a re-boot of the series since the third game ended on a cliffhanger.

I honestly find the first Dead Space to be more enjoyable than Resident Evil 4. Both are excellent games, but I found Dead Space's setting and premise is more immersive than the one presented in Resident Evil 4.

Once you get on ice planet, the game gets better IMO.

Dead Space: One of my favorite games from last gen. Absolutely tense and creepy. Fun missions. Dismembering of limbs added a bit of strategy to the combat. Amazing audio and visual design. Great sense of isolation and atmosphere. I was also interested in where the story would go, and interested in the lore. Far more memorable than the others.

Dead Space 2: I didn't like it when I first played it. I was so disappointed it went more of the action route than the tense atmospheric and creeps of the first. But I came back a few months later, accepted it for what it was, and came to realize it was a decent action game. I'll just say it was good. I lost interest in the story and lore with this installment though.

Dead Space 3: Never beat it, only played 3 or 4 hours. Would like to go back and play through it in single player, and co op. I don't remember much about the game to be honest. I remember it's on an ice planet lol.

Both Prey and Dead Space started as System Shock 3. Both devs failed to acquire the right to the System Shock franchise, so they turned them into different games while keeping some of the features intact. Hence the similarities between Prey and Dead Space.

I uninstalled it after playing 10 minutes

Didn't enjoy it. Not my cup of tea.

I would not consider Deadspace as a very good horror game.. It has horror elements, but the game throws everything to expect within the first two hours.. And after that there really isn't anything new or dangerous to cause actual fear.. Especially with how powerful you get.

Dead Space 2 is one of my favorite games of all time.

I have known no fear like being 5 or so hours from my last save file in the hardcore run during the final 3rd of that game.

Dead space 1 and 2 were one of my favorite games of last generation. 3 was ok but not as good as the first 2

1&2 were good but the last one was shite.

Re4 obliterates Dead Space

Dead Space was 1 was great. Its like Alien

Dead Space 2 was great as well. Like Aliens

Dead Space 3 was garbage

Eh, it was alright. First was decent, and the second one was okay. The third was just garbage.

I love the first Dead Space. I wasn't expecting much (EA), even with the awesome reviews. I was still pleasantly surprised. It was one of the first games I platinumed on PS3.
I understand why people compare it to Resident Evil 4 but c'mon.
I didn't get that far into Dead Space 2. I must have gotten bored and a combination of life shit. I can't remember. I think I'll return to them eventually.

Dead space was an epic surprise to me. Original game had everything i was asking for.

Amazing atmosphere , scarejumps , twisted Story and characters/monsters , great way to kill things , nice graphics and sound design , not too difficult but not to easy at the same time.

It was one of my favorite horror games last generation , if not the best.

Dead Space 2 was great also , nothing wrong with it though i prefered Original for a reason. Dead Space 3 on the other hand wasnt that good. I didnt like that too much.

Now you asking how it stacks up to a really bad shooter with fundamentally wrong gameplay mechanics ? Lets not speak about it. Resident Evil 4 was all about graphics and some level design for its time , nothing else. And for the record i played it day 1 on Gamecube , had the same opinion back then also.

To me , the most overated game of all time and the start of downfall for the series.. My opinion that is . If i had to choose one of the two as an action/horror third person shooter , Dead Space 1 all the way.

I completely agree with champ. I love the presentation and atmosphere, but the games themselves were actually kinda derivative. The dismemberment system was a neat idea, but it rarely amounted to anything interesting in execution.

The first two are great, the third one was crap.

I loved the first game, it plays like RE4 except having the added benefit doing dual analog controls right. The second game enhanced the story aspect greatly. My only gripe was that my favorite weapon from the first was the Ripper, I hated the new design of it here, blade didn't hover out as far and aimed high like a pistol instead of under-arm and low where it was perfect for sawing off limbs. Third game was great too, not nearly as good as DS2 but people over-reacted to small things like human enemies and presence of a cover system. The crafting system was also an early turn-off but great once I got the hang of it. I wish my friends would have picked it up to try the co-op stages together.

I liked all 3. They didn't blow my socks off or anything though. They are good fun while they last.

I really liked the games myself. First one was great. Second one was really good but had a couple of flawed spots. While the third one was probably the weakest of the three I thought that it was still a good game and not nearly as bad as some made it out to be. Wouldn't mind seeing a fourth game somewhere down the road or even some current gen remasters of the trilogy.

Haven't played 3 yet but absolutely loved the first two.

But it's meant to be played at night with the lights out and the surround turned up to get the full experience.

Dead Space is one of my favorite series. Definitely one of the best new IPs of last gen. I didn't mind the third one as I like Gears of War a lot too. I couldn't get over the shit shooting mechanics of RE4, so I did not play through it. I would love a reboot of Dead Space with a strong focus on atmosphere.

I like the game ..completed both 1 & 2...& finally got around to buy 3 but haven't play it. :P The controls was kinda screwy on the normal controller? on PC...so played it with keyboard and mouse.

Hmm, interesting, impressions are mixed.

Gotta give the first game a shot

Yeah that was really cool

Dead space 1+2 were my favorite games from last gen. I genuinely enjoyed them immensely. 3 was shockingly disappointing. I hope 4 (if there ever is another one) goes back to its roots, like RES7 did

Resident Evil 4 has wink-wink humor, practically every character is likeable. It knows what it is, B-movie garbage and is more than happy to revel in it.

Dead Space rips off a host of sources, Event Horizon, Aliens, The Thing, System Shock and obviously Resident Evil 4, it ends up a diluted, bland soup devoid of character.

Dead Space control's and boss battles tend to be significantly better than Resident Evil 4's. mechanically Resident Evil 4 is quite broken, exploited with minimal effort. For general gameplay though, Dead Space is far too reliant on jump scares, it's practically it's only Donald card.

Regardless of difficulty, you become simply far too overpowered through an abundance of resource drops and (albeit optional) upgrades, which 99.99% of people will use.

Resident Evil 4's game-play has far more variation, from the opening village to the final helicopter overhead, it provides larger sandbox's with more game-play opportunities and enemies and weapons that incrementally change through the campaign to keep you interested, provided you don't just stun-kick over and over, which you probably will do.

Resident Evil 4 also suffers from being too easy when you learn how things operate. It apparently uses a resource system that reflects the players situation, but if you can headshot/kick/slash practically every enemy in the game with ease, it doesn't particularly mean much.

The main impressive aspect of Dead Space is it's sound design, even when you are doing practically nothing, it sits in the background doing a better job of creating tension than the gameplay itself. Whoever done that deserves some sort of well done you award.

I certainly wouldn't put it next to the likes of System Shock 2, IGN will claim "OHHH DA BEST HORROR EVERRRR!!!!!!!!", but these people are disgusting.

Dead Space just doesn't run very well on PC in general.

At one point I was obsessed with the lore. Then Dead Space 3 happened.

****** loved the first one, haven't played the 2nd one and while I have the 3rd I've never finished it. RE needs to do what Dead Space 1 did.