It's forgotten what made the original a cult classic, but copious gory slaughter proves the series still has life left
Contains: Strong Bloody Violence and Gory Horror
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Dead Space 3 is a Sci-Fi third-person shooter primarily set on the frozen planet of Tau Volantis, which follows engineer Isaac Clarke as he attempts to end the Necromorph threat once and for all. After an intriguing prologue, the game fast forwards 200 years later, where 2 months have past for Isaac since he escaped with ex-CEC pilot Ellie Langford from the Sprawl incident. Having been romantically involved but now separated, Isaac is living in peace with his demons behind him. But it isn't long before Isaac is thrust into a new crisis when Captain Robert Norton and Sergeant John Carver explain they are the last battalion of EarthGov, and require Isaac's help to find Ellie and her missing team. Fleeing his apartment, the trio are quickly propelled into a nightmare when Unitologist soldiers attack and Unitologist contingent Jacob Danik activates a 'marker' near the colony causing another necromorph outbreak. They manage to escape, and quickly hatch a plan that could destroy the 'markers' for good, finally ending the necromorph menace. But it means finding a way to reach the 'Marker Home World' - a frozen planet infested with savage monsters that could hold the key to saving mankind, or end up initiating 'convergence'…
The story is weak and convoluted, never living up on it's initial promise of a frantic race against time with such high stakes on the table. Couple that with a host of uninteresting characters despite the potential, it never gives you a substantial reason to place your heart in the conflict, not even for series veteran Isaac Clarke who has an aptitude for escaping life threatening dilemmas. The Unitologist human foes offer awkward scenarios of cover-based shooting so don't expect any frenetic gunfights when they arrive on the scene, though thankfully these cumbersome battles are infrequent and not prolonged but justified solely for story purposes. Like always, audio messages and text logs left behind by various crew do a nice job of expanding your understanding of the narrative, and the side quests admirably manage to engross you where the main story can't.
Overall the gameplay remains vigilant in the face of potential repetition depending on how you perceive the series up to this point, and the methods are precisely the same as your first encounter years ago back on the USG Ishimura when you entranced into a room with a dead body, a plasma cutter, and a simple yet foreboding message scrawled in blood on the wall reading 'cut off the limbs'. Cutting Necromorphs limb from bloody limb one after another as they stampede in their attempt to tear you apart is as gruesome and thrilling as the first time you made use of an improvised piece of engineering equipment, and yet no matter how high the kill count becomes and how tall the corpses stack, it's never boring shredding any hostile that dares step into your laser sight beam. You can stamp on dead foes effortlessly to relinquish them from any items or resources they may be holding on to, but the fact the bodies always contain something useful isn't what keeps you pressing the necessary button, but the sheer bloodthirsty elation of witnessing the spatter of blood and shatter of bones as you separate every last limb from a gory torso (just to make sure it won't come at you again) in very grisly fashion. Combat is brutal as expected, and if the sight of blood isn't enough for you, the crunching, vile sound effects will ring loud and clear for your guilty pleasure to be generously fulfilled. Though the horror isn't as intense as it used to be, the threat level is still dangerously high.
There is a multitude of cool loot to pick up, and finding it scattered around the environments and then picking it up to add to your inventory is addicting. From a range of robust materials including common scrap metal, to blueprints for dynamic new firepower, aswell as various weapon parts and attachments to redeem at an upgrade bench, there has never been more meaning to exploration than there is now in the series. It won't be long until you've gathered enough materials to be able to experiment with the new weapon crafting system and forge multiple bits and pieces together to create something macabre, with the ability to fully modify your own custom-built gun from scratch or unlock blueprints of already deadly weapons for tinkering. Gone are the days when you had to accept what a weapon's primary and alternate fire were, as now you decide exactly what you want. You can have a plasma cutter with a rotator cuff module like you know and love for precision aiming, or attach a flame-throwing device for quick cutting and burning simultaneously. Maybe have a line gun for wide cutting and include a telemetry spike as a secondary function, and then change the tip so that it fires an abundance of rivets hurtling into enemy flesh, or keep the default javelin launcher capability to powerfully impale assailants to the walls. When you're content with how it fires you can add attachments that you found or simply create ones that take your fancy with resources you've scavenged for while progressing through the story. Maybe a gadget that collects nearby ammo, or something harmful such as an electric charge that electrifies your projectiles to cause small amounts of voltaic damage, or even something that aids you such as stasis coating that fuses each shot with small amounts of stasis to get the edge you need against numerous enemies. Either way, there are hundreds of violent concoctions to produce that give a lot of variety to the familiar yet gratifying gameplay. Crafting doesn't just involve the guns you wield, but also an assortment of items such as health kits or torque bars (used to open specially locked doors) each with their specific material requirements to construct. Like in both previous games you can also upgrade your suit (such as kinesis, armor and stasis) and weapons. Though this time nodes are absent and instead you find circuit boards to fill weapon slots such as damage and clip size. It's a shame to point out that there aren't a variety of cool suits to don this time, instead having to put up with the occasional exchange at a suit store for story-related purposes only. Maybe to make up for this is the introduction of smart little scavenger bots that you can put down wherever you want to autonomously harvest unattainable resources, though following a radar when aiming them yields a slightly larger return of supplies when you return to an upgrade bench and collect the gear they found for you.
Throughout the game you'll have the option to participate in numerous optional quests that crop up during missions. You may be briefed about the situation or uncover an audio transmission that commences the expedition leaving it up to you whether to take the risk to investigate the ominous warning signs. However, side missions simply mustn't be missed, not only extending the experience beyond the 20 hour mark, but providing treks through territory ripe with compelling back-story and providing you with grim new insights behind the events that took place through text and audio logs. They are gripping, atmospheric and disturbing whilst providing a wealth of loot as your reward for trespassing through these profoundly foreboding zones.
The graphics and presentation haven't altered much, but they didn't need to. The holographic heads-up display and inventory management is perfect, immersing you into the science fiction setting with many small details such as the core information and QTE being displayed on Isaac's suit. And not surprisingly the visuals never cease to disappoint, with terrific lighting and shadows being cast upon each environment really well with unsettling effect, like the cold, forbidden look upon Tau Volantis. A highlight of Dead Space 3 is the outer space section which is vast, expansive, and as far as views go, mesmerising. While deep space exploring it's easy to forget that your life is dwindling away as the seconds count down to no remaining oxygen, as the relaxing silence with an ambient soundtrack drowns out the action and muffles noises to a realistic effect. And as you stare around the galaxy while manoeuvring above a frozen planet, surrounded by derelict vessels and rocky debris, taking in the sights and observing the solar system and it's trillions of stars, it's a nice momentary rest bite from the delirious nature of what's occurring within this part of orbit and what you'll inevitably face in due time.
Dead Space 3 is mostly devoid of the atmospheric dread that was famously frightening in the original, and the insidious audio score that generates the terror is less effective here than in the past, providing enough suspense to keep you on edge but not nearly enough to keep you up at night. Admittedly you may jump every once in a while when a necromorph suddenly bursts out from under the snow when on the icy planet of Tau Volantis, or panic when pursued by a pack of regenerating necromorphs as you frantically try and complete a mini-game to clear an exit, but these sequences just don't instil the same level of sustained fear you had to stomach in the original. Don't misunderstand my negativity however, since Dead Space 3 still has a competent atmosphere on its own merits, with some chilling imagery, many claustrophobic environments, respectably good sound design and an effective space level in a starry abyss filled with destroyed spacecraft serving as a highlight. There's also a couple of tremendously awesome boss battles against behemoth-like monsters, and it's sequences like these that shine. It's just unmistakeably bereft of the breakneck tension and horror that would send shivers up your spine as it did in the first instalment.
Needless to say the reanimated antagonists continue to do an admirable job of deflating your hopes of reaching your goal, and the agonisingly disfigured shrieks and crash-bang entrances via vents put escape predominantly in the forefront of your mind, since evasion simply isn't an option when encountering the very hostile Necromorphs. Repulsive, murderous and downright nasty in design, you can count on their behaviour becoming a nightmarish reality when looks certainly can kill. Abnormally mutating like fictional alien races do, Dead Space 3 revels in the horror of providing sinister Necromorph varieties that are ferocious and quick to adapt to missing appendages, by either sprouting new ones or strategically defending what remains just as you strategically progress to decapitate what's left of their contorted carcasses that come back to haunt you if you don't keep torturing their structures to meaningless bits of flesh and gore.
In conclusion, Dead Space 3 is a slightly tentative sequel that has now aborted the true survival horror genes reminiscent of the original, and you might go into the game in an apprehensive state of mind when you hear that the game is more action-orientated. It's possible that in the hope of bringing aboard new followers with it's change of atmosphere Visceral Games may have shunned the devotees who proudly acclaimed the first Dead Space, but give it the benefit of the doubt. Despite not keeping within the survival horror sub-genre and noticeably not being the strongest entry thus far, it's hard to disagree that Dead Space 3 is a technically solid and highly entertaining third-person shooter with some key implementations that keep you invested in surprising new ways, and that make you more auspicious as proceedings play out.
Riveting and spooky side missions are quite honestly unmissable and worth changing course for the atmospheric back-story that accompanies them; and a weapon crafting system that at first feels overwhelmingly complex soon feels aptly suited to the sci-fi setting that is now littered with all kinds of miscellaneous engineering items that encourage deep exploration of every nook and cranny. The visuals vividly depict the murder and mayhem committed, and planet-side vistas and sunsets look mightily impressive, not to forget the open space navigation and zero gravity sections that have never felt better or given you unforgettable views to remember like found here. Dead Space 3 also wouldn't be nearly as successful if it didn't focus on copious slaughter within it's trademark and universally acclaimed dismemberment gameplay - the core aspect of the experience that creates tension when shooting the head just doesn't cut it anymore, and strategic shots are crucial to survive. The horror to action ratio unfortunately favours the latter now, and while administering many intense situations accompanied with excessive violence along the way in it's sizeable campaign which includes stand-out, fantastic boss fights, it's not the Dead Space experience you'll be initially enthusiastic about. Opportunely it grows on you in ways you wouldn't expect it to, so by the time the credits play you'll realise that it shouldn't be dismissed based on preliminary assumptions, ultimately turning out to be really, really good.
Story - 2/5
Characters - 2/5
Gameplay - 4/5
Graphics - 5/5
Sound - 4/5
Controls - 5/5
Atmosphere - 4/5
Enemy AI - 4/5
Length - 5/5
Replay Value - 4/5
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OVERALL SUMMARY - 8.5/10
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Good Points: Engrossing side missions are unmissable, More meaning to exploration and weapon upgrading than ever before, Trademark dismemberment gameplay remains satisfying, Excellent visuals and presentation, The outer space section is stunning to behold and navigate, Tremendously entertaining boss battles against colossal-sized foes.
Bad Points: Disappointingly favours action over horror, Forgettable main story and characters.