I finished Dead Space 3 today. In total, it took ~19 hours to finish the game. I played all the optional missions I encountered during my play through.
I played Dead Space 1 and 2 within the last 2 years and really enjoyed both. I did not replay either of them, although I have not replayed a game since I was in high school with maybe the exception of Ocarina of Time once in college. The Dead Space franchise is a shooter, a genre which as I've entered adulthood has waned in appeal to me. Most of them have a so-so story, but no puzzle to them. A very challenging first person shooter still holds my attention well, but it seems closer to a sport where the majority of the challenge is in executing a compulsory routine or set of moves to near perfection that all the shooters share. Dead Space 1 and 2 broke the shooter mold a bit in this regard. The over-the-shoulder combat, the use of engineering tools rather than traditional guns, and the 'shoot the limbs, not the head' twist was different enough to make me feel like this was something that required a different set of moves than most shooters. The visual design and story for both games was exceptional - horribly grotesque, disturbing mutilated former people attempting to kill and eat you alongside a cast of survivors doing awful things to each other just to survive. It's undeniable that the over-the-top gross action has become an art to the video game industry (see God of War, Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Resistance, etc). It's no surprise that good horror in video games is similar to that of horror movies like Alien, but played out on a much grander scale than the silver screen can provide, at least for a reasonable amount of money.
Dead Space 3 is a departure from the combat systems of the first two games. Isaac is not just an engineer anymore. He's battle-tested and wields an assault rifle or shotgun like a pro. Ten minutes in to the game, you're no longer using industrial laser scissors, you're using guns. While they have removed the weird fun of struggling through a hostile environment with a not-quite-perfect tool, in return they've added an extremely deep level of customization and wide variety to your weapons. As you work through the game, your weapons gets better and you get the opportunity to clean sheet their design in favor of ones that will kill those terrifying bad guys faster. The weapon crafting system is difficult at first and tutorial is not helpful. I didn't really explore the weapon system to its full extent. I crafted maybe two or three weapons for ~70% of the game, and synthesized their recommended recipes for awesome guns as soon as I had the resources to do so. Overall, I think the changes to the weapons was a loss, but not a huge one. In some ways it's worse, in others it's better.
The resource collection in the game is very different than the first two. In Dead Space 3, you collect a half dozen different types of commodities needed to improve your suit (armor), health, and guns. Resources are collected by deploying small robots bots in specific locations as you progress through the game, sometimes requiring placement during tense situations. As ludicrous as it is that Isaac has autonomous, mineral-collecting robots on hand as he struggles his way through a maze of deserted ships and bases, it's a fun mini game. I put in the effort to keep my little robots working hard at all times, and it did legitimately pay off for Isaac as they made a noticeable difference on how easily I could dispose of enemies.
The fact that you're using actual guns instead of tools changes the combat dynamic. You've got futuristic assault rifles and rocket launchers, so the same enemies would not be as much of a challenge. To compensate, the baddies in this game are faster and there are many more of them. Also, in this game many of the enemies are soldiers, not necromorphs (mutant zombies for the uninitiated). They take cover and show some intelligent combat behavior, so Isaac has to be able to do the same things. The controls for doing so are poorly integrated and I found the strategy I adopted was just to walk towards them guns blazing. If they really wanted to incorporate gun vs gun combat rather than sticking to just gun vs charging enemy, they should have made the moves to pull that off (like taking cover) first-class citizens. They didn't.
The humans you fight are, on the other hand, a good addition story-wise. The original Dead Space was light on story until the end, but put together a good one. Dead Space 2 expanded the story's scope drastically and did an excellent job keeping it engaging. Dead Space 3 picks that right up and keeps running with it. What's causing all the carnage is a half-alien-half-cult religion that worships ancient artifacts which mutate their worshipers. 'Unitology', as it is named in the game, is the centerpiece for an entertaining narrative. I imagine Tom Cruise might be upset if he played these games. It takes the religious brainwashing point of view that is popular today and gives it a sick twist - that these cultists are literally brainwashed into believing that being food for disgusting monsters or becoming one of them is the highest state they can achieve and that spreading this virus-like insanity and violence until it eradicates humanity is their mission.
The actual script and believability of the characters leaves a bit to be desired. You repeatedly get split up from your group and then reunited with them after accomplishing a small mission just in time to see one of them die. However, the larger story of what's happening on and around the remote planet of Tau Volantis is fascinating. It fills in some details on what exactly the artifacts are and gives the character hope that there is a way to stop what's happening. The spaceship part of the game (roughly 25%) is similar looking to the first 2 games in the series. The ice planet of Tau Volantis (the rest of the game) provides new, innovative environments and scenery. I won't give anything away about the story itself other than that I liked it. The Dead Space franchise has done a great job three games in a row with stories that make you alternate between despair about the insurmountable demon onslaught and the hope that you can kill the root of the evil. From a pure story perspective, I hope they make another.
The atmosphere in the game is fantastic. Isaac's creepy looking suit, the deserted, blood stained hallways, the violent, powerful equipment keeping the ships/bases running, and the creepiest shadows I've ever seen make you want to play this game standing up and with the lights on. The art director in this game deserves a raise. I was more scared creeping around the halls than when there were necromorphs charging at me. The trick of having monsters jump out of a vent after I throw a switch does get a bit old, but the effectiveness of the sound effects and music when it happens cannot be overstated. Panic set in almost immediately for me in most of those situations, even if I did see them coming.
In today's game industry where half the new titles are sequels, it's impossible not to judge this game against its predecessors. And in that context, I think Dead Space is a step back. Dead Space 2 fixed the sometimes janky controls from the first game, but preserved the feel of the gameplay. This game was clearly intended to attract a wider audience and catch some FPS shooter players.Overall, I would have been happier if they had taken Dead Space 2's gameplay, and dumped new story content into it.
Dead Space 3 also added the downright lame micro-transactions that mobile gaming has made popular (but financially rewarding to developers). I'm happy to say I didn't buy a single thing in-game and wasn't tempted to. It irks me to see those, especially when some of them are clearly to remove intentionally inserted annoyances. I paid good money for this game. Get out of my pockets, EA.
Despite it being not as good as the games before it, Dead Space 3 is still worthwhile and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys horror games. The ultimate measuring stick for how fun a game is how much I look forward to getting more time to play it. I didn't have any lapses where I wasn't actually looking forward to seeing what was next for Isaac once I had the time. It's not hard to find fault with the game, but I am glad I bought it. As this is the first video game review I've written, I haven't yet developed a strict criteria or methodology to rank it, so I'll keep it simple - I found flaws with Dead Space 3, but enjoyed playing, and I'm eager to loan it to a friend and talk about it once he's done. That feels like it deserves a B.
If you're reading this review, but haven't played the first 2 games, go get those right now. I would bet you can find them for a bargain price. All of the things that I liked about this game are certainly true of both Dead Space and Dead Space 2.
