Dead Space 3, and why it's a better game than most would have you see it.

[ThatRandomGuy42]

I'll be as honest as I can be in this post.

When I first played Dead Space (The first one) I didn't find it all that scary. The only moments that made me jump were the weird drag tentacle things and the ending. Oh dear god, the ENDING.

However, I liked it, so I was hyped for Dead Space 2, hell I even pre-ordered it. I played it, and I found it better than the first. I think I found it better because I never really saw the "scare" factor to begin with. The more action direction was a little distracting, but awesome. I didn't let those moments deter me.

However, even though I was hyped (initially) for Dead Space 3, the comments by others kinda put me off. Reviewers, gaming journalists and so fourth made me look at it again, and made me think much differently.

Wide open areas? Rubbish.
More set pieces? Bah.
Human opponents? Pfft.
Co-Op? Just why?
Microtransactions? It's EA.

So I didn't pre-order it. Hell, I wasn't even all that excited and even spoiled myself of the story because I didn't think I'd get it.

...A month later, I got it.

I've only finished about a third of the game (Single Player, I wanna prolong it a little) and I enjoy it. I noted all the things that reviewers mentioned and while I can see their point, I kinda went "Yea, I can see what they are an about...moving on". I would like to talk about some things that people have issues with:

Less scares, more action: Yes, this is true. There are a lot more 'intense' moments in an exciting sense than in a frightening sense. But, as I mentioned before, I never really found Dead Space all that scary to start with. The thing is, Dead Space 3 has 'scared' me more than Dead Space 2 has. The enemies are like Creepers, they can be right behind you, and they won't make a sound (Even the orchestral scare cords shut up). So that can make you jump.

Human opponents: You are Isaac Clarke. You have weapons capable of dismembering limbs in 1000 different fashions and have quite a lot of health by the time you really face them if you choose to upgrade it. You do the math.

Co-Op: I think this links to the scares thing. Yes it's true that the game is much less scary with a friend, and yes it annoys me that the story is ever so slightly different without the added character. My opinion? Play both, if you can. Play the single player first and the multiplayer second. Dead Space 3 is a long ass game. Do you really think you're expected to play the game for that long? The answer to that question is...yes. So play it the way it should be played first. Alone.

Micro-transactions: Now, something no-one seems to mention that kinda annoys me is that you don't have to buy the micro-transactions. The game gives you "Ration Seals" given to you by your scavenger bots which can be used to buy the extra resources instead of your real money. In all honesty, if you feel you need to use real money to buy more stuff, then stop playing. Also, there is an exploit for unlimited resources. Nice job making your own money-grubbing techniques redundant, EA.
However, some of the extra DLC is just plain stupid. A DLC that costs 400 Microsoft points ($5?) to give your scavenger bot a personality? Gimme a break. And if the rumors are true, the upcoming story DLC picks up after the ending.
...Yea, I'm gonna wait for a price-drop...or for when it's free...or just watch it on Youtube.

If you can ignore the general stuff that people mention about Dead Space 3, that it's not scary or the Co-Op, then you may enjoy it. He'll, I haven't even mentioned the weapon crafting on general which is rather enjoyable or the rather fun gameplay. Some people will have already played it and have their own opinions, be it positive or negative (Hell, my own opinion might change, I'm not done yet), but if you are curious about whether it's a good game or not compared to the previous, at least rent it or borrow it from someone and give it a shot. You might be surprised.

P.S. Sorry if this seems like mindless rambling. Just trying to get my point across here.

 

[shrekfan246]

I really liked Dead Space 3. Not more than 2, and the atmosphere less than 1, but it was still a really solid title. The human enemies put me off a little, but there aren't all that many sections set against them anyway, and the weapon crafting bench was great. If they hadn't limited the number of normal weapons you can hold to 2 instead of 4, and given you the new weapon bench, the combat probably would've been my favorite in the series.

The enemies being creepers is a good and bad thing... yeah, I was surprised a lot more often because enemies would suddenly just be behind me when I turned around, but at the same time it was a lot more frustrating because enemies would spawn in front of and behind me in narrow hallways with no maneuvering room. This all culminated in a moment where I almost rage-quit during a secondary mission late in the game when I was in a tiny-ass room surrounded on all sides by vents, and a huge number of enemies that took a lot of shots to kill were just constantly spawning. Even funneling them through one singular vent by going up a ladder and hanging out near the door barely helped.

It's still got jump scares. And honestly, the only reason the first Dead Space had decent atmosphere at all was because everything was so bloody dark.

 

[Sargonas42]

As someone involved in this game and who has many close friends who toiled away over it for years. Thank you.

 

[ThatRandomGuy42]

You're welcome

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

Dead Space 3 is probably my overall least favorite of the main three games, but that's not to say I didn't have fun. I actually quite enjoy the game.

So far I've beaten it on Impossible and have started working on Classic, but I put my Classic run on hold so that I can play through Co-Op with a friend.

Honestly, my biggest problem with the game is that the Co-Op exclusive missions (and the collectibles within them) count toward your progress in a single-player game. I'm a bit of a completionist, so stuff like that really gets on my nerves.

 

[Full]

I'd say I'm at about the half way point, and I'm liking it a lot so far. Probably my least favorite of the three, but I still think it's freaking great.

A lot of the problems I have with it can be balanced out with how well I just think the game feels, shooty-bang-bang wise it's my favorite in the series so far, even if the "strategic dismemberment aka aim for the legs" can be bypassed with powerful enough weapons. However, the combat roll and cover system don't seem to work, but I don't use those anyway.

The biggest complaints I have is the fact the autosave is terrible (doing round 1 on Impossible is a nightmare, but I think I punched my own ticket for that one), and some of those enemy designs aren't the most fair. I'm also not sure whether the story is taking itself seriously or not, but the conversations with Carver, and the co-op story as a whole, is really cool, I think. Even if some of the justifications for Carver being at the same place as Isaac are accidentally hilarious.

I'm also disappointed in the lack of novelty levels from the second one (the gymnasium was the shit), but the aesthetic is as cool as always.

Overall, I've been hearing people call it bad all over the place and I strongly disagree.

 

[mParadox]

I absolutely adored Dead Space 3.

I loved the level designs and the addition of human enemies was quite refreshing. And let's be honest, they were almost always accompanied with Necromorphs. Which made it sadistically fun watching them being ripped apart by what they(humans!) deemed to be the final, most awesome stage in evolution. Irony. o3o

The 'stealth' sections were nice too. Should you choose to play on Classic Mode and stumble upon the Gollums, well, be very very still and very vewy quiet.

My one tiny complaint? Carver. I'm sure he's a brilliant character but the way he Houdinis all over the place scares the hell out of me.

Another complaint would be the save system. It's quite arbitrary and it saves as it wills. I liked the save docks. They were cool and kind of fitted into the architecture of the place.

 

[Dryk]

I'm sure Dead Space 3 is a great game, but is it a great Dead Space game? That's a distinction that doesn't seem to come up enough on either side I think

 

[skywolfblue]

I loved it as well.

It has it's flaws (too many vertical climb sections), but I think it is my favorite of the series.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

As someone involved in this game and who has many close friends who toiled away over it for years. Thank you.

If you are being serious, then you must tell me: When can I play Awakening? I must continue the story! That ending was a bit too quick for my tastes. And how are we supposed to fight more...of those final boss enemies, because I'm pretty sure that boss still managed to get a message out to its friends before I smashed it.

I liked Dead Space 3. I wish the weapons hadn't changed in appearance (what happened to my beautiful pulse rifle?), but overall I had a blast with it. And the co op. Oh man, the twist at the end of Carver's second mission...that was truly epic. And the fact that, according to my friend who played as Carver, the second character sees completely different things that Isaac's character doesn't was a nice touch too.

 

[GloatingSwine]

I've just gotten to the end of disc 1, and it's alright. The weapon crafting system probably means that you can make weapons other than the plasma cutter that are worth using (although so far the plasma cutter still does everything ever). There does feel like a bit more cheap bullshit this time though, enemies jumping out and grabbing you unavoidably in small rooms or as you open doors, and it's altogether too in love with "Isaac Clarke falls off of thing" as a method of building tension, which is getting pretty damn old already.

 

[SmokieMcChicken]

I agree fully with you. I just finished the game today and enjoyed it a lot but I did find it a bit more fun with a friend (if he wasn't spending so much damn time at the bench making guns he doesn't even use more than once). The micro transaction thing is more for the "I have to look good in this game or I am a complete noob" person because the only thing you can't get ration seals with is the suits and the Scavenger bot DLCs. It kind of disappoints me that reviewers would give this game a lower rating than it deserves but it seems like all reviewers rate now days is the Competitive multiplayer modes because that's all gaming pretty much seems to be now *cough cough* IGN *cough cough* Although they did take the somewhat of a "scare" to the game it's still good but I do think they tried to put too much action in it.

 

[Shocksplicer]

Yeah, it's a great game. I'm still not sure the plot actually made sense, and it moved away from the series' roots a bit, but its still good.

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

Oh man, I LOVE Dead Space 3. I went into it just like you, pretty cautious; less than an hour in, my opinion quickly turned into "Okay, this game is awesome!"
Other than a few jump-scares and some pretty intimidating enemies, it's not that scary but it's so action packed I just can't help but love it. Maybe I should ratchet up the difficulty, everything's scarier when they can kill you in two hits, eh?
I sort of disagree about taking on the human enemies in terms of how you deal with them. I don't know, I guess bullets just work better for me against human enemies. I also didn't like fighting them very much, I just don't find them entertaining enemies but I was pleased to see they only appear like four or five times throughout the whole game.
I haven't tried the co-op yet so I don't know how I feel about that but I figure it'll be like all the other co-op games I play: Less engaging, more fun.
I was also glad to see that the microtransactions didn't permeate the game as much as people said they would, it's really easy to ignore them.
And thank GOODNESS they got rid of multiplayer.

All in all, I really liked it.
I think it's a fitting end to the series.
And yes, without spoiling anything, it really does END here.
Putting aside the fact that EA closed down Visceral (f*ck you sideways with a plasma cutter, EA!) story-wise, I have no idea how they could continue.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

Pfft. The majority of AAA games aren't bad, unless the developers have seriously dropped the ball.

They're largely competent and entertaining; but overall lacking anything truly noteworthy or positively memorable.

 

[IllumInaTIma]

I loved Dead Space 3. I never considered Dead Space games horror, because they never scared me! Not even first one! And I'm the guy who pussed out from first Silent Hill and first three Resident Evils.
So yeah, never considered DS3 horror, enjoyed it for what it is, had fun.

 

[ThatRandomGuy42]

Oh man, I LOVE Dead Space 3. I went into it just like you, pretty cautious; less than an hour in, my opinion quickly turned into "Okay, this game is awesome!"
Other than a few jump-scares and some pretty intimidating enemies, it's not that scary but it's so action packed I just can't help but love it. Maybe I should ratchet up the difficulty, everything's scarier when they can kill you in two hits, eh?
I sort of disagree about taking on the human enemies in terms of how you deal with them. I don't know, I guess bullets just work better for me against human enemies. I also didn't like fighting them very much, I just don't find them entertaining enemies but I was pleased to see they only appear like four or five times throughout the whole game.
I haven't tried the co-op yet so I don't know how I feel about that but I figure it'll be like all the other co-op games I play: Less engaging, more fun.
I was also glad to see that the microtransactions didn't permeate the game as much as people said they would, it's really easy to ignore them.
And thank GOODNESS they got rid of multiplayer.

All in all, I really liked it.
I think it's a fitting end to the series.
And yes, without spoiling anything, it really does END here.
Putting aside the fact that EA closed down Visceral (f*ck you sideways with a plasma cutter, EA!) story-wise, I have no idea how they could continue.

It doesn't end there. After the credits...

 

[Legion]

Dead Space 3 is probably my overall least favorite of the main three games, but that's not to say I didn't have fun. I actually quite enjoy the game.

That's my opinion as well. I think it is a shame they didn't try and make it more like the first in terms of atmosphere, but the game is still very solid.

Pfft. The majority of AAA games aren't bad, unless the developers have seriously dropped the ball.

They're largely competent and entertaining; but overall lacking anything truly noteworthy or positively memorable.

That is also my opinion.

The game does not suffer from any major flaws. The voice acting is good, the graphics are good, the weapons and enemies are good. There isn't really anything bad about it at all.

But it isn't special, it doesn't have anything unique to say, nor any particularly memorable moments.

I played it, and I enjoyed it, but I don't have any desire to go back and do it again.

 

[Church185]

As someone involved in this game and who has many close friends who toiled away over it for years. Thank you.

Minus the parts that I experienced that had human enemies, I really enjoy the game. Dead Space 2 is still my favorite though. The combat is great due to the new way weapon customization is handled (though it does put the game a tad on the easy side), the outdoor environments were really awesome, especially the time you spend out in space flying around.

My biggest gripe with the game is that I can't get it to run properly on my 360, after about 20 minutes of playing the game will freeze and it is hard to make progress. With the studio closing and a fix being far off, I'll probably never get to see the game through to the end.

 

[Sargonas42]

And yes, without spoiling anything, it really does END here.
Putting aside the fact that EA closed down Visceral (f*ck you sideways with a plasma cutter, EA!) story-wise, I have no idea how they could continue.

WHY do people keep saying this? EA Did *NOT* close down Visceral! They shut down Visceral Montreal, which was about 1/5th to 1/4th of the Visceral team. The majority of the team, the other 3/4, that are at the core Visceral studio at EAHQ are still going strong!

Minus the parts that I experienced that had human enemies, I really enjoy the game. Dead Space 2 is still my favorite though. The combat is great due to the new way weapon customization is handled (though it does put the game a tad on the easy side), the outdoor environments were really awesome, especially the time you spend out in space flying around.

My biggest gripe with the game is that I can't get it to run properly on my 360, after about 20 minutes of playing the game will freeze and it is hard to make progress. With the studio closing and a fix being far off, I'll probably never get to see the game through to the end.

Truth be told, DS2 is my favorite as well. A lot of that though stems more from the fact that I spent a year and a half working on DS2, and only about 3 months on DS3 (waaaaaay in the early beginning) before leaving the company. I just feel a tighter bond with the project on that one, heh. As an actual game I think it's only slightly ahead of DS3 by a small margin.