Very late to the party Dead Space 3 review and thoughts.

[Stuart.Antony]

Well, finally got to finish it after buying a second copy as disk 2 didn't work on my pre order.

Hmmm, well now where to begin?

Dead Space 3 has been one of my absolute favourite series this gen. There's really nothing about it I haven't loved so far. So obviously I had considerable hopes and fears for this the third instalment.

So far I've played offline SP campaign only.

I did enjoy it, I'll say that right off the bat. I'll also stress I really don't care about the survival horror aspect. Not that I've ever found DS that scary to start with, and I didn't feel DS3 left what creepy atmosphere it did have behind, anywhere near as much as was first feared. Many of the aspects of the series I've always appreciated were still there in droves. Graphics were as always phenomenal, putting to shame many supposedly next gen titles we're currently seeing show cased.

The same goes for levels, character and concept designs. Still love the fusion of futuristic design with grimy industrial tech. I even recall messing around with steam pressure valves at some point. I largely enjoyed the puzzles and mini games, although that new one used to unlock doors was at times almost as infuriating as the plumbing hacks in Bioshock haha.

The few new additions to combat control took a little getting used to. Particularly the roll mechanic which seemed a little broken to me. I found Isaac rolling about unintentionally at times, but sometimes seemed unable to do so when it was necessary. That was probably just me being crap. But rather like with Resident Evil 6, I still felt lumped with a game mechanic struggling to break out of it's slightly sluggish survival horror roots, in a desperate attempt to equal the challenge of faster and more numerous and open action shooter type threats.

As for the threats themselves, am I the only one that felt they were considerably tougher than in the previous games? Not insurmountable by any means, but Jesus some of those bastards didn't go down easily, even on the lowest difficulty setting which I tried out of curiosity.

But ultimately, for me personally it was the story that I was probably most interested in this time around. And right away that took some curious turns I didn't exactly predict.

I actually figured the development of Isaac and Ellie's relationship would play a big part in DS3. But of course when we start the game we discover it's done come and gone. With nothing but a short narrative and a note to give much detail.. Even worse we later discover she's now not only dating a total douche, but a frickin Earth Gov douche at that, the guys Isaac was partly fighting in the last game. I was BLOODY FURIOUS!

Obviously you're meant to feel that way and it certainly worked on me. I spent three quarters of the game really pissed at her. And this would be my first complaint about Dead Space 3. In DS2 Ellie Langford became one of my favourite female characters in a video game. She doesn't have a huge roll, but from the very start she comes across as intelligent, independent and one seriously tough cookie.

The fact that she's smokin hot doesn't hurt either.

Although her motivations become clearer, as in she is ultimately targeted on destroying the Marker threat, feels Isaac has given up and become too distant, and is obviously willing to literally climb into bed with anyone that will assist in that goal. Even so her actions and the way she comes over in much of DS3, to me just don't really feel consistent with the character they built in DS2. I feel they missed an opportunity with Ellie basically. And she certainly comes across as weaker and less sharp than she did in 2.

Still, it also becomes obvious fairly quickly that she's still into Isaac, and I will admit the whole love triangle thing, although undeniably soap opera did lead to some chucklesome moments.

I'm going to break this into sections so that's all for now. I realise it's probably done and forgotten by many folks, but for any of you that are as big a DS fans as I am. I still don't feel we really had the conversation some of us talked about leading up to release. So always curious to hear opinions about this latest iteration. I watched the DLC on you tube, so up to speed with all the endings so far *sigh*. But more on that later, and besides, it's nice to talk about something other than the bloody console wars.

 

[Stuart.Antony]

I'll finish this up for the sake of closure, although I don't have much that's positive to say TBH.

Although again, I must give props for the level design, particularly at the end. There is real talent in this team and no denying it. Unfortunately that's one of the things that makes this all so tragic.

Like many of their other great franchises, in my opinion EA screwed this game pure and simple. The more I played the more I noticed that the single player campaign seems disjointed. Despite claims of how the drop in co-op wouldn't mess with anything, it inevitably does. Other than in obvious ways like certain areas being sealed off, the cut scenes indicate that there is a growing relationship between Isaac and Carver, but of course in SP you never see that happening so it feels wrong.

The balance of the game has clearly been screwed with to encourage the use of micro-transactions. Enemies are tougher and more bullet spongy than ever, and the resources needed to fabricate the all important torque bars are extremely scarce. Sometimes, particularly later in the game, the areas where enemies attack, seem far more like set up battle arenas than they did in the previous games. Those moments just don't feel so integrated making the game feel less atmospheric and far more...well gamey.

The plot itself moves from feeble to down right weak. Although I liked the rather Lovecraftian reveal about the nature of the Markers. It still felt like it should have been executed so much better. The Isaac and Ellie sub plot is as watery and unconvincing as she is this time. Truly a tragic way to marginalise what was such a strong female character, in favour of a bromance I didn't personally give a crap about.

In the end it felt like a lengthy and padded out journey to an extremely unrewarding conclusion. But wait! it's not the conclusion at all, and this is frankly the most frightening thing about Dead Space at this point. Despite the initial reports from EA that it's over, because surprise surprise it didn't make the unrealistic prophets they predicted. The DLC leaves us on yet another cliffhanger, leaving the possibility of future instalments wide open.

EA have made their policy for the next gen extremely clear. A massive focus on online play, micro transactions up the ass, anything and everything they can do to milk as much cash from any franchise as possible. This essentially signals the death of the offline single player campaign if left up to companies such as them. Their insistence on shoeing online components into everything is completely out of step with that type of game.

Dead Space 3 is to my mind the most tragic victim of that policy so far. The blatant disregard shown to the fans of a series that has spawned not just games, but books and films as well is staggering. And all so they can pursue their vision of turning every franchise into the next Call Of Duty or utterly destroying it in the process. Frankly what should have gone out with a bang has been left hanging in limbo with scarcely a whimper.

There may be another, but there can be little doubt of the form it will take if there is, and In all honesty I've ceased to care. Dead Space feels truly dead at present, but without being afforded the proper burial it so richly deserved.

That makes me far sadder than you could know.