Dead Space 3

Zach Goodier

Isaac Clarke is back, and there’s more necromorphs to be dismembered.  This time around, you’re heading to the Marker homeworld, in a quest to finish off the menace once and for all.  However, the Unitologists are hot on your heels, and they want to make sure that “convergence” takes place, which means killing you and allowing the Markers to spread their signal throughout the universe.  However, Isaac in not alone, he has help from the last battalion of EarthGov at his back, but the odds are still stacked against him.  Can you end the menace once and for all? Or is the universe doomed to suffer the extinction of all life?

You've seen monsters like this before, but when they've had 200 years to make themselves at home, it somehow feels even scarier than ever, since you truly feel like you're on their turf this time around.

Story:

For starters, you begin the game 200 years before the current point in the story, playing as a soldier on Tau Volantis serving with a Sovereign Colonies unit exploring the icy world.  They are already in the midst of a Necromorph infestation when you start, and your job is to recover a “codex” needed to somehow end the Necromorph infestation on the colony.  Without getting into spoilers too much, that story serves as a prologue, which then leads into Isaac, who is struggling with living his life after surviving 2 encounters with Necromorphs and all of the marker knowledge swimming in his head. You’ll start out on New Horizons colony, where you quickly have to run off to Tau Volantis on the, being pursued by Unitologist terrorists who have overthrown EarthGov and taken control of the markers, and have begun using them to spread Necromorphs throughout the settled worlds of humanity. 

Danik is a guy I had mixed feelings towards. On one hand, I understood that since humanity has eaten and built its way into the corner Al Gore has been warning us about, he is trying to find a solution.  On the other hand.... HE KEEPS TRYING TO KILL ISAAC... Not cool, bro.

Gameplay:

You really have already played this game, just like in 2, but that’s not a bad thing.  One of the differences, however, is that you now have to fight against humans, as well as Necros.  Unitologist militants provide an interesting element to combat, and they definitely add a new challenge to an already challenging scenario. 

You'll spend a good chunk of the early game navigating a derelict fleet, before heading down to the planet... None of the locals are friendly, though.

Another big change is the ability to build custom weapons and modifications to create a potentially massive arsenal, although the ability to only carry 2 at a time is a little bit of a disappointment.  Ammo is now generalized, with one type going to every weapon.  This means you no longer have to juggle 4 types of ammunition trying to keep yourself stocked for whatever lies behind the next blood-covered door. 

Do you have a moment to talk about our lord and savior, Lord Cthulhu?

The scares are more of the same, but once again, that’s not a bad thing.  There are new Necros, and some of the classics return.  The scenery changes frequently, as your arrival on Tau Volantis starts with a struggle to find a new ship among the remnants of the Sovereign Colonies fleet, which has been derelict for the past 200 years.  Scary right from the start, right? I mean, of course they must be empty, right? 

While I wasn't able to delve into co-op very much, it does provide a thrilling way to game with your friends, and makes the darkness feel a little less perilous when you have backup.

There is one major element of the Dead Space series that has turned me off a bit, and this game only accentuated it even more for me.  For example, at one point in the game, you have to find a shuttle in order to get down to the planet.  Now, after heading across the ship to find the shuttle in the rear hangar, you find the shuttle, only to find that it needs parts before it can be ready to launch.  So, you fight around the hangar, fighting Necros and gathering the parts before you can assemble what you need.  You do that, then you find out the shuttle is out of fuel, so then you have to go to the rear section and go through the refueling process.  THEN, after that, you find out the hangar door is jammed and you have to head to the upper section above the hangar and un-jam the gears before you can finally get out, and mind you this is all after traversing across the entire ship to get there.  There are a few sections like this in the game, and it can really mess with the momentum of the story, and really make it feel like sometimes the developers just wanted to drag this game out as long as possible with as little effort as possible.

Weapon crafting allows you to combo things like shotguns with a ripper attachment, or however you wanna set it up.  By the end of the game, Necros didn't even scare me anymore because I was a tearing through them so fast I honestly think they were more scared of me.

Characters:

This is mostly a big weak point for the game, since you don’t spend a great deal of time interacting on any serious level with other characters.  There are a few moments, and there are a few twists along the way, but for the most part it’s like a horror movie in terms of supporting characters.  Isaac is still just… there, killing monsters and fighting Unitologists.  It really doesn’t change much from there.  But to be fair, the stupidity of the characters at some key moments does irritate me.  Without spoiling it, the only reason there was a last level was because of some random inability of Isaac and his buddy Carver could have easily put down the Unitologist leader, Danik, before he did something that really put the screws to Isaac, Carver, and Ellie.  All of this was clearly to set up for a massive boss fight, but it just felt so forced it kind of ruined the entire final act of the story for me.

HEY!!! Stay out of that cookie jar.

Overall:

This game is good, but not quite up to great for me.  The only reason is that a lot of the story elements, as well as the mission layout, just felt like they were trying to make less seem like more.  However, the gameplay is very good, with the ability to build weapons and a streamlined ammo system to save on some inventory space, it’s all very functional and fun, but there are a lot of times where you need to stop and think about what you’re doing, and why.  That’s what really held this game back.  And I really wasn’t at all surprised by any of the twists, because it was all so obvious I face-palmed when Isaac was surprised.  This game is worth playing, just not worth getting invested in the story for. 

Like any horror flick, you know that half of these people are disposable right from the get-go.

So much of this world could have been compelling, but I feel like the Dead Space universe just isn’t utilized as much as it could be for story, character, and lore.  The lore that exists is good, but I felt like a few interesting concepts like the depletion of resources, and the loss of necessary materials for mankind, weren’t explored as much as they could have been, especially since they fuel the Unitologist cause.  It all just feels like a wasted opportunity for the story and universe, but that doesn’t mean this game has nothing to offer.  The action, thrills, and scares are all as good as the franchise gets, I just sometimes found myself frustrated with the objectives, story, and irritating characters that let things go to hell, just so you can fight the big boss at the end.

Good:

-Awesome action and scares

-Monster design is awesome

-Weapon creation/upgrades make the arsenal fully customizable

-CO-OP!!!

Bad:

-Objectives, particularly sub-objectives, can feel like a real pain, and an attempt by the studio to make one or two areas take up over a half hour of your time running silly fetch quests while necros come after you.

-Characters  allow some very preventable events to occur, leading the obligatory boss battle that just left me shaking my head.

Scully Rating: 8 out of 10