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There Here.... Coming to get me..... Make it stop.... AHHHHHHHHHH... Splat
I'm sorry to say that due to an untimely case of death by necromorphs this blog will be slightly late Nah! I'm just kidding ya! If you haven't guessed already, this post is going to be all about
Dead Space 3

As with all my reviews, it's spoiler alert time! However I would like to say that this particular post will have some scenes of graphic violence, so... enter if you dare...

 

So, what is Dead Space then? The best way I could describe it as a series, is as a psychological thriller, however, this definition doesn't really hold up when you look at the games individually.
The original game Dead Space is more of a traditional "pop out and say boo!" house of horrors time game. It's fun, sure, but there's a complete lack of well written story that leads me to believe it was never intended to be part of a series.




Dead Space 2's needle in the eye scene. I wont show you what
happens if you fail, as it's shockingly gory


Dead Space 2 was, in my opinion, a much better game, with a considerably more intricate story, and taking the genre of horror more seriously. The entire Dead Space 2 story line centres nicely around a particularly disturbing minigame, where you have to guide a needle into Isaac Clark's eye, if you get it wrong, Isaac is brutally and gruesomely executed by the very machine he's trying to use. It's this kind of story point which marks the difference between the two games, a well thought out, gruesome story point in the second game, which I just couldn't tear my eyes away from (no pun intended) until the process was complete, compared to a cheap fright by a necromorph popping out to say boo, then swipe your head off, in the first game. I know which I'd
rather choose

Dead Space 3 is curious as far as the series goes. It seems to show a good amount of enthralling story but adds in a lot of "pop out and say boo!" factor as well. In this instance at least, its in no way a bad thing.



Aww, he just wants to give you a big hug!

In terms of gameplay, all the enemies are faster and harder to kill, making Isaac's shot's wild and panicky. Isaac's melee attacks are slower, wider and harder to aim, suggesting a level of desperation that wasn't present in the previous games. Attacks are also a lot easier to chain together, many times have I found myself mashing RB to make Isaac stomp over and over again, even though my enemy dies many hits ago. The gameplay alone pulls you into the story, and even though Dead Space 3 is more difficult than the previous games, you find yourself playing the game as if you where actually there, consequently allowing you more survivability.

There is certainly a much higher emphasis on survival, from story right through to mechanics.
The new bench mechanic shows this very well.
We now have the ability to craft guns from parts (as any good engineer should) and this allows you to personalise your load out, however no one gun seems to be better than the other, the all just seem to have different abilities. This means survival depends on finding a gun you're comfortable with, as you don't get enough time to let off aimed shots. Another great mechanic is used during Isaac's time on the planet Tau Volantis, an ice world. You can probably see where I'm going with this, at some point your suit is damaged beyond repair, and you have to survive long enough in the arctic tundra to find a new one. Isaac does this by... you guessed it.... standing close to fires, in order to raise his body heat. Yes I know its practically cliché by now but I still think, in this instance, and this one alone, it works. The mechanic helps to emphasise that this game isn't about soldiers being heroes, its about one man who has absolutely no military training, surviving until a job is done.

That's all I have to say on Dead Space 3 at the moment, as per usual I shall now play the other half of the game, and get back to you on it in a few days

As always my comments bar is open for business, free line guns for all who participate!

Matt.
(Get off me you damn necromorph!)