Review: Dead Space 3

Dead Space 3 is a third-person shooter for the Xbox 360, PC, and PlayStation 3. It was developed by Visceral Games.

Isaac Clarke facing a Necromorph

Isaac Clarke, the hero of the last two Dead Space games, is convinced by EarthGov to travel to the frozen wasteland planet of Tau Volantis to find his ex-girlfriend Ellie. Ellie had discovered something on the planet that might get rid of the Necromorphs, the horrible monsters created from the dead that had been plaguing Isaac. However, the Unitologists, the cult that worship the Necromorphs and the mysterious Markers that create them, have gone from “weird secretive cult” to militant religious fanatics that are hunting Isaac down. Isaac has to go to Tau Valantis, find Ellie and her crew, and find a way to deal with the Necromorphs while dodging the Unitologists.

You control Isaac as he travels through nineteen levels, though thanks to cutscenes it plays like one long level. Isaac mainly has to kill Necromorphs, who like to burst out of the walls and slash Isaac’s face off, and sometimes solve puzzles. Necromorphs can only be killed by having their limbs cut off. Isaac can also slow down Necromorphs by putting them in temporary stasis and levitate objects which is used for puzzle solving.

Combat manages to stay mostly fresh thanks to there being just enough enemies as you go through new areas and have to deal with new types of limbs to cut off. Later on enemies appear in greater numbers and eventually start to get more resilient against attacks, both of which keep the game just fun enough.

Almost all the places he visits are derelict remains, but they are really well done remains. They all got the dark and shadowy theme going on, but every place Isaac explores looks new and different. He does not go through a bunch of similar looking hallways, he goes through living quarters and labs and weird sci-fi ship areas that do not make a lot of sense but are still cool. There is a lot of detail of the people who used to live on Tau Volantis, which really makes it look like people lived there. Except in the optional mission areas, those reuse old rooms, which is why they suck.

Isaac has to build his own weapons from parts. Isaac picks up weapon parts, or more commonly ingredients to build weapon parts, and puts them together at benches. First you choose whether you want a big gun handle which can do more things or a small gun handle which reloads faster. You attach one or two weapons to the handle, and tips that can modify weapons, like a tip that makes a carbine into a shotgun, or a tip that turns a grenade launcher into a rocket launcher. You can attach two accessories that modify the gun further, like a scope or an accessory that makes all bullets coated in acid, and circuits which improve damage and speed.

I wish the system had been simpler. I wish they had made it so you can use all weapon types on all guns, or a simpler way to find parts, or there was only one type of handle, or if I could have bought weapons instead of having to scrounge around for the ingredients. More importantly, I wish a lot of the weapons were not useless, especially compared to Isaac’s default cutter. That would have made up for all the time I spent figuring out such a needlessly complicated system.

This could have been handled better.

There is a co-op mode, where you can set your game so one other person can join in as John Carver, the least interesting person in the cast, or you can join someone else’s game. I guess that has the fun that doing anything with another person brings, but it does not enhance the game itself. It just makes them game easier, so it is good if you just want to mow down tons of Necromorphs with someone else.

Isaac's on the left, Carver's on the right.

I liked discovering the history of Tau Volantis, the origin of the Markers, and the humans who used live on the planet. Isaac’s story though, is predictable. You can guess who the traitor is and who is going to die, and the ending wraps up things a little too perfectly. The cast are shallow, and their personalities do not shift from the moment you meet them, though they are at least mostly likable.

The game is grotesque, and can get exciting at times, but I never was actually scared. The frequency of the Necromorph attacks and how easy it is to kill them helped. I was never surprised either because the Necromorphs come through these really obvious ventilation ducts, so every time I walked into a room with one I was like: “Here we go again.”

Dead Space 3 is okay, it is not exceptional in any regard, and it has some faults, but the good parts outweigh the bad. It looks like the end to Dead Space though, so it might not be worth it for those who have not played the previous games.