Dead Space 3 demo impressions

Part 2

I was excited to download the Dead Space 3 demo today and take a crack at the next installment in the Visceral franchise.  At E3 2012 I got the opportunity to watch a demonstration of Dead Space 3. This demo was the exact same footage as the E3 demonstration – which was fine since I never got to play it before but was bad because nothing surprised me.  Only the ending was slightly different.

-DEMO SPOILERS-

Sitting down with the Demo on Xbox 360, I played though it once by myself and once with a partner. Between the two, I would say I liked the coop better. My reasoning is that more story was told between the back and forth with Clarke and Carver; at times it even felt ‘buddy copish.’ What confused me about the story is why Isaac cares so much about Ellie in coop mode but doesn’t in single player. During my coop play through, Isaac was yelling for Ellie and concerned for her life; while alone he did none of that.  In fact, she never even came up at all.

The gameplay itself felt very Dead Space to me. The whole movement, shooting, alternative fire, map objective, etc. felt familiar; there was definitely a sense of nostalgia there.  The weapon system on the other hand while clearly different, didn’t feel all that foreign.  Secondary fire in Dead Space has always been a thing, now you just have far more control over it. Building the ‘perfect weapon’ is fun and definitely something I’d like to continue doing in the retail game. While playing, different people came in from the office and I had them tell me what to create. The wacky ‘test phases’ of the guns was entertaining to say the least. I honestly felt like I got a sense of what I liked from this mode.

The graphics and environment surpassed what I expected. The planet made me feel cold and I was drawn into this world.  The environment wasn’t creepy to me though, even on single player. Like I said before, I had seen this footage before so I’m chalking a lot up to that. But at the same time, if I replayed Dead Space right now, things I’ve done multiple times already would still get a jump out of me. For the single player campaign at least, I really hope the game keeps that scary quality the other two games had. I don’t want Isaac’s growing tolerance of the Necromorphs to pass down to me as well.

Drop in an out coop is everything you’d want it to be, there is no denying that. The regular monsters felt tougher with a friend than alone but the bosses were far easier in coop. In a game series where you’ve always been alone it is certainly a different experience. While I did not like this in F.E.A.R. 3, I feel like it can work in Dead Space 3. I’ve always loved the Dead Space series and I know the game has already drawn at least two play throughs from me with single player and coop. My plan as of now is to do single player first so jump scares will still exist and then move on to play co-op with a buddy.  We’re almost there to Dead Space 3 and I’m still quite excited for it.