Dead Space 3 weapon crafting impressions

The Dead Space 3 demo has a weapon bench mode with a whole bunch of fun parts just waiting for you to mix and match.  On top of that, once you’re done making your kill machine, you can press a fun little button, and a few Necromorphs will run at you to die at the might of your new toy.  What’s that?  You didn’t like your secondary shot mode? Switch it out.  You didn’t like the acid rounds attached, try fire. Would it better if your flame thrower was an ice thrower instead?

The combinations are nearly endless. At one point, random people from the office came into our studio and I had them piece together random weapons. The test subjects were happy with the results. Over all, this is a pretty damn fun feature. Normally while playing the game, you’ll find parts to put into your weapons, but right now in the demo – you start with a bunch of parts in the crafting mode. Use this time to find out what you like or simply what works for you. Try out wacky combinations and get to the Necromorph slaughter.

The basics of the weapon creation process are simple though the advanced parts can get a bit confusing. You start with a small or large stock. Then you decide what your primary fire is or the upper tool. Will our gun shoot bullets, fire, electricity, plasma, rails, etc. Then, you choose an attachment to make bigger clips, add a scope, make it so you auto pick up ammo, etc.  Circuits are for those fine tuning adjustments such as more damage or faster reloading.  Once ALL that is finished, you start on the lower tool and do it all over again.

How it works, is that the upper tool becomes your primary fire and the lower tool becomes your secondary fire. If you have the horizontal / vertical spinner like on the classic plasma cutter – that takes up the lower tool.  So with this system you can truly mix and match whatever upper or lower tools you want. The different sized stocks also make completely different weapons. The designers have gone out of their way to make sure there isn’t the one over-powered combination. The customization really comes down to what fits your play style.

Check out the Dead Space 3 demo today through a code on Origin or wait a week for it to go live to everyone else.  This demo can be found on Xbox 360 and PS3.