Some would contest whether or not Dead Space was ever a scary franchise, but most will agree that Dead Space 3 focuses more on being an action title. In a recent NowGamer interview,Dead Space 1 writer Antony Johnston explained why he thinks the added action emphasis occurred.
While admitting that the newer Dead Space games weren't really for him thanks to the action focus, he said that the emphasis was "a necessary evil in order to broaden the fan base."
"I know the developers always wanted to go bigger, in terms of scope. And I've mentioned before that the universe we created was huge, with lots of elements, which simply didn't make it into the first game.
"So to get that story told, to round out the universe, it was inevitable the settings and environments would open out a bit, become a bit more epic in scale."
Without the more epic scale Johnston claims that Dead Space would likely become "pretty dull."
What do you think, does Johnston have a point? It seems to me that regardless of what Dead Space "really is" (or was), there is a group of people that wish Dead Space 3 was more of a horror game. People who are upset to be cast aside for the sake of a wider audience, even.
This video from Prima Games shows how to get the "Devil Horns" weapon, which… well, it's actually just a foam finger. Like, from sporting events? Yeah. They say it's the most powerful weapon in the game. Makes sense.
Via GameFront, here's how to take advantage of an exploit to farm unlimited resources in horror-survival game Dead Space 3, which came out yesterday for Xbox 360 and PS3.
This, of course, means you won't have to pay for microtransactions in the new EA-published game, which allows you to pay real money in exchange for resource packs. If you have the patience to farm forever, you can get the best weapons without shelling out any extra cash.
Which I suppose raises the question: is it unethical to take advantage of a glitch in order to avoid paying for downloadable content? I guess that's up to you.
The game itself may be dividing critics, but I'd hope there's one thing we can all agree on, and that's the fact that before the game's frozen wastelands could be played, they first had to be drawn by some very talented people.
We've featured Patrick's work here before, but now that Dead Space 3 is available at retail, he's been cleared to release and share with us a whole ton of artwork, most of which is presented here at wallpaper scale.
To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they're big enough, so you can save them as wallpaper), right-click on them below and select "open in new tab".
Fine Art is a celebration of the work of video game artists, showcasing the best of both their professional and personal portfolios. If you're in the business and have some concept, environment, promotional or character art you'd like to share, drop us a line!
I'm not a Dead Space guy. Oh sure, the series is great, but Fatal Frame and Silent Hill are more my speed when it comes to pants-wetting horror. But you know what would make me a Dead Space guy? Absurdist spin-offs and mods.
How about a survival-horror game starring legendary comedian, father figure and star of the Cosby Show, Bill Cosby?
Or a spin-off in an alternate universe where everyone is a giant Shiba Inu puppy? All upgrades would be chew-toy related.
Or perhaps a gritty sequel to the movie Office Space? Players can customize their own Swingline stapler.
Or maybe if the Dude from the Big Lebowski played a space marine out of his element, trying to track down the Necromorphs that peed on his rug?
Got an absurd Dead Space spin-off you'd like to see become a reality? Submit it in the comments. Bonus points if you throw in some Photoshop magic.
Once upon a time there was a video game publisher named Electronic Arts. Electronic Arts was a very big video game publisher with lots of money and friends. Every year, they would release lots and lots of video games, which they would sell for lots and lots more money and friends.
One day, Electronic Arts was ready to launch a Very Big Game! It was called Dead Space 3, and Electronic Arts wanted people to buy it. But how could they make it look as good as possible? Electronic Arts thought and thought. Suddenly, they got it! They would write a Press Release! They would fill it with mystical alchemical ingredients with exotic names like Hyperbole and Cherry-Picked Review Scores.
So Electronic Arts sent out the Press Release to Media and Investors all across the world.
Dead Space 3 Launches Today to Global Critical Acclaim – Heralded as One of the Best Games of This Generation
Dead Space 3 is an International hit having received a 9.0 from Multiplayer.it in Italy, 9.0 from AusGamers in Australia, 8.8 from 3DJuegos.com in Spain and a 9.75 from Game Informer magazine in North America. As a result of these four, the game is launching with an average score of 91, and being raved by Game Informer magazine who said Dead Space 3, '[is] one of the best games of this generation.'
Electronic Arts was happy! The Press Release was a success. They would sell lots of video games and make lots of money and their Investors would all be very happy.
But then, Big Bad Reality came lumbering in with an ugly smile on his face. "I come from the city of Metacriticopolis," he said, "where all of the numbers people assign games live."
"I have a message for you from my city," he continued, in a gruff voice. "You did not get a 91. You got a 79."
And Electronic Arts was heartbroken, and they cried and cried. But they learned a lesson that day: To stop spinning and distorting, because telling the truth looks a lot less ridiculous than trying to skew it just to make yourself look good.
There's a handy little robot in Dead Space 3. It's designed to collect resources for you in the new sci-fi horror game, released for Xbox 360 and PS3 today.
But as helpful as it is, it may be a little too helpful. Like, too helpful at getting you to open your wallet.
But my gut tells me that the cute little scavenger bot was built with a specific purpose outside of getting you resources. Sure, it's handy. I can send my bot out and go to the workbench to find a ton more tungsten or semiconductors that I can use to outfit my rig or craft new weapons with. But wouldn't it be easier to dock the price of resources on these upgrades? Or simply give me more loot to find around each map?
Several of the already-available downloadable content packages center on the tiny bot that Isaac (or co-op partner Carver) can equip to send out on scavenging-for-resources missions. It scurries around dead bodies to find you resources that you can use on weapon and rig upgrades while you're off killing Necromorphs and listening to audio logs.
You can access downloadable content through Dead Space 3's workbenches. You can see the content that's already available for purchase with real money or, in the case of certain packages, in-game resources.
Resources can be gathered off of corpses, loot boxes, and other storage containers, too. But sending out the bot gets you a ton more with nary a finger lifted. You can then turn those resources into items to craft bigger, badder weapons. And weapon-crafting happens to be one of the best things about Dead Space 3.
I don't have a problem with the existence of microstransactions so long as it doesn't interfere with my own game. If I'm not being held back in a significant way by not forking over real cash, I'm ok. I'm skeptical of the intentions behind DLC like this, but I also don't let my need for weaponry and achievements and random in-game swag get the better of me.
The scavenger bot is a conduit for paying for the privilege of more resources, faster harvest times and, sure, a personality modifier. The scavenger bot feeds into the most obsessive gamer's desires to collect everything, and collect it fast. Want that sweet HUN-E1 Badger shotgun? Want it now? Pay for some scavenger bot DLC and we'll expedite that right away! It's a neat trick.
Of course, fragmented game experiences chopped into DLC is nothing new. Paying for DLC-specific weapons is nothing new. Paying for privilege is nothing new. Heck, Dead Space itself has been there in the past. But the scavenger bot is the perfect excuse to make an extra buck out of the situation without making it seem too much like that's what its purpose is.
Yet when you think about it, doesn't it seem obvious?
Let's rewind a bit. In 2008 we were graced with EA's first Dead Space title. This was a claustrophobic horror game, filled with mystery and an obviously grander, more complex universe than we, as players during that first go, could comprehend. There was clearly more to this infestation of Necromorphs than Isaac could grasp. He only scratched at the surface of what was an increasingly interesting scandal of questionable research, an emerging religion, and a dark power that we had barely any information on. It's all very fascinating and scary. Dead Space introduced me to some of my favorite video game moments, too. Curb stomping corpses is something that is inexplicably pleasurable to me.
Jump to 2011 when Visceral and EA released Dead Space 2. The series made a transition that I thoroughly enjoyed. The level where we (Dead Space 2 spoilers) revisited Ishimura is one of my favorite video game levels ever. It was nostalgic, it was disconcerting to see the ship so changed and, heck, I still remember how gorgeous the textures on the hazard tarps draped all over the ship were. There were other memorable moments, too, like the haunting nursery level, flush with neon color and smeared blood in such a sick and complementary way. I remember the adrenaline rushes I used to get when being chased down by the regenerative Necromorphs, sacrificing random items I could've picked up along the way because I was pressed for time and life. New Necromorphs were a welcome addition to a game that maintained its franchise-staple creepiness, leading all the way up to that infamous (more spoilers) eye-drilling scene.
The excitement and intrigue of Dead Space 1 and the memorable moments of Dead Space 2 brings us to present day 2013 where the series has officially lost its momentum.
The story hangs flat. We're supposed to be reaching some sort of summation in this third chapter of the series, but it's not until the very latter half of the game that we finally get to experience anything remotely close to that. The Church of Unitology has the most meaningless presence until you get to that bridge, at which point you've already sunk in about 7 or so hours into the most formulaic Necromorph fights just to get there.
There are a handful of memorable moments in the game—moments where the game affords you some extra power and lets you tear through Necromorphs in a gleeful, satisfying battle where the predictable wave after wave of enemies is finally enjoyable—but they're unfortunately outshined by the monotonous, back-and-forth treks and rehashed maps that compose the rest of the game.
Here's the not-so-secret formula to Dead Space 3:
Find the thing the members of your group want you to find. (Which involves entering an area, fighting off a wave of Necromorphs, wait no there were a few more jump-scary Necromorphs left, ok now continue into the area and either solve a really simple puzzle or retrieve an item or something.)
Meet up with your group.
Five seconds later something collapses right under you and you're stranded from your group.
Find your group again. But, hey, might as well fetch another thingy for them first.
Meet up with your group.
Get separated from them again.
You see where this is going?
It becomes almost laughable after the first few "NOOOO ISAAAACC COME FIND USSSS" whines from your group members when at this point you are just placing bets as to how long it'll take for the script to cut you off from the group this time. Isaac does so much falling in Dead Space 3 you'd think he'd start using the opportunities to practice diving moves for the next Olympics.
Discussions leading up to Dead Space 3's launch did not come without skepticism from its fans. They feared too much action in favor of real horror. Too many jump-scares in place of twisted hallucinations and psychotic events.
I held onto hope. I was confident in Visceral's ability to make an enjoyable game. And they are still great game makers. But the direction that Dead Space 3 took felt confused. Like it didn't know what it was anymore. It became this Frankenstein creation of every bullet point needed to make a blockbuster hit, with some half-assed creepiness that ended up only serving as a depressing reminder of the husk that the series has become with this third title.
WHY: Because this isn't how Dead Space should be remembered. Play 1 or 2 instead, and savor the happy (creepy) memories.
Dead Space 3 (Solo)
Developer: Visceral Games Platforms: PlayStation 3, PC, and Xbox 360 (reviewed) Released: February 5th (NA)
Type of game: Third-person shooter, survival horror
What I played: Roughly 20 hours of the entire campaign, some parts co-op most parts singleplayer, including a handful of the side missions.
My Two Favorite Things
Uncovering the events that lead up to the present through text and audio logs.
Levels where you get to sit on a turret and blast through dozens of Necromorphs.
My Two Least-Favorite Things
That it's barely a Dead Space game.
Boring, repetitive levels. Doing the exact same thing over and over again.
Made-to-Order-Back-of-Box-Quotes
"Hey guys, there you are! No wait ahhhhh I fell again." —Tina Amini, Kotaku.com
"Seriously, how many more tentacles could you possibly have left?" —Tina Amini Kotaku.com
Again. I can't believe I'm saying all of this.
Maybe fan expectations are to blame. We've been unraveling so many details about the Markers and the origin of the Necromorphs. We've been seeing more of the religious group studying under the Church of Unitology. We've seen what the combination of these things do to people. Where the research has gotten us. Where it hasn't gotten us. It's all very, very fascinating to me. There are so many unanswered questions that Dead Space 3 would answer, I'd tell myself.
And Dead Space 3 definitely did reveal information that tied the three stories together, but it was told in the weakest way possible. Playing solo, I experienced maybe two, three hallucinations, something that once gave the series its strength but now only highlights where the game is lacking. The Church of Unitology, though a looming idea throughout the entire game, barely shows up until closer to the latter half of the game. I was impressed by how many lengthy side quests there were, and they added more context to the story overall, but the missions were almost identical and so completely repetitive. It felt like a long chore just to hear a few audio logs. You never feel like you're progressing, just wasting time.
That leads me to my favorite thing about Dead Space 3: the text files. The audio logs, too. Reading up on what the engineers and scientists discovered about the Markers, their use, their origins, their connection to the universe and, through all that, the horrors they experienced while discovering all this—that was my favorite part about the game. But the fact that mere text files were the height of my solo Dead Space 3 experience should give you an appropriate frame of reference for how mediocre the entire thing is.
Like I said before: this game bored me. There's nothing fun about running back and forth in the same areas, always on a fetch quest. At most on a rescue mission. There's nothing fun about facing the same boss three times over, fighting mostly the same choreographed fight each time, just to have the big, tentacle-y thing crawl its way out of there. Yet again.
I don't want to be too harsh on Dead Space 3. It has a redeeming quality. A quality that most dedicated fans hated it for before even getting their hands on it: co-op. Everything that is boring and trite in single player feels pretty enjoyable in co-op.
Having a companion lets me excuse the game's faults because I get to enjoy playing a third-person shooter with a friend. I don't think of it as a Dead Space game. This is simply a third-person shooter with enemies that are fairly unique when lined up next to the soldiers of the shooter genre's various worlds. With decent surround sound audio for added atmosphere, adding a heightened sense of panic to the game, because it's so difficult to gauge where the Necromorph gurgles are even coming from. It's a shooter with lots of different guns that you can construct. So when you're playing co-op with a friend your buddy can marvel at how your particular version of the plasma cutter sets your enemies on fire. You can show off your creations. Maybe your friend will introduce you to the power of a cryogenic-blasting shotgun while you let them in on the secret of crowd-controlling saw blades (a personal favorite). The weapon construction in this game is impressively robust.
WHY: Because there aren't that many games with decent co-op campaigns, and it's fun to play with a friend.
Dead Space 3 (Co-Op)
Developer: Visceral Games Platforms: PlayStation 3, PC, and Xbox 360 (reviewed) Released: February 5th (NA)
Type of game: Third-person shooter, survival horror
What I played: Roughly 7 hours of the campaign, completing all the co-op specific missions.
Two Things I Loved
Comparing weapon creations. Yours freezes? Mine saws you in half and lights you on fire.
Actual hallucinations and creepy moments (if you play as Carver).
My Two Things I Hated
Some funny glitches that appear more frequently in co-op.
Getting the short end of the creepy stick if you play as Isaac (since he never gets to experience Carver's hallucinations).
Made-to-Order-Back-of-Box-Quotes
"Dude. Look at my weapon. Look what I can do. I just sawed his arms off and then lit him on fire." —Tina Amini, Kotaku.com
"Did you die? *blood appears on screen as you also die* FUCK yes you did." —Tina Amini, Kotaku.com
And the guns truly are great. The workbench might be a little cumbersome for newcomers, but it's exciting to see what weapons you can craft, and how you can completely morph and change them. A weapon can start out with a freezing ability but you can swap it for flames. You can have two totally different versions of one weapon, and it's fun to play show and tell with a friend.
Dead Space 3 is a better game when you ignore that this is meant to be the third installment of a horror series. It's a better game when you ignore that it's a Dead Space title and just play for the co-op experience.
There aren't many games with decent co-op campaigns. There are more games with multiplayer than there are games that allow for co-op campaigning. And for that, I think it's worthwhile to play Dead Space 3 if you're looking for just that kind of experience. While playing with friends, I got the impression that the game was built with the intention of focusing on cooperative play. Besides simple things like a workbench being built for two and the loot system fairly offering the same loot to both parties, the combat itself also felt great to play. It's certainly not as tense with a companion nearby, but it still feels fluid. You can coordinate with your buddy, shouting out enemy positions while you both concentrate on your corner of the room the Necromorphs are invading. Everything that sucked in single player sucked a little less with a friend to share the burden. Puzzles were more interesting to play cooperatively, and even that obnoxious boss was made all the better with a friend flanking from the opposite end.
The absolute best reason to play cooperatively over solo Dead Space 3 play, though, is the co-op-specific missions. These missions reveal more about John Carver, your companion. He has a dark history and his place in the game is to come to terms with that. It reveals an interesting character—perhaps the only interesting character in this particular Dead Space title, sorry Isaac—and an interesting relationship between him and Isaac. The game finally feels like Dead Space again when it's taking you down horrific memories long buried, but now unearthing in a violent, cryptic, and beautifully twisted way. Finally, Dead Space is trippy again.
Even in co-op, though, the game is still marred by the same issues I had when playing solo. Though the game is immense, it often feels like you're spending a lot of time going nowhere what with all the backtracking you'll do. Wasn't I just here? Didn't I just fight the same exact sequence a mere 30 minutes ago? Yeah, you did. It might've been a reused, slightly reskinned level or just literal walks back and forth. Either way, it's not fun, no. But it's at least less bothersome when you're hanging out killing Necromorphs with a friend.
The co-op experience itself is not without its own flaws either. The lack of a jump-in/jump-out feature and a sometimes unreliable checkpoint system that's exacerbated by the fact that if your friend dies, you die, makes the experience a somewhat fidgety one. And I found lots of interesting bugs when playing with a friend, like getting trapped in the ceiling when I just nearly missed the elevator ride because my co-op buddy was too impatient to wait for me to get both feet on the platform (you know who you are).
It's still a glaring fault that the third Dead Space title doesn't feel like it has the variety of enemies the first two games had. You face what feels like the same waves of enemies over and over again. This kind of transparency is one of the biggest hindrances to enjoying Dead Space 3 the solitary way. But Necromorph battles aren't the only area of the game that's completely see-through.
Even with Carver's addition to the storyline, the entire plot outside of that is simply weak. And who are the rest of the characters you're grouped with? You might remember Ellie from the previous Dead Space title. Even if not, the game makes it clear that there's history there. Now she's shacking up with some other dude, and he seems kind of like a dick. Ok, so there's some personality, some story here. But who are these people really? Why should I care about them? All they do is group together for safety while they send me out to risk my life for some bitch mission. They may as well force me to sit in the tiny middle seat in the back of the space shuttle like a goddamn infant.
The things that seemed exciting in Dead Space 1 and 2—the things that made their debuts in those games—are either missing or stale in Dead Space 3. The same old meaningless jump-scares of Necromorphs bursting out of ventilation shafts and appearing behind you make the game feel predictable. The lack of excitement behind the story makes the game feel sad, and the essence of Dead Space forgotten. The attempt at making you care an ounce about any of the characters you associate with and the poor execution of the storyline makes the game feel eye-rollingly transparent.
If you can forget for a moment that you're playing a Dead Space title, you just might enjoy playing what feels like a decent cooperative experience, even if the redundancies are still an issue. Oh, and, I suggest you play on Impossible mode, since the game seems to scale to the easier side from my experience.
This probably isn't the Dead Space game you were hoping for. It sure as hell wasn't what I was hoping for. But once I got over my frustrations with the direction the series has taken, and once I grabbed a friend to suffer the long ride of repetitive battles with me, I was able to focus on fighting interesting creatures with amazingly fun weapons. And maybe that's enough.
Isaac Clark, as you might imagine, wants nothing to do with necromorphs—the horrific reanimated corpses of the dead and much of what you shoot in the Dead Space franchise. So why does he find himself fighting them yet again in Dead Space 3? In a word, Ellie—but let this new story trailer for the game show you what I mean.
Here you also catch a glimpse of the charming, silver-tongued villain that I mentioned in our last preview. He sounds off the rails, right? Like an eco-terrorist or something, actually.
A damsel in distress, an unwelcoming ice planet and a terrorist on top of the necromorphs? Dang, Isaac. I don't envy your situation!
There are songs that work in video game trailers because they're great. There are others that work because they're ironic. This is neither. It's a hilarious disaster.
Some would contest whether or not Dead Space was ever a scary franchise, but most will agree that Dead Space 3 focuses more on being an action title. In a recent NowGamer interview, Dead Space 1 writer Antony Johnston explained why he thinks the added action emphasis occurred.
I'm not a Dead Space guy. Oh sure, the series is great, but Fatal Frame and Silent Hill are more my speed when it comes to pants-wetting horror. But you know what would make me a Dead Space guy? Absurdist spin-offs and 
Got an absurd Dead Space spin-off you'd like to see become a reality? Submit it in the comments. Bonus points if you throw in some Photoshop magic.
