Dead Space 3
PlayStation 3
Ever since the original Resident Evil hit the Playstation back in 1996, I have been an avid fan of horror themed video games. Basically anything that comes out in the genre, I pounce on immediately. So when I first caught wind of the original Dead Space several years back, I made a point to try it out.
Despite the critical acclaim, I was not as enamored with the game as everyone else seemed to be. Yeah, the graphics were fantastic and the game world was rich, detailed, and believable. And yeah there were some scary moments where creatures would pop out and make you jump. Yet for me, the game never quite hit the spot. Perhaps it was a little too action oriented. Perhaps to truly be enamored by a horror game like this, I have to care more about the storyline and the characters. And I didn't care enough about the story to truly become deeply involved. It was a decent game, but easily forgettable.
Dead Space 2 came along and was more of the same. Because of my lackluster attitude towards the series, I was in no rush to get Dead Space 3 when it came out. Yet I did eventually decide to give it a try. Here are my thoughts on the game.
Coming into this, I had NO idea where the storyline had left off. In fact, I might as well get this complaint out of the way now. It has been a relatively recent trend in games such as this to tell you the story of the game while you are actually walking around and playing the game. Stories are told through audio journals or log books that you find along the way. Maybe over a communicator with a non playable character that you are interacting with. They do this in Doom, Bioshock, the Dead Space series, and several others.
The point is, you have to multitask while you are playing, or you miss key points of the plot. I have an extremely short attention span and tend to only be able to do one thing at a time. So if an audio journal starts up and I am trying to solve a puzzle, or I am duking it out with a slew of monsters, I am going to miss everything that is being said. It always happens in games like this where I completely lose track of the plot and just end up playing to beat the game, with no investment in the story whatsoever.
That is what happened here. Since the very first Dead Space game, I basically have had no idea what is happening in the story, and that has caused an emotional disconnect from the games for me. Story is big in my books. Plus it has been so long between playing each iteration of the game, that what has happened is never fresh in my mind. Because of this, I feel like I'm missing out on a major reason people like these games.
Despite the critical acclaim, I was not as enamored with the game as everyone else seemed to be. Yeah, the graphics were fantastic and the game world was rich, detailed, and believable. And yeah there were some scary moments where creatures would pop out and make you jump. Yet for me, the game never quite hit the spot. Perhaps it was a little too action oriented. Perhaps to truly be enamored by a horror game like this, I have to care more about the storyline and the characters. And I didn't care enough about the story to truly become deeply involved. It was a decent game, but easily forgettable.
Dead Space 2 came along and was more of the same. Because of my lackluster attitude towards the series, I was in no rush to get Dead Space 3 when it came out. Yet I did eventually decide to give it a try. Here are my thoughts on the game.
Coming into this, I had NO idea where the storyline had left off. In fact, I might as well get this complaint out of the way now. It has been a relatively recent trend in games such as this to tell you the story of the game while you are actually walking around and playing the game. Stories are told through audio journals or log books that you find along the way. Maybe over a communicator with a non playable character that you are interacting with. They do this in Doom, Bioshock, the Dead Space series, and several others.
The point is, you have to multitask while you are playing, or you miss key points of the plot. I have an extremely short attention span and tend to only be able to do one thing at a time. So if an audio journal starts up and I am trying to solve a puzzle, or I am duking it out with a slew of monsters, I am going to miss everything that is being said. It always happens in games like this where I completely lose track of the plot and just end up playing to beat the game, with no investment in the story whatsoever.
That is what happened here. Since the very first Dead Space game, I basically have had no idea what is happening in the story, and that has caused an emotional disconnect from the games for me. Story is big in my books. Plus it has been so long between playing each iteration of the game, that what has happened is never fresh in my mind. Because of this, I feel like I'm missing out on a major reason people like these games.
Let's talk about the gameplay. I came into Dead Space 3 with the idea in my head that I was going to give the series a fresh start. Maybe I couldn't remember what happened in the previous games, but I was going to pay attention this time around and at least enjoy the game as a solo experience. And it worked, for a while.
The first thing that stood out to me was the cinematography. This game has the looks and intensity to match any Hollywood movie out there. The action is intense, the sound effects are booming, and the graphics are flat out beautiful. I had no idea what was happening plot wise, but everything around me was so impressive in every technical aspect that it didn't matter to me.
After the introduction sequence, we finally get to the meat of the game. You can cut out the exploration and the tense atmosphere of the previous games and just focus on the battling. Better get used to following a line (which indicates where you are "supposed" to go to advance the plot) and getting randomly ambushed by monsters. Because this happens a lot. A lot lot. You can of course stray from the line. You will find items, collectibles, upgrades, and those blasted audio journals, among other things that attempt to give the game a little depth.
But the game quickly becomes repetitive and a bit of a chore to play. Everything always leads to a battle. Always. Every two minutes. Walk, get ambushed by a wave of monsters, walk, get ambushed by a wave of monsters. It's so predictable.
Of course, in true Dead Space fashion it is always in your favor to pick off your enemies limbs to kill them or to weaken them. It just isn't as satisfying as the previous games, though, especially without the dramatic build up. You become desensitized to all the violence. Only a mere hour or two after starting this, I came to the realization that the entire game would focus on following the line and getting ambushed by enemy monsters. And that's it for pretty much the whole game. Follow the line and fight. Follow the line and fight. Yippy. The giant, cinematic boss fights were pretty cool though. But not enough to make me like this game.
On the plus side, the graphics in this game are simply stunning. I am hard pressed to find a better looking PS3 game. Truly, very impressive all the way around. The environments are great, both planetside and in space. Space itself was my favorite part of the game, floating around in zero G and checking shit out.
So good. Props to the snowy area, too. It was one of the few areas of the game that actually looked different and stood out from the others.
Everything sounds great as well. This is a game you need to play with headphones on. Just listen to all the small details. I love the sound of a fierce wind and the sharp crunch your feet make as you tread through the snow. The feeling the sound creates when you are in zero G is amazing. Really feels like you are floating around in space. Technically, this game is almost flawless.
Too bad it wasn't any fun to play.
I think I would have enjoyed this a little more if it had a great story. I did attempt to follow it at the beginning, but it quickly lost me. It didn't seem important anyway. It was up to the gameplay to carry this title for me. Needless to say, it fell a bit short. It is just too darn repetitive. I wanted to like this game. Really. And at the beginning, I did. But the further I got, when I was looking for a video game to fire up in my free time, I would stay away from this one since it got to be such a drag. I eventually just forced myself to play it, if only to finish it off and get it out of my game rotation.
If you have played the Dead Space games before, please know what you are getting into here. A lot of the same gameplay mechanics, but with an added focus on combat. Although I didn't like it much, I do realize that the game isn't awful. There are redeeming features. Honestly, anyone can see how great the production values are. There is just some certain key element missing that isn't clicking with me. And it's not like I don't enjoy action games or third person shooters. I think I just expected more.
Great presentation and great premise, but this one falls a bit short for me.
THE GRADE:
C-
A complete index of all my game reviews can be found
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