I recently completed this game and felt like getting a discussion going about it.
The Dead Space franchise is one of the best of last generation, in my opinion, and I've finally finished the trilogy. While probably the weakest of them, Dead Space 3 is nonetheless an impressive and remarkably satisfying romp through familiar territory, with a few interesting additions.
It never ceases to amaze me how well polished the Dead Space games are. Everything about them just feels right; the movement, the aiming, the speed, the weight, the overall control, not to mention the sound and the graphics. The graphics in 3 were incredible! Some of the best I've seen (granted there are still a lot of games I have yet to play, but still, they're some of the best I'VE seen).
The atmosphere is thick and immersive, the combat fun and interesting. Aiming for different limbs/weak points and using stasis and telekinesis strategically all adds much more substance to other third-person shooters on the market. I liked how there were actually side-missions you could undertake in this one, all of them ending with essentially a giant 'treasure chest' of sorts, with valuable loot inside to collect. It's actually fun to explore every inch of the environments too, scavenging for pick-ups and parts.
Indeed, a new addition with Dead Space 3 is that you now collect different weapon 'parts', with which you can craft unique weapons using different part combinations. This is a neat idea in theory, however the menu system they implemented for crafting wasn't very convenient, I found. This is probably my main complaint about the game; I wish the crafting menu system was more informative and also more streamlined/quicker. I found I was spending way too much time in these menus and would rather just get back to the game. Because of this, I didn't end up experimenting with different crafted weapons all that much, which is a shame. Luckily, you can also find 'blueprints' that will give you an instant part combo for a decent weapon (some of which are returnees from previous DS games, like the Force Gun or Javelin Gun), so you don't always have to fiddle around creating your own combos if you don't want to.
I could say so much more about what I thought was great about the game, like in the early chapters when you are piloting through space between different outposts (just looks so cool), the length of the campaign (took 20 hours for me, with all side-missions completed -- even without doing side-missions it would have been probably like 15 hours), or the greater number of zero-gravity sections compared to the previous entries, which I enjoy very much and are as fun as ever. I even actually liked that the game had some human enemies this time around as they added more variety and 'newness' to the encounters. I can understand why people would be worried about the addition of human enemies, but don't be, because there are barely any human encounters anyways (it's still 90% necromorphs).
For the most part, the game IS classic Dead Space through and through. There are a few sections where it seems to delve into a more linear, shooter-based affair, but the vast majority of time the gameplay remains focused on exploring deserted space stations just as before. Oh, speaking of other potential worries people had, the 'co-op' partner guy is barely ever seen in the single-player campaign. He is there for story stuff, but he's never fighting at your side, so it's not like Resident Evil 5 or something; the experience remains solitary, and quite challenging I might add. Unfortunately though, there aren't many environmental 'puzzles' (or, at least, not many particularly in-depth ones) to solve this time around, which is a bit of a downer, but oh well, the game is still great fun and a wicked ride overall.
Anyways, as a fan of Dead Space I was still really happy to play #3, so to any other DS fans out there, I think you should definitely check it out. It's nowhere near as bad as a lot of the internet made it out to be. It's still up there with the best of the best, imho.
Have you guys played through it yet? If so, share your thoughts! Or to those who have yet to dip in, feel free to ask any questions!
