Gone are the quaint days of simple weapon upgrades left lying around, though you will find some. While Visceral hasn't tweaked the core gameplay too much, it's open season on the peripheral details. What these mass slayings do provide is resources. Isaac may be able to roll out of harm's way, but despite the more action-centric universe he finds himself in he's still unable to shoot from the hip - a real problem in such manic, spawn-spamming fights. These are tried and true weapons in the horror arsenal, but Dead Space 3 wields them too often, blunting their impact, but not their irritation. The game also has an undue fondness for malfunctioning doors that seal you into some enclosed space as a swarm of creatures is unleashed. Monster closets abound - and an attack from the front is accompanied by a cheap shot from behind almost every time. Sadly, encounters with the Necromorphs have also suffered, as the need to maintain a certain gameplay velocity without an attendant increase in mobility means that you're often left feeling like Isaac is wading through soup.ĭead Space 3 delights in punking the player. Combat against human foes is unsatisfying, the addition of crude cover and roll movements doing little to bring it to life. Although the movement and shooting are well honed, they are unmistakably designed for a slower and more methodical game than this one. This is a breathlessly entertaining game - albeit one with a severe identity crisis. Such moments have cropped up in both previous titles, of course, but never with such frequency. You'll man turrets and hurtle head-first through tumbling debris and zip around in space on jet boots, collecting satellites. You'll play what amounts to a Panzer Dragoon rail shooter as you steer a crashing ship through a planetary atmosphere. You'll blast at gun-toting thugs on top of a speeding train. There are some new Necromorph types, but coping strategies rarely change from 'keep your distance, blow them to bits'ĭead Space 3 never fully slips into the sort of fist-bump macho posturing fans have feared, but it does have a restless desire to throw quirky action beats in your face. Even there, you alternate between blizzard-smeared exteriors and more traditional gloomy interiors as you track down the NPC that somehow became the love of your life between sequels. Their arrival comes not a moment too soon, as armed Unitologists led by toffee-voiced demagogue Danik are also after Isaac the Marker-killer and think nothing of destroying several city blocks to finish him off.įrom there you get a potted rehash of the first Dead Space, as Isaac investigates an abandoned flotilla of drifting ships before finally making his way to Tau Volantis, an ice planet, just over a third of the way through the game. Gruff military men Captain Robert Norton and Sergeant John Carver arrive to drag Isaac back into action, using Ellie's fate to twist his arm. Except, as you've probably guessed, all contact has been lost. With the alien Markers still causing problems and zealous Marker-worshipping Unitologists taking to terrorist action, Ellie has undertaken a mission to locate the origin of these monster-making monoliths. It's an awkward narrative speed bump, but it gets the pieces in place for what follows. A call from Ellie Langford, one of the survivors of Dead Space 2, reveals that she and Isaac were dating but they've just now split up for vague reasons. Look past the jump scares and gory surface details, and the Dead Space trajectory has always been one of escalation rather than emasculation.Īfter a brief "200 years earlier" prologue, we rejoin Isaac Clarke living in a Blade Runner-style lunar colony. True horror requires vulnerability to generate fear, and this is a series where you play a heavily armoured man with an arsenal designed for ripping flesh and psychic powers that hold the monsters in place while he puts them to use. It's not as if Dead Space has always been a pure-bred horror title in the first place. After all, there are only so many rusty, steam-filled corridors you can creep down, so many times a sudden lunging creature can make you jump, before the jolts lose their sting. The shambling, meatbag Necromorphs of Dead Space aren't making quips yet, but it's perhaps understandable that developer Visceral Games has started to tug the series towards action for this third entry. Freddy Krueger managed to clock up nine big screen appearances, but went from shadowy menace to court jester in the process. In fact, it's a cruel irony that the genre most damaged by repetition is the one that spawns the most sequels. Familiarity doesn't have to breed contempt, but it still makes for barren soil where horror is concerned.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |