Dead Space 3: First Impressions

Just three notes to take in before you read this:
 - This could be considered spoilers for the prologue of the game, so if this upsets you, stuff it.
 - I refuse to touch the co-op until I complete a single-player game, as Dead Space has always been a single-player experience to me. Again, if this bothers you, stuff it.
 - This is a first impressions, not a review! I will only look at and analyze the events that occur in the prologue. If this bothers you, for a third and final time, stuff it.


Finally! A new entry to the Dead Space series! A franchise which has a special place in my heart as one of my personal favourite horror series, out shined only by the Amnesia series and Frictional Games' other horror gems. After the short installation and other setups, I finally get to click on that special 'New Game' button, and start my new adventure.

Be amazed by my menu screenshots!

I crank the difficulty right up to impossible, and an introduction video starts to play, something fellow fans of Dead Space 2 will get a sense of deja vu from. It gives a brief intro into the current Dead Space story, more of a refresher for most of us, but in a surprise to me, gives more info on the actual Dead Space universe, and a look into the past few centuries of the human development in the universe and where those gosh darn Markers actually come from. That really sold the video for me, rather then just being one of those skippable intros like in Assassin's Creed 3.

But that's not what you're reading for, oh no, you want to read about those beautiful necromorphs and blasting and stomping them into little tiny pieces. We start the game off with a man in one of the series' famed suits in a lonely snow storm. We are also given the date in a short blurb at the bottom, and hear over some dialogue or in subtitles that the name of this character is Tim, or as I prefer to call him, Not-Isaac.

What do you mean you don't remember me?

Our new friend Not-Isacc is told by a Doctor in the nearby colony to retrieve something called a Codec, which is nearby, past the storm, and not much else. Here we are finally given control, as we walk Not-Isacc through a barely-visible snow storm, and, despite not being in a cramped, smelly space ship, this still feels like Dead Space. Walking through this storm barely able to see in front of us is quite atmospheric, and having no knowledge of what is coming adds to the tensity.

Uh, guys? You sure this is the right way?

After navigating through this we come up to a large cliff with a great view, and an abandoned vehicle or ship hanging on the cliff, and we all know what that means. It is at this point where we come across some of the new enemies in the game. They lean much closer to the zombies side of the horror fence while the later returning necromorphs are on the aliens side. These guys share a lot of the necromorph traits however. They are tough, can be ripped apart, and can be quite fast. I personally like them and their axes, even if the developers could have put a bit more creativity into their gameplay side as well as their artistic side.

Hey c'mon, I just wanted to 'axe' you something.

This leads to a very short in ship section. It's dark, cramped, full of enemies, and just like a Dead Space game, although it sadly does not last very long. We find the Codec in the pilot section of the vehicle and it is at this moment when the brothers Mood and Action awkwardly switch places, as they seem to do a lot in Dead Space 3, and the vehicle starts to fall down the cliff. Not-Isaac then latches onto the door of the ship and we rapple down the mountain, as debris falls all around us.

I learned it by watching you Call of Duty!
 

While this scene is fun, it does feel kind of out of place, throwing out the series renowned atmosphere and tensity for EXPLOSIONS, although it is nicely done. After this quick grappling, we get an even crazier scene just as worthy of the EXPLOSIONS title, with Not-Isaac sliding down a mountain while rolling around dodging even more debris and even having to shoot out pieces of explosive debris and sliding through holes in it. Again, this kind of crazy, over-the-top, in-your-face action works in Call of Duty, Army of Two, and other popcorn games, but it doesn't feel Dead Space worthy, as it clashes with the slow tensity, and makes my good friend Mr. Tone bounce around in confusion.

Pfft, who needs ritalin!
 

After crashing to the bottom of the cliff, the brothers Mood and Action switch again, and we come across a base full of dead soldiers. Not-Isaac gets up and discovers that there is a single survivor of whatever happened here, General Mahad. After a short dialogue between the two, Mahad.. 


**SPOILERS**
shoots Not-Isaac in the head while his mask is down and then deletes the contents of the Codec. He then proceeds to shoot himself in the head.
**END SPOILERS**

The prologue then ends, and we cut a few hundred years later to Isaac in a dingy apartment in one of the sovereign colonies.

What I get from this short first section into Dead Space 3 is that Visceral Games has decided to go with even more of an action approach that was introduced in Dead Space 2, and I have a mixed bag of feelings about this. These scenes are very well done and quite a blast to play through, but it doesn't compliment Dead Space the horror game, instead clashing with it. What this series really needs are more quiet, atmospheric moments so that juxtaposition can come into play when the necromorphs and markers do finally come into play. Perhaps something like Isaac walking through a street or building in this colony so when the enemies finally crash the party, we have more feeling toward these people being killed and buildings being destroyed. Aside from this constant clash of tone, Dead Space 3 is still immersive as hell, and what atmosphere is in the game is done damn well. It rare these days that my palms start to sweat from the game, and we need more of that in this increasingly stagnant industry.