I’ve been worried about Dead Space 3 ever since it was announced. While I do love the series, ever since the initial game EA have been pushing for a far more generic, action-oriented title. Dead Space 3 has gone another step forward in this evolution by editing the series’ weapon modes and adding co-op to the game.

Starting on the ice planet Tau Volantis you play as Isaac. I wont drag in the story here, as all you need to know is that there are a lot of nasty creatures around that want to tear/slash/bite you to death. The change in scenery from previous games feels slightly odd at first, but I soon realised that a snowy base camp was brilliant. The constant blinding white means that you never know what’s five metres in front of you and the whole thing reminded me of The Thing (John Carpenters one, not the rubbish remake).

As I traverse through the snow I take out necromorphs, using dismemberment techniques that are engrained in the series.  Almost instantly I notice one of the biggest changes to the game is the weapon system.Each weapon can now have two completely firing modes. I went for an electric bolt rifle with an attached shotgun for close range encounters, but there’s a whole load you can do here.

I found a bench to tinker around with my arsenal and delved deeper into the new crafting system  Upgrades to weapons no longer use power nodes and instead you will use components to add to each gun. Weapons can be altered slightly with buffs that can improve things such as stasis and power. It’s a nice little system but this only emphasises how the game is now focused on action over suspense.

Upon trying to access an elevator a giant spider-like creature begins to attack me. By using stasis I slow down the beast and lop off the glowing parts of limbs using my new electro bolt weapon. After doing this three times it scampers away over a wall.

Moving on I end up fighting some humans and here’s where Dead Space 3 feels odd, but rather interesting. I take cover and start shooting enemies, only for necromorphs to come along and devour them. Here you can decide whether to take out the nasty crawlies first or let them do their damage first. It’s a nice touch, but I really hope that Dead Space 3 does not have too many of these cover-shooting moments as it interrupts the tense atmosphere.

After entering a an engineering room I’m tasked with moving a drill that’s been stuck. After I dislodge it the drill begins to flail wildly and I’m forced to destroy it while trying to take out oncoming necromorphs. This was a really nice set piece, almost like a mini-boss and thoroughly enjoyable. It kept me on edge as I was constantly having to think about impending death from the giant mechanic drill above my head and oncoming enemies.

Once I leave the drill room I’m greeting by a blinding light and a mammoth monster begins to suck everyone into its jaws – cue the title appearing and the demo ends.

Playing the game in co-op feels like a completely different experience as  it certainly takes away the chilling atmosphere that Dead Space is known for. This is made more clear by the fact that when you die you re-spawn at the nearest checkpoint, completely losing the fear factor apparent in single player. That said it turns Dead Space 3 into an enjoyable action-romp.

While I liked what I played it’s clear that Dead Space 3 is far more action than survival-horror. It will be interesting to see if the game can maintain it’s eerie atmosphere or whether it will rely on the same tricks throughout.

Not everything is looking bad for Dead Space 3.  The game is well made and keeps a lot of the things that have made the series so great. The atmosphere, brilliant sound work and solid graphics are all still there. I remember years back people complained that Resident Evil was taking a new direction, then Resident Evil 4 was released and ended up being one of the most praised games of its generation. I’ll reserve judgement on this one until the game is released later this month.

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