User Reviews

It's hard to imagine a single person would try to face cannibalistic limb-hacking acid-spewing Necromorphs for the third time whilst barely survived the first two encounters, then I saw his ex-girlfriend admirable physique, it's clear that the promise of beauty defeats the threat of beast. Isaac Clarke, now depressed, tries to mend his relationship, stay alive and save the world in one fell swoop. That means a destined reunion with the savage monsters once again, being scared, a little less this time, by paranoid-inducing sound and rearranging useful tools for homicidal purpose. Dead Space 3 is a solid game, although sadly not as good as the prequel.

Even though the settings are less riveting than previous ones, especially towards the latter half of the game, but it does have some breathtaking pieces. With most parts featuring either spaceships rustic interior or abandoned icy planet, it seems dull in comparison with Dead Space 2. The scare isn't prominent anymore, there are only a few creepy moments, and that's not nearly the level of previous ones. At some points, the game even looks like it's a B-rate sci-fi flick.

Visual and motion are good, it doesn't change much from practical no HUD display. Lighting in dark areas are accommodating for the fright as darker places must be aimed, thus forcing you to focus your attention elsewhere when the Necromorphs could assume their attack. They do so in religiously frantic fashion, more often sprinting right up to your face. This will be a problem since the camera is just as hectic in extreme close-up, not very accommodating for survival. Characters facial isn't that impressive as well, they look inconsistently and a bit rigid at several events.

Designs for enemies don't differ much, aside for the addition of more human-like foes. Players will most likely have reminiscence of the previous games, up until some corpses decide to pick up axes and try to be dangerously intimate. A minor issue comes in the form of weight detection mechanism, things and dead bodies often hover about like they possess little to no weight, and occasionally stuck in your feet as you try to squeeze last bit of ammo or health pack they had. There are also some glitches, such as Isaac trapped in a corner, fell to oblivion, items reappearing or characters disappearing.

Gameplay has diversified due to new weapon crafting system. Unlike the old days when you must content with pre-designed arsenal, you can now assemble your own weapons with frames, tools, circuits and more, creating a freedom of what combination of arsenal you will have. Frame decides what parts it could assemble into, light or heavy, and what addition stat it would carry. Lighter frames can't support heavy parts, so while having rocket launcher with plasma cutter is an amazing idea, unfortunately it's not physically possible.

It may sound complex compared with the old stick-power-node-in-it system, but give it some time. When you're familiar with it, the new system is very useful, and it simplifies the gameplay drastically as now you only have two slots, but up to four weapons in play. Ammo pack is now usable to every weapon correspondingly, for example, firings a few rounds from weapons with higher ammo capacity will use the same amount of one grenade in comparison.

Core of the game is unchanged, plow through hordes of Necromorphs until certain objectives are met. They are somewhat faster this time, though it's more of a frantic scare and less of frightening suspense. Limb chopping is still the key to survival, Telekinesis is as strong as ever and doesn't require ammo, but I often find myself unable to find some brooms, pipes of some sort of serendipitously placed items to throw at them, not to mention the axe-wielding bunch drop their axes in tight precarious positions.

Co-op doesn't dampen the single player experience, although there are few side missions that require a teammate to complete. The size of the game is larger than previous ones, more areas to explore, some side missions here and there and lengthier story. Boss battles are few but well done. Although even with these improvements, I can't help but noticing the lack of thrill, imposing atmosphere and that gripping terror that once decorated previous titles.

Sound department is doing their best to establish the scare, creaking noise of closed doors, unusual hums that might or might not be lurking hostiles, or blatant scream thirsts for your blood. It's just the setting doesn't invoke such ambiance, and after some time the effect wears off significantly.

Dubbing is solid, I especially like Ellie's and Danik's accent. Isaac sounds so tired, yet lingering hope for reconciliation remains. There's not much of dying message to increase the sense of danger though. Music is bare, nothing stands out too much, it does work for more subtle approach. Sound effect delivers the gore adequately, the sound of bone-crunching of your enemies' demise is utterly satisfying.

Playtime will take approximately twenty hours, multiple new game+ are available afterwards. Story isn't really up to par with the predecessors, at the latter part of the game just trudged with little expectation ahead. Dead Space 3 offers more diverse gameplay with crafting, all the basics are intact, but sadly it loses some of the horror allure.

Graph: Interesting graphic display in larger areas, good designs throughout, but some awkward glitches or motions dwindle the value.7.5/10 Sound : Voice actors deliver their performance well, eerie voices and sound effects are ever-present. 8/10 Gameplay: Great crafting addition, more varied resources and weapon usage while preserving the core of its fast action. 8.5/10 Presentation : Sadly it's only a low level of intimidating atmosphere. The new story offers longer experience but with less substance. 6/10 Overall 7.5

I came into this game not knowing anything about it, heck I didn't even know the release date and was surprised when I saw it came out. Dead Space was my favourite, Dead Space 2 was easily the best, but Dead Space three is a big let down. The game takes under 10 hours to complete, and I felt everyone of those hours. Towards the end I just wanted it over with. I didn't hate the game, it just didn't do it for me.

The Game: Having played a couple of chapters of Dead Space 1 before playing this game, I must say the controls have come a long way. Isaac is fast and can turn on a dime, feels more fluent than DS 2. Now Isaac can crouch and barrel roll, what is this Gears of War or Uncharted, it sure feels like it. Which brings me to this point. The first game got it right, it was pure horror. The second game mixed horror and action. The third game is just action, are you kidding me, there was only one part that I found generally disturbing, I'll get into that latter. The game is relatively easy in the sense that you will never run out of ammo or health, at least on normal difficulty. The hardest part of the game, which resulted in 85 percent of my deaths was a part where you had to climb up a mountain and dodge falling debris. With the mixture of broken controls and Isaac having a mind of his own, this part frustrated me. And the new revamped bench and upgrade system took way to long to get a complete understanding of it, the first two games you look at it and you got it. There is one part where you link up with your group and you have to climb a ladder. My first thought knowing this franchise was the ladder is going to break, and guess what it did break. I was mildly amused and dumbfounded that they actually put that in the game, I mean come on. This game even has you fight the same boss three times, they probably just ran out of ideas. They even make you fight the hive mind again. There was one part that I felt a little disturbed by, I'm going to make this as detailed as possible.

Highlight: At one point in the game you hear an audio log that says people were locked in a underground base or something like that, and you have to go down there. You feel like you enter this long forgotten place, the you see wrapped up bodies hanging from a meat hook, so you know something is down there. You enter a dark room, walk around, stop once you hear this clicking noise, I then looked over to a lengthy slim figure with glowing eyes, just hunched over looking at me. You then fight them, but one thing caught my eye, there was a wall where someone was counting the days, there was a lot of days, and then I came to the conclusion what happened down there. Just thinking about it, makes me feel disgusted. Any way this was the only mildly scary but more so disturbing segment.

I could go one about this games flaws, but that will all be for another time. I really can't say anything good about this game, it offers nothing new and treads over old water. It feels dumbed down with all the action, and it doesn't have all the same horror qualities as previous entries. I honestly would rather just play the first two games, they both had great replay value and where pretty unique, but this one just feels like your typical action and shooter game. I don't think I will be playing through it another time. This game is just average, play it if you are interested.

Please don't listen to the extremely negative comment left by the other user. This is in no way awful.

Graphically it's very impressive and like its predecessors it upholds the atmosphere, the first 1/3 of the game its typical Dead Space through and through, with echos of being back on the ISHIMURA. Moving onto the Ice planet Tau Volantis, which has its ups and downs (can't decide whether I liked it or not). Game play wise it is more of the same, but if it's not broken, why fix it? It is more action orientated than what people may be used to, but it makes sense, if you put it into perspective you're on the marker home world there's definitely going to be a lot more nasties waiting to take your face home to their parents.

There seems to be few (and less impressive than DS2's) set pieces and a few new elements have been added to it, such as the vertical climbing, which was something critics moaned about. But I thought they were a nice touch and thankfully there isn't too many of them. And the additional quests although fun are slightly repetitive, I would have rather they just made them compulsory. But they do give more incite into what's going on. A couple were almost IDENTICAL in layout which I thought was lazy but there are a couple (country music and reapers, vague but you'll see what I mean) which were actually quite good.

The new bench and suit systems are a welcome addition, the bench system takes a few attempts to get your head around, but in no time you'll be making some both amazing and deadly combinations. Sadly though this does detract slightly from the atmosphere, I made a weapon relatively early on in the game that saw me through to the end. It was so powerful it took away the "edge" the game has. The suit system is slightly different, you wear whatever suit you like with no bonuses (like in DS2) but instead you upgrade your rig (armor, stasis, health etc) which works, you won't upgrade everything first time round, but with new game+ you can have some re-runs getting the best gear and fixing up the rig to maximum stats.

I can't really speak for CO-OP as I haven't really bothered with it, to me dead space is about isolation, atmosphere and fear. Sadly I feel this is lost with the aspect of CO-OP, and with this, the new addition to the game Carver seems like he's just an after thought. Whilst in single player he inexplicably turns up right next to you in certain cut scenes and it detracts from the flow of the story (where the hell did he come from). They should have worked it so he wasn't in it at all unless you played CO-OP adding to the story if you play it this way.

Overall, if you liked the previous Dead Space games you can't go wrong it's more of the same with a tad more action. The story is actually easier to get a grip of (in terms of the whole marker/unitology thing). Brilliant voice acting and motion capture Isaac is slightly more of a personality in this one with some one liners making me cringe. But anyway, the only thing this game is lacking is tension..but you have the choice to keep a crap weapon and keep the tension for yourself. 8.5/10

Also to clear up where someone (IGN I think) says Ellie miraculously has her eye back, you find a note at the VERY START of the game stating they found a new eye for her but a different colour as it was all they could afford. How a reviewer both criticised and overlooked the note I don't know.

Hope you found this helpful.

This is a phenomenal game, yes there are some differences from the second game, which was a masterpiece, but this is a brilliant game in its own right, the story is great, as are the graphics and gameplay.

I truly love the Dead Space games they are so much better than people give them credit.

I'd love it if visceral returned and created a sequel, I'd buy it.

okay it's still early in the year and there's plenty of great titles coming out this year including the highly anticipated Bioshock:Infinite, most games that came out in late 2012 and most games coming out this year even will have a hard time competing with this absolute perfect sequel to the Dead Space series.

The game starts off with a lot of action much like the second game in the series, and boy does it deliver. The action is intense and the graphics are the best I have seen in a long time, along with some of the most beautiful backdrops in gaming history. the game has plenty of side quest along with great back story's with the characters involved in the side quest enough to keep you playing for hours and hours just with the side quest alone, they also blend with the main story very nicely if i do say so myself.

the voice acting was done greatly with plenty of emotion and plenty of feeling, it really helps the game shine along with something everyone will love, the new, never seen before weapon crafting system. This system is amazing and you will find yourself spending hours on end just making new weapons with the materials found throughout the game, for example: I made a fully automatic bull pup rifle with attached shotgun underneath and for my sidearm(which it doesn't have to be a sidearm if you want you can add another primary weapon)I constructed a revolver with a very strong bayonet. with that being said the weapon crafting is genius and my hats off to visceral games for adding it in the game.

one thing I hear people complaining about is the co-op system, a lot of people i talk to think that the co-op will mean that when someone isn't playing along with you that their will be an annoying AI character next to you the whole time much like resident evil started doing in 4-6, however this is not the case. They kept it old school Dead Space with the frightening feeling of being alone all the time...if you choose to play campaign alone the AI character will leave after every cut scene which like i said leaves you completely alone the entire game, so no worries to those who are worried cause i was worried at first to ^_^

the game features plenty of upgrades with a great story, great voice acting and very good graphics all put together to make a perfect Action/survival horror game.

Im surprised that it only received an 8.3 on here when the first two stand at a solid 9.0, simply because this is the best one of the series! game informer gives a nice 9.75/10 and most other professional game reviewers give it a high as hell rating with no complaints

I say this is a must for all dead space fans and a must for anyone looking to play an amazing action/survival horror game

DO NOT!! miss out on this absolute perfect gem of a sequel from the Dead Space franchise

Third time is not a charm for long-suffering spaceship engineer Issac Clarke. Since he escaped the Titan Sprawl his life has been on a downward spiral, Ellie has left him, his landlord is kicking him out of his New Horizons bedsit, and he's a broken man. Wouldn't you be after facing the Necromorph menace twice already? In the meantime EarthGov has fallen and the Unitologists, led by the odious Jacob Danik, are bombarding what is left of humanity. Issac is seized by the last EarthGov battalion and hurtled to the other side of the galaxy to Tau Volantis, a frozen planet orbited by 200-year-old wrecks of the Sovereign Colonies. Ellie, convinced she has found the Marker homeworld, is somewhere amid the wrecks and has assembled a ramshackle plan to destroy the Necromorphs once and for all.

After a slow start, the game is sort of split into two halves as Issac explores the decaying, orbiting wrecks and solves the mystery of the frozen planet below. The first half feels a lot like the familiar Dead Space formula while the second half feels like a generic shoot-em-up in the vain of COD. The relentless wave after wave of Necromorphs is mind-numbing. The overwhelming sense of dread and gut-wrenching anxiety that permeated every square inch of the first two games is largely gone. There are still shocks and scares, and the sound of elevators arriving are still frighteningly similar to the shrieks of the Necromorphs but it feels stale at this point. I felt like logic and sense took a back seat here. How did the Necromorphs end up on the New Horizons colony? How did they end up on the CMS Roanoke or Greely for that matter? It's never clearly explained. Why did the Sovereign Colonies Armed Forces panic so easily and opt for mass- murder/suicide instead of pushing for further research into the alien machine? It seemed like such a mindless and heavy-handed reason to have Tau Volantis scattered with body parts.

It seems like it goes on forever, even if you ignore the optional side-quests. Upgrading your weapons and suits never feels like it has a noticeable effect but the weapons crafting feature can lead to some fun inventions. The co-op gameplay comes across like a last- minute addition (and it was) and it is not the kind of thing Dead Space fans want from this series. Online play is necessary for the Platinum Trophy but there's no way I can get it as the Hardcore trophy is just too difficult and time-consuming, especially since you cannot skip the cut-scenes.

Dead Space 3 was a best-seller, but not best enough for Electronic Arts who have put the series on hiatus, though they insist that Dead Space 4 WILL happen, we'll just have to wait and see. It is a shame that a groundbreaking horror experience has been reduced to a generic shoot-em-up bore. The amount of DLC offered on the PSN for this game is outrageous and proof that EA are only out to exploit the fanbase rather than give them their money's worth up-front.

DEAD SPACE 3: AWAKENED - 2/5

The "final chapter" DLC is over very quickly and gives us a confusing, though interesting, insight into what becomes of Issac and Carver after the climax of the main game. I know for a fact that Dead Space 4, when/if it ever happens, will retcon this stupid ultimate ending as "it was all a dream". Worth playing once just for curiosity though.

I am a big Dead Space fan like most of you reading this. I speak from gaming experience and I typically know what makes a game good as I have been playing ever since I was in diapers, in the NES days.

That being said, I am writing this in-depth review for you — the customers — especially the ones thinking of buying this game. I think it's worth the price but I think Visceral and EA went in the wrong direction with storytelling in their new instalment.

When Electronic Arts and Visceral Games released their first two Dead Space games they received rave reviews for their Survival Horror series, it was a commercial success. When the studios announced Dead Space 3 was arriving, fans expected the best.

My play through of Dead Space 3 didn't feel like the classic Survival Horror; ammo and health is more plentiful in casual to hard difficulties, the necromorphs feel easier to dismember and kill in these difficulties, and the story doesn't seem to fit well with the rest of the series. I felt compelled to switch my difficulty from normal to impossible due to the sheer advantages in the prior difficulties, which I did. This would be a tough call for most average casual gamers as the impossible difficulty is pretty hard, even on Co-Op. So the typical causal gamer won't get a "fair" play through until they finished the game once, on any difficulty — I am referring to New Game+.

Secondly, the amount of action scenes compared to the original instalments of the Dead Space series is noticeable, being the atrocious ending, character death and boss scenes/fights, and more. Multiplayer has been removed in place of Co-Op which is a serious back-step in my opinion. Co-Op should have been an addition to the Multiplayer, not the only option — just my opinion. When Dead Space 2 introduced multiplayer to the series it was a great idea, it gave the game replay value, not only that but multiplayer was damn fun. Not that Dead Space 3 does not have replay value, indeed it does, in the form of new game modes, and co-op, which adds an additional 6 hours of gameplay which you would not get from single player.

My verdict: EA and Visceral have developed an excellent game, overall. It just may not be what they are saying it is. Those who are expecting vast changes will be disappointed, again. The introduction of micro-transactions in which time-sensitive players can pay real world money to further advance their character earlier in the game seems somewhat unnecessary, but is understandable as EA is doing this as means to gain additional income to meet their bottom line, just like any other company.

Though the story can be convoluted, Dead Space 3 has a beautiful environment, with an improved combat system, and improved gameplay. Dead Space 3 should not be ignored just because it does not hold up to its predecessors.

Ratcat - Reviewing your games for Performance in 3D! To start a game and be fully hooked within ten minutes is an aspiration many game developers would aim for and Dead Space 3 does it in spades. This review includes information for those wanting to know if this game is playable in 3D. first off the 3D was not great but playable. NVidia rate it as 'Fair' which is correct because the developers (lets call them 'Gods' at this point') despite creating a fabulous sojourn have obviously not put the added work in to make this game great in 3D. The problems are your normal smoke, shadows, light etc on the 2D plane making it difficult to work out where you are at. No problem ladies and Germs, the great and wonderful Helix has come to the rescue (again) with his 3D fix download. http://helixmod.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/game-list-full.html Once the 3D fix has been installed this game is absolutely brilliant in 3D. Isaacs head will come out of your screen at you to the centre of the keyboard at one stage if you have convergence and strength up high. You cant go all the way with convergence because you will just go cross-eyed! Now for the formal review. If you haven't played 1 or 2 for a long time then expect at least 20 minutes or more to become re-acquainted with the controls but if this is your first time playing Dead Space expect a bit of a learning curve although once that is all out of the way Dead Space 3 is fun and action! Intricate puzzles and objectives designed to keep you on the move and a decent story line keep you all the more captivated. This time there is a marked change of scenery but you do have the gradual upgrade to your armour, stasis and weapons as before. As with all my game reviews there is no need to go into great detail because they are rated on sheer enjoyment. If you are playing simply to say you have clocked a game you may play it all the way through just for the hell of it but in the case of Dead Space 3 well... its enjoyable all the way. Along with the side missions there are many hours of gameplay which is a refreshing change from the usual 6 - 8 hour bullet storm. Playing in full 3D is totally different from normal plane (plain) 2D and this release of the franchise is simply breathtaking. Don your spacesuit and go out into space and you really feel the vacuum and distance to objects and debris floating past your head. The development team deserve every cent they make for every scene has such detailed graphics. Of course graphics means something different for everyone so to expand on that well textures, object definition, physics... just about everything has been mastered. With excellent game dynamics and totally perfectly rendered environments one would have to assume that the people behind this awesome feat are highly intellectual - lets say University degree graphics designers, Engineers and Physics majors just for a start so its no surprise that the idea behind the tool construction bench is a little daunting only because for these highly creative minds they assume the average person can easily construct a weapon with a multitude of options - unfortunately this is not the case. Complaints have been noted and hopefully the next Dead Space in the franchise will be toned down just a tad. As a side note, enjoyment for some is different for others. If you play all the same genre of game IE: 3rd person shooters and nothing else you may find yourself a little tired of all the same thing so switch to a 1st person or point and click once in a while. You will find yourself pleasantly surprised and when you go back to your preferred game style you will be all the more happier. The majority of reviewers here are basing their decisions on previous instalments of the game but you would be well advised to leave at least a few months between play. How well do you remember Die hard 1? Die hard 2 was a totally different experience due to the amount of time that has passed. The average FPS gamer may find this game a little daunting with such an array of controls and puzzles to work out let alone the suit upgrade terminals so if you are at least a general PC user with a little tech knowledge you should find it a breeze. My hat goes off to the hard working team that has brought this masterpiece to the unforgiving public. 9 out of 10 rubber chickens. Spend your money on this game - that's an order soldier! If you want to know how well a game works in 3D send me an email at ratcat@live.com and I will review the title.

I enjoyed Dead Space as it was a fun outer space horror game. I enjoyed the second one as well, though it was a bit more action oriented. This one I just cannot get into at all. It just does not work for me as I was wanting to play something along the lines of the first two games. A fun horror survival game set in space where I blast some enemies, do some stuff to survive and win the game. Unfortunately, this one changed some stuff as it apparently wanted to focus on making this more of a co-op game this time around so the overstuffed the game with enemies and if you are playing solo you spend most of the time swinging around Issac Clarke this way and that trying to find where the enemies are coming from and maybe spot one and it starts running to you, whereas you cannot usually run because the way behind you is blocked, by another oncoming enemy! To make matters worse, the effectiveness of the weapons in this one have been greatly reduced. In the first two games I literally used the plasma cutter as much as possible because I loved the way it blew the monsters limbs off...here, it does not work nearly as well. The rail gun was another favorite, I could take out multiple monster's legs with one shot! Not this time, one shot barely slows down a rushing enemy this time around. They made this one more frustrating than ever for me and I just could not get into it this time so I never even made it to the planet where apparently you still get the same thing from what I've read as the enemies burst out of the snow there rather than the countless air vents they keep coming out of in the space portion of the game.

The story has Issac in rather poor shape. He apparently hooked up with the gal from the second game only to have her dump him. He suddenly finds himself running for his life as the religion that worships the markers are coming after him and things are deteriorating quickly! This portion of the game was rather fun as it was running here and there battling enemies that did not come out of nowhere as you and a couple of military guys escape the planet. You then head to an ice planet where another marker lurks and you have seen in a prologue before we see where Issac has ended up. Issac must first though go from broken down ship to broken down ship trying to find Ellie and then finding another ship which I assume would be used to get to the planet below, but I gave up before reaching the planet's surface.

The game play has changed and most of it is not for the better. As I said the weapons suck now, the only bright point being the fact that they all share the same ammo now, but then again it was more fun in the first two games switching between the various weapons when you ran low on one ammo or another. Upgrading the weapons and your suit was easier too. Now, the suit is the same for the most part, but the weapons not so much. There is a neat thing you can do by literally combining weapons as I had a pulse rifle with a rail gun attached, but due to the fact the weapons now suck this should of been awesome weapon is reduced to a gun that cannot kill enemies before they are on top of you and you have to go through the press X mini game! The enemies may as well be invisible too as the final straw for me was this one room with a shuttle. I had to gather three pieces to make some sort of circuit for said shuttle. I keep going through the room and enemies keep popping up out of nowhere as all the shifts in this fleet have five million ventilation shafts for the enemies to drop you and gain the advantage along with their amazing speed. Well I gathered all the pieces and I heard what sounded like a horde of enemies so I went to the place to assemble the part. Before I tried I look this way and that way. I readied my weapon and walked around hearing the sounds of the damned, but nothing came. So I went to the bench and pressed the button to assemble the part when a creature hits me from the side out of nowhere.

So no, I am not digging this game at this point. If I play it later and win it, my score may improve, but right now, I am finding it a very frustrating and annoying game. They added optional missions in this one to make it the longest game of the three, but length does not mean goodness as there was nothing all that rewarding about completing the optional missions. I got pieces to add to my weapons that would have helped my nonexistent partner. I was playing solo so all the ammo I expended on the extra mission was completely wasted. I am just baffled as to how such a great series seems to have gone to crap, but part of me realizes it is that desire by an American gaming company to turn something into a Call of Duty/multiplayer type game.

After playing the first 2 games I was excited to keep going with this one. Found out very quickly I didn't like it. Your weapons practically do nothing when you're trying to kill enemies which isn't helpful at all considering the amount of enemies that come at you all at once. Not to mention the whole weapon upgrading thing is confusing af. They should have just kept the same setup they did in the first 2 games because it was a lot simpler to understand. Also you only have 2 weapon slots to start out with. This game was trash. Don't waste your time.