EPTSo this is going to be my first real blog entry and my goal here is to chronicle my first play-through for Dead Space 3. I noticed there wasn't a whole lot of feedback up for the game just yet (not surprising as it just came out) and so I thought I'd share my own experience of the game. Now I'm not trying to do a speed run, and I'm not playing this on the hardest difficulty just yet this is a nice easy play-through on Normal which seems appropriate for the first time so that I can take in more of the details and not just be focused on the combat or trying to speed by everything.
I'm going to split these into two parts, one as a general review of the game that offers my feelings and opinions for the game and will be spoiler free. The other part which I will be putting in Spoiler tags will be a much more in-depth play by play as I move through the game. I'm starting out pretty detailed in terms of what all happens, but I may get less so as the game goes on... not too sure yet. So in some ways this is going to be like a text version of a 'Lets Play' (which maybe no one cares for, but I'll at least start some out and see what ppl say).
A little about me. I've played both DS1 and DS2 for at least 60 hrs each. I've never been a really big fan of the survival horror genre until recently with this series and Amnesia. I tried playing some of the older Resident Evil games when I was younger but never liked the control schemes and so didn't play much. I'd have to say I enjoyed both DS1 and DS2 equally for what they were. It's true DS1 emulates that lost and trying to survive feeling much better than 2 or 3 but personally (and this comes from playing on 3 on PC) it has such wonky controls that sometimes it's just annoying to play. DS2 and 3 have really cleaned up the PC side of the controls, 3 especially has been impressing me as the mouse control feels really smooth now. However the amount of Horror has definitely diminished while the series gets more action packed and possibly more gruesome as well. Still I'm finding that I enjoy each game and they are expanding off each other wonderfully in my mind.
Ok so on to the real stuff. Lets see, I already mentioned I'm playing on Normal and while I have the limited edition I'm not going to be messing with that stuff just yet. Dead Space 3 seems to have made some significant improvements to the graphics though it feels not too terribly different to the DS2 engine. One thing I'm noticing right off is that the camera is no longer fixed on Issac's shoulder, it's much more free and you can actually pan around your character while your not moving. This means you feel like you have a little more vision than in the last 2 games (which I felt was part of the horror aspect that you were turning around with your character and not able to see past you characters field of vision) and that definitely makes the game feel more action.
Ok, that's about all the review I have in me atm (haven't played very much yet) so lets move on to the play-through.
WARNING: Massive Spoilers Ahead!
+ Show Spoiler +
The first portion of the game after the intro video has us in control of a random soldier on a recon mission, this acts as the tutorial of the game. We are exploring a snowy planet for some unknown thing and before we know it we find a ship that is full of some new kinda necromorph. These guys look mostly human, are pretty quick, and it doesn't appear to take much aim to kill them (they split apart and w/o targeting their limbs). There's actually a fair few of these guys coming at us pretty quick for so early in the game, but with some better reloading it would have been ezpz. Fortuitously the item, some random cylindrical object, is pretty near where we entered the ship so it's only a few moments before we find it. Unfortunately this thing was apparently load-bearing as the whole ship we are in starts sliding over a cliff. In the chaos we find ourselves jumping out the door, just barely managing to grab a hold, and then attaching a safety cable to our suit and are now running down the cliff face. It's harrowing, but eventually we make it down despite all the falling debris and where do we land? Right in the middle of our army camp! Score! Oh but then the general comes in with that slightly deranged look in his eye, takes our well earned item, and proceeds to kill us after making sure we love our family, so far not my favorite guy.
And Then we find ourselves back in the present day (apparently we were some 200 years in the past before... neat!) where we meet up with Issac who is just really gungho to kill some more necromorphs. Ok, so not really so much but with a little convincing from these EarthGov soldiers we've at least got our old hero moving again. Just in time as well, having listened to our latest phone message we are due to get evicted in a few days anyhow. Following the EarthGov guys outside turns out to be a huge mistake, as we are quickly assaulted by a ton of well-armed Unitologists, who apparently really want to kill Isaac. It quickly becomes clear why the Plasma cutter has been Issac's weapon of choice for all these years now as this baby quickly makes work of plain old homicidal religious fanatics. Running and shooting seems like a really great strategy here and that gets me to the freeway pretty quickly. Unfortunately this is a freeway of quickly moving, unmanned, transport cars that can cut you to shreds (as I found out when I poked my head a little too far around the corner... Death #1!). The next time around the Stasis recharge point is a little more apparent, and now that I let the voice-overs finish before I walk into the street it is clear that this is the first point I have to use my Stasis modal. Well I shoot a car with the stasis, and as soon as I shoot I wonder what I actually think this will accomplish. I mean, these are separate moving cars how do I stop them all with one stasis? Thankfully I don't have to ponder this long, as the car I hit with the stasis suddenly moves at a fraction of it's speed, and then proceeds to get hit by the car behind it... Well you can imagine how that caused the entire freeway to get filled with car debris rather quickly, and suddenly there's nothing blocking my
path! 'Oops' indeed Issac!
After a little more running form these Unitologiest dudes we enter a room that has the current leader of Unitology spouting his drivel and then continue on to the extraction point the EarthGov guys are leading us too. Well surprise surprise kus it turns out to be a trap, as the Unitolists are waiting for us at the top of the elevator and proceed to shoot us. The leader dude now gloats to the half-dead Issac about his great plan to free all the test markers and start the Convergence (Unitoligist Rapture). Before he is shot one last time, Issac takes a swing at the guy managing to dodge the gun and then jumps/falls off the ledge, to hopefully live another day.
And Then we find ourselves back in the present day (apparently we were some 200 years in the past before... neat!) where we meet up with Issac who is just really gungho to kill some more necromorphs. Ok, so not really so much but with a little convincing from these EarthGov soldiers we've at least got our old hero moving again. Just in time as well, having listened to our latest phone message we are due to get evicted in a few days anyhow. Following the EarthGov guys outside turns out to be a huge mistake, as we are quickly assaulted by a ton of well-armed Unitologists, who apparently really want to kill Isaac. It quickly becomes clear why the Plasma cutter has been Issac's weapon of choice for all these years now as this baby quickly makes work of plain old homicidal religious fanatics. Running and shooting seems like a really great strategy here and that gets me to the freeway pretty quickly. Unfortunately this is a freeway of quickly moving, unmanned, transport cars that can cut you to shreds (as I found out when I poked my head a little too far around the corner... Death #1!). The next time around the Stasis recharge point is a little more apparent, and now that I let the voice-overs finish before I walk into the street it is clear that this is the first point I have to use my Stasis modal. Well I shoot a car with the stasis, and as soon as I shoot I wonder what I actually think this will accomplish. I mean, these are separate moving cars how do I stop them all with one stasis? Thankfully I don't have to ponder this long, as the car I hit with the stasis suddenly moves at a fraction of it's speed, and then proceeds to get hit by the car behind it... Well you can imagine how that caused the entire freeway to get filled with car debris rather quickly, and suddenly there's nothing blocking my
path! 'Oops' indeed Issac!
After a little more running form these Unitologiest dudes we enter a room that has the current leader of Unitology spouting his drivel and then continue on to the extraction point the EarthGov guys are leading us too. Well surprise surprise kus it turns out to be a trap, as the Unitolists are waiting for us at the top of the elevator and proceed to shoot us. The leader dude now gloats to the half-dead Issac about his great plan to free all the test markers and start the Convergence (Unitoligist Rapture). Before he is shot one last time, Issac takes a swing at the guy managing to dodge the gun and then jumps/falls off the ledge, to hopefully live another day.
And that was the end of my first hour or so of play (had to leave for an appointment). Hope you guys liked it, I'll be doing more in the future though I don't know if I'll keep up with this level of detail.
