And I am starting to get a little depressed. The game has not been bad, but the atmosphere which kept me addicted to Dead Space seems to be getting further and further away the more I play. Isolation is pretty rare, the combat does not seem nearly as polished as Dead Space 2, and the creepy gross scary vibe? Where the hell is that?! These enemies are all crusty and old, the ones that do resemble humans are not scary, they're just... Zombies with claws... So far I am pretty disappointed about this, the game is too action heavy which was a given, but more than that it is the creepy atmosphere that is gone.

Say what you want about Dead Space 2 that was my 2011 GOTY, it was more action heavy than the first but retained the scary aspects that I loved, new creatures, like the Puker, those little demon looking kids, the infected looking infants that were BOMBS, and such, those were awesomely disturbed! Dead Space 2 also had really polished combat that felt like a step up from Dead Space 1 in every way!

I hope to be disturbed again.

I at very least hope for "awakened" to scratch that inch, it is supposed to have some fucked up shit in it.

I feel the same way. Before I started DS3 I went back and played some of the first and second for contrast. What I played left me stressed, uncomfortable, and on the edge. The exact thing I come to expect from a dead space game. So I felt a little disappointed when those feelings started to slowly fade playing DS3. I won't say there's no haunting atmosphere or a few good scares, but it seems to stray a little too far from what I experienced playing the first two. I won't say I hate the game either. I'm still going to finish it because I find the combat and weapon crafting to be fun. Also, even if it's bad I want to see how the story ends.

Just listening to the podcast and having a slight appreciation for horror games, I'm suddenly interested in the dead space games. Apart from the Wii, are they on any other platforms?

I'm with you both. I can even logic away some of the negative stuff, but ugh! It's like having the worlds best ice cream sundae, but you're missing two scoops.

@Inkerman said:

Just listening to the podcast and having a slight appreciation for horror games, I'm suddenly interested in the dead space games. Apart from the Wii, are they on any other platforms?

The main three Dead Space games are all on the 360, PS3, and PC. The Giant Bomb franchise page has a nice overview of the entire series.

@Inkerman said:

Just listening to the podcast and having a slight appreciation for horror games, I'm suddenly interested in the dead space games. Apart from the Wii, are they on any other platforms?

Extraction is the only Wii title, though it is also on PS3. The other three can be played on PS3, PC, and 360. There is also Ignition, a mini-game collection for XBLA/PSN that has some so-so story stuff in it. It was a "prequel" that setup some unimportant events to Dead Space 2.

I have seen this happen in other games as well where they mistake a "mutating horror" as "scary". They long past the point of "...what am I looking at?" When you cross that line it ceases to be a scare and just "shooting blobs". That transforms the game from Dead Space into DOOM.

Sounds like I'm gonna be disappointed when I get round to playing this. I love Dead Space and thought the second one was even better, hell i played through the second one 4 times when it came out and I've for the platinum trophy both of them. I'm sure I'll still enjoy it though.

The problem, in my opinion, about this game isn't really the setting or the co-op. It's not Carver, nor Danik who looks like a bad version of Jeff Goldblum. Problem is the pacing and design. The pacing is just off. The big action scenes from DS2 are really scarce in this game, leaving you with a corridor shooter that throws way too many uninteresting enemies at you. Just before the first half of the game, you're thrown on the ice planet, and the game starts re-using a lot of the same environments, especially within those mostly useless side-missions.

And, the design. Why should I divert from my main path to mow through more boring enemies only to get resources or schematics? I can already build whatever weapon I want. And those weapons, what the hell is wrong with the crafting system? None are interesting, you just want to buff your damage and use any assault rifle parts you can find, since the game really doesn't encourage variety with its monsters. I want the old weapons back. I'm going to try the classic mode once I beat the game to see if its able to bring the original weapons back.

The loot is majorly uninteresting. Now I just spam A whenever stuff drops, and I don't even care what I carry around, since I already have a maxed-out inventory. Also, those suits are pretty uninteresting, expect that yellow one. Also, what's the point of upgrading my oxygen? You don't get any space once you're done with 35% of the game. Where are the vents? Where are the breakable windows in space? Why doesn't my visor spreads light on floors and walls at all time in dark areas?

Seriously, I just can't believe Dead Space 3 came from the same guys who did Dead Space 2. I just can't. Playing Dead Space 3 made me realize how perfect DS2 was. I'm going to install this back I think.

I played for 1-2 hours today and I'm really depressed. The game just feels... Dull and uninteresting. I fucking loved Dead Space 2 and I'm not totally sure what it is about 3 that is throwing me off so much. I kind of feel like it wasn't made by Viceral and some other studio is just trying to imitate them and doing a seemingly great job. It's really weird. I'm going to try to play it on the weekend and hope it pulls me in.

I feel like I fixated way too much on the marketing revolving around the drop in, drop out co-op and even some of Brad's mention of cutscene point of view, which to me, seemed mostly like "Oh and Carver's here, too" most of the time.

As a video game, it's solid, as a Dead Space game, it.. I dunno.. It's lacking the spooks.

there's also an ipod game that i think happens between 1 and 2

Brad was right. It has been a bad gen or 3's. Minus a couple like Gear or War 3 or depending who you ask Saint's Row 3.

Now that I have beaten the game.

I think the end is... Not great but the moon thing? From a story perspective? I don't think it's that bad, what I think is bad about it is how they refer to it as a moon, it is basicly just a huge Necromoph creature. NOT A GOD DAMN MOON! But fighting it? That was fucking stupid... Also,a ll the moments that try to pull your heartstrings? Not into those.