Dead Space Trilogy Review

*Warning- this will contain massive spoilers for the Dead Space trilogy...so if you haven't played through any of these games yet...what are you reading this for? Get out there and check them out!*

Hello dear readers and welcome back to the game corner once again. I apologize that it’s been quite a while since the last time I updated- the pursuit of my Master’s degree often takes precedence to the more fun things I’d rather be doing with my life. At any rate, during my short holiday break these past few weeks, I decided to sit down and play three games I had previously played at different time points over the course of the past 6 or 7 years: the Dead Space trilogy. To my recollection, these three games are the most recent games I’ve played and actually enjoyed, given that I usually stick to retro games.

These games are awesome, 'nuff said.

So what is it about these games that makes them so damn awesome? Playing through all three of them again in succession has given me plenty of time to think about why that might be, and I think the answer has less to do with the actual game and more to do with the smaller elements that the game was built from. But first, let’s discuss the premise of the series. 

It’s a pretty simple set up to start off with; in the distant future, a deep space mining ship called the Ishimura, which is designed to break apart planets and harvest the leftover metal ore, has dropped out of communications and a small crew is sent in to reestablish contact and fix any problems the ship may be having. Among them is a hapless engineer named Isaac Clarke whose only job is to make a few repairs to the massive spaceship, though he does have a bit of extra incentive- his wife Nicole is among the crew of the Ishimura. However, upon boarding the seemingly derelict ship, the crew is attacked by horrific monsters that can slice a human to pieces faster than Jason Vorhees in a summer camp full of teenagers. Isaac is separated from the other surviving members of the crew and must fight his way through the onslaught of monstrosities to reunite with them, find out if his wife is still alive, and escape the nightmarish ship.

Along the way, Isaac acquires several engineering tools to use as weapons to fight back against the creatures, and luckily for him, their weakness lie in severing their limbs and then stomping the ever loving shit out of them. The monsters, termed “necromorphs,” can attack in a number of ways- slashing, climbing on walls, firing projectiles, and even blowing themselves up to damage you. 

Isaac is no Master Chief- just an ordinary guy caught in a bad situation. Thankfully, he's got a number of engineering tools at his disposal to deal with the problem.

As you’d expect, the monsters become stronger and harder to kill as you progress through the game, so you’ll have to rely on obtaining items called power nodes in order to upgrade your weapons, which you’ll either find in small quantities scattered around the ship or available (at a very high price) in numerous stores where you can also purchase new weapons, ammo, power suits, and health items. You can also use nodes to upgrade your suit’s air capacity, stasis and telekinesis abilities (used to slow down and shoot objects at monsters, respectively), and hit points. 

Through the 12 chapters of the game you’ll have to complete a variety of objectives such as repairing the ship’s vital functions, protecting it from a wave of asteroids, sending out an S.O.S. beacon, and destroying huge necromorph infestations. You’ll also have to navigate zero-gravity environments, dodge malfunctioning machinery, and even trek through the vacuum of space as you progress.

As you approach the end of the game, it is discovered that the necromorph outbreak seems to be stemming from a strange alien artifact that was discovered during the planetary mining operation and brought aboard the ship. The object has been deemed the “marker” by a group of fanatical religious zealots called scientol- er, I mean, unitologists, who intend to bring forth their version of judgment day by unleashing the necromorph scourge upon humanity. Isaac comes close to returning the marker to the planet it was found on, only to be betrayed by Kendra, a member of the crew he came aboard the Ishimura with who he’d also been working together with over the course of the entire game. Kendra intends to bring the marker back to Earth for the government; however, Isaac at last finds his wife, who helps him take back the marker and return it to the planet once again. 

In the last act, the biggest twist of all occurs when it is revealed that Nicole has actually been dead the entire time and Isaac has been hallucinating every encounter he has had with her since boarding the ship. As the planet starts to come apart beneath him, the marker summons the biggest, nastiest, ugliest necromorph of all, which squashes the traitorous Kendra like a pancake and traps Isaac in its grasp. Once you slay the beast, you escape the planet safely and all loose ends are tied up…right? No sir- just like all the great horror movies, a cliffhanger occurs before the credits roll when a bloody vision of Nicole jumps out from behind Isaac inside of the ship he has escaped in.

Nicole was dead the whole time? *M. Night Shyamalan voice* What a twist!

In all, I love this game. It actually seems like it was tailored to fit my personal list of science fiction/horror favorites. Looking at everything together, the game on a whole seems like what you would get if you threw Resident Evil, Doom, and the movies The Thing, Event Horizon, and Alien into a blender, which just so happen to be some of my favorite video games and movies ever. There’s enough challenge to keep you satisfied, enough backstory to keep you interested, and definitely enough horror to keep you on your toes while playing late at night with the lights off.

Next came Dead Space 2, which was certainly a worthy sequel of its predecessor. In the years following the events of the first game, Isaac has been captured by a secret government organization and brought to Jupiter’s moon Titan, where he is forced to constantly relive the visions in his head in order to build a new marker. The markers are seen as sources of unlimited energy, and the organization strives to harness that energy by having those exposed to the power of the markers reconstruct new ones based on certain neural codes that become embedded in their brains. A bit of a confusing plot, yes, but it doesn’t detract from the overall game.

As you’d expect, another necromorph outbreak puts a damper on everything, and Isaac must once again fight his way through waves of monstrosities in order to escape the city on the moon and destroy a marker once again. The same gang of necromorphs is back, as well as some new ones thrown into the mix. The same goes for weaponry and power suits. Isaac himself is also given a bit more characterization, actually speaking and interacting with other characters, unlike in the first game when he was a simple silent protagonist. 

You’ll find yourself wandering the abandoned city on Titan, going in and out of train terminals, a Unitology church, and even an elementary school where you’ll have to fight off some necromorphed children. Also, in the latter stages of the game, you’ll even have to board the Ishimura once again! In addition, the zero-gravity mechanics have been revamped, allowing you to freely float through space as opposed to having to jump to predestinated spots like in the first game.

The zero-G mechanics were just one of the many improvements made in the 2nd game.

The terrifying atmosphere of the first game is back with a vengeance as you are stalked (literally, in some instances) by bloodthirsty necromorphs.  Isaac is also constantly tormented by bloody visions of Nicole, who repeatedly reminds him that he let her die and his sanity may be slowly slipping away under the power of the marker. In the end, Isaac comes to terms with his wife’s death and storms the government complex, where he destroys another marker and once again puts an end to the necromorph outbreak.

It’s pretty hard for me to choose whether I like the first or second game better, as I enjoyed them both so much in different ways. I’d probably go with the first one for nostalgia’s sake, but 2 just does everything a great sequel should do and more. However, Dead Space 3 took the series in a much different direction, which leaves it as the black sheep of the trilogy and does not quite live up to the shining example its predecessors set.

This time, Isaac joins of team of military insurgents and scientists who have discovered the home planet of the original markers, where hundreds of years earlier a team of archaeologists discovered it and unwittingly released an outbreak of their own. Together with his team, Isaac crash lands on the snowy planet and embarks on a mission to end the scourge once and for all.

As opposed to the first two games where you’ll have to fight through the confined and claustrophobic corridors of ships and space stations, you’ll mostly be running around in the wide open landscapes of the alien planet you land on..which…doesn’t translate well for the type of game we grew to expect from the first two. You’ll periodically have to venture through buildings, especially during the various optional missions presented throughout the game, but a good chunk of the game is spent running around outside- definitely more than I'd like to, at least.

You're gonna be looking at a lot of this in the 3rd game.

Another major complaint I have is what they did with the weapons/rig upgrade system. As I mentioned previously, the first two games have you very gradually upgrading your setup by collecting power nodes as the games progressed. Each weapon had its own individual set of ammunition and required a substantial amount of effort to acquire enough nodes in order to upgrade them completely. The third game, however, threw this system completely out the window in favor of a new one in which all the weapons in the game are constructed from various raw materials (for example, scrap metal) that you’ll find all over the place. These replace the concept of credits, the currency you find and spend at stores in the first two games.

This time around you can only hold two weapons at a time, as opposed to the four you could carry previously which is a pretty big downer right off the bat. Also, every weapon consumes the same ammo, and depending on how much raw materials you’ve collected, you can construct different add-ons for each weapon to take out enemies in different ways and deal extra bits of damage to them. You can also find upgrade circuits, of which a maximum of 4 can be added to constructed weapons in order to increase damage, clip size, reload speed, etc. You have the option to construct weapons entirely on your own or do so based on pre-set blueprints you’ll find along the way. 

In theory, this system seems pretty cool- being able to construct a multitude of weapons to deal with necromorphs in different ways, exploit different weaknesses, use in different areas- the applications had a lot of potential. However, the entire thing was not implemented very well, in my opinion. For starters, I only found myself really needing to construct two weapons over the course of the entire game, which handily did away with enemies with little effort. After I was set and maxed out with the two of them, my inventory became tremendously packed with an excess of raw materials and upgrade circuits I had absolutely nothing to do with. In the first two games, maxing out a weapon felt like a real accomplishment after grinding away in order to get your grubby hands on one little power node; by contrast, the third game just made it feel way too easy and cheap. True, it does take a little while to accumulate enough raw materials, but not nearly as long as collecting many power nodes.

Also, the universal ammo didn’t really sit well with me either. Extra ammo and health can easily be constructed at any time and with little effort, even on the higher difficulty settings. Compare that to the first two games, where on the harder levels, both are extremely scarce and you’ll be struggling the entire way just to keep one weapon fully loaded and your health full- it really felt like a tough challenge.

There are a few new enemies, but it's mostly the same entourage we've gotten used to, and by the third game, it's gotten a little bit old. The second game had a lot of the same enemies as the first, but it made improvements with newer enemies- the third can't quite say as much. You'll also periodically have to fight other humans- yeah, humans! Some crazed unitologists follow you to the planet and occasionally pop out to fight you, which is just pretty lame if you ask me. I mean, if I wanted to shoot at other people, I'd go play one of the 9 million Call Of Duty games that get crapped out every year.

Lastly, another big thing that bugged me about 3 was the story. It’s just so convoluted and uninteresting. True, the previous two got confusing at certain points, but they were captivating and really drew you in, whereas the third one just feels more like a chore of getting through. And they really got drama-happy in the 3^rd one- Isaac is now stuck love triangle between a woman he met in the 2^nd game and some bland, uninteresting military guy whose name I honestly can’t even remember, and the rest of the characters are just as forgettable.

These characters...are...not interesting.

And just one last little nit-picky detail...all the standard versions of the game are called "Limited Edition," and a regular edition doesn't seem to exist at all. Not really a big deal, but for someone like me who likes to very specifically categorize the games they own, just a minor annoyance. Yeah, I know I have a problem.

In all, 3 still manages to be a good game and worth a playthrough…it’s just very sub-par compared to the excellent example the first two set. The series has been on hiatus for several years now, but I'm holding out hope that it will make a comeback one day. I just hope they don't needlessly reboot it like so many different games have been as of recent years. On an unrelated note, I just hate that word "reboot" so much.

Anyway, so that does it for my review of the Dead Space trilogy, hope y’all enjoyed. And if you haven’t played any of these games, get out there and pick ‘em up- they’ll be well worth your time.