Dead Space 3 (Demo thoughts!)

Happy 2013 everyone! I hope you all had a great New Years. I've been undergoing some career change related stuff, and I apologize for no new updates throughout December. But, it's a new year, and my resolution is to bring you the best possible reviews and opinions my tiny brain can muster.

With that said, I just played the Dead Space 3 Demo! 

YAAAAAY!

Let me tell you a story that you have to read through (or scroll though) before I give my impressions. Because apparently you think highly enough of a guy who has claimed to actually enjoy Resident Evil 6 (review coming soon, just as soon as me and my fellow writers find the time to finish up the last campaign missions) and the fact that he thinks he's smart enough to give a concise and well thought out impression of a demo. And he (I mean, I) just spent a paragraph explaining absolutely nothing. 

How I imagine everyone looking at their computer screen right now

In October 2008, I was in the middle of my first semester of college. I was trying to finally get my act together so that I could pass my ECON101 class, because I was too lazy to do the homework...you know, before class. (And because I didn't study. Because i'm an idiot.) I was trying to cut back on the video games and focus on a social life in college, because everyone said "Drew, these will be the best times in your life!" 

Pictured: Best Times

Then I started to see them. The creepy commercials that dotted my Comedy Central advertisements. Late night, trying to watch the Daily Show, and after every commercial break, another weird rendition of Twinkle Little Star, rife with alien-zombie-monster things. And at the end of the commercial, the name: DEAD SPACE. 

I had to play this game. 

2008 was the magical time in my life where I had a part time job which had incredible, flexible hours, I was friends with the manager at the movie rental store, and my parents actually didn't care if I stayed up until 4 AM. They thought I was cramming for school! 

Yuuuup. Cramming. 

I called my friend and had him swear to me that there would be a copy waiting for me to pick up on release day. I told my bosses that I had to study for a big test, and they were cool with it. I picked up the game, made my way home and did not stop playing until 4 AM. 

And I didn't sleep until 7 AM. 

The rental period for video games back when there were such things as rental stores was 5 days in my area. I beat the game in 3. And I wanted more. 

When Dead Space 2 came out, I begged my girlfriend for a loaner so I could purchase it. She said under one condition: she got to watch me play it. (There's a reason why she's my fiance now.) 

Another great game, and I loved it. I'm a big fan of Issac's characterization as it grows from silent hero to a man who has been tortured for two years. And from what i'm seeing from trailers for 3, it looks like Issac will get more and more chances to shine as a character. 

Player 2-aka the Red Guy? Maybe not as much. 

And yes, there's a big worry about the Co-Op on the game. However I played through the single player level, and had no problems feeling terrified and claustrophobic. Also I jumped a lot because now Necromorphs can just...burst from the goddamn ice. 

AAAH! AAAAH! AAAAAH!

In the demo, I came across several enemy types: 

-The first were humanoids wielding ice picks. After softening them up a little, their chests exploded and three gross tentacles came out, like the baby necromorphs of old. They seemed to be more bullet sponges than anything. 

-The second monster I met was an old favorite, The Slasher (aka the guys with the scary arm danglies that kept killing you in Dead Space 1). But now they burst out of the  snowy ground! UNEXPECTEDLY! So I found that not sprinting was my best bet in areas.

-The third kind of enemy I met was an honest first: Human enemies, with guns, who wanted to shoot you dead. While in Dead Space 2, you saw laser rifles pointed at you at times, you never went toe to toe with a human. The issue is after you kill them; they can come back. As Necromorphs. Shit. 

-The fourth kind was a weird little squid head, like Head-Spider Norris in The Thing. 

AAAH!! AAHH!! STOMP ON IT! BURN IT GODDAMN IT

I freaked out when those guys came around. Oh, and they can possess headless bodies and make them shoot at you. It sucks.

-And there was a miniboss like spider monster that everyone has seen in the trailers. I shot at him and he ran away. 

The gameplay is pretty much the same. Keymappings are the same (which is nice) but the big change is in the combat system. Now, you can mix and match weapons to create your own shooty-shooty-gun gun (or...blasty blasty cutting tool). Like the plasma cutter and the force gun? Create a plasma cutter with a shotgun undercarriage! Like the pulse rifle and shooting electricity! You can have that too! 

Workbenches are now stations where you can mix and match weapons, equip and build upgrades, or create weapons from blueprints, in case you don't have a certain combo you enjoyed from the first game. 

Oh, and ammo is now interchangeable.

This is where you say, WHAT?

Yes, Ammo is the same with every weapon. This is a little confusing and annoying when it comes to trying to conserve ammo. In the previous games, you could safe your pulse ammo by sticking with the plasma cutter until you were in a tight situation. Now overusing your plasma cutter can take away your assault rifle ammo. 

However it does solve the clutter issue of previous games. 72 plasma ammo? 275 Pulse rounds? 3 line racks and room for one med pack? Now with the ammo being the same, there's less clutter messing up your inventory space. 

Just don't freak out and waste all your ammo on a dead corpse. 

The ammo situation does ramp up the difficulty; and makes your weapons more "situation" dependent  Before I could just unload my pulse rifle and be happy knowing I had ample plasma energy or line racks to fall back on. Now?  The punch and stomp buttons are looking very sweet. 

The game is scary, and the environment is creepy. But if you're wanting to play the demo to get some new scenes or level stuff? It's the same fare we've seen since last year. But now you're in the driver's seat, and you will probably either be more jumpy than the testers, or less so, if you have nerves of steel.

The demo has whetted my appetite, and I cannot wait to play some more! Dead Space 3 launches in America on February 5, 2013.(Ladies, Valentines Day present idea!) The game will be on the Xbox360, the PS3 and the PC. (Sorry WiiU)

That's it for Dead Space 3 until the game comes out! Until next time chums...

AAAHHHGGHHUUGGBBLUGGHHHH!!!!!