Dead Space 3 Xbox 360 Demo Review 10/10

Preface: This is the second article of our special dual review series. Be sure to not only check out this review by Skye, but also the review below by lvl 99. Two perspectives. One demo. Enjoy!

First off, if you haven’t played the Dead Space series, stop reading now and go play them. They are fantastic. I have never been so terrified playing a video game since Resident Evil 4. But if you need a little current Dead Space action to hook you on the series, this demo is also fantastic, so go ahead and play it even if you’re not quite caught up on the franchise. For spoilers and Dead Space veterans sake, I’ll skip explaining the story so far. Suffice to say, Isaac Clarke is back and I hope this time things don’t go so terribly for him.

That can't be good...

This demo features three things from the full game: the single player level, a level where you can try out the new weapon crafting system, and a co-op level (which I’ll get to later). First I tackled the single player mode, which takes place on a snow covered planet on which Isaac has crash landed. With many demos of big titles such as this, their choice of which level to present you with can either teasingly entice you or ruin elements of the plot. This is especially perilous for me as I am rarely surprised by any plot twist since the movie Fight Club. This demo level was excellent in that regard since, for me, it raised more questions than it answered. What is this place? Why did he come here? Why does poor Isaac always end up bloody and unconscious? I discovered none of these things during the course of the demo, which was fine by me.

After Isaac regains his consciousness, you have to brave the violent blizzard to get to shelter, which is frightening enough without the horrific creatures that you surely will come across. As you press forward through the demo you have to fight newly-necromorphed humans swinging ice picks at you, regular humans who shoot at you, and a mini-boss with tons of regenerating appendages to blow off with your plasma cutter. You also get to try out the new weapon crafting system when you get to your first upgrade bench and suit station. In this you get to upgrade and craft your own unique weapons from a variety of interchangeable parts and statistic modding circuits. You can also just load the weapons testing level and craft to your hearts content and then try out your new guns by spawning Necromorphs.

The demo continues on with indoor and outdoor environments. You also run into some light puzzle action that then builds up to a huge firefight where a giant hideous creature levels the battlefield. It charges toward you just before the demo cuts to the Dead Space logo. A perfect edge-of-your-seat finale.

After we both played it single player, lvl 99 and I got together to try out the co-op. Dead Space 3 features a new drop-in/drop-out co-op mode that puts the second player in control of Sergeant John Carver. The co-op mode adds this character to the same level as single player, only now with added dialog between Isaac and John. This almost felt like a different game with the added exchange between the characters revealing plot details and taking away the loneliness you might feel with just Isaac.

The co-op in Dead Space does a great job of making both player’s characters equally important to the plot. There were conversations between the characters that did not take place in the single player game and John Carver feels like a real, independent character instead of just a second gun. A great thing I noticed as well was that you don’t have to share items with your partner since the items drop for each player independently. The co-op was great, but I’m a little concerned that it might take away from the terror of the game. But, like I said, the co-op mode felt very different from the single player experience so it may not be an issue at all.

For me, this demo comes in at a perfect 10. It’s an enticing and thrilling excerpt that leaves you wanting more.The demo shows off some new enemies, features, and the new co-op mode all in a well polished package. I didn’t get into Dead Space 1 and 2 until far after they came out, but playing this demo has put this game up to a day-one purchase. I’ll be picking up this game on February 5th, and I can’t wait to be terrified once more.

- Skye