There will be a TL;DR at the end.

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There's a reason why Dead Space 3 exists with such profound infamy.
It's not known to be a quality game, and is known to have buried the franchise in a frozen tundra of ice after axing its own creative studio. So, why do I find it so easily to give the game a thumbs up when it flopped so horribly that the entire industry is embarrassed to speak of it?

The Dead Space series is near and dear to my heart - with the original being one of my all time favorite pieces of interactive entertainment, and the sequel also showing up strong for a wonderful follow up. It's such a strange thing to see the third installment derail the property so thoroughly. The title does not merely suffer from the association with the prior two games, but the change in direction makes it such a misfit introduction. Where the other two were breathtakingly astounding pieces of media, Dead Space 3 achieves the monumentally horrendous position as "The one that's just okay.". While I played the original Dead Space for over 40 hours and the sequel for a bit over 32 - I can honestly say that I don't love Dead Space 3 because I'm a fan of the originals, but because I don't really see it as a sequel to those games in their own right - it's a separate entity entirely.

The Horror genre has been profoundly misunderstood and neglected as part of the gaming market for a very long time, but this game came out in 2013 during the height of the anti-horror gap which gave rise to such classics as Five Nights At Freddy's, Slender, The Forest, and many more. Back in 2013, all the big box studios were trying to cash in on the widely popular Co-Op shooter crowd that had been fostered by industry giants such as Call Of Duty and Battlefield - even the prodigious Resident Evil series that the entire Dead Space property has been inspired by deviated from horror and focused on multiplayer action. Fear, terror, and cosmic horror were elements that serviced the original two games in the Dead Space series remarkably well, but are facets that are notably absent in this title. It's simply an action game with resource management second and horror aspects as a tertiary involvement. While tension and terror are a part of the package, they pale in comparison to the product's lockjaw tone and mindless combat.

It's simply an Action game, through and through. You plow through hoards of enemies with your weapon locked and loaded with a seemingly endless supply of ammunition and health packs. Between stasis modules and kenesis - the amount of lethal leverage that you can dispatch is dizzying. While it may take time to orient yourself and scrape up the resources to upgrade your RIG for increased survival, damage, and ease - you're really never able to stray too far from safety. Enemies announce their presence loudly and telegraph their attacks, and can often be destroyed easily and without much consideration. When combat turns up, it's less about surviving than it is about mixing things up to add variety to the carnage. I never in any of my playthroughs thought to myself "Oh no, I'm in a tight spot!" - but often thought - "Maybe I should try something a little different to spice things up!"

Really, when you boot up the game, what you're going to get is a steady tempo: Moronic, baindead story pushes you along a linear path - you entertain a shooting gallery of opponents as you go along - there will be action packed setpieces and unique levels - you will collect heaps of resources to craft and upgrade your equipment with - you stop for a moment and admire the breathtaking art direction and lighting with the great music - and when you're finished, there will be a giant dramatic level and you proceed to a new chapter in a new environment to repeat the process. While the story might as well not exist at times, it serves its purpose; what you're really going to be doing is blasting your way along these constantly changing little challenges and levels. It's easy to get sucked into, but also easy to put away to come back later because of how exhausting the breakneck pace can become. If you like blowing away zombies, collecting loot, and improving your gear - you're going to love this experience.

It's a shame that this had to be made by EA. Massive story content is locked behind co-op (Good luck getting that to work unless you have a friend you can coerce into playing through this game with you), in-game resources are soft-locked behind paywalls, and scummy microtransactions try to seep their way into the game with the "Real" ending to the experience lying in a co-op only escapade. EA fluffed this game up with an impossible budget, mismanaged it, destroyed the IP, and then murdered the studio - leaving this shell of DLC addled content to bring in scraps for the following years. It's a sad thing, but if you want the complete experience, you're going to need to cough up a bit more dough for the DLCs.

It has its faults that bring it down: It is unfocused, it overstays its welcome, the combat is far from dynamic, the story is direct-to-VHS levels of bad, the levels can be bland and uninteresting, the pacing is all over, content is locked behind walls, it can get same-ish very quickly, mechanics are introduced and then discarded. It's a mess.

Yet, I've put 40 hours into the game on this computer alone, and have about 60 more hours playing this on the XBOX. I've been running through these levels for nearly 100 hours over the past ten years! It's so easy to not just pick up and play the story out, but it's a novelty to return to your run after many weeks or months to blast away some alien zombies and galavant along this crazy adventure for a few hours. It's a trusty piece of action pie that won't bring home any blue ribbons, but is a satisfying break from the monotony of other experiences. It demands so little, but gives enough to earn its keep. Yeah, the story might be trash, but loading in and dismembering necromorphs, killing bosses, and continuing the hunt for new weapon combinations will always be worth a few hours of fun every year.

It's like the kid that comes home crying about their score on a test, and so you expect an F, D, or even a C - but they show you that they have a B-. It's not great - it's not even a B, but it's not a score to be upset over - lots of people try their best and never even get a C! It's not excellent or astounding by any means, but is more than capable and above average by a mile.

Pro Tip:
Have a force gun weapon with flame glazing - it takes care of the tiny monsters without an issue.
Also, the greatest weapon in the game is what I call "Sodom" - Double barrel shotgun on top and a (precision) sniper rifle below - souped up with damage with Acid Coating. This baby will get you through any combat situation like a hot knife through butter. Give it a shot.

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6.5/10
Dead Space 3 is a Well Made game.
It's a fun adventure with some solid action - but pales in the shadow of its own potential. Like a soldier equipped with armor and weapons two sizes too large - it is an unwieldy and unfit experience for what is truly is and ought to be, but doesn't detract from the quality of its armament too heartily.
A warrior trapped in a shell of misfitted armor will still outlive those without such things.
A trooper with loaded weaponry too bulky to be wielded with proficiency is still lethal.
There is no questioning if Dead Space 3 is effective, only the tragedy of its poorly equipped and ironically awkward employment of the elements within.

Good and enjoyable Game , that sadly is the weakest game in the series due to unnecessary changes to the formula, content being locked off by co-op and the unneeded and unwanted micro transaction, glad i waited for a sale to buy this

A lot of people said that the game is one of the worst in the franchise because it has less horror and scares like Dead Space 1 and 2, for me this game is one of the best I've played, I will definitely play the new game+ because it was worth every minute , it was really fun, I hope they release Dead Space 4!

худшая игра в которую я играл в своей жизни

I'd rather ♥♥♥♥ in my hands and clap before playing this hot garbage again. I have endured brain damage and my IQ has dipped into the negatives trying to understand some of the absolutely brain dead design choices. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥ last entry into what was the pioneer of modern survival horror.

w

Very very good game

I did love the game and would recommend it to the fans as a good story continuation. There were cool new bosses and monsters and I was satisfied with the plot. But to my disappointment, it is not a horror game anymore. And frankly at some point I was fed up with the constant amount of enemies swarming at me, the fights became a bit of an annoying routine and I just thought - when it's gonna finish already? There was constantly something going on, didn't have any break. In summary, too much action and enemies.

EA messed up by not making dead space 4!

very scary good game