You'll know what you're in for if you've played the previous two games. If you can say anything about Dead Space 3 i'ts that it knows what it is. The co-op was a huge selling point for me and I wound up loving the weapon crafting system. It's worthy to take a look at.
The long:
Isaac Clarke is back. The tenacious-as-all-hell Engineer who had his life torn apart (sometimes literally) back in the first Dead Space is somehow how still kicking and yet again finds himself having to fight necromorphs while setting the new standard of bladder control under terrifying circumstances.
While I did enjoy the story, and I think any fans of the previous games will as well, I don't want to reveal too much. There's loads of Let's Plays out there for anyone who wants to watch the game without playing it themselves, however it is quite the experience.
New to this game is crafting your own weapons. As opposed to finding items that unlock things from a skill tree-esque upgrade path players can change out the parts to the weapons to alter a weapons specs. These parts also determine whether or not you will craft a shotgun that fires spikes or a gatling gun that fires spikes and etc. Along with the weapon parts there are also upgrade circuits you can find and attach to your weapons that add simple stats such as +1 Firing Speed, Damage, Clip or Reload.
While some may find this whole process a little too much compared to simply purchasing guns and upgrading them like the previous games I found the whole weapon construction rather enjoyable. My main playthrough was in co-op with a friend and it was really interesting to see the crazy weapons that we could create. I should note that we never wound up with exactly similar weapon styles so it also helped vary things in the gameplay for both of us.
Included with the crafting is packs that you can buy with microsoft points on the xbox version (not sure how it works on PS3) or ration packs that you find when you deploy scavenger bots or you can find in secret rooms. These packs give things from simple materials to powered up weapon parts. Think what you will of EA for this, I'm just glad they gave us a way to get them without paying money.
I should also note that the actual crafting process is rather fun too, although a little time consuming. At one point in the game I was at a bench for over 40 minutes trying to build the perfect weapon. While it may take some trial and error to find what weapon is really your style, when it finally clicked it felt great and I knew I had a tool that would help me make it through any horrifying situation that would be waiting in the next room. And there are plenty of horrifying situations.
The gameplay is rather standard for a Dead Space game at this point. Obtaining and conserving resources is a large part because even on normal enemies hit hard. The one huge change is the addition of cooperative gameplay. This was the big selling point to myself as I will always take co-op over singleplayer if I can help it. What parts I did play through on singleplayer still gave me a good, albeit different, experience than when I played through it on co-op.
When playing co-op Isaac has a soldier named John Carver, who has his own reasons to want to destroy the markers, fighting with him side by side. The addition of another player and character actually has an effect on the story of the game, while not a huge ones, and there are a few side objectives that can only be completed in co-op.
Overall I rather enjoyed the game. While I was on the fence about the crafting system in the beginning it really grew on me. I knew the co-op would be a huge selling point to me and I really don't think I would have bought the game if I didn't have a friend to play it with. If you are at least curious I would suggest renting it. I'm not exactly sure how much replayability I'll get out of this, I know I at least have to more run-troughs I'm gonna make in an attempt to 100% the collectables.
The bottom line is that you'll win if you have friendship. And guns. Lots of guns.
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