Dead Space 3 Demo Impressions: Dead Spac3

Dead Space was pretty rad. Dead Space 3 is gonna be even radder because it's got a 3 attached to the back of the name. That means it's three times as rad as the first game. Dead Spac3.

The demo isn't very scary because it's a demo with the difficulty turned down, like most demos usually are. It doesn't help that you have like a ton of weapons at your disposal so you're never in really any danger from getting killed by monsters who die in a couple of hits. Yes, a couple of hits is all it takes to kill a necromorph in the demo. Did I mention that demos are usually this easy? I wish they weren't, but hey. 

Necromorphs, in case you haven't played either of the first two games, are Dead Space's variation of zombies. Space zombies. It should take more than two hits to kill a necromorph like it did in the first and second games, and hopefully, the full game will be that difficult on normal difficulty. I'd be slightly disappointed if I had to turn up the difficulty just to make the game feel challenging again. 

I can imagine how much harder the game would be if the monsters took more than two hits to die, especially since they sprout legs once they're down. They sprout legs now so they'll get back up and try to kill you even after you've shot their legs out from under them. That's kind of creepy. Imagine if you ran out of ammo while that happened. That doesn't happen in the demo, but I'd expect it to in the full game. 

It doesn't really help the demo's case that you're given an unlimited supply of ammunition to play with. It's cool to experiment with the guns, but it doesn't do a really good job of showing off the game's scare factor. 

Unlike the first two games, which mainly took place in the dark and scary confines of a derelict spaceship and a space colony overrun by space zombies, respectively, Dead Space 3 takes place on an icy planet that harkens back to The Thing. As I mentioned in the previous paragraphs, the demo's ease makes it a lot less scary than it should be, but I can only imagine what it'd be like to wade through a blinding snowstorm in the full game while low on ammunition, as necromorphs have a startling tendency to rush at you from out of the storm. 

Happily, the demo has its share of dark holes which come in the form of icy pits and abandoned mining colonies so it's something you'll want to play with the lights off. 

The demo has all the elements to make it a scary ass game, and it's one I look forward to playing for real when the full game is out early next month.