Review Category: Games

Review: Relic / Designer: John Goodenough / Publisher: Fantasy Flight / Release Date: Out Now

Relic is an adventure board game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, which is a space fantasy setting where everyone in the galaxy is angry about something and war is constant and inevitable. Imagine the Dark Ages, but with power armour and spaceships, but also plenty of ignorance and misery. Relic is broadly based on the classic board game Talisman, and superficially bears a resemblance to more traditional products such as Monopoly or Snakes and Ladders.

Appearances are deceiving. Though the core of the game seems simple (roll dice and get to the middle of the board), there is of course more to it than that. Players select one of ten possible characters, and each has its own unique abilities; the space marine is strong but unsubtle, the sniper hits hard and fast, the assassin has plenty of tricks, etc. Each character comes with a rather nicely sculpted playing piece, and the components for the entire game are of a high quality, with the board being attractively illustrated and on heavy card, and the other components being reasonably sturdy.

Various cards and counters are used to regulate each player’s actions and give each character a series of tasks. These have to be completed in order to reach the centre, but this is all handled in a fluid way. Mission cards encourage the players to do certain actions (such as draw encounter cards and fight monsters, or try to get to certain parts of the board), and players can also employ strategies to foil and slow down fellow gamers. Unlike the original Talisman game you can’t directly attack other characters; this is a good thing, as it would otherwise slow down the game. The fun does not necessarily end once you’ve gotten to the centre; different scenarios are possible, such as killing a demon or foiling an evil plot. Like its cousin, this is a game that is clearly meant to be expanded upon in future, and it will be interesting to see what they do with it next.

Play is fun and straightforward, but it is a dense game and it will take about 3 or 4 hours to reach the end. It’s one of those games that once you’ve played once, the rules seem pretty easy, and it’s familiar enough to most people to work as a regular board game, and can be used as a way to gently introduce the idea role-playing games to non-gamers. If you’re a fan of Talisman, or you’re after a game that will introduce people to the Warhammer 40,000 franchise, this is a great addition to your gaming shelf. Those looking for a long and engaging game to fit into an evening’s play will find Relic to be a regular choice, though it will be the only game you get to play that night.

Review: The Walking Dead / Developer: Telltale Games / Publisher: Telltale Games / Format: PS3, Xbox, PC / Out Now

Leave it to the Walking Dead franchise to bring an adult gamer to tears. Be it the soul-destroyingly depressing comic books or increasingly miserable television series, the adventures of Rick Grimes and friends have always been harrowing stuff. Yet for all the blunt trauma of the comics and the quieter gloom of the TV show, it’s this colourful videogame which emerges the most emotionally affecting.

Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead has been available to play via download for some time now, its five episodes gradually rationed out over several months. Now the whole bloody, tumultuous affair has been collected to disc, available for offline gamers and more casual fans to pick up and dip straight into. The Walking Dead introduces us to convicted murderer Lee Everett, being shipped to jail on that fateful day of the zombie outbreak. The cop car crashes, Everett escapes and takes refuge in a nearby house, where he encounters a little girl named Clementine. Her parents lost in a world which suddenly seems much bigger than before, she clings to Lee as her new babysitter. For that’s what The Walking Dead videogame effectively is – a babysitting/parenting simulator. Oh god, the responsibility!

Where Telltale Games will put a lot of people off is in its being a glorified point-and-click adventure. From a storytelling perspective – in terms of things happening – it’s incredibly linear. The most control the player has over Lee is choosing his dialogue and wandering around in search of key treasures. This is no free-roaming land of the dead, more a cross between Heavy Rain and the old PS1 game Atlantis: The Lost Tales. The lack of interactivity will lose the game a lot of fans. There are far too many lulls in the action (which is excellent, when it does arrive) in which you’re required to drag Lee around (the man walks slower than a zombie) looking in boxes, trying to fix whichever van/train/fence/boat/weapon the group needs at the time. Your fellow survivors are no help either. It’s little wonder you’ll wind up resenting stupid lazy Kenny and his awful plan.

Where it will win even more fans, however, is the story. Ambitious, incredible and heartbreaking, it tells a stunningly touching story about the friendship between a man and the child he’s sworn to protect. In keeping Clementine safe, you’ll be asked to make a series of very difficult decisions. Do you steal food from a car you find in the woods? Which survivor will you save from certain death? Can you kill that bite victim before he changes and comes for you? And please, please can we get rid of Kenny and his horrible son, Duck? While the story is largely very fixed, character interaction isn’t. How you speak and act towards other people will dictate their attitude towards you. So when you need a little support in the game’s later stages, their helping will depend on how good you’ve been towards them. Even worse, Clementine’s opinion of you will change over the course of the game. If you disappoint her, she will let you know. I’ve never felt so awful as that time I made Clementine cry because of my crappy babysitting.

Like the comic books, it’s properly shocking at times. To spoil the game’s twists would be a crime, but rest assured that the comics’ abrupt character deaths, mutilation and revelations remain intact. As a story or interactive comic book, it’s astounding. As an actual game, it’s lacking.

If it’s proper zombie killing action you’ve after, you’d be better off with such games as Resident Evil, Dead Rising or The Walking Dead: Survival. Admittedly, the latter is a terrible game, but at least it doesn’t force you to deal with things like consequences or emotional attachment. Better that than the heartbreaking glut of emotion that is The Walking Dead. Aw no, Clem! Please don’t cry! I’m sorry!

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Developer: Techland / Publisher: Deep Silver / Format: Xbox 360, PS3, PC / Release date: April 26th 

Dead Island was something of an underground hit when it was released in late 2011, its gore-filled beach party massacre-themed trailers capturing the imaginations of gamers around the world. Thanks to the masterful hype surrounding the game, preorders went through the roof and it was almost impossible to get hold of a copy for the first couple of months after its release. Escaping the zombie-infested island paradise of Banoi wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, however, with a catalogue of gameplay and technical issues leading to disappointment for many players. Dead Island: Riptide promises to right the wrongs of its predecessor, and finally deliver the game that many had hoped the original would be. 

Described as a spin-off rather than a sequel, Riptide’s story begins directly after the events of the original game. Having escaped the island of Banoi by helicopter, the group finds assistance in the form of an aircraft carrier. Soon after they land on the carrier, things take a nasty turn when a badly-timed monsoon arrives, bringing with it the virus that had infected the inhabitants of Banoi. Forced to destroy the ship in order to save themselves, our survivors are eventually washed up on the flooded island of Palanai (there’s just been a monsoon, remember) where they discover Banoi wasn’t the only island filled with danger…

With this being a spinoff, all of the main characters from the first game return (plus a new extra one is also available for good measure) and the option is there to import your character from a previous Dead Island save. It’s worth noting that only basic character information is carried over and none of your old weapons will be imported, so if you want to use an old high-level character then the enemies in Riptide will be of an equally high level right from the start. Without your arsenal of weapons you’ll need to be prepared for some chaotic battles while you’re hunting around for some new equipment.

The first few hours of Riptide will be familiar to anyone who played the original. Startlingly familiar, in fact – Palanai looks almost identical to Banoi, right down to the same abandoned piles of lootable suitcases littering the campsites and courtyards. Gameplay hasn’t changed too much either – survivors still gather in safe zones which act as hub areas where you can trade items and accept missions, with a variety of main and side quests to keep you entertained. Now and again you’ll be asked to defend these safe zones from a mass zombie onslaught, in a scaled-down tribute to Gears Of War‘s popular Horde mode.

Weapon customisation also makes a welcome return, with workbenches offering the opportunity to repair and upgrade your current equipment (weapons wear down and eventually break with use so you’ll need to keep hold of some cash in order to maintain your favourites) or craft new implements of zombie-dismembering mayhem using parts found while scavenging the environment. 

After a while we’re introduced to some new enemies and locations, and Riptide starts feeling a bit more substantial. By the time you reach the underground tunnels (roughly halfway into the game) the combination of more destructive weapons and your own choices of skill upgrades will make you feel like the baddest mutant murderer around. Four-player online co-op is supported, and almost encouraged – with no option to change the game’s often ruthless difficulty level, there are times when you’ll find yourself almost begging for someone to come and help you out.

There are a couple of downsides, however – some of the bugs and glitches from Dead Island have unfortunately returned (blame it on the virus – if Banoi had it then I guess there’s no reason Palanai should be any different) with floating trees suddenly falling to the ground for no reason, occasionally fussy controls, and weapons infuriatingly disappearing without a trace. If you’ve taken a liking to your high voltage Chinese war sword, whatever you do don’t use it as a projectile weapon because you might not get it back! If you can look past its flaws though, Riptide is a highly enjoyable continuation of the series. We all like to shoot, slash, and punch our way through vast swathes of zombies once in a while, and if that’s what you’re in the mood for then this one is well worth investigating.

Review: Injustice – Gods Among Us / Format: PS3, Xbox / Developer: NetherRealm Studios / Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment / Release Date: Out Now 

At last, an ambition, realised: should you so wish, you too can unleash the bubbling, long-held resentment of (a) King Arthur to punch your way through the DC Universe, battering everyone from Superman to Solomon Grundy (who invited him to the party?) into submission. Who’s laughing now, Robot Chicken? Or, should you be the other way inclined, you’ve your pick of DC characters with which to beat poor Aquaman all around town. You can even punch him into space, if you so wish. Poor guy just can’t catch a break. 

And yet, laughing stock as he may be, Aquaman does have one of the only decent costumes in the whole game. And a shark. The Justice League’s tailor must have been having an off day, since no one else quite looks like themselves. Certainly not Batman or Superman, whose elegant, streamlined costumes have been turned into jagged, ugly suits of armour. Poor Superman looks horrendous in the opening cut-scene, and his (super)pals aren’t in much better shape either. It’s a wonder The Flash can get any running done, wearing that get-up. Horrible looking from the get-go and with an apparently awful concept (what if your favourite Superheroes were all a bunch of bastards) Injustice seemed doomed from the start.

Thankfully, the gameplay more than makes up for its shortcomings. Based on the same engine as Mortal Kombat, the fighting is incredibly, almost unbelievably fun. The game will win over a lot of doubters before the tutorial is even over, as you jump straight into Batman’s (bat)boots, punch Superman through a wall into the depths of the Batcave, then punch him into an elevator and punch him all the way back up again. Then, in a break from all the punching, knee poor Kal-El in the face and run him over with your Batmobile. Befitting this iconic group of characters, the fighting feels beautifully fluid and stupidly overpowered. Did we mention Superman’s literally punching his opponents into space, then punching them back down again?

Thankfully there is an excuse for all of this, no matter how flimsy it may be. In one of DC’s infinite universes, the Clown Prince of Crime has tricked Superman into murdering Lois Lane and a number of his friends. Once sober, this sends the Man of Steel into a murderous rampage, and Evil Superman is born. Other DC heroes are manipulated or bullied into joining his cause (if the whole Parallax incident taught us anything, it’s that a rampage is never far away) and soon the whole world is screwed. A freak accident transports the regular (ish) good guy Justice League to this topsy-turvy world, and the two teams collide. It’s a little like Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, except they’re all DC Universe characters. There are similarities to Kingdom Come too, although Alex Ross would never have designed a costume as ugly as these. Jim Lee, on the other hand…

One suspects, however, that those nasty new threads are but an excuse to sell us plenty of DLC. The first of it is already available, with Flashpoint costumes and an inevitable zombie mode. With such downloadable characters as Lobo already announced, you may want to invest in the Season Pass rather than picking them up one by one.

Like most beat em’ ups, the plot is secondary to the punching. They’ve tried, but none of it feels natural or well integrated. It generally consists of our badly characterised heroes wandering from one arena to another, encountering their alternate universe selves, and fighting until the player wins. Thankfully, that fighting is so enjoyable that the stupid plot just falls to the wayside. It’s still less dumb than Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe though, which is something. Aside from the story mode, there’s also a whole host of ‘battle’ scenarios, multiplayer games (including online) and some fun mini-missions in the ‘S.T.A.R. Labs’ game room. Here, you’ll take part in short fights and button-mashing minigames, taking in a few Easter Eggs along the way. A particular favourite is Aquaman’s Parappa the Rapper style game, in which he attempts to talk himself out of being eaten by a shark. His special move, by the way, is the best in the game. With references to Arkham City and The Dark Knight, along with lesser-known characters hiding in the background (Hugo Strange and the Martian Manhunter!) it’s packed full of nice touches and clever ideas. This extends to the voice acting, where Kevin Conroy can be found voicing Batman and Stephen Amell (from the TV series) playing Green Arrow. Richard Epcar is no Mark Hamill, but he does a good enough job, bringing something of the Caesar Romero to the role.

Injustice: Gods Among Us is incredible fun. Fans of superhero fighting games should pick it up as soon as possible. Everyone else should probably wait for a rental or price drop, but what could have been a repeat performance of Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects has become something more akin to the successes of Marvel vs Capcom 3 or Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe. You read that sentence about punching people into space and back, right? For that alone, Injustice is everything we could have hoped for from a DC superhero fighting game.

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Review: Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate / Developer: Capcom Production Studio / Publisher: Capcom / Platform: Nintendo Wii U / Release Date: Out Now

An expanded re-release of 2010’s Wii exclusive Monster Hunter Tri on the Wii, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is incredibly simple in theory. There’s an extremely basic storyline that acts as an excuse to drop you into Moga Village, the HUB world for the single player portion of the game. From there, you go out and scavenge for resources in different environments, combine them to make items, take on quests to slay or capture monsters, and then fashion yourself some fancy weapons and armour from their insides. Lather, rinse, repeat.

But when you actually start playing, you realise how daunting the game can be. There are 12 different weapon types, ranging from a sword and shield to a gigantic horn, 73 different monsters, and over well 100 hours of gameplay.

There’s no tutorial and there’s no hand holding, either. Unless you consult a guide, you’re not going to know what a monster is weak to or what type of damage it inflicts until you experiment. Your poisonous dual blades might be completely useless. Or, your armour may very well not protect you against the gigantic fire-breathing creature you’re up against, and you probably didn’t even know it could inflict fire damage to begin with. And each monster has its own attack pattern that you’re going to have to get familiar with if you have any desire to slay it.

Like we said, simple in theory. And that’s genuinely not even scratching the surface of how deep the gameplay of MH3U is. But we only have so much room.

Sure, it’s not as hard as something like Dark Souls, but MH3U is a mammoth beast in its own right. There’s easily well over 100 hours of gameplay, and that’s not including the free downloadable quests Capcom will be rolling out, or the optional quests in Port Tanzia that can be tackled either solo or through online multiplayer.

While MH3U is great fun alone, it becomes an absolute blast when you play with three other people; and thanks to the new patch, you can now team up with your hunters from across the pond. Like the single player Moga Village quests, there’s a ranking system in place. The harder the monster, the greater the rewards, and the higher rank you’ll need in order to tackle it.

Speaking of the new patch, you might be wondering why this review is going live now, a month after its release. Well, besides from offering cross-region multiplayer, the aforementioned patch also turns MH3U into one of the Wii U games that supports off-TV play. That makes it a huge game changer for consumers.

Off-TV play means that, yes, you can play the entire game on your Gamepad. The problem is, the only way to do so is by accessing a menu option once the game has loaded. When you save the game and return, it doesn’t remember you’re changed settings. Ergo, you can’t just launch the game straight on your Gamepad when you turn on your Wii U.

It’s a small complaint, but a valid one nonetheless. It makes one wonder what the point of adding the off-TV function was if you have to turn on the TV in the first place just to get it.

Still, MH3U is a great game. As long as you’re prepared to sacrifice hundreds of hours of your life, you should really pick it up. It’s the hardcore game that Wii U owners have been clamoring for.

It should be noted that the game is also available for the 3DS. It’s much like the console title, though it doesn’t offer any online play. If you have the choice, pick up the superior Wii U version, but 3DS owners will still be extremely happy and satisfied if it’s the only version they can get their hands on.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate’s addicting, deep, and rewarding gameplay earns it an…

Review: Injustice / Developer: NetherRealm Studios / Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment / Platforms: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch / Release Date: Out Now

Eager to unleash a stupidly dressed team of DC Universe superheroes and villains upon one another, but unwilling to wait for Injustice: Gods Among Us? Well have no fear, Injustice is already here, and it’s free. Sort of.

An iPad version of the game has been released, and is free to play from the app store now. It works on the iPhone too, after a lengthy install, but lags slightly and is somewhat buggy. It’s still very playable though. Opening with a tutorial in which you use Sinestro, The Flash and Solomon Grundy to beat up on Superman (one at a time, in a Tag Team sort of way) it works as a nice appetiser for Injustice itself. The costumes still look daft, but if the combat works as well on consoles, it should be playable enough.

The gameplay is a cross between Marvel War of Heroes and Arkham City Lockdown. You collect and build a roster of superheroes through winning battles and earning points, and fight by swiping and tapping at the screen. It’s unlikely that Superman – in whatever universe – would just take a beating from Flash as he does in the tutorial, but there are some nice touches. Solomon Grundy fighting with the blades buried in his back is pretty nifty, as is Deathstroke’s new design. Green Lantern looks a little too much like his Ryan Reynolds for our liking, though. You’ll take great pleasure in using Sinestro to give him a good kicking. The combat works well enough for an iPad game, although it does get repetitive quite quickly. Nightwing and The Flash are all fine and well, but it’s Batman and Superman that people are really clamouring to play as. Be prepared to put in the hours before you get to unlock yourself a full Justice League of superheroes. It’ll cost you 182,000 (in game) dollars for Batman, 220,000 for Supes. You’ll need a Bruce Wayne or Ollie Queen sized bank balance if you want the full set without any of the hard work. 

As with most free smartphone game purchases, the shop is its bread and butter. £1.49 will get you 12,000 and a bag of goodies, while £69.99 will net you 1,500,000. What was that saying, again, about the fool and his money? A part of me suspects that these in-game purchases will extend to Gods Among Us on consoles. Hate those horrible costumes your favourite heroes have been lumbered with? I’m sure NeatherRelm will be eager to sell you something more to your tastes. If only we could pay off Jim Lee and DC Comics so easily.

As a freebie, Injustice is fine. It offers briefly gratifying violence, nice graphics and, above all, a nice way to kill time until you can play the real thing. The real injustice is in not being able to pick up and kick arse as the Dark Knight straight away. Most will have given up long before the opportunity Rises.

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Review: Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory / Format: PS3 / Developer: Compile Heart-Idea Factory / Publisher: NIS America / Release Date: Out Now

When you think of the phrase “Japanese role-playing game” there are a couple of ideas that are guaranteed to spring to mind. Mainly girls of a questionable age with heaving bosoms bursting out of the skimpiest clothes known to mankind, and convoluted stories that may or may not make sense… Both are present and correct in our latest visit to Gamindustri, the setting for this third entry in the Hyperdimension Neptunia series.

Players visit several countries in the world of Gamindustri, each one loosely representing a different console and ruled by a leader known as a CPU. Series heroine Neptune, the previous CPU of Planeptune, has become lazy, preferring to sit around eating sweets and playing video games instead of concentrating on running her country, and her stats have reverted back to level 1. After encountering a rift in the space/time continuum, Neptune finds herself in an alternate-dimension 1989 Gamindustri where an outfit known as the Seven Sages is attempting to create a world without CPUs. It’s up to Neptune to rebuild her stats and save the country/world/dimension!

See what we mean about “convoluted stories that may or may not make sense”? Even though there’s a story here somewhere, it’s unfortunately buried among endless cakes and sweets-based banality. And it really is endless – the game even makes a point of reminding you how to scroll through the text faster. It’s a shame to miss out on the storyline, but there’s just too much pointless chatter to even consider sitting through the scenes at their intended pace.

After the opening cutscenes are out of the way, we’re dropped off at Planeptune’s point-and-click-style menu. There’s a shop, a “Basilicom” (where you can re-endure cutscenes at your leisure), and a Guild which is where you’ll accept quests. After accepting a quest, your destination will be displayed on your map, and a couple of clicks later you can finally start exploring the world. The turn-based combat is fun enough, with the ability to move around the battlefield before choosing your attacks being a welcome addition. The usual JRPG elements are all here, with teammates having various different abilities to support your own character’s attacks. Battles can be over extremely quickly though, with only bosses offering any real challenge. 

This seems to be a game with lofty ambitions, but it stumbles in its execution. JRPG fans will take pleasure from its quirky characters and turn-based gameplay, but a bit more actual play-time and less of the pointless “my energy comes from the curry I eat every day! Let’s be buddies!” chit-chat would surely increase the enjoyment factor. As it stands, aside from the occasional amusing reference to events from gaming’s history, it can probably only be recommended for hardcore fans of the genre. If you like this sort of thing though, it’s probably somewhere around a…

Review: Star Trek Deck Building Game – The Original Series / Designer: Alex Bykov / Publisher: Bandai / Release Date: Out Now 

As board games become more and more mainstream, it is inevitable that board gaming’s slightly awkward cousin the bespoke card game would also enjoy a revival. Luckily for us, the quality of such games has much improved since the pile of Magic: The Gathering clones that plagued hobby shops in the ’90s, and Star Trek Deck Building Game: The Original Series is part of the next generation (pun intended) that make adept use of their source material while also providing hours of fun for geeks. 

The starter set for Star Trek Deck Building Game: The Original Series is a huge box with enough cards for players to get going. Each player assembles a deck from the available cards, and the game is split into three distinct forms: Missions, Events and Battles. Both Missions and Battles allow the player to take on their opponents and make it harder for their foes to win. The aim of the game is to accrue 300 points before any of your opponents do. Events are essentially compulsory missions that have to be resolved, as failure tends to bring dire consequences. There are also a number of nifty little rules to help carry the game forward and prevent stagnation during play. 

The components are fairly straightforward: reasonably well-made cards that use photo-stills from the series. The rules on the cards are clear and understandable, and apart from the odd spelling mistake, entirely fit for purpose. The cards help evoke the atmosphere of the series, though gameplay is a little bit more random than one would hope from such a heavily story-driven source.

Star Trek Deck Building Game: The Original Series is sure to delight Trekkies and card-gamers alike, and though it can get bogged down in overly complex scenarios on occasion, it’s a very entertaining way of wasting about 90 minutes of your time.

Review: Star Trek HeroClix – Tactics / Designer: Paolo Mori / Publisher: NECA / Release Date: Out Now 

HeroClix has been around for over decade now. For those who’ve missed it, HeroClix is a miniature strategy game where most of the hard work has already been done for you. The models come pre-painted and the key rules are embedded into a click-wheel at the base of the model. The line is best known for its superhero ranges (the clue is in the name), so it is a bit odd that it’s diverged into spaceship combat for Star Trek HeroClix: Tactics. 

The four ship starter set features spacecraft from the Next Generation incarnation of the Star Trek universe. We get a Federation ship, a Dominion cruiser, a Klingon Bird of Prey and a Romulan Warbird. It also comes with maps, counters and a rather generic rulebook. Those familiar with the game will have no problem getting stuck in, but new players may find the rules slightly intimidating; they aren’t terribly complex, but there are a lot of them and no effort has been made to make the rules feel like any part of the Star Trek franchise. 

Each model comes with its own character card, summarising the relevant rules. Because the game has been designed with superheroes in mind, the names of some of the rules can be jarring. For example, the Klingon space ship’s cloaking device rules are listed as “Stay Cloaked (Super Senses)” Though the rules for Super Senses work very well as rules for a cloaking device, it still feels like not enough of an effort has been made to make this game feel unique.

However, it really works as a spaceship combat game. Though it’s not a patch on the more detailed strategy games on the market, it does play quickly and smoothly. The models are also very pretty and look quite nice on the mantelpiece, and combat resolution is swift and satisfying. It’s also sort of fun that you could (in theory) mix it up with the superhero range and pit Superman against the best of the Federation.

Review: Dead Space 3 / Developer: Visceral Games / Publisher: EA / Platforms: PC, PS3, 360 / Release Date: Out Now

The thinly veiled attack on Scientology that is the Dead Space series returns to put mining ship engineer, Isaac Clarke, through the necromorph mill for a third time. Clarke, the once unwitting, terrified everyman of the series is now the unwitting, severely pissed off everyman with pretty much nothing to lose. He’s hardly a gun-toting, musclebound, near indestructible grunt, the likes of which occupy many a triple A franchise these days, but Clarke’s attitude is reflected in the tone the series has now taken. The results are mixed and long time fans may baulk at the action heavy gameplay, but Dead Space 3 still has a few surprises tucked up the sleeve of its E.V.A. suit.

It’s an almost pointless endeavour at this stage to attempt to get you, the reader, up to speed with the convoluted goings on within the Dead Space universe. It would require a full page in itself. The CliffsNotes version, however, is as follows; It’s the 25th century and Earth’s resources are all but depleted.  The last hope for mankind lies in the planet-cracking, resource mining ship USG Ishimura. But during one mission the Ishimura hits a snag and sends out a distress signal. Isaac Clarke is sent out to see what the problem is. Cue abandoned mining ship, alien artifacts, mysterious ‘Markers’, necromorphs, the aforementioned L. Ron Hubbard dig with the ‘Church of Unitology’ and all manner of power tools, limb severing and old school, monster-closet scares.

The ongoing story itself is a mess. It’s needlessly complicated and only serves to illustrate how much the developers have had to pad it out for the sequels, since the first game became a sleeper hit. However, the story really isn’t what’s important here. What’s important in Dead Space is atmosphere and that is what the series has delivered in spades with each title.

Dead Space 3 ups the ante by bringing the majority of its campaign down to the beautiful, desolate, frozen planet of Tau Volantis. The first three hours or so take in the lunar colony where Clarke is taking solace, through to the spaceship graveyard flotilla above the planet. Fans of the previous two games will feel most at home here. Moving through each harrowing, eerily abandoned ship and Zero-G’ing  between each section as you orbit the planet recalls some of the best moments from the previous two entries. The pace, breathtaking visuals and almost ‘open world’ structure of these first few chapters make crashing down onto the icy wastes feel a little restricting. Tau Volantis certainly has its moments, and taking down all manner of alien and human necromorphs is as satisfying as ever. It’s just that, every so often, you’ll look to the stars and begin to respect what made Dead Space the franchise you fell in love with in the first place.

Dead Space 3 has not had an easy ride up to its release. Fans had already written it off when it was revealed that the campaign would feature co-op. Understandable really, since the sense of isolation is the signature of Dead Space and any attempt to shoehorn in a second character to ‘share the terror’ would surely dilute the experience. Then there’s the focus on action. Sure, Dead Space 2 had its fair share of setpieces, but these were merely garnish to the regular dish of dread and foreboding. But Dead Space 3 has these sequences by the bucketload, on top of (gasp) human enemies in the form of Unitology soldiers, a first for the franchise.

Let’s address the co-op feature first. It’s not an issue. Visceral Games had the foresight to sidestep any fan backlash by making it completely optional. There isn’t even an AI partner if you choose to take on the campaign solo (which is, of course, highly recommended for your first playthrough). Whilst the second character, Earth-Gov soldier Carver (Earth-Gov being the planet’s governing body), remains in the story and cutscenes, the solo experience has him move off in a different direction once gameplay resumes. There is the occasional jarring moment of having him appear over your shoulder in certain cinematic sequences, but the overall solo experience isn’t affected and Visceral must be commended for not taking the lazy route. And when you do decide to tackle co-op you’ll find it a pleasant surprise. It works. It’s not unlike having two full campaigns for the price of one.

The sections in which you fight the Unitology soldiers are, to put it bluntly, awful. It’s actually a testament to how brilliant the core gameplay mechanic of ‘strategic dismemberment’ still is. It simply does not work with cover-taking, weapon-toting  human AI. Thankfully, these sequences are few and brief and the vast majority of the campaign still revolves around dispatching all manner of disgusting, mutated necromorphs. Exactly how it should be.

The general consensus that Dead Space 3 had become a (*yawn*) Gears Of War clone is unfounded. The addition of Isaac being able to take cover boils down to having him crouch beside chest high walls. It’s hardly game changing and you’ll most likely never use it more than two, possibly three times throughout the entire campaign. As for his newfound acrobatics with rolling? It’s highly probable you won’t even realise he has this ability since the need to use it never arises. Ever.

What does work is, undoubtedly, Visceral’s sweetest addition to the franchise, weapon crafting. Doing away with the nodes and stores of the first two games, Dead Space 3’s upgrade system is based entirely on gathering resources. Searching out parts, materials and blueprints will, upon finding a Bench, enable you to craft any weapon of your choosing to suit your playstyle. Although confusing at first glance, the weapon crafting system will become your new best friend a few short hours into the campaign. Every weapon from the first two games, plus a few new additions, has been broken down into their component parts. This allows you to cobble together any weapon you desire. A Line Gun with a flame thrower attachment? This game has you covered. How about a trip-mine launcher coupled with a rip-blade? Oh yes. Throw in various add-ons such as coating projectiles in fire, acid or even stasis and you have a feature that never gets old, even after multiple playthroughs.

The optional side-missions scattered throughout the 19 chapters (three of which are co-op specific) are another pleasant surprise and offer up some of the creepiest moments in the game as well as expanding on what has, until now, been a generally linear franchise.

There’s much to love in Dead Space 3. It retains what has been so special about the series with regards to atmosphere, combat and the best HUD in gaming, whilst offering up something fresh with the crafting system and moving the story to terra firma. While not everything that happens on Tau Volantis is something to write home about and the story and mission design falls flat during a few of these chapters, it’s refreshing to see the developer tread new ground and not have a repeat experience on another abandoned spacecraft for the duration of the campaign. You also have New Game + and other, harsher modes that become available upon completion. The best of these is Pure Survival in which you have to craft everything, including med packs and weapon parts. A true test of resource management.

Is Dead Space 3 as disturbing as previous entries? No. But it’s still a tense affair, especially on harder difficulties. The story may simply be a means to an end at this stage, but the gameplay has always outshone the narrative and it will be impossible to deny you had fun seeing Isaac Clarke reach the end of this particular trilogy. And hey, if you don’t like it, well… there’s always Peng!