What?

Continuation of the adventures of the space engineer

Where?

USA, Redwood, Electronic Arts headquarters

Let me start a little from afar. The second half of May and all of June for me, as for so many players, passed under the devilish banner Diablo 3. There was such a situation that a comrade, with whom it was planned to play in cooperative mode, quickly rose far ahead and the game for this reason did not allow him to join him. So I had to play either alone, or in the company of completely strangers from different parts of the world.

At this moment, words said in memory clearly broke out a week earlier than Steve Paputsis, the general director of Visceral Games, at the presentation of Dead Space 3 in California: “There will be no stupid restrictions in our game for those who want to play together”.

To necromorph I am friends

Yes, the main news from the announcement of Dead Space 3 is that this is no longer a single game. More precisely, not only single. But by this moment we will return a little later. In the meantime, the bad news for ardent fans of the original game: Dead Space 3 – No more horror!

The displacement of accents from cosmic horrors on the action was already noticeable in the second part, which, by the way, in all other parameters turned out on the head better. Starting the story of the third ore of the misfortunes of Isaac Clark, Steve Paputsis repeatedly repeated twice: Dead Space 3 by genre – this is an action. Of course, ten minutes later he tried to assure everyone that the branded, chilling blood atmosphere of horror would not go anywhere and that on a par with the episodes shown to us in the game will not be locked in close dark spaces in private with predatory creatures. Perhaps all this really and Steve did not cunning a drop – we will not guess. But the emphasis during the presentation was clearly placed on action, and for the entire time of the twenty-minute demo version nothing happened at least any terrible.

[[Bullet]] What is the game remains true to itself is in the number of animations of the deaths of Isaac Clark: the hero will break, pierce and decature in dozens of different ways.

In fact, it seems to us personally that it simply could not be otherwise. The theme of space horrors has completely exhausted itself in the previous parts of the game, and there was no sense in stamping on the spot. The Dead Space universe is growing, more and more heroes appear in it, and it becomes very closely in the narrow corridors of space stations.

Feeling this, the developers are trying to significantly expand the geography of the adventures of Isaac Clark. Early rumors were confirmed that part of the action will take place on the Snow Planet Tau Volantis, where Isaac in the company with Ellie (from the second game, remember?) bursts directly from space at the beginning of the second act. The girl, of course, disappears somewhere, and Clark discovers herself in limbo among the fragments of cosmic shuttle.

[Bullet]] developers promise a new system of upgrades of weapons, which without unnecessary modesty is called “unique and innovative”. But what is so unique and innovative, they do not tell.

Judging by the familiar sensor of health on the back, when planting, the body pretty bathed, and Isaac spends the first few minutes on murmuring, recovering and exploring the situation. The situation is not very: the snow storm rages on the planet, the snowstorm hides everything that is beyond the hero’s own nose from the gaze, and literally after fifty steps it turns out that necromorphs also live here – disgusting creatures whose purpose is to kill people and instill in their bodies.

I will go out without fright

One glance at Tau Wolatis is enough for uncomfortable questions to get in mind. Comparisons with Lost Planet , Snow Joke from Capcom , It is impossible to avoid with all the desire. There are too many coincidences: in addition to a similar setting, there are even giant insect -shaped creatures, the weaknesses of which are illuminated by orange color.

Nevertheless, at least external similarities are still completely different in the spirit of the game, and this is unlikely to become a big problem. The planet turned out to be rather gloomy, and in the dark (it is planned and such) it will probably be truly terribly. But the most important thing is that Steve clearly says that Tau Volantis is only one of the many locations of the game. There will be familiar cosmic adventures, and a lot more, which developers still prefer to keep silent.

[Bullet]] For those who, due to moving to the planet, worrying about one of the business cards of the game – flights in zones with zero gravity – we quote this screenshot.

However, they are talking about one extremely entertaining thing now: the world will become more open that for Dead Space it sounds extremely unusual – we are all used to the corridor of the game over the past years. For those who do not want to go beyond, in principle, nothing will change: they will be able to still go along the ruler from the beginning to the final. But fans of exploring the situation are promised a lot of tasty – from intriguing text and audio recordings to whole optional locations full of necromorphs, valuable objects and even new plot details.

In demo, however, all this did not have. As already mentioned, she completely focused on action. Steve during the presentation more than once mentioned the desire to make a cinematic game, promising at the same time that epic or simply spectacular moments like a scene with a train from Dead Space 2 in a third part will become many times more. It looks like the truth: in twenty minutes on the screen of such moments, there were already four.

[[Bullet]] If you leave Clark without movement in the cold, it will gradually begin to be covered with a layer of snow. Sadists will probably check whether the hero can turn into a snowman.

At first, Isaac almost got into the abyss because of the snowstorm, but in time he managed to cling to the bulldozer and, like Nathan Drake, got out of the cabin on hard soil (the climbing was accompanied by QTE). Then a huge spider with tentacles, who had to urgently had to amputate, attacked the unfortunate engineer. Five minutes later, Clark was already fighting with a giant disco, which in fact turned out to be some kind of cunning infuriated drill. He spun terribly and scattered sheaves of sparks, and Isaac froze him stasis and shot him with a nucleus hidden behind the spinning plates. Finally, after a short time, a mantis of the praying person crawled out of the snow from somewhere in the snow, and our hero only managed to say: “Yes, you, your mother, are mocking!"

In between fights with bosses and mini-bosses, something interesting happened. For the first time in the series, not only necromorphs will be opposed to us, the tactics of the battle with which have not changed a drop (recall that they do not die from line in the chest, but only after strategic cutting off heads, legs, paws, tentacles and other protruding parts of the body), but and other people (unitologists who have made affairs in the previous parts). They, by the way, can also be strategically dissected, but exclusively for the sake of pleasure, and not for practical purposes.

[Bullet]] If not for colored flasks on the backs, it would be impossible to say right away that this screenshot is from Dead Space.

When people-doctors enter the stage, Dead Space 3 turns into a hundred percent action with shelters that added for such a thing. True, shelters work a little differently that we are used to it: when the button is pressed, the hero does not stick his back to the box, but sits on the karachka and retains maneuverability, standing a little with squat to shoot his head for the next fanatical unit. Thanks to this, Isaek remains mobile and does not lose a share of a second to drop off the shelter and call a scoundrel with his fist, who went to hand -to -hand. Trifle, but how did she annoy the same GEARS of WAR.

A logical continuation of shootings with people will be the confrontation of three sides at once: Isaac, necromorphs and unitologists. The necromorph is stupid: he does not distinguish between unitologists from other people, and therefore attacks everyone in a row. A small tactical nuance appears in the "triple" shootings. You can, say, help necromorphs a little reduce the number of superior enemy, and then deal with the remnants of enemy forces. The main thing is to shoot the larvae in time, which crawl out on the battlefield in search of fresh corpses, they are immediately infected and replenish the number of monsters, which can turn into great troubles for Isaac.

If I will be with a friend

The most interesting moment during the presentation happened when Clark was heroically torn to pieces by a huge spider with tentacles. After his death, the screen suddenly divided in two, and the second character joined the engineer to help defeat the raging arthropod. It was then that we approached the most important-cooperative regime. The role of a partner in this case is occupied by a certain John Carver – judging by one of the scenes shown in the demo, he has been familiar with Isaac for a long time, but this acquaintance was not very kind.

[[Bullet]] Unlike monsters, Isaac has no time to get a member of his mouth-he constantly shoots at someone, runs away from something and falls somewhere.

Well, coop and coop, what's so amazing? In the end, he is now in every second game. The amazing one is that the approach to the business of Visceral Games is somewhat different from the industry colleagues. Usually, after all? Or the game is sharpened for passing with living people (see. Left 4 Dead ), either offers separate cooperative missions (see., For example, Battlefield 3 ), or just allows you to pass yourself both alone and in a company with friends without any changes in the plot (see. GEARS of WAR 3 or the same Diablo 3).

Dead Space 3 is trying to bring the third option to a qualitatively new level: depending on whether you crumble necromomorphs in splendid isolation or together with a friend, the story told will change. Not dramatically, of course, but noticeable: some scenes can only happen in solitary mode, others only in cooperative.

[[Bullet]] You can already bet on bets: whether the girl will share the fate Nicole or not?

In the demo version showed to us, there was a characteristic moment: at first, Isaac stood up to some military fortress alone and found on its walls that very John Carver. John was very surprised at an unexpected meeting, but then necromorphs attacked the barricades, and the conversation ended urgently, not having time to really begin.

If you play together, then you will not find any carver on the walls of the fortress – he is here, next to you. Accordingly, this should not be. But a little later, a conversation in high tones already inside the fortress, which would not happen in a single game, will happen between Isaac and John.

And necromorph – without a friend

All this does not mean that you will definitely have to go through both modes to fully understand the story told. It will just be served under two different sauces. The main achievement of such an approach is that, it seems, in a century it will be possible to equalize the rights of a cooperative and single. None of them will be an appendage to another, everyone will be able to show something new.

[[Bullet]] on the occasion of a sharp cooling, Isaac put on an engineering space quilted jacket. With a fur collar.

They will exist in parallel, but at the same time, contrary to geometric laws, they will be able to cross. Remember that phrase of Steve Paputsis about stupid restrictions? There really will not be them in Dead Space 3, which will make the transition between the modes almost invisible. At any time, you can invite a friend to your game, even if he has not yet passed the plot as far as you are.

It will not be necessary to start individual saves, you do not need to leave the current game and create a new. It’s just that a partner is materialized next to you, the game script is immediately adjusted to the situation, and then you are moving together already along the cooperative plot branch. In the same way, and in the case when one player needs to go away: without any interruption of the process, he leaves, and you remain Richy Fox Casino and continue to survive alone. At the same time, a friend joins you with all those objects – weapons, ammunition, costumes – which his character has at the moment. And leaves with all that managed to get with you.

[[Bullet]] just infected people are still able to shoot from weapons. True, with the accuracy of a drunken sniper. The carver, by the way, is not shy and aiming at the most sore spot.

There will be no tasks specially invented for the coope Portal 2. But the mechanics of the game itself implies mutual assistance. Do not forget that Isaac has two high -tech toys – Stasis, which greatly slows down enemies and various mechanisms, and telekinesis, which allows manipulating objects at a distance. Cooperative scenarios loomed with themselves: one player freezes the monster stasis, the other cuts off his limbs; One triggers the generator by telekinesis, the other – meets enemies breaking into the open door; One removes an obstacle from the road, the other covers.

Having folded all together – a new place of action, new enemies, cooperative regime and action on action instead of horrors – we will get an extremely promising continuation of an excellent game. While the only claim that may arise to it is, in fact, the action. Fans of the previous parts (especially the first) may be indignant that they no longer want to scare them. But, firstly, it is not yet a fact that they will not scare at all: in the end, we saw only twenty minutes of the game. And secondly, remember the resident evil. By the fourth episode, he turned from a gloomy horror about a zombie into a not-so-terrible fighter with parasites. Which does not prevent the fourth part from being the best in the series. If the entire Dead Space 3 will be as cool as the small piece that we saw, the game awaits fate at least no worse.

We will wait?

Dead Space 3 moves from space to the planet, and the war with necromorphs acquires an unprecedented scope.