Recently, Fango was lucky enough to have the opportunity to play a several-minute demo of the highly anticipated DEAD SPACE 3, the newest in the immensely popular series of third-person horror/action adventures from Visceral Games and Electronic Arts. Read on for a report and to view the latest trailer.

The game’s hero, Isaac Clarke, has trekked on a journey through space to find the source of the Necromorph outbreak. (For those unfamiliar with the DEAD SPACE saga, Necromorphs are essentially bloodthirsty alien-zombies.) The third chapter transplants Isaac to new terrain: a deadly, icy foreign planet.

The fundamentals of this game stay true to its predecessors; strategic dismemberment of the Necromorphs is key, and Isaac must maximize his skills as an engineer in order to survive. Puzzle-solving still plays a large role in DEAD SPACE 3 (this was demonstrated in the demo when a code had to be broken in order to unlock a transmission in the spaceship). Beta paths are still a crucial element as well, which will lead to more exploration than before, as does a new feature: the ability to go out and explore space and the derelict ships left in the environment. One of the major changes in DEAD SPACE 3 is the new co-op mode, which opens up a world of fresh elements and stories, resulting in different gameplay whether you choose to play with others or in the traditional single-player mode.

The graphics are of astonishing quality—quick, seamless and smooth, and the Necromorphs are as vile and terrifying as ever. Most importantly, DEAD SPACE 3 is challenging and goretastic (the signature Visceral brand of blood and violence does not disappoint), and succeeded in keeping me on the edge of my seat throughout the demo. I had heard concerns that this installment would be more action-oriented and less rooted in horror, but I was assured this will not be the case. Visceral hopes that DEAD SPACE 3 will open a new audience up to the game and succeed in pleasing the old fans as well; hopefully, as with the differentiation from the original to DEAD SPACE 2, the game will be improved upon, but not changed too drastically—and from what I saw, this looks like it will be the case. And in any case, the core of the game remains the same: Isaac vs. the plague against humanity.

DEAD SPACE 3 arrives February 5, 2013 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

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