Dead Space 3: Kind of Better With Kinect

I've got blood on my hands. The blood of my fallen partner. A pack of nearly a dozen necromorphs ambushed and surrounded us in a cave on Tau Volantis, the Hoth-like planet on which much of Dead Space 3 takes place. After perforating my assailants with a hail of automatic weapon fire, I rounded the corner to find my wingman huddled on the ground amid an angry flurry of alien tooth and claw. I hesitated for a moment, a moment he didn't have. The necros were treated to a gruesome feast, leaving me to bear the guilt of my indecision, alone.

So who's ready to talk about Kinect, huh?

Start yelling, "HELP HELP HELP HELP."

No, really...Dead Space 3's co-op now has Kinect support on Xbox 360, allowing you to trade supplies with your buddy without having to mess with menus. Just say “give medkit” to hand one over, or “request medkit” to let them know you need some healing of the non-sexual variety. You can even use voice commands to trigger your stasis abilities or quick heal too, but I didn't feel the need to use them. You know, because buttons. Still, the ability to call “help” to ping the mini-map with your location seemed like it could be helpful in a pinch. Maybe if the dude I was playing with had used it, he'd be a little less dead.

We eventually managed to survive the onslaught. By the power of co-operation, it whirred to life, shooting two grappling hooks straight up a long chasm above us. While we got our climb on, we hopped from one side of the chasm to the other, avoiding falling rocks while capping more multi-armed nasties. It all had a satisfying sense of weight to it, like everything should in a Dead Space game, but for better or worse, sequences like this scream “action-adventure” much louder than “survival horror.”

He's not so tough. Probably.

Speaking to IGN about the departure, Dead Space 3's Executive Producer Steve Papoutsis said, “I understand we need to have conventions, genres, and stereotypes because that's what people like to speak with, but we make Dead Space. We don't make survival-horror.”

It’s fair to say that genre purist who thinks Slender is the game of the year may not find Dead Space 3 be their cup of tea. But think of it this way: Dead Space 3 is to Dead Space 1 as Aliens was to Alien – a slice of sci-fi entertainment that uses suspense and set-pieces in equal measure. Uh, with Kinect.

IGN is running daily updates for Dead Space 3 until the holiday break -- look for trailers, reveals, interviews, and other updates each day.

Vincent Ingenito is a freelance writer living in the Bay Area. He's pretty good at fighting games. Beware, and follow him on Twitter.

Source : ign[dot]com