Preview: Dead Space 3

Today, thanks to Speeder, I got to play through the Dead Space 3 demo on the XBox 360.. I freaking love the first two games, so you can imagine my anticipation for this third installment set to hit stores around February 5th. If you've never played the Dead Space games before, picture Alien but with LOTS of zombie-like aliens. These games are downright frightening but I absolutely love them for it. I highly suggest playing through them before playing Dead Space 3 as all the games have a great ongoing storyline. 
The demo was pretty basic. It didn't give away much as far as what this installment plans for the progression of the story, but it did show a few new details to the game. It opens with a scene of Isaac Clarke (the main character of the series) waking up in a crash site upon a snowy planet. You quickly find yourself wandering in a blizzard to find shelter with little more than your plasma cutter and RIG suit. You continue to wander and encounter Necromorphs, a large necromorph creature, and new human adversaries. You also get to see the new version of the work bench and the new weapon crafting system. That's right, you can now construct customized weapons with parts you find. The system seems a little confusing right now, but I have a feeling that it will become clearer in the full version of the game. I hope this is true because there is a lot of potential for this system to be great and really useful, or overly complicated and frustrating.You can also still upgrade your suits and weapons like in the previous games.
The enemies and controls seem about the same as before. The necromorphs move and pop out of nowhere the same way as they have before: when you least expect it. I'm sure that there have been upgrades to the AI and the boss fights, but it's hard to tell with just this tidbit of game play. The controls are just how I remember them. Everything is assigned to the same buttons as the previous games, so I barely needed to read the little hints that kept popping up.Some may disagree with me, but I find it nice to already know the controls to a game. It is a good and easy way to tie a game series together and make it easier on gamers who want to play all the games in the series. 

All in all, I am very excited for this next installment of the Dead Space series. I love the scares and disturbing imagery the past games have given me, and the storyline compels me to keep playing them despite how creeped out I become. Hopefully, Dead Space 3 will live up to it's predecessors. And on a side note, now I must go off and play them again. With the lights out.