In Dead Space 3 your buddy just might hear you scream

But just how much does bringing a friend along diminish the franchise's signature atmosphere?

E3 is never without it’s controversies and disappointments, and the news that Dead Space 3 will contain a drop-in/drop-out co-op mode in which you can buddy up with a friend to take on the necromorph horde had us scratching our heads and wondering just how EA and Visceral can still even call the game ‘Dead Space’, so distant is their latest from the claustrophobic survival horror that made the series so notable in the first place.

Gone are the darkened corridors and scarce ammo of the original, replaced by idle chit-chat and the open environment of the frozen planet which Isaac Clarke now finds himself on. The presence of armed humans on said planet means gun battles enter the series for the first time, so puncturing the atmosphere with needless shrapnel, while the demonstrated encounters with a variety of mega-necromorphs look impressive but deviate from the original’s intentions completely.

We’re fine with change, and the game looks entertaining enough (though we do question the necessity for the gratuitous gore which flips even our ironclad stomachs), but so dramatic is the change of pace that it’s the equivalent of the next Die Hard movie releasing as a romantic comedy. ‘Yippee-ki-yay, Darling!’