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EA and Visceral Games showed off the first footage of Dead Space 3 at the publisher's E3 2012 Press Conference earlier today. The game is set to release next February, with a co-op campaign.

As we previously reported, Dead Space 3's story will once again focus on series protagonist Issac Clarke, though this time he will be joined by Earthgov Sargent John Carver in the optional, co-op campaign. Carver was revealed through the graphic novel trailer released last week. The co-op will be drop-in/drop-out, and those who play solo will see different cutscenes. The game will take place on the ice planet Tau Volantis.

Ellie from Dead Space 2 will also return, and her character model seems to have undergone a few changes, though she's still played by the same voice actor. Her eye has also been fixed, with no signs of scarring -- that will most likely be explained at some point during the story.

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In an onstage demo, EA also gave a look at the game's long range combat. A cover system will not be making an appearance, however Issac can now do combat rolls and crouch behind objects to make him more effective when fighting human enemies. Issac was also seen wielding two weapons at the same time, a confirmation of the weapon mod system. How this will work was not shown, as the demo was focused on combat and co-op.

As the first screenshots confirmed, the Dead Space series is certainly starting to focus more on action than horror. While there was some skepticisim from fans over the changes, the game as a whole looks solid -- even if the banter between Issac and John could get annoying at times. It's understandable that EA would want to show some co-op gameplay, but hopefully we'll get to see some single player footage for those worried about the changes.

Dead Space 3 will release in February 2013 for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

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