Dead Space 2 Review

Rarely does a Sequel come out that manages to improve upon everything that its predecessor did wrong and rarely does that Sequel manage to stay true to what also made its predecessor so loved in the first place. I’m happy to say that Dead Space 2 is the newest entry of sequels coming out this year that manages to live up to the first game in everyway.

For starters the controls and animations are more tight and faster. Issac Clark – Main Hero of Dead Space 1 and 2 is stronger and faster then he was before. The Stomp and Melee attacks are signs of this. One press of them and no more having to wait 2 seconds before he does the hits. He stomps and smacks and fast.

Even the Zero-G- Gravity Sections are now fun to play in instead of a boring section of you just jumping from point A to B. Here Issac can now freely fly around and the Player is allowed to explore and do as he pleases while still managing to aim and fire your weapons away. 

The Game has also gotten rid of the constant backtracking in Chapters that probably annoyed most players. No more having to go back and forth between a level. Now it’s a straight on experience. Getting from Point A to B and onwards. There are small sections where the Player can choose to backtrack like for example heading to the previous Save Point or the Store from where you buy your Health and Weapons and other Items from but other than that, the game is a liner journey.

Don’t feel upset or think of it as a negative point as the locations and set pieces are full of Cinematic Moments, Puzzles, Horror, Action and Story to ensure it doesn’t ever feel like a bore. There is always something in the next room and the Game does this well with the fact it has no Loading Screens whatsoever. From the moment the game starts you are thrown into utter terror and chaos and forced to flee and escape and think fast on your hands and eyes.

Of cause saying this game is absolutely a Terrifying Experience would be the understatement of the Year. Unlike Dead Space 1 which took place in dark metal corridors with no idea when or where the next enemy would pop out to scare you half to death, Dead Space 2 goes more in the direction of been Creepy and delivering Action Set-Pieces.

That’s not to say the Game isn’t scary. There are moments where the Player will feel fear and probably wet their pants from the amount of tension building around them but it is few and most of the jump scares are cheap and expected but still it delivers. To give you a better idea of what this game is like then an example would be this…

Dead Space 1 – Alien

Dead Space 2 – Aliens

Again, its not a bad thing. The game still stays true to what made the first game work. Blood, guts, fear, Space, and Survival Horror, blowing of enemy limbs to kill them. If one wants to truly experience Fear and Terror then my advice would be to start this game on the next Hardest Difficulty Setting and not Normal for a first playthrough.

All the Weapons from the first game make a return along with a few new ones and of cause new designs and looks of different Suits that you can wear. Upgrading System is the same as the last one. Find a Node and a Work Bench and get cracking. As a bit of advice, upgrading the Plasma Cutter should be the Weapon of your choice. Line Gun, Pulse Rifle and others such as the Flame Thrower can wait for later. Of cause there’ll be some weapons and Suits you’ll need to find during your journey through the Game’s new Setting The Sprawl before you can buy it and upgrade it.

The Sprawl offers plenty of interesting locations unlike the USG Ishismura which consisted of corridors majority of the time. Now you’re exploring public deserted places, a school of horror and even the Church of Unitology (Game’s version of Scientology or I like to think it is).

If one expects to run into civilians and fighting along security forces while trying to maintain the infection that is spreading through this giant Space Station then be sadly disappointed. This is not the case here.

The Game does start with you thrown into the beginning stages as the Sprawl goes into full chaos and you will at some points witness people running for their lives and getting butchered but this is only in the beginning of the First Chapter unfortunately.

After that you’re alone by yourself and a one man army. Not saying that’ll you’ll be a unstoppable force of nature. If you’re not careful you WILL be slaughtered in the most gruesome ways imaginable and that’s another FUN part of the game itself by watching the various death scenes that can occur to Issac and in a not so crazy way its fun to watch. Horrible yes…but still fun.

One Notable Death is with a new Gameplay Mechanic where sometimes a Window will explode or you’ll shoot it and all the air will start sucking out. You’re in Space after all…what’d you think happens when you open the door of a plane in the air?

In this case the same laws of psychics applies as you’ll slowly be dragged out along with any enemies in the area with you, which is a good killing method to use to get rid of them but of cause you’ll have to think fast and shoot the locking mechanism to seal the window section off. If however, you fail to shoot it you won’t fly out to your death, instead the Shutter will rise up with half your body on top of it and crush you into the wall and depending on how the death animation plays out, you’ll probably get cut to half or lose both your arms in a horrible, bloody fashion.

Honestly, if you’re of those psychos who enjoys watching a character get killed in the most horrible of ways, then you’ll be spending half the time dying instead of playing.

The story of Dead Space 2 takes place Three Years after the events of Dead Space and Dead Space Aftermath (The New Animated Sequel to Dead Space Downfall which serves as a Prequel to Dead Space 2. If you love psychologically horror, cartoon gore and tits then have a watch.)  and sees Isaac Clark woken up from Cryo Sleep after having been imprisoned for reasons which are later explained as the story progresses.

During his journey Isaac suffers from a form of Dementia which manifests itself as his Dead Girlfriend Nicole. The reason for Isaac been where he was in Dead Space 1 was because he was searching for her only to find out towards the end she had died.

Dead Space 2 begins with a Cut scene that takes place before the events of 1 and here it is explained that it was Isaac who convinced Nicole to take on the work place at the Space Ship Planet Cracker USG Ishismura. Therefore Isaac is pretty much responsible for getting his beloved killed in the first place and now is feeling guilt over his actions of having set her to her death and not having managed to save her. 

This guilt comes to hunt Isaac as you play through the game where at times Nicole will appear to taunt him and even attempt to kill you and just downright screwing around with the Player’s head in forms of Hallucinations. A clever plot and Gameplay device I might add.

And not only that, Isaac now talks and feels. Where in Dead Space 1 Isaac was just a mute person following orders and going around in circles, Isaac here now is fleshed out as a real character who feels scared and sad and voices his opinions and interacts with the other characters. Thankfully his character isn’t made out into someone who flips off one liners every scene but instead acts like a normal person who has been through hell and is experiencing that horror all over again and slowly going insane because of it.

Other characters of this game include Ellie who appears and acts as the new love interest and is by all means the female opposite of Isaac.

Then there’s Nolan Stross (Who appears in Dead Space Aftermath) and is the first proper character you’ll be introduced too. Stross is a man running away from a secret and is slowly as the game progresses turning into a raving lunatic. He is what Isaac might possibly become if he doesn’t manage to keep it together and accept his guilt and mistakes.

Others include Tiedemann who is the Director and Head of the Sprawl Space Station and also the Game’s Main Human Villain.

Last is Daina, the other female hottie who is responsible for getting Isaac out of Cryo and trying to save him from Sprawl’s Necromorph Infection and Tiedemann’s attempts to kill him.

The games main enemies the Necromorphs return with a vengeance. You have the same old Slashers, normal and big black along with the Leapers who return much faster and stronger then they were before along with the Pregnant fatty ones and highly aggressive new born baby Lurkers. If you played Dead Space 1 and still remember how to kill these violent bastards then the same thing applies here again. Shoot of the limbs and tentacles and you’ll be fine.

A new feature has also been added. You can now use Kinesis to grab sharp poles or tore off claws from the Alien Necromorphs and use them to kill them in one or two hits straight on by impaling them with it and if lucky they'll get pinned onto the wall and hang there. A true and wonderful sight to behold as well.

And again, if you’re one of those crazy sons of bitches, you’ll get a kick out of dismembering and impaling the dozen human corpses scattered throughout the game. Have you no shame? Respect the dead. (Between you and me, stomping them and hearing the bones crack is more rewarding.)

New Necromorphs include the Puker who pretty much does as its name describes it and pukes on its victims with a form of acid that acts as the enemies version of Isaac’s Stasis which will slow Isaac down and allow other Necromorphs to tear into him.

Then we have the STALKERS. And like the name suggests, that’s exactly what they do. They act like the Game’s version of Jurassic Park’s Velocoraptor.

One of the great things about this game is its sound effects in that you can hear the claws on walls the whispering of creatures in the dark. When the Stalkers appear you’ll hear their growls among the darkness or behind cover along with the sound of their clawed feet walking somewhere around you. Once a Stalker Peeks out a corner that is when it’ll attack and run straight at you.

If you attempt to chase and try and kill it, another Stalker will run around the opposite direction to attack you from the side. It’s a clever use of hunting and strategy that has been added to give these creatures a different feel of live then those of the other Necromorphs but sadly I wasn’t that impressed.

I pretty much lured the Stalkers to me while I had Isaac’s back face a corner with nothing be able to possibly attack from the back, above or the side and just waiting for them to rush towards me before using the Line Gun to dismember them. Good enemies but terrible AI. It’s too to go around it and doesn’t really feel much of a challenge once you know what the obvious thing to do is.

And then we have The Pack. The Pack are a group of Children Infected Necromorphs who attack in a horde. What surprised me with this enemy is the fact the Player is shooting children. Infected dead Children yes but still, the Developers managed to pull a hardcore move by going in this direction and that’s not the cake of it all.

There’s even Necromorph infected Babies. We had those in the first game but this time here, they’re making baby noises and crawling like a baby towards you before they explode. But what’s haunting about them is the fact that the only part that resembles human is their cute baby human heads/faces and that sort of image will hunt you forever. If you ever manage to look at a baby the same way again then you’ll probably the type of person that has seen worsen things in live or on the Internet to get that kind of image out of your head. (Cough2Girls1CupCough)

Other newer enemies also appear but that is pretty much the library list of Monsters you’ll be facing off against. As for Bosses…Well…that is one of the most disappointing factors of the game. There really aren’t any.

If you were expecting some sort of Boss Fights like those experiences in the first game then forget it. At times you’ll face off against giant like enemies like a Brute for example but those aren’t really bosses and if you’re hoping for a Hive Mind Battle like that of the end of Dead Space 1 then again, don’t even expect that.

If there was one disappointing aspect of this game it is its lack of Bosses and the lack of a Final Boss. There is one but not in the way you would expect and I personally was disappointed by it. The Ending on the other hand was fine and terrific as it was and it even made me smile at the way it was done. For those of you who never played Dead Space 1 then you won’t understand 2s Ending but I can say I was satisfied with it and await Dead Space 3 or in this case, the DLC (Down Loadable Content) that will be serve as a sequel to Extraction for anyone who is interested in knowing what happened to the characters in that. But back to the Final Boss…

How disappointed was I? Well it took me 1 minute or less to beat it. Yes that long. If you were a expecting a big epic battle to the death then it isn’t here but I will mention that towards the end of the game it gets harder and you’ll have moments where all those different types of enemies will appear at once and gang up on you making the final moments of the game extremely difficult and frustrating to get through.

And if that’s not bad enough then playing this game later on in Hardcore Mode will be and believe me when I say, the reason for calling the highest difficulty level Hardcore is reasonable. Hardcore Mode is unlocked after beating the game once. If you decide to play Hardcore you are basically treated to the basic standards of a higher difficultly setting.

Enemies are stronger and harder to kill, Isaac is weaker and health and ammo is less scattered around. All expected. HOWEVER…There is a twist. You can only SAVE THREE TIMES. No jokes. Only 3 times. You screw up once you’ll end up in the last place you saved and if you haven’t saved then you’re starting the whole game again from the beginning and this game takes about 10 hours to complete. If you attempt this mode, be warned, you’ll be up for a long time trying to complete this and you’re going to have to be perfect. In other words, if you’re looking for a challenge to prove your skills or to pass the time, Hardcore Mode is for you.

In conclusion Dead Space 2 offers a specticlaur ride from start to finish, the ride never ending or slowing down with a good enough plot to keep it together and enough action and scares to make you want to return to it over and over again and trying new and different things.

As for my thoughts on Multiplayer…I played it once and while it was interesting it isn’t something the main game focuses on. The game’s Single Player is the main highlight here. The Mulitplayer doesn’t offer anything special to what is already a fun and well polished and visual stunning game and Cinematic work of art.

Overall…9/10

If you don’t have this already get it. And if you own a PS3, get the Limited Edition as you’ll also be graced with a PS3 port version of Dead Space Extraction from the Wii.