Dead Space 2 Review

Title: Dead Space 2
Developer: Visceral Games
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Release Date: January 25, 2011
Rating: Mature
Platforms: PS3 | Xbox 360 | PC
Score: 9/10

In 2008 Isaac Clarke was an engineer on board the USG Kellion sent out to investigate a distress signal sent by the USG Ishimura during it's mining operation on the planet Aegis VII. Isaac and his fellow crew members quickly find out everyone was devoured and metamorphazised into killer necromorphs.  Isaac skillfuly destroyed the "Marker" a mysterious object responsible for creating the necromorph infestation.
He narrowally escaped.

Three years have passed and Isaac wakes up to chaos.  Awaken in a hospital on the "Sprawl" in Titan one of Saturn's moons.  You are quickly thrusted into survival mode while everyone in this metropolis is fighting the onslaught. The storyline starts out dynamically with Isaac actually having dialogue this time. He fights his inner demons while fighting the outer ones. This game is comparable to any high budget blockbuster movie.  Voice acting is well done. The pacing is well thought out and very fluid.  There are hardly if not at all any form of load times in between cut scenes or transitions within environments. There are puzzles involving zero gravity, hacking into electronic hardware, and your ability to use kenisis. Suspenseful and unnerving from the start. Seriously you do not get your first weapon for like an hour and there is shit getting wrecked by these monsters! Scarce inventory just adds to your worries. This game just never stops being scary and stressful throughout.

Isaac handles very well and is very responsive in the game as compared to the first installment. It's well needed when fighting off the crazy ass necromorphs.  There is also your handy standard issued military weapons and engineering tools turned weapons to help you. New weapons are introduced  such as the detonator and javelin.  The detonator mines explode once tripped and the javelin gun can either hang a necromorph on a wall or shot and have an electrical charge to destroy it. It is very fun and you seem very powerful at times with these weapons.  Impaling and dismembering necromorphs is enjoyable as ever. As much pain as you dish out there will be a plethora of necromorphs sending it back your way.  There are new additions to your enemy roster such as the pack and stalkers. The The pack are toddlers that come at you in big numbers.  They maybe weak but they unleash massive damage if they get a hold of you. The stalkers are very intelligent and very very fast.

The environments are varied and well executed. You go through shopping districts, apartments, nurseries, trains, and unitolgy churches. These places have great detail and depth to them. You see blood stains, fires, dead bodies, papers, chairs, and space equipment. The graphics are upgraded from the previous game.  This is accompanied with excellent sound.  There is this one scene where you're alone at a nursery and you hear babies moaning around you....... creeeeepy.

How great Dead Space 2 is there are still downsides to the game.  There are times when Isaac is tasked to do mundane objectives such as fix elevators, align solar arrays, and deactivate AI. Multiplayer is a bit bland. Four human teams are tasked to complete and objective and the necromorph players just need to stop them. Upgradeable appearance and weapons are the incentive. Just not a lot of depth to it. The negatives do not outweigh the positives in terms of replayability. Once finished you get to unlock 'New Game Plus' where you get to replay the story with your current inventory and modified weapons. There are even more upgradeable suits to be found. You also unlock 'Hard Core' mode that takes away your checkpoints and only lets you save three times during the entire campaign.

Dead Space 2 is not a giant leap from the first installment by not introducing anything new or innovative but what it did best in part one it is cranked up at full throttle for two.  It is a polished well made game that is sure to be fun for shooter and horror fans.

Here is a YouTube video created by GamerSpawn describing the influences movies had on the series.