Dead Space 2 Review

First off I want to apologize for how long this review took to get out. It took a long time for two reasons. First, I've been busy as hell for the past few weeks. Second, (and this is primarily why I'm apologizing) I got a 4-disc set of Baldur's Gate and have been playing that when I haven't been busy. But here it is finally, my review of Visceral and EA's Dead Space 2.

When Dead Space was released back in 2008, it brought a franchise that anyone who played it could see enormous potential from. Hell, many people have as far to say that Dead Space is the new Resident Evil and Silent Hill (IN SPAAAACE).

Dead Space had great atmosphere, tight third-person shooting controls, and while cliche-ridden was incredibly fun to play. However, it also had some problems with its pacing and backtracking and the story (while good) wasn't quite well-written and aware enough to take your thoughts off the cliches or fully enjoy them.

So how does Dead Space 2 fair in comparison? Well let's get to the nitty-gritty.

STORY

Dead Space 2's story picks up three years after the conclusion of the original game with Isaac Clarke, the protagonist of the first game, in a mental facility on Sprawl a station built on a piece of the Saturn moon, Titan. He's experiencing psychological problems after the events of the first game primarily hallucinations.

In this game, Isaac is voiced whereas he was totally silent in the original. Suddenly voicing a protagonist can be a dangerous prospect. I mean just look at Metroid: Other M. Here though it works, and while Isaac may not have anywhere near the complexity of Solid Snake, Nathan Drake, or standard BioWare characters, it still makes him much more engaging and likable this time around.

The story itself kind of suffers the same faults of the first game. Cliches are used to the extreme which can make many of the plot elements easy to predict. There are a few surprises and seeing them is very refreshing. But, people who are well-versed in science-fiction plots will be able to see many of the twists coming.

In the end, the main draw of the story is the character of Isaac Clarke. He's a guy that you want to see succeed and the game puts him through such hell, that it will continue to drive you through the story to see how he'll make it out. While the story isn't incredibly original and it doesn't really hide that fact or make fun of it, it's still enjoyable.

Design and Gameplay

Compared to its predecessor, Dead Space 2 is definitely much more action-oriented and fast-paced. The backtracking and somewhat recycled environments from the first game have been almost completely eliminated. While there are still a few areas where the pacing slows down a bit, for the most part it's a much more tense game that will keep you on your toes.

The controls are essentially just the same as the first Dead Space but they feel much tighter. The game just has a looser feel (in a good way in that it doesn't feel as stiff). The biggest improvement are the Zero-Gravity rooms which were among the main complaints from reviews for the limited control in Zero-G environments. You now have almost total control and it is great and makes for a few interesting puzzles and enemy encounters.

Sprawl is really big and while there are problems with environment diversity, it's not bad enough to make you feel bored with the different environments. Chapter 10 threw a very cool twist in that could have made it into My Top 15 Memorable Moments if I had gotten there before I made the list.

The weapons in Dead Space 2 have been slightly tweaked to make each of them have their uses unlike the first game where you could entirely stick with the Plasma Cutter. And a few new weapons have been added as well, such as the seeker rifle, javelin gun and detonator. The detonator is particularly fun to use as traps, especially when those goddamn stalkers show up. SCREW...THOSE...JACKASSES. The achievement for surviving your first encounter with them is "Clever Girl", a shout-out to Jurassic Park and they fit that description. F*&K THEM!

Screw you, you blatant velociraptor shout-out. I HATE YOU!

The kinesis and stasis modules from the first game feel MUCH more important for combat this time. You can now pick up sharp objects and launch them at necromorphs to impale them on walls. The stasis module will be vital and save your life so many times when you use it correctly.

Speaking of which, this game feels much more difficult than the first game. You necessarily die as many times, but the frequency you'll die at certain parts is definitely much higher and you'll definitely be in danger of dying a lot more than the first one. I remember playing the first game and having an ENORMOUS abundant of items in my safe. Here I often found myself running low on ammo and extra items in that. This serves to up the tension quite a bit and it works well, even if it can get a little annoying at times.

And if you want to play on Hardcore mode, good f*&kin luck. No checkpoints (when you die you go back to your last save) and you can only save THREE TIMES! You'd have to be the most hardcore Dead Space fan EVER to try for that or have way too much time on your hands.

I finished the single-player on Normal in about 10 hours, but the New Game+ will make you want to go back and the different setpieces of the game are incredibly fun to playthrough.

The multiplayer was meh. Despite Visceral's claim that it's unique, it's basically just Left 4 Dead in TPS mode with objectives. It just wasn't that interesting. I played it for a few hours and just got bored with it. In the end, the reason to pick this game up, is the single-player.

Dead Space 2 is a game that makes small tweaks to the original design and not much more but that's not a bad thing in this case. A few new enemies, upped tension from difficulty, improved controls, and better pacing with no backtracking allow it to one-up its predecessor.

Graphics, Art, and Sound

When it comes to lighting, you will be hard-pressed to find better examples of great lighting than Dead Space 2. It is REALLY well done and adds greatly to the atmosphere. While its darkness may at times go into Doom 3 territory, it never quite gets annoying unlike that game and further ups the tension.

The creature designs don't differ too much from the first game's but they are still freaky as hell. If I read stuff about the first game correctly, Visceral got creature design ideas from car accident victims and they are definitely still grotesque. The new additions are either imposing or unsettling. I already mentioned the Stalkers earlier but the Cysts will also annoy the crap out of you. Basically they're just wall huggers who fire something at you and they're near impossible to see. You'll have to listen for a sound effect that I swear comes from John Carpenter's The Thing.

The two creepiest additions though, easily, are the Crawlers and the Pack. Crawlers are essentially babies that have become necromorphs and the Pack are groups of children that have become necromorphs. It's pretty amazing how much creepier a game gets when you put infant and child casualties.

Crawler

The Pack

Soundwise, the game's voice acting is damn good. Gunner Wright, who voices Isaac Clarke, does an excellent job voicing and bringing new life to a character who wasn't voiced in the first game. This was one of the main problems with Other M and Dead Space 2 overcomes that. Wright perfectly portrays the despair that Isaac is feeling and makes you really feel for the guy. The other voice actors are also really good. Whoever voices Stross really sells the idea that his man is totally insane.

The sound effects are excellent and help raise the tension. Hearing a tiny sound will definitely make you keep your weapon out constantly. The sound effects for the necromorphs are either incredibly disturbing or incredibly intimidating. The soundtrack also has a foreboding mood to it.

Horror themed games are often dependent on the sound to keep the tension up and in this regard, Dead Space 2 is one of the best around.


VERSUS

Some critics have gone so far to say that Dead Space 2 is the best action-horror game of this console generation. Well, is it? I'm going to do a quick comparison to what I consider to be the current title-holder to see which one is truly the best. So, would F.E.A.R. please come out?

Is Dead Space 2 superior to the current action-horror champion of this console generation?

In terms of action, these games are on about equal footing. Both remarkably well crafted with ridiculously awesome FPS action for F.E.A.R. and TPS action for Dead Space 2. When it came out in 2005, F.E.A.R. had the best enemy A.I. gaming had ever seen and its still pretty impressive today. It also had bullet-time and awesome weapon-fire sound effects. Dead Space 2 matches it with its horrific creature designs and more puzzles and item-management gameplay.

In terms of horror, however, I give it to F.E.A.R. Don't get me wrong, Dead Space 2 is atmospheric and tense. But to me it didn't quite feel scary. It had a feeling of paranoia and constant tension but it did not quite capture the feeling of absolute fear and terror that F.E.A.R. did. For example, Visceral said that Dead Space 2 would at times make you question what was and what wasn't real. I never quite felt that with one or two exceptions. F.E.A.R. on the other hand, had me shooting at things that were never there MANY times.

In the end F.E.A.R. was truly one of the scariest games I've EVER PLAYED! It really captured the essence of horror and absolute terror, crawling into your skin and scaring the crap out of you. Dead Space 2, as good as it is, didn't quite hit the same mark. So while I would say Dead Space 2 is the runner-up, F.E.A.R. is still the best action-horror game of this generation.

Winner: F.E.A.R.

Conclusion

If you were a fan of the first Dead Space like I was, PICK THIS UP! It is a remarkable game that, while it doesn't dramatically improve on its predecessor, does minor tweaks that does make a noticeable improvement. The multiplayer is bland, but the single-player is Top Notch! For those who weren't fans of the first game, I'd still recommend a rental. This is an overall strong game that further cements the status of the Dead Space series as the new face of horror in video games.

Will Isaac finally catch a break? Kind of doubt it.