Dead Space 2

(Brace for onslaught of angry fanboy hate) I did not like Dead Space. I found the controls clunky and the gameplay to be slow, and I didn't really finish the game. That being said, I found it on Steam for $6.80 so I have decided to give it another chance. However, that is beside the point because I am here to discuss Dead Space 2, the sequel to the game which, from what I was told, was pretty amazing.

The original Dead Space was all about tactical precision, sick monsters and badass kills, but Dead Space 2 is about much more than that. A mere three years after the events of the original game our hero Isaac Clarke is facing just one necromorphic nightmare after another. Dead Space 2 finds Clarke aboard the Sprawl, a giant space station that is, you guessed it, overrun by the necromorphs, the reanimated bodies turned monsters from the first game. From the very first second of the game Clarke is fighting for his life......again.

In this game you will pick up your plasma cutter, throw on your engineering suit and get ready to dismember as many freaky monsters as you can without getting your head ripped off (trust me it happens, a lot). The main goal of Dead Space 2 is to find a religious idol known as the Marker which is causing all of this chaos. But that isn't all, players must also contend with the internal war Clarke is struggling with. After the events of the original game, I think it is safe to say that Clarke is a little shaken up. I don't know, maybe it's the fact that Clarke's girlfriend was brutally killed in the last game on the ship he encouraged her to work on. That would get me pretty messed up too.

Clarke is slowly slipping into insanity in Dead Space 2 and it makes for a truly gripping story. Our hero doesn't let anybody in on how he is going loopy so only you as the player get to see into the darker recesses of his mind. The game adds some internal monologues i.e. Alan Wake as well as some hallucinations that really add to the theme. But what many fans will be looking for in Dead Space 2 is the combat and in this game it is oh so satisfying.

In this game your character is faster and lighter on his feet which is a big upgrade from the first game. Stomping crates and bashing bodies for loot are just the beginning. Why cut off the limbs of a necromorph when you can bash them with a telekineticly thrown crate? Heck, why don't you try mixing and matching all of these things together to see what kind of crazy combos you can come up with? One thing that is particularly enticing is slowing down an approaching foe, blasting off an appendage and impaling the poor sucker to the wall with it.

Visceral, creators of the game, took out the crap that slowed down the first game. Stuff like backtracking and becoming disoriented are a thing of the past which makes Dead Space 2 faster and more heart pounding then ever. Paths that you need to travel are clearcut making it easy to navigate, just be prepared to cut your way through anything and everything to get where you need to go.

Multiple playthroughs are possible due to the fact that you can play each one differently. There are some classic weapons as well as some new ones, and if you add that with Clarke's telekinesis, suit and stasis module (all of which can be upgraded), then you have a plethora of ways to destroy your foes. This progress can also be saved and carried over into a new game if you want.

Visceral had said that Dead Space 2 was going to contain a lot more action and that didn't sit well with some of the hardcore fans. However, they can all shove it because the action works and it is awesome. Clarke is badass and with good reason. Maybe fans of the first game were too busy peeing in their pants to notice that he took out an entire ship of these things by himself last time. Clarke was scared in the first game. Now, having lost everything, he is out for some revenge.

For hardcore fans of the game, and I mean hardcore, like eating shards of glass for breakfast hardcore, there is a mode known as, well, "hardcore" mode. Enemies are the toughest you have ever seen, supplies are scarce, checkpoints are gone and when you die you restart from your last save point. Oh, and did I mention you can only save your game three times in hardcore mode? Yeah, it's that insane.

The whole "go to point A, push said button, kill advancing enemies" routine may get old for some, and the overall narrative is not as exciting compared to Clarke's inner demons. The other characters in the game are little more than slave drivers dictating your every move. So those are some faults. Another less than stellar aspect is the multiplayer. Players are split into two teams: humans and necromorphs. The human team has an objective to complete and the necromorphs are there to make sure they don't achieve it. The multiplayer sort of feels added on at the end.

Thankfully, the single player is good which is why people are going to want to play this game. A step up and in the right direction from the previous game, Dead Space 2 is something every fan of the original should get. People expecting to get this on the PlayStation 3 will be pleased to know that they will also get Dead Space Extraction as well and that the game is compatible with the traditional PS3 controller as well as PlayStation Move. The game is available now for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.



Source: IGN

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