So, how do you make a sequel to horror survival game that caught everyone in a dark alley? A game that prided on the isolated feeling of space? That claustraphobic feeling that creeps in you? That no help is coming, you have no military experiance and it's up to you to stop thousands of mutated corpses from going wild? Simple, you give it the Aliens treatment and make the mian character tell them all to get away before calling them bitches. Enter Dead Space 2. It's been three years since we saw Isaac Clarke on board the USG Ishimura, stomping and slicing his way to get to saftey and find his love interest, Nicole. In his way are the bodies of all the crew of the Ishimura. Mutated into creatures called Necromorphs, thanks to a mysterious artifact that the government wants to study and a religon worships. Isaac went through hell to find Nicole, but in the end he found out she was dead; and the artifact (called The Marker) had affected his mind, making him hallucinate. Since the chilling cliff hanger ending, everyone wanted to know what happened to Mr. Clarke and now, in Dead Space 2, we find out.
3 years later, Isaac awakes to find himself on a space colony called the Sprawl and a new Necromorph infection spreading. It's up to Isaac to get to the bottom of it all and survive another onslaught, all the while battling his own thoughts of guilt and the visions the marker imprinted into his mind.
All caught up? Good. Now let's move onto the most important thing in a game: gameplay. As you might expect, the core gameplay is still the same. It's a third person shooter, as all horror survival games should be. Thank you Resi 4. You hit the the shoulder buttons to aim and shoot, and without aiming Isaac will begin his stomping and back handing melee attacks. The stasis and kinesis add ons return, actually becoming useful in this one. In the first Dead Space, I'll admit I hardly used any of them. Stasis lets you slow down anything from objects to enemies. While Kinesis lets you grab far off objects, hover them in front of you and then fling them away, implaling enemies or transporting giant duracel batteries to grabbing health packs and ammo you can't reach. Other than the occasional enemy or far off item, I didn't use them but in Dead Space 2? You NEED to use them. Enemies are faster, items are all over and for the first 20 minutes of the game all you have on you is your kinesis moduale. Don't get me started on the velocaraptors( not actual raptors but they sound like them and you get a trophy\achievment that references Jurassic Park when you first encounter them). Stasis and Kinesis saved my life in this game and it adds more variety. In Dead Space, Stasis and Kinesis were simple tools that were forgetable till later in the game for about 10 minutes. In Dead Space 2, they help determine an implaed necromorph or Isaac missing his jaw. The weapons from DS1 return, along with some new comers. Personal favorite, the force gun. That thing is DANGEROUS. All the weapons have balance this time around, making them more grounded but also more interesting. I found myself actually switching weapons more and more, as opposed to just gunning it with the plasma cutter. The suits have been upgraded and have the Iron Man approach to technology. The helmets click on and they have thrusters now, so in zero-g you are in control and aren't flying around aimlessly, only to miss where you needed to go. The only downside is the exploration/backtracking from DS1. The areas in DS2 are diverse enough that it's not too big a problem, but I would have loved to be able to explore more of the Sprawl.
Now let's take a look at the characters. First up of course, is the mian character: Isaac Clarke. This time around he speaks, and you know what? It was amazing. Isaac doesn't talk too much, and his dialouge isn't cheesy and he doesn't feel like a horror story cliche either. He's kind, and willing to help. Brave but has his limits and he isn't afraid to voice his disdain or annoyance with a person or a situation. In other words, rather than take the Metroid Other M approach and stereotype the character, they made Isacc human. Another character, Stross, is in the medical ward that Isacc starts off in; he's mostly in the game for 'wtf do I have to do? That? Really?. . . crap.' He's a great conrast to Isacc, something you'll learn when you play the game. One more character, Ellie, runs into Isaac half way through the game and just like Isacc characterization, she's grounded and human. She wants to survive but doesn't want to leave people behind; she's afraid to be betrayed though. In the end, her and Isaac team up and these two quickly helped DS2 become even better than it already was. Each playing off of eachother, it really showed their characters. Great job on the writing Visceral. Just please, don't pull an Alien3 with them. You know 'that' move. Yeah that, don't do that. I would delve into more characters but it would end up being a spoiler review. Let's just say that Isaac encounters other people and if you want to find out what happens to them. PLAY THE GAME!!
I played a bit of the multiplayer, it was fun but didn't really grab me. I'm not really into multiplayer, but I tend to keep an open mind about it. DS2 multiplayer had potential though, and hopefully with some DLC it'll expand. Maybe some story co-op? That would be sweet. That's wishful thinking for a spin-off or, hopefully, a sequel. The multiplayer is pretty simple, it's kind of a capture the flag type gameplay that quickly turns into a hold your ground till the timer reaches zero, there is customization in the suits and it does let you play as the necromorphs but like all multiplayer that gets tacked onto a single player focused video game, it's limited in levels.
Dead Space gets 4.5 force gun blasts to the face, out of 5. Keep 'em coming Visceral, you guys know how to do horror. Also, about the complaint of Dead Space 2 not being as scary as the first.. . . that's kinda the point to me. We, the player, along with Isaac already know what we're up against, how is that gonna scare us a second time around? And ano- YARGH! . . . Damn alarm clock.
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