Since I just played Severed, I might as well cover it. Warning before hand, it's hard to talk about the story without really talking about it, so if you still want to read on, but not spoil it, skip the story section.
Dead Space 2 - Severed follows Gabe Weller, a military survivor from DS-Extraction, now working security on the Sprawl as the outbreak hits.
Story: We start maybe a tad earlier than Issac had, but the stories more or less happen simultaneously. There are nods to Issac's presence throughout Gabe's story, though you never run into our main hero, but you do revisit some of the first areas of the game and it's obvious that Issac had already been through there before Gabe. It helps to make the DLC feel like it's not an unnecessary add on or a cheap cash in.
As Gabe you have to rescue your wife Lexine (another Extraction survivor) from a termination order that occurs during the outbreak. Over time you discover that Lexine and Gabe are apart of the Unitologist plot that has something to do with their unborn child. Men in white come after Lexine but the purpose of the child isn't clearly stated. They also make mention of their "servants", no doubtfully they mean the necromorphs.
Overall it's only two chapters (about two hours of material roughly, depending how fast/slow you play) but it's a solid story. It's the real major draw here as most of the technical things have carried over from the main game.
Graphics: Visual nothing is dramatically different, but they are still good and don't feel cheap. What is to note that section 1 deals with the Titan Mines area more than the original game did. Second Gabe's suit is different from Issacs' and definitively has his own look.
Technical/Controls: More or less a lot of the things you expect out of dead space (aside from the zero-g stuff) is here. You have access to the same weapons and gadgets, but you have to be a bit more frugal with what you buy and upgrade with. Since I was using a different character I decided to try different weapons this time around which helped keep the uniqueness of the character as well.
My only grip was when moving from area to area you couldn't move items, like explosive cans or pipes to spear enemies with, from room to room. I do not know if this is a technical glitch, an oversight by the design team, or was intently designed this way. A little annoyed, but it didn't make or break the game experience for me.
New Enemy: The Twitcher from DS-1, absent from DS-2, returns here oddly. They are more dangerous in this version, speed aside, they can be utterly silent and can kill you quickly. It was nice to see them again, but their absence in the main game is curious.
Few mini-games: Unlike Issac, Gabe is a soldier, so technical stuff doesn't really come into play here. There's one time you have to hack into something, but that's it. But with the character consideration, it makes sense.
Atmosphere: Severed feels more like DS-1 that DS-2 did. They concentrated more on the atmosphere and the threat of attack like I had mentioned before. This i think helped with the overall quality of the DLC.
Final Verdict: The DLC is only about 2 hrs long, but for 7 bucks I think it is well worth it (that's 3.50 per hr for a polished video game). It's well integrated in the fabric of the main story (though it doesn't impact it much if at all) and is apart of the universe. If you like DS-2, pick this up.
No comments:
Post a Comment