Review: Dead Space 2

Dead Space 2, made by Visceral Games and published by EA, follows Issac Clark as a fresh Necromorph infestation breaks out on the Sprawl, a space station embedded in the Titan moon that surrounds Saturn.

General notes: You don't HAVE to have played the first one to get the jist of what's going on. But there's enough media with comics, novels, animated movies, even a Wiki that you can reference so you have some idea about Issac and the necromorphs.

Graphics: Though I researched that the game uses the same engine as the last, they actually figured out a way to work the polygons that they've gotten a lot more detail out of these models than they did in the last game. Certainly it helped they had more variety of locations and architecture to work with to showcase this, but honestly it was in the fine details, and if you're not into the fine details, you know it looks better, but nothing will really jump out at you, which can be good and bad I suppose.

Controls: Controls are more or less standard 3rd person shooter type. You have kenesis (think Force Pull/Push) and stasis (aka Slow Magic) to help you out to think of creative ways to dismember/kill your foes. (in cause you didn't know, that's part of the whole strategy for this game series). Issac feels natural in his movement as he walks/runs around and in Zero G, which in this instalment you actually can fly around in space and certain areas of the station since you have miniature thrusters in the suits you wear.

Computer/Foes: The AI has moment of shining, but it's not a far upgrade from no.1 In fact I'd say there would be little difference aside from the fact you have new enemies coming after you, and with them they'll actually hide from you or coordinate their attacks. More or less though they come right at you, and you should kill them before they reach you, or you're in trouble.
Necromorphs are at their most dangerous in a variety pack of monsters, with different abilities and they seem to work well together. The key is numbers, but if you know how to take them down, it's not hard to slice and dice effectively.

Weapons: There are a couple new additions from DS-1, but all the originals return as well. The Plasma Cutter is the most notable of the series (basically it's the handgun, and perfect for the limb-hacking job). What's cool here is that if you have DS-1 data on your PS3, you'll get a "refurbished" cutter from the DS-1 armory, instead of the flashlight/surgical tool thing Issac creates on the fly. No real difference between the two there as far as I imagine, but the weapons felt a bit weaker this time around, and you needed some upgrades before they were up to snuff to deal with the constant Necromorph threat. Aside from that, it's just a matter of preference and how you like to slice your undead monster.

Voice Acting: Done well. Issac in the original didn't really have a voice outside of grunts and death screams. He's human and sound relate able. There's emotion in everyones voice and they are convincing. There weren't as many audio logs in this one which helped establish the mood of the environment and get a sense of the characters in the universe in this situation.

Mini games: What was missing from DS-1 were mini games as it related to Issac's character. More or less you went through the Issumara (the ship from DS-1) moved things, and shot things. You had some large laser cannon sequences (ala Star Wars for some reference) but not much else that I recall. This time we get a better look at Issac as an engineer. He breaks into technology and rewires stasis components. He fashions himself a Plasma Cutter out of a surgical tool and a flashlight (not an actual mini game, but still awesome none the less). unfortunately there biggest drawback is that you need them to progress to the next area and that's it. Only one time comes to mind when you're really under the gun to break into that thing and get the hell out of the room. That's about the only thing I wish they did more with.

Story: The game practically throws you into the fray and never lets you go. It helps if you've kept up with any of the media to have insight on what Issac is dealing with. A survivor of the original outbreak where an "alien marker" caused people to go insane and start killing each other, and then the corpses reanimated and evolved into crazy monsters. Same this is happening here but in a different environments and a slightly different mission. It's zombies in space but done not so rigidly (pun intended). There's a (fictional) religious organization that spread like wildfire throughout the human raced called Unitologists, linked to these markers which creates the monsters. Here, because Issac survived, he battles dementia from the "infection" but the scientists on the Sprawl were using the information in his head to make markers. Why someone would be willing creating these things to make necromorphs has yet to be revealed however.

Overall DS2 is more of a rollar-coaster action adventure than a survival horror. Which has its pros and cons and might turn some fans away. There are moment's it retains it's roots, but DS-2, as I see it, is it's own game and with minor story tweaking, could stand on its own. But the way the adventure is done just grips me somehow, and I'm already going through my second play through and constantly playing the multi player.

Multi-Player: Arguably the weakest thing bout the package. The scenarios given are related to the main story but once you've played through them a couple of times, you just better really like killing necromorphs. Over time it will lose its appeal unless something is done, but it's not just a horrible afterthought.

The "Horror" element: Arguably, this game isn't that scary. DS-1 was scarier. As I said this was more action adventure that survival horror. Yes the looming threat was there, but DS-1 did a better job wiht the "threat" of attack rather than being attacked by hordes of necroes. Sure I checked every corner and jumped at shadows, but I was able to play straight through pretty much, whereas I had to take breaks with DS-1. Perhaps I was mentally prepared for it this time, or that I didn't play in an attic alone like I did for DS-1. If you are looking for fear, play it in the dark, I think it would still work for ya.

Final Verdict: I love this game, and one of the few linear games I will play again, and hold onto for a long while. It's a total package and aside from the mini games slight weakness, you couldn't really ask for a better sequel. I look forward to DS-3 and the first DLC - Severed, that came out March 1st.

I wasn't quite sure at first being a huge fan of the game side of the franchise. Like most I think I wasn't sure how they could top it. But fan's of the first, for the most part I feel, won't be disappointed.

Coming Up: I'm working backwards from my recent collection of games I happened to play. I hope to include online/facebook games as well to expand my repertoire of reviews. Coming up next will be Dragon Age: Origins: The Ultimate Edition.