The survival horror genre has evolved greatly since the days of Resident Evil. Fear has returned to the spotlight in the form of the Dead Space franchise. In the original Dead Space, Earth has become a dying planet, and the human race began to harvest natural resources from extraterrestrial planets. That is until they found the Agesis 7 system, where The Marker was located and carried back to Earth for research and testing. Enter the Necromorphs, creatures born of The Marker, bringing death and destruction along with them. Extraction teams were then sent to bring The Marker up to the USG Ismurah, a cargo ship that carried the CEC, a team lead by a young lady named Nicole. When things went dark on the ship, her boyfriend Issac Clark, a CEC space engineer went to investigate, in hopes of saving his girlfriend from the nightmare that had started to unfold.
In the first Dead Space, you were charged with helping the crew repair the ship and survive attacks from The Necromorphs. Dead Space 2 is set on the Sprawl, a space colony on the outside of a moon orbiting Saturn. A new Marker was discovered just as his last encounter with the relic, Issac is losing his mind all over again, and this time it could kill him. The Necromorphs can be killed the same way as in the first Dead Space, by strategic dismemberment. Issac can use tools like the Plasma Cutter, as well as an assortment of other weapons, in order to kill Necromorphs and survive.
There are sections of the game that include the use telekinesis is now unlimited in order to move objects during puzzle segments without breaking the pace of the game, having to reload it. In this game, Issac now has anti-gravity functionality within his suit in order to move around in different ways through sections with zero gravity. A Status Module is now available as well that slows enemies and objects down, so that Issac can evade attacks and counter-attack. There is a little bit of backtracking through certain points of the game, however it is still a thrill ride to play. Any real backtracking is mostly for finding extra ammo and items.
The story of Dead Space 2 moves at a much even faster pace than the story of the first game. The sound design in this game is not only impressive to listen to, but will stimulate your instinct to survive. Enemies will hide out in floors, ceilings, and panels just waiting to get jump out and kill you. Fans of the previous game will recognize some enemy attack patterns right away from the first Dead Space. The Necromorphs come in various forms, ranging from all kinds of creatures including babies, dogs, huge monsters with scythe claws, and more. On monster that stood out a lot was a weird looking, but deadly creature known as The Puker. You will have to cut, blast, and bomb your way out of a lot of bad situations in order to survive, because almost everything is out to kill Issac.
The controls from Dead Space 1 transition into this game very well, with some major upgrades that are simple, yet effective. Your Telekinesis is now unlimited and you move freely in places with zero gravity, and as an added bonus there is twice as many guns this time around. You will need to be smart and careful and not waste any ammo, as well as utilizing different load outs when the situation calls for it. You will need to use what EA and the Visceral games crew calls Tactical Dismemberment in order to conserve ammo, because one missed shot will result in a painful death.
All these elements combined add a sense of fear that will keep you constantly on your toes and alert. The graphics are more colorful, but it is still a very dark and gruesome game. Boss battles are big and awesome, and are much less tedious to fight in this sequel. They make way for even larger, yet fast moving encounters, especially towards the ending of the game. One of the coolest things about Dead Space 2 is also the worst thing in all other games, and that’s dying. Dead Space 2 has a lot of crazy, sick, and yet sometimes funny death animations depending on what you do during the game. There will be times where you’re already beaten, and you’ll want to just let Issac die so you can see where you messed up. There will be times where not paying attention will result in quick death, with looking animation. So if you are ready to be scared, turn the lights down, and the volume up on your TV, and prepare for a new standard in the survival horror genre. This is horror at its finest.
Below is the trailer for the DLC “Severed”.
[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QflchTtDw7w[/tube]