Before this game came out in January of this year, it was already getting quite a bit of bashing. When fans of the original heard that Dead Space 2 was going to be faster paced and more action packed, they feared that the horror factor would fall. Boy were they wrong. Not only was it even more action packed it was still frieghtening to play. Waking up in a straight-jacket and running from necromorphs in dark corridors and not knowing where you are, if thats not a tense first minute to gameplay I don’t what is.
But what makes this game stand out and makes it a possible contender for Game of the Year? Things like environment, upgrades, sound design, writing.
Gamers like to me immersed in there games. The more you envelop yourself in one the more you play it and love it. Dead Space 2 demands your attention. This is not the kind of game you can nonchalantly play while your doing homework (which I often do). The “Oh crap…” feeling you get while walking into a room that look absolutely terrifying. I get scared to take a step because I’m to paranoid 5 or that more necros will come to bite my face off. This is the kind of enviornment that gets a player lost in a game. Also the addition of new necros and some ajustments to the old ones, made a huge differnce in this game to the next. Leapers were the most improved by far. In Dead Space when I came across a leaper, I was just annoyed. They would fly right by you and hardly cause much damage. Deafeating them was a minuscule task. However, in Dead Space 2, that was not the case. Three words: I hate leapers. I dreaded facing them, knowing that I was going to unload an entire clip of my precious plasma cutter ammo. Pukers could also be difficult. Sometimes it seem like no matter how many limbs I would sever, it was still be projecting its bile on me. All of this coalesced into a horrifying atmosphere.
Another big improvement from the original to the sequel was upgrading. especially suits. Instead of adding a couple ribbing plates on the sides and arms for every upgrade, your suit appearance changed when you found a new schematic. There are also a slew of other themed suits for Isaac. upgrades for weapons and stasis were also much inproved. Unlike the first game the stasis only held 2 uses, instead of 5 or 6 making stasis more for strategic use rather than using it for every enemy.
As if being trapped on a space station filled with disformed humanoids trying to kill you wasn’t enough, you have to listen to the sound they make and to the enviornment. I remember a specific point where sound design was absolutely awesome. There was a 15-20 minute stretch in gameplay where no enemy had attacked the only thing you could hear is the creeking metal, your own foot steps, and a disembodied voice whispering “Isaac….”. I had been getting so restless that I hadn’t seen or heard any necros, until finally when that tension was broken, I needed a new pair of pants. Quite often you would here the music starting to get louder and faster and just when you think something is behind you, you turn around and the music stops. Then after that you hear a pipe it the ground. There is no moment to rest, visually or aurally. The way the sound was used and where there was no sound really shows how important it is to a horror game, and to the immersion in it.
Other than evironment, storyline is key to immersion. Dead Space has it. The first games storyline was awesome. It had a background, direction, good plot twists, intersting characters, and (my favorite) lore. Discovering even more facts and general knowlegde of the Dead Space series in this game made me want to know more a dig deeper into it. With the conclusion of this game many question still hang in the air. Some were satisfied, but some where left way open ended. The care that Visceral took in creating this astounding story really shows the gamer that they care what they are doing. The scare is very important, but so is why we are scared.
The multiplayer was fun and entertaining. I had my fair share of good moments on it. However, it distracted a bit from the campaign making it a little shorter. Overall this is an exciting game. Clean visuals, horror, interesting story and characters, and just a darn good game.
