The original Dead Space is one of my favorite games to be released this generation, for good reason. It was a unique IP with an the interesting concept. Strategic dismemberment. The best way to kill Dead Space’s grisly, blades-for-arms space monsters was to shoot their limbs off.

It was gory, violent, and a hell of a lot of fun. Coupled the dark, foreboding corridors of the Ishimura and deadly, upgradable arsenal of industrial tools, everything came together perfectly to form a spine-chilling, adrenaline-fueled ride like no other.

Dead Space 2 sets out to build on all of this and manages to improve just about everything in the process. On top of that adds online multiplayer.

This time around, Isaac Clark finds himself on Titan Station, the Sprawl, an enormous space station in orbit around Titan, a moon of Saturn. Essentially a city in space, the Sprawl is home to everything from schools to apartments to a morgue filled with frozen stasis chambers. In the end, the Sprawl is a much more interesting place to explore than original game’s dirty, industrial mining ship, The Ishimura.

While the story is slightly more engrossing than the original, it still falls short of greatness. There were times where I was genuinely interested in what was going to happen next, but for the majority of my playthrough, the story was little more than a reason to explore new areas of the Sprawl and fight new types of enemies.

Visceral didn’t change a whole lot with the core gameplay in Dead Space 2. Everything good about the first game is here. There are a few subtle tweaks and upgrades, the most impressive being the completely overhauled zero-gravity gameplay. Where the original Dead Space had you either magnetized to the floor or jumping from point A to point B in a straight line, Dead Space 2 puts you in full control, letting Isaac float freely through the environment.

The zero-g sections are what really pulled the game together for me. The lack of combat (for the most part) is made up for by the mechanical dangers of the Sprawl that can reduce you to a finely ground paste in the blink of an eye. The large, open scale of these sections contrasts the tight, claustrophobic corridors of the Sprawl. Going back and forth between the two adds a dose of variety and contributes to the already superb pacing.

Hands down, the coolest new toy at Isaac’s disposal is the revamped telekinesis powers. In Dead Space, you could TK items and crates in order to pick up out-of-reach items and move the occasional barricade. Now, once you’ve severed a limb from an enemy, you can use TK to pick it up and launch it into your foes, impaling them, and often staking them to walls. Imagine a cross between Fallout 3’s Railroad Rifle and the Gravity Gun from Half Life 2 and you’ve got the basic idea. It makes ammo conservation much easier as well, considering that one or two well placed shots from an upgraded plasma cutter can take an arm off, which can then be shot back at the enemy.

As scary as it is at times, Dead Space 2 is an action game first, and a survival horror game second. While ammo may not plentiful, it’s far from scarce, and with a bit of strategy and efficient use of the new telekinesis power, I only ran out of ammo a handful of times during my eight hours aboard the Sprawl. Most encounters can be solved with the good ol’ Plasma Cutter or Line Gun. A few new weapons are added to Isaac’s inventory, the most notable being the Javelin gun, which impales enemies with the primary fire, and electrifies the javelin with the alternate fire, frying any surrounding Necromorphs.

In addition to the excellent single player campaign is an online multiplayer mode that pits teams of humans versus teams of Necromorphs. The humans are trying to accomplish an objective, and the Necromorphs are trying to stop them. Other than having an interesting concept, I couldn’t help feeling like I’d already played a better version of this in other games. The atmospheric, dark vibe of Dead Space doesn’t mesh as well with online multiplayer as I had hoped. In the end, it’s a fun distraction between playthroughs, but little more.

Dead Space 2 is better than the original in just about every aspect. Between fun, rewarding gameplay and a dark, frightening atmosphere, it never fails to keep the player completely engrossed in Isaac’s battle for his own sanity. It is a frightening, intense, action-packed experience that any gamer with a strong stomach should appreciate.

Tags: 3D action game, 3rd person shooter, Dead Space 2, PC, ps3, survival horror, Visceral Games, Xbox 360

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 16th, 2011 at 2:36 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.