Dead Space 2

Intense action packed sci fi horror which is an enjoyable experience.

It's not for everyone with blood soaked action where you get a heavy sense of peril throughout the game.

My son who is 13 didn't get on with the this game. He found the constant peril too much to handle. I feel it deserves the 18 certificate, not many games do.

If you like dark sci fi i.e.. Event Horizon or Aliens, then this is the game for you. There is also a 28 days later feel to this game, which is obvious when you start playing. I recommend playing in dark with the volume turned up.

There was a sense of relief when I managed to complete this game!

Simply put, Dead Space 2 is one of the best games on the Xbox 360. Technically, it's unbelievable. The graphics are as good as they can be at this stage and the gameplay is smooth, controlled and realistic. Further still, this game takes on the task of the 'difficult sequel' and the result is that it pulls it off remarkably well, maintaining all the necessary gore, horror and action from the first which it builds upon further. Dead Space 2 should definitely be played by anyone who enjoys hardcore games because it doesn't get much better.

Many things have passed over from the first Dead Space. Once again, you'll jump into the nearest engineering suit and play as Isaac Clarke. You'll recognise many of the weapons from last time around and you'll also unfortunately find yourself in the midst of another necromorph outbreak, set within an isolated structure in space. Also, the game style itself has remained largely the same. As Isaac you will receive telecalls through your RIG, providing you with escape routes while you for the most part take a linear route through the dangers of the station. These dangers include all manner of horrible creatures and there are some new ones this time around to compliment the old breed. This is a game which provides a genuine sense of threat and horror and this is particularly true when played with surround sound, where every little noise puts you on a knife edge.

Now, down to the actual gameplay. Isaac and the world around him feel 'planted', solid and physically realistic. He moves as smoothly as you could want and his melee attacks have been made even easier to perform. The famous stomp move has been sped up, allowing more crushing blows of the heel in a much quicker space of time and the haymaker swing has become more powerful, allowing Isaac to knock enemies back much further. The weapons he uses are also highly agreeable to use. With old favourites like the plasma cutter and the line launcher, the name of the game is the same. Shoot the limbs off. Added to this strategy are mine detonators, flame-throwers a force gun and a host of other old and new weapons, all of which are equally fun to use.

Now while the original Dead Space had a lot of this kind of action, Dead Space 2 continues this trend but also integrates other smaller elements which largely improve the game. Kinesis and Stasis are back, but this time around they carry a much greater weight, particularly on the higher difficulties where ammo is scarce. Also, Isaac will find himself solving puzzles and rewiring electrical boards to power up various contraptions etc. These elements although small, are highly effective in characterising Isaac as an engineer and they successfully allow you to immerse yourself with each individual problem that comes around. They effectively change the pace from killing and running all the time, allowing Isaac some brief respite whilst remaining engaged. Furthermore, many of these puzzles will involve some kind of technical malfunction in the station and so you can put money on the fact that Isaac will have to enter a vacuum where there is no gravity or air. These are by far the best parts of Dead Space 2. The anti-gravity sections have been improved so much they are some of the best I've seen in a game for a while. Whereas in the old game you would auto glide to another surface upon which you were then stuck to, you can now glide through the air manually, all done with a truly admirable level of ease. You'll remember most those sections in which an enemy has floated up behind you in a vacuum and made you swing round to open fire, only for you to then hear no sound. Or when you're upside down trying to attach a power source to a broken elevator shaft when someone calls you on your rig. The sense of immersion which is generated by the truly excellent graphics is commendable, all complimented by the smallest of things, like the way in in which Isaac holds his finger to his ear, the way he's floating and the steady silence of deep space.

There is then, very little bad to say about Dead Space 2, really. But there are a few things which could be aired, as it is certainly not the 'perfect' game. My first argument is very highly debatable. Often when I play a new game, I like to play it on a harder difficulty setting. It provides me with a kind of insane sense of achievement when I'm playing it and when I'm finished. The high difficulty is all of you know and so you're pain threshold is much higher. Ignorance is bliss. But, I also like to be successful in games, after all, with the exception of games like Supermeat Boy and Dark Souls, dying sucks. I choose the harder difficult in Dead Space 2 and I would highly recommend to anyone, NOT to do so. It was so hard that I felt it was unplayable. Dying time after time with absolutely no solution to my survival wasn't fun at all. I felt that it was so hard, it definitely flirted with the line of impossible, which is a bad trait for any game. But, maybe I just wasn't good enough. Probably.

Another criticism comes in the form of storyline. For me, the worst part of Dead Space was by far the end and the beginning of this game largely carries on from this. I don't like the direction in which the game series was taken, but this is a subjective argument I concede. I'm simply making the case that the Dead Space series could have earned a five star rating if it kept to a simpler, more planted, realistic story. You're alone on a ship, survive. Your survival should be the only driving story mechanic, not the fantastical mysteriousness of mind control and dementia inducing markers. This choice of story of course spills out into the setting, which means you'll be moving through church environments that look like something akin to castlevania in space. I don't care about Unitology (bore) or cliched space paranoia or dementia, I just want to escape the station.

I repeat, such arguments are mostly subjective. But, there are some final points to be made which I feel are much more concrete. The linearity of the game can feel somewhat restrictive. This door is not open yet because you have to go through this corridor first etc. The game is extremely linear in that regard. Maybe it could have done with a little bit of extra freedom. I can't help but feel that I'm being pulled along a conveyor belt, being shown each set piece in sequence. There's no variety or exploring of options like in Bioshock's Rapture many corridors for example. Most of the time, it's simply follow these directions, meaning the only single direction ever available. And finally, some of the little elements of the game could be improved. When Isaac is fixing an electrical box, how about inventing some alternative mini game sections. Even an additional two or three, very simple tasks would lighten the repetition factor, whilst at the same time, boost your sense of being an engineer. Also, the vent crawling sequences could have been made more engaging. They are a great addition, but maybe allowing enemies to attack you within them, whilst allowing Isaac to fire or to struggle with melee attacks, would have created a truly claustrophobic sense of terror. As it is, these vents are merely a road from one are to another, a interactive loading screen.

All in all though, these criticisms aren't fatally serious. In this case they are merely designed to highlight what could have been better, not what is inherently bad. Dead Space 2 is a great game and you should play it. It takes its place within the top ten Xbox 360 games.

I love my horror videogames and I cherish the classic times when a single enemy forced me to rethink my strategies, making me question if I should use my precious bullet.

Dead Space 2 is like its predecessor. It does not make you think or plan your strategies out. You just dismember your enemies and make sure they go down and stay down. While it certainly does that effectively, it is also a stark departure from game styles set by Silent Hill games or Forbidden Siren. Where games like Silent Hill focused on unexplainable terror and tension but my the player slowly through dark and scary environment - Dead Space 2 makes you jump out of a moving train from one compartment to the other and when the train crashes, you are tangled in the ropes and have to shoot incoming enemies.

Dead Space 2 follows Isaac Clarke who wakes up and finds himself at Sprawl, a kind of space centre in, well space. Necromorphs start appearing and Isaac finds himself in the same situation as before. I will not go deeper in the storyline but it certainly was engaging. Visceral did not stop at anything to make DS2 a meatier version than the first game. Oh, and Isaac's dead girlfriend Nicole also wants to kill him. That aspect alone kept me hooked as I kept questioning the character's sanity.

Gameplay wise: Its just as same as first game only more refined. The control schematics are same. New weapons have been introduced and new enemies as well. But its the scale of the game that's increased. One thing I hated about DS1 was its repetitive action. DS2 was for the most part, stayed fresh with level design, simple puzzles and set-pieces. Everything that worked well in the first game has been amped up.

But this game has its shortcomings. First off, its long. Not a bad thing but it is a good 9 hour+ thrill ride and some repetitiveness creeps in. Taking on your first necromorph for the first time is epic, taking on a necromorph for the 70th time and still on chapter 7 is kind of tiring.

Overall the game was fun that ironed out everything that made the first game feel repetitive and clunky and added that extra polish to everything that worked well. One thing I would point out is that its not survival horror game as many gamers say. I would call this game more of an action horror game or survival action game.

This game is ok, but Dead Space was much better...a bit dissapointed..story was allright but the end of the game was just to easy..

Love it love it love it love it love it this is a great game seriously rent this it's so good on campaign