Dead Space 2

            As I have mentioned in my previous posts, the horror genera is one that has gone drastically downhill and even the survival-horror genera of video games has grown a bit stale.  However, I also mentioned in my Dead Space review that this game had a chance of reviving the genera.  As a result, my expectations for Dead Space 2 were through the roof and I was honestly expecting it to be better than the first.  Unfortunately, it took me a long time to get around to playing this game as other games seemed more important and it never struck me as being a game worth sixty bucks.  But at long last, I have finally beaten this game and am ready to write my review on it.  This is The Illusive One's Review of Dead Space 2.

The Plot

            The game takes place about three years after the end of the first game and Isaac has been locked in an insane asylum in a city called the Titan Station on Saturn's largest moon.  After being in a state of a near drug induced coma, Isaac completely regains his senses when the station is attacked by necromorphs and Isaac once again finds himself in a fight for survival.

            On the positive side, the plot was as much about what was going on in Isaac’s head as much as it was about his survival.  Apparently he is suffering from a deadly form dementia due to his exposes to the Marker in the first game.  This makes him see a hallucination of his dead girlfriend Nicole who constantly tries to make him kill himself and spews vague lines.  I felt it was a great element to add to the plot and was the best thing about it. 

            However, that's where the novelty of the plot ends.  When you take out the physiological battle it's just another survival horror game.  The goal of this game is just to destroy the Marker that has been built on Titan Station and thereby destroying the Necromorphs.  Even though the plot of the first game was beyond clichéd, it had a novelty to it that sequels can rarely match and they failed to in this one.  Not to mention, the story in the first game was a lot more driven.  You were constantly reacting to events in order to survive while this game never had the same sense of rush to it.

            What else can I say?  It had a great physiological quality to it but wasn't a very driven story.

The Gameplay

            This was where the game really dropped the ball, as the gameplay was exactly the same as the previous game.  The weapons were the same, the enemies were mostly the same, the upgrades were the same and most of the other gameplay elements were the same.

            While the dismembering of enemies was the same stuff we saw in the previous game it was just as fun.  The enemies also had a larger variety to them and had a few cool boss fights with necromorphs the size of King Kong.  There were also a lot of good environment puzzles that call on Isaac’s engineering skills to solve.  They were challenging enough to make you think but not difficult enough to make you want chuck your controller across the wall, (unless you’re a complete retard).  There were also a lot of good uses of the environment for combat.  Most notably, they make you aware that you're in space and a single blown airlock can mean the end of you.  The last to mention in this area are the graphics and were they great.  The developers vastly improved them and there was so much attention to detail and to the little things like the wiring in the walls.  Who honestly takes the time to make that part of the environments?  The developers of this game.  That's who and they're great.

            The main problem with the general gameplay, however, is that it just seemed like more of Dead Space.  They added a few things but it just wasn't as mind blowing as it was in the first game.  I also couldn't help but feel that the enemies were a lot easier to kill.  I'm not exactly sure why but they didn't strike me as being as challenging.

            All around, the gameplay had its ups and downs but ultimately just felt like more of the first game.

The Characters

            With the first game, the characters were beyond clichéd, boring and I didn't have much to say about them.  These characters, however, were different.  For starters, you have Isaac who actually had a voice in this game and it worked really well.  He was a character who was going insane, knew it, and was desperately trying to keep a hold of his sanity while trying to survive the outbreak. 

            You also had a pretty good cast of supporting characters as well who were entertaining in different ways.  Nicole was a constant and almost scary threat and you never knew when she was going to pop out and you were never sure if she was trying to help Isaac or trying to kill him.  Once, again, she made for a great physiological battle for Isaac and kept you on your toes.  Ellie was also a very entertaining character.  She was tough, funny, and a character you got attached to.  Not to mention she is probably the only character I've ever seen to have her eye ripped out, got up to fight the ass hole who tore it out, and had the energy to yell “You owe me and eye!” at Isaac.  That's pretty badass.

            You also had an insanely unpredictable character in Nolan who was suffering from the same form of dementia as Isaac.  There isn't much else to say about him other then he kept you on your toes throughout the game.  The character of Daina was good for what she was but her time was too limited for the player to develop a love or hatred of her.  Surprisingly, I found the main antagonist, Tiedemann, to be a pretty interesting character.  He's got all the clichés of the nut job who thinks the aliens mean salvation but is revealed to be a believable character as well.

            All around, the characters of this game were great, especially for this genera and I have nothing negative to say about them.

The Verdict

            All around, I have to say this game had a lot of improvements over the first game but I felt it came up a little short.  Granted I have played a lot worse video game sequels but this one just struck me as being more of the first game with better graphics, character, with a duller plot and less difficult enemies.  It just failed to leave as much of an impression.  But still, most of my criticism comes from comparing it to the first game.  Granted, the plot is still dull but if you take the first game out of the equation, it's a kickass survival-horror game and a lot better then those that have come out in recent years.  If you liked the first game, you'll definitely like this one but it won't impact you the same way.  If you're not familiar with the franchise, definitely check this one out because it's worth any gamer/horror fan's time. 

All Around

8/10

Dead Space Review

          As I mentioned in my Nightmare on Elm Street Remake Review, the horror genera in film is one that has grown stale in recent decades, although there are a few good ones if you look in the right place.  But I've found that the future of horror is not in films, but in video games, particularly in the survival horror genera.  Unfortunately, this is also a genera that has become stale and is now a dying breed of video games.  The one game series, however, that may be able to revive it is the Dead Space series.  With the release date of Dead Space 2 rapidly approaching, I decided this would be a good time to do a short look at the first game.  Unfortunately, I haven’t played this game in a while so this review won't be as detailed as most.  It's my Review of Dead Space.

The Plot

            The game takes place in the distant future where Earth's resources have been depleted.  In order to keep humanity alive, huge ships, known as planet crackers go out into space to strip mine other planets on a huge scale, destroying them in the process.  When the planet cracker U.S.H. Ishimura goes dark, a small team of military personal, technologists, and an engineer is sent to investigate.  You play as the engineer, Isaac Clarke who's looking for his girlfriend aboard the ship but instead finds grotesque, monstrous creatures known as necromorphs and you are forced to fight your way through hordes of these creatures in order to survive. 

The Game Play

      The game play is like that of most survival horror games; over the shoulder, third person with limited health and ammo that are both easy to lose.  Rather than shooting the crap out of things to kill them, however, killing enemies relies on how well you can dismember their limbs.  Never before or after have I played a game where you could blow the head off an enemy and still have it keep coming after you.  The main weapons you use, however, are mostly space age tools, and are often more useful then guns.  Much of the game is dimly lit which gives it a creepy and disturbing environment where you have no idea when something is going to pop out and try to kill you.  Unfortunately the necromophs tend to pop out in the exactly same kind of places which causes the game to get a little repetitive.   

The Characters

            The characters are what you would expect in this kind of game.  Isaac is a silent, mostly faceless protagonist so he doesn’t have much to offer.  One interesting thing to note about the character, however, is that he frequently sees images of his girlfriend on monitors of computers and sees here running around the ship and one can't help but wonder if he actually is seeing her, or if he is just going insane.  Zach Hammond is your typical leader of the survival horror situation who tries to get a grip on things but constantly finds things out of his control.  Doctor Terrence Kyne is your typical scientist who wants to fix everything and Dr. Challus Mercer is the kind who wants the necromorphs to spread out of some insane religious belief.  The last character to mention is Kendra Daniels who doesn’t seem to have any other purpose then to guide Isaac.  All around, the characters are just what you would expect in a survival horror, B-Movie type piece of media.

The Verdict

            When the game came out, I loved it.  It was creepy, it was frightening, it was gore filled, and more than once made me jump out of my skin.  But at the same time, it suffered from clichéd characters, repetitive, slow paced game play, and a forgettable final boss fight.  But all around, I still consider it one of the, if not the best survival horror games of this era of gaming.

All Around

8.5/10