After a couple months of messing around with Dead Space's spin offs and extended universe, I have finally reached the actual sequel for the game I played all the way back in January, and I must say, the wait was well worth it. The team over at EA Redwood Shores, now Visceral Games, identified the few shortcomings of the first Dead Space game, and rectified them, creating one of the most true survival horror experiences that I have played in a while. Honestly, it felt more akin to the roots of the genre than I think even the Resident Evil remakes did when I played through those. A lot like the series signature plasma cutter, Dead Space 2 is a tight, clean, efficient experience; it wastes none of the player's time and is extremely tense throughout its entire run time. Though, I do think some of the parts that make it such a tense experience are where a lot of its downsides come from.
In my review for the first Dead Space, I mentioned how I felt the game struggled with creating a terrifying atmosphere, as well as being somewhat bland with its environments and overall aesthetic. These complaints stemmed from the fact the game refused to leave the player alone, always having someone talking directly to Isaac, or by not leaving any ambiguity and leading the player directly to where they need to be; this not being helped by the very bland looking environments that looked like scraped concept art for Doom 3. So, I am very glad to say that they improved on both of these aspects quite a lot. Firstly, Isaac talks now. I never would have thought that simply having the player character talk could be so integral to creating tension, but it is. By giving Isaac a voice, the developers dissolved the need for the other characters to be constantly hounding the player with objectives, and trying to force agency where there is none .Now there is clear and effective agency because Isaac is his own person who can express personal wants and create his own objectives; no longer does he feel like an errand boy to the other characters, instead he actually feels like the main protagonist. As well, by having Isaac be more independent, there is much more room for the fear to build, and for anticipation to fester. There are now long stretches of time where the player goes without any sort of meaningful interactions with NPCs, meaning that they are going to be alone with their thoughts way more often, which is the key to creating good horror. To add to the fear factor, the game's environments are so much more varied and creative than that of the Ishimura. The game’s setting is a giant city colony orbiting Jupiter called The Sprawl, think the giant ship from Wall-E, but way bigger. Throughout his journey, Isaac stumbles through every possible corner of The Sprawl; from the medical wing that he wakes up in, a (formerly) bustling entertainment complex, an absolutely terrifying elementary school sector, a decadent Unitologist church, a sprawling mine and cave system, to, what is most definitely my favorite area, the quarantined remains of the Ishimura. All of these environments are so much different from the last, each offering new aesthetics paired with challenges that are appropriate to the area. A few of my favorites would be how the new velociraptor necromorphs use the church’s daunting collection of pillars to play mind games with the player and flank them; the necromorph babies and children that wander the halls of the school, and how the Ishimura is just this imposing scar throughout its entire chapters run time, filling the player with memories of dread with every familiar area they come across. As well, the general pacing of each chapter feels so much smother; gone are the individual levels of the first game that start and stop with a tram ride, in their place is now a much more Resident Evil 4 style structure that flows into itself very well, letting the world feel interconnected and not like individual parts. The RE4 comparison doesn’t stop there, however, as I think the developers finally got what made RE4’s combat so great.
Again, to reference my review of the first Dead Space, I described that game's combat as an imitation of Resident Evil 4’s, but without the understanding and nuance that made it so great. I think I can confidently say now, though, that they not only understand it, but made it their own thing. The first Dead Space took the surface level ideas of focusing on location based damage and a wide arsenal of weapons, and kind of did only that. The stasis concept was neat, but definitely not fully explored, and while the focus on cutting off enemy limbs is really cool, it is functionally not different than a headshot. Dead Space 2, however, fully expands on both of those ideas, while also fully embracing the RE4 style sense of momentum that made that game such a classic. RE4 does a lot of things right, but what it does obscenely well is creating a sense of forward momentum; it is hard to describe what I mean by forward momentum, but I think the best way I could is that the make the player constantly push forward, and that is the same feeling Dead Space 2 invokes. The player is constantly pushing through hoards of necromorphs,and through set piece after set piece at lightning speed, constantly keeping the player engaged and on their toes. I got physically exhausted my first time playing RE4, and I get the same feeling here; my heart rate is through the roof every waking minute. Stasis has now been revamped so that it can also launch, as well as freeze and carry them. Because of this, there is a much bigger focus on using the necromorphs severed limbs as projectiles in order to save ammunition. This creates a whole new layer of thinking for the player, on top of prioritizing targets based on who they perceive as more deadly, the player must also think about which enemies have the easiest limbs to cut off so that they don’t have to use up ammo, completely flipping the dynamic of the game on its head, and leading to really intense combat encounters. As well, ammo pickups have been made more scarce in order to encourage this playstyle. This is a great addition that really makes the game stand apart from both its inspirations, and even newer games. But like with every game, there are still some less than favorable aspects that accompany it.
While the combat is way more dynamic and way more exhilarating, some of the enemy placements and spawns are just baffling. There are a sizable number of encounters that have the necromorphs just appear behind the player out of thin air, and while I am sure that they had some animation that showed them coming out of a vent, in the heat of combat when I am facing an entirely different direction, with my back to the end of a hallway that I new was clear a second ago, it feels really cheap. I think this could have been made slightly better if maybe each of the necromorphs had more distinct sounds, or at least some sort of doppler like effect that would let the player know if one was coming. Alas, no, the player just has to suffer. But really that is my only complaint, because other than that it is a fantastic game that is well worth anybody’s time. The atmosphere is great, the combat is phenomenal, the story is very intriguing, though I don’t want to discuss it for spoilers and what not. As well, the voice work in this game is very well done and really helps to make deeper connections with the characters; I am also very glad to see they kept with the very diverse dialects and accents from Extraction, that was something that I thought made the universe of Dead Space feel a bit more real. Again, highly recommend.
In my review for the first Dead Space, I mentioned how I felt the game struggled with creating a terrifying atmosphere, as well as being somewhat bland with its environments and overall aesthetic. These complaints stemmed from the fact the game refused to leave the player alone, always having someone talking directly to Isaac, or by not leaving any ambiguity and leading the player directly to where they need to be; this not being helped by the very bland looking environments that looked like scraped concept art for Doom 3. So, I am very glad to say that they improved on both of these aspects quite a lot. Firstly, Isaac talks now. I never would have thought that simply having the player character talk could be so integral to creating tension, but it is. By giving Isaac a voice, the developers dissolved the need for the other characters to be constantly hounding the player with objectives, and trying to force agency where there is none .Now there is clear and effective agency because Isaac is his own person who can express personal wants and create his own objectives; no longer does he feel like an errand boy to the other characters, instead he actually feels like the main protagonist. As well, by having Isaac be more independent, there is much more room for the fear to build, and for anticipation to fester. There are now long stretches of time where the player goes without any sort of meaningful interactions with NPCs, meaning that they are going to be alone with their thoughts way more often, which is the key to creating good horror. To add to the fear factor, the game's environments are so much more varied and creative than that of the Ishimura. The game’s setting is a giant city colony orbiting Jupiter called The Sprawl, think the giant ship from Wall-E, but way bigger. Throughout his journey, Isaac stumbles through every possible corner of The Sprawl; from the medical wing that he wakes up in, a (formerly) bustling entertainment complex, an absolutely terrifying elementary school sector, a decadent Unitologist church, a sprawling mine and cave system, to, what is most definitely my favorite area, the quarantined remains of the Ishimura. All of these environments are so much different from the last, each offering new aesthetics paired with challenges that are appropriate to the area. A few of my favorites would be how the new velociraptor necromorphs use the church’s daunting collection of pillars to play mind games with the player and flank them; the necromorph babies and children that wander the halls of the school, and how the Ishimura is just this imposing scar throughout its entire chapters run time, filling the player with memories of dread with every familiar area they come across. As well, the general pacing of each chapter feels so much smother; gone are the individual levels of the first game that start and stop with a tram ride, in their place is now a much more Resident Evil 4 style structure that flows into itself very well, letting the world feel interconnected and not like individual parts. The RE4 comparison doesn’t stop there, however, as I think the developers finally got what made RE4’s combat so great.
Again, to reference my review of the first Dead Space, I described that game's combat as an imitation of Resident Evil 4’s, but without the understanding and nuance that made it so great. I think I can confidently say now, though, that they not only understand it, but made it their own thing. The first Dead Space took the surface level ideas of focusing on location based damage and a wide arsenal of weapons, and kind of did only that. The stasis concept was neat, but definitely not fully explored, and while the focus on cutting off enemy limbs is really cool, it is functionally not different than a headshot. Dead Space 2, however, fully expands on both of those ideas, while also fully embracing the RE4 style sense of momentum that made that game such a classic. RE4 does a lot of things right, but what it does obscenely well is creating a sense of forward momentum; it is hard to describe what I mean by forward momentum, but I think the best way I could is that the make the player constantly push forward, and that is the same feeling Dead Space 2 invokes. The player is constantly pushing through hoards of necromorphs,and through set piece after set piece at lightning speed, constantly keeping the player engaged and on their toes. I got physically exhausted my first time playing RE4, and I get the same feeling here; my heart rate is through the roof every waking minute. Stasis has now been revamped so that it can also launch, as well as freeze and carry them. Because of this, there is a much bigger focus on using the necromorphs severed limbs as projectiles in order to save ammunition. This creates a whole new layer of thinking for the player, on top of prioritizing targets based on who they perceive as more deadly, the player must also think about which enemies have the easiest limbs to cut off so that they don’t have to use up ammo, completely flipping the dynamic of the game on its head, and leading to really intense combat encounters. As well, ammo pickups have been made more scarce in order to encourage this playstyle. This is a great addition that really makes the game stand apart from both its inspirations, and even newer games. But like with every game, there are still some less than favorable aspects that accompany it.
While the combat is way more dynamic and way more exhilarating, some of the enemy placements and spawns are just baffling. There are a sizable number of encounters that have the necromorphs just appear behind the player out of thin air, and while I am sure that they had some animation that showed them coming out of a vent, in the heat of combat when I am facing an entirely different direction, with my back to the end of a hallway that I new was clear a second ago, it feels really cheap. I think this could have been made slightly better if maybe each of the necromorphs had more distinct sounds, or at least some sort of doppler like effect that would let the player know if one was coming. Alas, no, the player just has to suffer. But really that is my only complaint, because other than that it is a fantastic game that is well worth anybody’s time. The atmosphere is great, the combat is phenomenal, the story is very intriguing, though I don’t want to discuss it for spoilers and what not. As well, the voice work in this game is very well done and really helps to make deeper connections with the characters; I am also very glad to see they kept with the very diverse dialects and accents from Extraction, that was something that I thought made the universe of Dead Space feel a bit more real. Again, highly recommend.