There were a couple of weapons that feel like they didn't belong in the game (sniper rifle, javelin, and maybe the detonator).. they just didn't seem practical for the situations you faced.
Luckily, there's several other awesome guns that fit about every needed situation. You can use the flamethrower to clear those little bastards out pretty quick, lol. Pulse rifle is always the defacto assault rifle, and of course you've got plasma rifles, ripper saws (fun fun!!), force guns/rail gun, contact beams, etc. Boy are they fun... and i looooove that force/rail gun. You buy the limited collectors edition, you get one to start the game with (and a slick security-level suit, too!)
But my favorite thing? Beating the living piss out of the necromorphs. They hugely improved your punches and stomps... you can even upgrade the damage for this through your suit. You mash the buttons faster, he stomps, kicks, and punches faster and faster, and its awesome to see his emotion bcoming more aggressive... you can hear him start screaming obscentities with every splatter and jaw break. I love that kind of detail.
They really did a amazing job with story and sycnhing everything together with the first. Plays out nice. They really tapped out in the human psyche for this one, stretching every emotion you could feel. There's things so horrfying, you want to stop and take a breath to get your sense out of the fright zone, but you don't want to put it down. It really gets under your skin at some points with the tense, spooky situations, and yet you'll keep playing because the action is just amazing and well paced.
Environments are extremely well balanced... you have your tight, claustaphobic corridiors, creepy tall tunnels and room to room deals, your wide open hangars and construction areas, and your lunar/space missions, labs, churches, living complexes and more. The tram scene, and the new zero-G gameplay is just smooth and phenomenal. There's a particular space scene that was phenomenal, as your literally projected at like 1000mph's in a free fall... I dont want to ruin it all. Very easy to spoil.
Levels and stuff are well balanced. I didn't find any dull moments. Nothing seemed repetive. If there was a scene where it was, i don't remember because 99.9999% of the game was just so epic.
honestly, the best way to play is 5.1 or better head phones or a damn good surrond, crank it up as reasonable as you can, play on the largest screen you can find with noone else around, at 1am in the morning, and if your lucky... you won't end up in a mental health facility or curled up crying by morning, lololol.
Seriously... don't pass this up. Drop the cash now. It's worth every penny. You'll regret not doing so.
this is all coming from someone who was only a minor fan at best of the first dead space, and considered the first one a "decent" survival horror game, if that tells you anything.