- Nov 16, 2006
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It's been three years since I beat Dead Space. I mentioned them that I did not like horror games, but I actually really loved Dead Space. This was because Dead Space isn't a horror game. It's an action game wearing a horror game's tanned and cured skin, like if Doom Guy were Ed Gein.
I loved Dead Space 2. I loved it because it was just Dead Space, but with some of the nonsense taken out, a little more complexity layered on top, but it was fundamentally more of the same game. It fulfilled its dharma, it was a sequel in the truest sense of the word.
Once again, you are Isaac Clark. After the events of the first game, you have gone absolutely, certifiably insane. You are being consumed by the guilt of your lover's death, her having died because she took a job posting on the Ishimura at your insistence, the setting of the first game. You are being held on Titan station, near Saturn, and you are being studied by Earth Gov for your connection to the Marker, an ancient alien artifact that was found by the Ishimura when cracking open an alien planet for resources.
Dead Space gives you just enough preamble to establish it's tone and presence, and then the game begins with an absolute bang and does not let off the accelerator for the next 10 hours. The necromorphs are back, and they're jonesing for dead flesh.
Issac is now a voiced protagonist, and this definitely helps the game's narrative. Rather than being led around like a puppet on a string doing the bidding of others, he gets to establish some agency with the other characters, and an internal monologue with his guilt over his girlfriend's death.
The gameplay is virtually identical to the first installment. Isaac moves a bit more quickly, but the game still keeps a steady and deliberate pace. Navigating in zero-G environments is massively improved, it is now a full 3d environment you use your suit's jets to maneuver in rather than the strange wall hopping experience from the original.
Level design has also simplified a bit. Gone are the hub and spokes, the game is one linear experience from start to finish, back tracking is more or less entirely eliminated. Think corridor, big boxy room, corridor, boxy room...The puzzles are a bit more fun, making use of your "force pull" and "Stasis" powers pretty generously, but the game still telegraphs jump scares pretty heavily.
Although I played through the game using only the Plasma Cutter similar to DS1, the game does have some of that early "RPG all the things" design philosophy creeping in. Weapons and armors come with some minor stat variations (Think +5% reload speed) but the bulk of the improvements still come from weapon and armor upgrades through "nodes" you find while progressing through levels. Once again going deep on the plasma cutter upgrades never steered me wrong, and it really simplified inventory management of ammo.
Necromorphs are as fun as ever to fight. Still have to dismember to kill, body and headshots are a good way to waste a lot of ammo. I always appreciates Visceral Games' willingness to go all in on the body horror, even children and babies are not spared the necromorph's desire to become whole. One of the more memorable enemies from the first game makes his triumphant return for the sequel, ratcheting up the tension of the final chapter in a way only Dead Space can.
Game looks really good given its vintage. The PC port doesn't have any of the strange v sync issues of the first game, and ran perfectly at 144hz on my sig rig without scripting or crashing issues.
I know Dead Space 3 is the most maligned entry of the series, but its a guaranteed play for me at this point if for no other reason than to see the series through.
As closing thoughts, I would implore anyone that is looking for a solid action horror game for the fall season to pick up Dead Space as well as it's sequel. Between the two games, you have about 20 hours of superb single player story driven action horror thrills that are part Alien, part The Thing, and part Event Horizon.
I loved Dead Space 2. I loved it because it was just Dead Space, but with some of the nonsense taken out, a little more complexity layered on top, but it was fundamentally more of the same game. It fulfilled its dharma, it was a sequel in the truest sense of the word.
Once again, you are Isaac Clark. After the events of the first game, you have gone absolutely, certifiably insane. You are being consumed by the guilt of your lover's death, her having died because she took a job posting on the Ishimura at your insistence, the setting of the first game. You are being held on Titan station, near Saturn, and you are being studied by Earth Gov for your connection to the Marker, an ancient alien artifact that was found by the Ishimura when cracking open an alien planet for resources.
Dead Space gives you just enough preamble to establish it's tone and presence, and then the game begins with an absolute bang and does not let off the accelerator for the next 10 hours. The necromorphs are back, and they're jonesing for dead flesh.
Issac is now a voiced protagonist, and this definitely helps the game's narrative. Rather than being led around like a puppet on a string doing the bidding of others, he gets to establish some agency with the other characters, and an internal monologue with his guilt over his girlfriend's death.
The gameplay is virtually identical to the first installment. Isaac moves a bit more quickly, but the game still keeps a steady and deliberate pace. Navigating in zero-G environments is massively improved, it is now a full 3d environment you use your suit's jets to maneuver in rather than the strange wall hopping experience from the original.
Level design has also simplified a bit. Gone are the hub and spokes, the game is one linear experience from start to finish, back tracking is more or less entirely eliminated. Think corridor, big boxy room, corridor, boxy room...The puzzles are a bit more fun, making use of your "force pull" and "Stasis" powers pretty generously, but the game still telegraphs jump scares pretty heavily.
Although I played through the game using only the Plasma Cutter similar to DS1, the game does have some of that early "RPG all the things" design philosophy creeping in. Weapons and armors come with some minor stat variations (Think +5% reload speed) but the bulk of the improvements still come from weapon and armor upgrades through "nodes" you find while progressing through levels. Once again going deep on the plasma cutter upgrades never steered me wrong, and it really simplified inventory management of ammo.
Necromorphs are as fun as ever to fight. Still have to dismember to kill, body and headshots are a good way to waste a lot of ammo. I always appreciates Visceral Games' willingness to go all in on the body horror, even children and babies are not spared the necromorph's desire to become whole. One of the more memorable enemies from the first game makes his triumphant return for the sequel, ratcheting up the tension of the final chapter in a way only Dead Space can.
Game looks really good given its vintage. The PC port doesn't have any of the strange v sync issues of the first game, and ran perfectly at 144hz on my sig rig without scripting or crashing issues.
I know Dead Space 3 is the most maligned entry of the series, but its a guaranteed play for me at this point if for no other reason than to see the series through.
As closing thoughts, I would implore anyone that is looking for a solid action horror game for the fall season to pick up Dead Space as well as it's sequel. Between the two games, you have about 20 hours of superb single player story driven action horror thrills that are part Alien, part The Thing, and part Event Horizon.
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