How could I possibly forget this game. This sequel definietley had a lot to live up to with the original game that it had to stand on. Dead Space 1 was definitley one of the most memorable standout horror titles for Video Gaming in the 2000s. With Resident Evil 4 revolutionizing and reinventing the horror genre only a few years back aswell as pretty much coining the Third-Person Shooter term aswell where the actual character was in view instead of looking directly through the eyes of your character to the action in front of you which was already well established with games back then thanks to DOOM, Goldeneye 007 and Halo. Resident Evil 4 was definitley scary, but was evened out with some pretty good one liners and comic releif every now and then, such as The Merchant and the annoying Ash.
Dead Space 1 on the other hand made RE4 tonally look like a campy horror b-movie in comparison, with a Sci-Fi Horror vision that was much darker, more desolate and haunting, and almost no comic releif to be found. It was grizzly, grimy horror at it's purest state with hardly any respite from the constant tension and hard adrenaline that the game throws at you.
So what does Dead Space 2 do different from the origional. Well it does a few things to raise the stakes for Issac Clarke and up the ante to almost chaotic levels of horror and action, with a more slick and futuristic Sci-Fi style this time around.
Gone are the grimy, scummy, brown rusted and bloodstained iron walls of the decaying USG Ishumaura, with a crisper, cleaner and more modern looking indoor space corridor city known as The Sprawl, situated on moon of Titan off Saturn. Issac has survived the horror of The Ishumaura, but not without a price. His mind has now been infected by the telepathically transmitted virus stemming from The Marker, which is now causing his mind to be slowly ruined by constant haunting visions involving her dead girlfreind and him slowly deciphering what it all is supposed to mean.
Issac is far more interesting as a character in this game since he can now speak and has many great scenes of diologue with the other characters. The supporting characters of this game range from untrustworthy, to evil, to downright sad with the character of Nolan Stross who I still think is one of the most tragic and disturbing characters ever put into a videogame. Play the game and see why.
The action in this game is unrelenting and it very rarley gives you a break. You will be using your Plasma Cutter once again to slice, dice and dismember the necromorphs which are more evil and bloodthirsty than ever before, simply wanting to kill you in every way imaginable, just because they can! The death scenes are flat out ridiculous in this game, that are so over the top and violent, you might actually have a hard time taking the game seriously anymore, with some that are so sick it is almost comical.
The game also comes with a Zealot Mode which is the game's ultimate diffuculty setting, like Legendary in the Halo series. I've never personally tried this difficulty level, but I've seen others play it, and it is ruthless. You are only allowed to save three times in this game I think, which leaves you with only three checkpoints. So if you die, you will be sent back several hours of progress instantly. Yikes!
But anyway, I think it's a Sci-Fi horror masterpiece and one of the scariest, darkest and most violent games I've ever played, though there have been several that have surpassed the horror factor with the two The Last of Us games by Naughty Dog. So if you're into this sort of thing, I recommend it. It's a pure Sci-Fi horror rush with some impactful characters emotional scenes aswell that may stick with you for a while.
