Released: 25 January 2011
Developer: Visceral Games
Also Available For: PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X (Backwards Compatible)

The Plot:
Three years after his nightmarish encounter on the USG Ishimura, former engineer Isaac Clarke arrives on the Sprawl, a civilian space station built on the remains of Saturn’s moon, Titan, only to find that a new Necromorph outbreak has been unleashed.

The Background:
Inspired by survivor/horror franchises like Silent Hill (Konami/Various, 1999 to 2012) and Resident Evil (Capcom/Various, 1996 to present), Dead Space (EA Redwood Shores, 2008) was the brainchild of Glen Schofield and a small but committed team of developers determined to shake up the genre’s gameplay mechanics. Highly praised and having sold over one million copies, development of a sequel began immediately following the first game’s release. In that time, Electronic Arts’ Redwood Shores rebranded to Visceral Games, who gave the game makers a great deal of autonomy over the project after all the good will they’d built up on the first game. Pushing themselves to improve and refine Dead Space’s unique presentation, concept, and mechanics, the developers sought to expand Isaac’s movement and combat options, incorporate destructible environments to be used as weapons, and tone down the difficulty of the game’s puzzles to fit this new action-orientated approach. His personality was also greatly expanded, with him evolving from a silent character to a speaking one, and the grotesque Necromorphs were greatly expanded upon to better fit the game’s bigger and more varied environments. Like its predecessor, Dead Space 2 was very well received; critics praised its foreboding atmosphere, the deeper dive into Isaac’s fractured mind, and the focus on gory, fast-paced action shooting. There were some concerns about repetitive sections, the abundance of dialogue sections, and the downloadable content (DLC) but, overall, Dead Space 2 is regarded as one of the best entries in the franchise and a top title in the survival/horror genre.

Gameplay:
Dead Space 2 is a science-fiction survival/horror title in which players once again assume the role of engineer Isaac Clarke, a psychologically damaged individual who must cut through swarms of monstrous undead in a bid to prevent the Necromorph outbreak spreading further. If you’ve played the first Dead Space or other third-person action shooters then the control scheme will be very familiar to you: A lets you interact with the environment, open doors and crates and pick up resources and such, B and Y lets you quickly use any Med Packs or Stasis Packs stored in your inventory, and X lets you manually reload your weapon. To aim and fire your weapon, hold down the Left Trigger and press the Right Trigger; when not aiming, RT allows you to deliver a close-range melee attack. Holding down the Left Bumper sees you run without fear of a stamina meter, while the Right Bumper triggers your weapon’s alternative fire mode when aiming or sees you stomping on crates or crawling enemies outside of aiming. You can quickly switch weapons on the fly using the directional pad and bring up your inventory screen with the ‘Back’ button; here, you can use or drop items in your inventory and review your mission objectives but be careful as enemies can still attack you in this state. Finally, you can press in the right stick to briefly be shown the way with a glowing waypoint marker and trigger a zero gravity jump by pressing in the left stick.

As before, Dead Space 2 kind of goes against usual conventions; normally, you’d expect to aim for the head or torso to take out zombies and demonic monsters but, instead, you’ll stand a much better chance if you target the limbs of your Necromorph enemies. Luckily, Isaac is well equipped to handle this; even his default Plasma Cutter is extremely effective but, just like before, he has a couple of extra abilities on hand to help. When aiming, you can press Y to unleash a “Stasis” blast; this will temporarily freeze any enemies it touches, allowing you to target their weak spots to sever their limbs, but is also necessary to freeze obstacles in your path. You’ll need to use it to slow down fan blades, crushing pistons, and similar hazards in order to progress and solve puzzles. If you press B while aiming, you’ll grab nearby objects, ammo and collectibles, and even limbs and bodies with your “Kinesis” ability. These can then be flung at enemies or other objects with RT and this ability is how you’ll be solving most puzzles as you’ll need to move power cells, explosive canisters, and even dead bodies in order to restore power, move heavy doors and obstacles, or get past biometric security doors. Kinesis is also used to move platforms, slot gears and batteries in place, and to remove panels from walls to allow you to hack them. This hacking mini game crops up quite a bit and sees you rotating a cone of light on a display scene and pressing A whenever it goes blue; press A when it’s red or take too long and you’ll receive a shock of electricity, though you don’t have to worry about any gun turret sections this time around.

As mentioned, there are once again many times when you’re forced to float around in zero gravity, usually to get from one section of the space station to another but sometimes you will be out in the void of space, battling giant Necromorph tentacles and solving puzzles with Kinesis. Zero gravity doesn’t seem to show up as much as before and isn’t as frustrating as I remember from the last game; you press the left stick in to take off or land, floating around is easy enough and you can orientate yourself at the press of a bumper, and you don’t encounter that many enemies in these sections this time, either. Instead, you’ll mostly be floating to platforms, moving large objects by attacking explosive cannisters to them, or inserting or removing power cells, perhaps dodging the odd flame burst or instant death hazard as you go. Again, you’ll also find yourself in a vacuum, often in these zero gravity sections; here, you need to keep an eye on your rapidly depleting oxygen meter, topping it up at refuelling stations as you complete puzzles and boost past hazards with LB, but it’s nowhere near as aggravating as some of the sections from the first game were. You do have to be careful when fighting Necromorphs, though; a stray shot or explosion will shatter the protective glass and see you sucked out to your death, so be sure to quickly shoot the switch to save yourself from a grisly demise. There seems to be a greater emphasis on button mashing, too; you’ll need to tap A whenever Necromorphs pounce or swarm over you or when Isaac’s hallucinations get out of control, which can be tricky as you really have to mash the button to shake them off. Occasionally, you’ll need to fire at laser traps, dodge incoming fire from gunships, and fend off hordes of Necromorphs as your allies work to restore power but easily the most memorable section of the game comes near the end when you need to hold down A when the reticule is blue to successfully pierce Isaac right through this pupil! Finally, while you’ll no longer be travelling between train stations in obvious segmented sections, the game’s story is still split into chapters and you’ll be making use of vents and elevators to progress from one area to the next, often with minimal chances to backtrack past a certain point.

Graphics and Sound:  
Dead Space 2 certainly ups the ante with its visuals. Like the first game, every environment has a decidedly “lived-in” feel to it, with much of the sci-fi aesthetic drawing upon films like Alien (Scott, 1979) and especially Event Horizon (Anderson, 1997). The Sprawl has been absolutely desecrated by the Necromorphs; blood, bodies, and debris are everywhere, turning bright and cheery elementary schools and once-bustling social areas into ominous hellscapes. Messages are scrawled on the walls in blood, power and lights are out all over the facility, dead bodies drop from above and non-playable characters (NPCs) are offed (or kill themselves) with gory malice, all while the endless dark void looms outside of every window. In zero gravity environments, debris floats around aimlessly; water becomes as bubbles and even fire billows around with impressive effect. If you breach a window, you must fight against the pull of gravity, which sucks everything in the vicinity outside, and there are all kinds of different locations found throughout the Sprawl. You’ll visit an ornate and elaborate church, a cyro lab, and the fuel processing facility, all while passing through areas done up more like something out of Doom (id Software, 1993) with their foreboding candles and flickering lights. Dead Space 2 is so much bigger than the first that it’s spread over two discs; during the second part, you’ll return to the Ishimura from the first game and revisit several key areas, now stripped back to the insulation and under repair as part of a salvage operation, which was both really cool to see and where Isaac’s mental instability really escalates.

All throughout the game, Isaac’s bombarded by nightmarish visions of Nicole and his experiences from Dead Space, which cause the environment to burst to life or enemies to suddenly attack you, only for it to be revealed to all be in Isaac’s head. As he ventures deeper into the mines and closer to the Marker, these visions only escalate, to the point where he’s forced to literally confront his ghosts head on. It’s because of this greater narrative focus on Isaac and his mental state that he now has a voice; he’s constantly talking with his hallucinations or relaying information back to one of his many allies, allowing for a deeper insight into the previously mute character but also interrupting the atmosphere with these blatant loading times. While the character models skew towards being marionettes at times, the gory deaths and the twisted, unsettling appearance of the Necromorphs more than makes up for it. Isaac’s intimidating suit is also a highlight, and still displays his health and other stats build into it to keep you immersed in the dread of your surroundings, and there were some interesting set pieces to engage with. It was fun floating around outside, realigning the solar panels; I also enjoyed fending off waves of Necromorphs on the back of a giant drilling machine, and every area has some kind of horrific visual to throw at you and keep you on edge. This tension is aided by the fact that the Necromorphs can literally spring from anywhere; they clamber over walls, up from below, drop through grates, and even burst to life from dead bodies, meaning you constantly have to be on your toes and wary of even the slightest sound as it could indicate oncoming danger.

Enemies and Bosses:
As before, the primary enemy you’ll be facing here are the Necromorphs; these disgusting, unsettling alien lifeforms have overtaken human hosts both alive and dead and attack through a variety of means. Capable of scuttling about using vents and walls alike, they primarily attack with bladed, scythe-like appendages and can pin you down if you’re not careful. Some will spit acid-like vomit at you from afar which dramatically slows you down; others are smaller, firing projectiles from a distance or crawling at you like babies to explode on contact. A flying variant will latch onto dead bodies to spawn new enemies and tries to suck your face off if it gets too close; gangly ones burst into tiny Facehugger-like variants; and the more obese ones simply explode in a shower of gets. There are Necromorphs with a huge, explosive club-like arm, ones growing out of walls who’ll rip your head off if you get too close, and really annoying, fleet-footed ones that dash about behind cargo containers to distract you so another member of the pack can catch you off-guard. In most instances, your best bet is to keep your distance and sever their limbs but be warned as Necromorphs are more than capable of scurrying along the floor with half a torso and attack in swarms this time around, turning even simple sections into a bit of a gauntlet at times.

This appears to be the game’s way of making up for the fact that there really aren’t too many boss battles, in the traditional sense. Some of the larger Necromorphs substitute for bosses, and then will reoccur as larger obstacles you need to bypass. Large, plant-like Necromorph growths spit explosive projectiles at you when you’re in space, for example, and you’ll again have to battle large, ape-like brutes who charge at you wildly and need a taste of your Static to slow them down so you can target the weak points in their armour. A recurring larger Necromorph is the tripod variant; at one point, a whole bunch of these attack you as you’re riding an elevator, requiring you to blast at their joints to fend them off. You’ll also venture into their nest, where a gigantic, Lovecraftian mess of muscle needs to be blown apart using nearby fuel cannisters as the beasts attack you in an arena of sorts. One of the most memorable boss encounters is against the gigantic, spider-like Tormentor; you’ll need to blast its joints to free yourself from its grip before frantically running from it down a narrow corridor. When you get blasted out into space, quickly target the fuel cannisters surrounding it to finish it off before it pops you like a balloon! In the final section of the game, one of Dead Space’s most annoying enemies, the Regenerator Necromorph, reappears to pursue you; although you can slow and freeze it, this thing constantly regenerates anew to be a pain in the ass and there’s no way to destroy it permanently this time, so you’re better off dismembering it, freezing it, and running away. In the finale, you incur the wrath of Director Hans Tiedemann as the massive Marker goes haywire around you; simply mash A to wrench the arrows he shoots out of your body and then fire his gun back at him to finish him off. The final boss itself is more of a metaphysical battle between Isaac and his memories of Nicole; when she warps you to a grainy hellscape, she’ll one-shot you if you get too close and send glitchy Necromorphs to swarm you. However, concentrate your fire on her and she’ll vanish, exposing the Marker’s core for you to shoot; repeat this a couple of times and the game will be won in somewhat anti-climactic fashion, especially as you appear to have infinite ammo for this final challenge.

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
Although all Isaac’s abilities from the first game return here, you’ll need to pick them up as you explore and fight through Dead Space 2’s morbid environments. You begin the game unarmed, strapped into a straightjacket, and must acquire a flashlight, your trusty Plasma Cutter, and the ability to use Kinesis and Static once again all in the opening moments of the game. From there, you’ll find ammo, credits, Med Packs, and more in crates and dropped by defeated Necromorphs. Credits, ammo, weapons, and coloured items can be sold at the various shops scattered throughout the game, often near save points. Here, you can shuffle your inventory, moving items out of your active inventory and unlock new suits and weapons to use by exchanging the schematics you find on your adventure. Each suit increases your armour, offers a discount, or reduces the cost of your abilities, but you can also upgrade these elements at the benches you’ll also come across. Here, you can spend Power Nodes on upgrading the capacity, reload speed, and damage output of your weapons, adding a special element to them (such as shots setting enemies on fire), and on increasing your health, air, and the duration of your abilities. Power Nodes can also be used to open special doors to areas filled with rare loot, and you can buy them at the shop as well if necessary. Isaac has an array of weapons available to him, each with an alternative fire mode, such as the arrow-firing javelin gun, the flamethrower, the detonator (which fires out proximity mines), the ripper (which spits out a spinning buzzsaw for gory up-close dismemberment), and the intense power of the contact beam.

Additional Features:
There are fifty Achievements up for grabs in Dead Space 2, with about sixteen being easily acquired simply by playing through the story. You’ll get Achievements for buying suits, scoring a kill with every weapon in the game, upgrading one and then all the available weapons, severing 2,500 limbs, and killing fifty Necromorphs while they’re frozen. There are some oddly specific ones, such as impaling a Necromorph to a wall, cutting up a statue, and making use of the decompression mechanic to suck enemies into space, and other more predictable ones, such as beating the game on harder difficulty settings. At the start, there are four difficulty modes available, with even the easiest setting being a bit of a challenge at times; a fifth is unlocked after completing the game, as are a couple of new suits and a “New Game+” mode that carries over your progress to a new save. There are a bunch of audio logs to be found that flesh out the story, a specific piece of treasure to nab for an Achievement, and the game can be expanded through DLC packs that add eight extra Achievements in addition to a multiplayer component to the game. Finally, if you have a save file from Dead Space on your profile, you’ll gain access to a more powerful Plasma Cutter, for free, at the first shop you go to.

The Summary:
I put off Dead Space 2 for way longer than I wanted to; I really enjoyed the first one thanks to its dark, gory, and oppressive atmosphere but life and my backlog meant it took some time to get to the sequel. However, I easily slipped back into this gritty and macabre world and was still able to appreciate the return to familiar, but changed environments from the first game. Conceptually, Dead Space 2 is definitely bigger; there are more locations available to you, ones that are more visually diverse than the first game and which continue to impress with their fantastic use of lighting and blood to make every area akin to a slaughterhouse. I wasn’t massively impressed by Isaac’s chatterbox demeanour but I do think it was necessary for the progression of his character and the story; seeing him struggle with his mind, memories, and the influence of the Marker made for some effective jump scares and really helped to keep the atmosphere oppressive and dangerous at all times. The combat and Necromorphs continue to be a highlight; you get just enough resources to survive each encounter but it doesn’t take much to leave you relying on those survival/horror instincts as you regroup and reload what little ammo you have left. It seems as though a lot of the more frustrating elements from the first game have been removed or refined; the zero gravity and vacuum sections are far less aggravating, though the hacking mini games and abundance of vents got old pretty quickly. I was also a bit disappointed by the apparent lack of new enemy variants or big, gross boss battles but the abundance of enemies and the variety offered by most encountered meant that the difficult stayed at a fair but challenging level even on the easiest setting. In the end, Dead Space 2 offered more of the same, expanding on the first game visually and in the refinement of mechanics and combat, while delivering the same level of scares and mounting dread as you explore, solve puzzles, and slice up those screwed up zombie monsters.

My Rating:

Great Stuff

What did you think to Dead Space 2? How do you think it compares to the first game and do you think it still holds up today? What did you think to the focus on Isaac’s mental instability and the use of jump scares? Were you also a bit disappointed by the weapon and enemy variety on offer? What did you think to the visuals of the game and the increased focus on gore? Which Dead Space game is your favourite, and would you like to see more from the franchise? What horror-theme videogames are you playing this October in anticipation of Halloween? Whatever your thoughts on Dead Space 2, drop them below or comment on my social media.