Dead Space 2

Isaac is having some relationship issues.

Isaac discovered that a planet-cracking ship had discovered something horrible.  Unfortunately, everyone thought he was insane.  Now the colony where he is being kept is being attacked by something.  The difference this time is that Isaac is running from more than just the monsters in the colony...

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Recommended Age Minimum Age Available On... 18 16 PC, Xbox 360, PS3 Overall Fun Length Frustration   Violence Sexuality Substances Gambling 7 6 2   10 1 3 0 Mods Religion Anti-Law Community Sports Magic Miscellaneous 1 4 2 8 5 2 5

1.     Gameplay

• Overall Fun - 7

The first Dead Space game did an excellent job in creating a suspense-based roller coaster with twists and turns that left me wanting more in the best way possible.  Dead Space 2 comes back and attempts to build off of what the first Dead Space created, but comes up a bit short.

It's just not that scary.

Dead Space 2 does an excellent job building off of the story of the first game and answering some of the questions that the first game left a bit open-ended.  It also introduces a few new and often compelling characters and has some excellent twists (more on that later).  Unfortunately, the creators seem to have not noticed what made the first game so “suspenseful”.

In the first Dead Space, the player was walking into what was essentially a crime scene.  Yes, people were still occasionally dying, but for the most part the violence was over.  The odds of finding any survivors were extremely small, so the game became more about the player’s own survival and not about trying to rescue others.  The few “survivors” were either so badly mauled or so psychologically broken that there was no point even attempting to save them.

Sometimes people just don't want to see what's right in front of them.

Dead Space 2 takes place as the necromorphs are beginning to attack a space colony.  The beginning of the game shows civilians running from attacking necromorphs.  While the number of civilians at the end of the game is obviously hovering around zero, I still always felt compelled to find and save every civilian I could.  In the end you only save one person, but I was always somewhat annoyed that Isaac never even attempted to save any of the civilians that I could hear screaming through locked doors.

The other problem was that I never once feared for my own safety.  I was very familiar with the weapons that I had available to me (since the vast majority of them had been carried over from the previous Dead Space game), so I knew exactly how to best tackle the necromorphs.  What made things even easier was that the majority of the necromorphs were also carried over from the previous Dead Space game, so I never had to change my tactics when dealing with them.

Watch the corners. Stay close to walls. Avoid open spaces. Use cover. Rinse. Repeat.

But there were some highlights with the game as well.  Aside from the fact that this was still a very well designed, smooth game with a good story, I loved the interactions between Isaac and the hallucination of his girlfriend.  Their conflicts were compelling and his reactions to her felt genuine.  I actually felt pity for Isaac, who clearly felt responsible for his girlfriend’s death.

Take time.

There were other characters that were equally compelling.  Isaac’s two allies always made appropriate responses to the situations they were presented with and never made any idiotic monologues as so many games are prone to include.  Nothing felt forced between the characters, which is a huge plus in my book.

Overall this game was definitely enjoyable but not nearly as interesting as the first.  It was definitely worth the price that I paid, but don’t get it for the multiplayer.

• Length - 6

This game is decently long but should be longer.  It took me about 11 hours to complete the campaign, but the replay value is high enough that I could definitely consider a second playthrough.  The game offers a “NewGame+” where the player can import the weapons and upgrades he got from a first playthrough into a second playthrough.  It’s an awesome feature that makes the game much more interesting.

The problem with length occurs at the multiplayer.  The multiplayer should add at least a few more hours of replayability.  However, the poor matchmaking feature significantly detracts from the fun of the multiplayer game modes.  As a result, I played through just a single multiplayer match and had no desire to try another.

The specific problems with the multiplayer game mode are discussed in detail in the “Online Community” section.

• Frustration Factor - 2

As mentioned before, the multiplayer section was so unbelievably aggravating that it significantly detracted from my overall enjoyment of the game.  Other than that, however, there was very little to be frustrated about.  Health and ammunition were plentiful on lower difficulty levels, previous problems with controls had been worked out, and there were very few missions / objectives that were difficult to figure out.

The only thing that might come relatively close would be the “stab yourself in the eye with a huge needle” part.  Frankly I found it unnecessarily disgusting and way too easy to fail and have to redo.  Seriously, who voluntarily (without anesthesia) stabs themselves in the eye with a huge needle?

2.     Parental Notices

• Violence - 10

This game is extremely violent.  Within the first few minutes, the player will see another character have his head impaled by some sort of spike and then morph into a horrible creature of nightmares.  There’s lots of broken bones, exposed muscle tissue, and weird fleshy tentacles involved.

Off to a good start.

The player frequently be required to kill necromorphs.  The easiest way to do lots of damage to these monsters is to shoot off their limbs.  When this happens, blood and other biological material sprays from the stump where the limb was severed.

The violence may try to hide in the shadows, but we shine a light on it.

While this happens often throughout the game, the truly gruesome violence occurs in the interactive cutscenes in the game.  For example, in one section an insane psychiatric patient attacks a woman with a screwdriver, sticking it into and removing her eyeball.  The patient then taunts the player with the eyeball, which is still impaled on the screwdriver.

But if he skewered the eye, wouldn't the screwdriver be going through the iris?

Failure to complete interactive cutscenes properly can result in the player’s violent death.  For example, late in the game the player is attacked by a man who is wielding a sort of harpoon gun.  If the player fails the event, the player’s head will be blown off by the speargun.  Blood and gore abound.

Getting decapitated usually means you failed.

If the same cutscene is performed successfully, the player ends up taking the speargun and (even after being impaled in the hand by a spear), uses the gun to shoot the man in the throat.  Cue the blood.

I was surprised that he looked surprised.

The player will frequently find dismembered body parts (and the bodies from which parts have been removed).

Where's the rest of him?

I could go into the other elements of blood and gore found throughout this game, but by this point it shouldn’t be necessary.  Needless to say, this is an extremely violent game.

• Sexuality - 1

Swimsuit editions of the “Interstellar Sports” magazines can be found randomly around the environment.  However, these are easy to miss.

Sneaky sneaky.

• Substances - 3

Health is delivered in the form of white cylinders.  They seem to be filled with liquid of some sort, but the exact nature of the substance is never specified.  You simply pick up the vials, use them, and your health is restored.  The specific number of times the player will interact with these health vials will depend on the difficulty level that the player plays at and the amount of damage the player takes.

Not really sure how you take this.

The player can find some ashtrays with cigarette butts.  However, cigarettes are never seen being used.

• Gambling - 0

Gambling is not a factor in this game.

3.     Other Factors

• Mods - 1

There are mods for this game despite the fact that there are no official modding tools.  The vast majority seem to be costume mods that give Isaac different armors.  This isn’t exactly the kind of game that people would play to get off.  Even the female characters can’t offset the fact that everything is trying to kill you every few seconds.

• Religion - 4

Religion in this game felt like it had been played down considerably from the previous game in this series.  While the player will have to go through a Unitology “church” (indoctrination center), the influence of the Unitologists on the events of Dead Space 2 isn’t mentioned as clearly.  The player is looking less for an explanation as to what is happening and more of a solution for fixing the problem.  Since this is the case, the true explanation behind the events (Unitologists started it) often takes a backseat in the progression of the game.

I prefer "The Lord giveth..."

That being said, Unitology is still prominent in certain sections.  The beliefs and history of Unitology are explained in detail in the church, which players will have to navigate through in order to progress onward in the game.  The cultish atmosphere of the church is made very evident.

The "Indoctrination" center is actually just some sort of information room.

• Anti-Law - 2

The player will be required to perform actions that would contradict the direct orders of the local law enforcement.  However, most of the orders given by the local law enforcement would result in the death of the player and of all civilians on the colony.  The leader of the law enforcement is insane and clearly trying to prevent the player from stopping the necromorphs.  So the few anti-law actions that the player will have to commit are justifiable.

• Online Community - 8

The multiplayer game mode for this game is easily one of the most frustrating experiences I have had in a game in some time.  The only game mode seems to be an objective-based mode where one team (the humans) are tasked with trying to accomplish certain objectives within a given time limit.  The other team (the necromorphs) is tasked with trying to prevent the humans from accomplishing their tasks.  There are four necromorphs to choose from, each with different strengths and weaknesses.

Mostly weaknesses.

However, as humans the player’s choice in weapons and extra abilities are based on the player’s level.  Higher level players will have a greater access to weapons and powers, each of which are specifically designed to help the players achieve their goal.  Unfortunately, this usually results in the wholesale slaughter of lower-level players by upper-level players.

Slightly unfair.

This system is fairly flawed no matter what game uses it, but it’s especially frustrating in Dead Space because of how quickly the necromorphs can be killed.  The online game mode was much frustrating than it was fun.

• Extreme Sports - 5

While the previous Dead Space game did include sections with “Zero Gravity”, the mechanics have been revamped for Dead Space 2.  Instead of just being able to jump from one surface to another, the player is actually able to hover and use boosters on the player’s suit to fly around in space.

I'm in spaaaaaace!

This includes one section where the player is actually in space flying around.  Instead of being confined to a room or set of rooms (as is normally the case), the player can fly as far away from the level as he wants.  I never tested exactly how far the player can get, but the game never gave me an indication as to where it ended.

There are at least two sections where the player will be “ejected” from one place to another.  The idea is that the player has to cross a large gap of space within a very short period of time.  So in order to go thousands of feet in a matter of seconds, the player puts himself either in some sort of capsule and is fired in the desired direction at high velocity.  For one of these ejections, the player has to make a very painful crash landing.

Can't use a parachute in space.

• Magic - 2

Isaac’s primary quest is to destroy the marker that both creates and controls the necromorphs.  The way that the marker actually creates and controls the necromorphs is never explained in detail.  The entire process has a lot to do with the structure and symbols of the marker.  While there is a possibility that the process is scientific (the first marker was created by humans), the entire thing seems more magical than technological or biological.

Maybe it's a giant tuning fork.

• Miscellaneous - 5

Suicide

Early in the game, one of the psychiatric patients frees Isaac with a homemade shiv.  After going on a brief rant about how everyone is dead anyway, the patient takes the shiv and slits his own throat in front of Isaac.  There’s a lot of blood and gurgling noises.

Crazy.

Scary Images

As this game fits into the “horror” genre, it makes numerous attempts to scare the player or create a sense of suspense.  There are far too many examples to mention them all and most of these examples cannot be captured adequately in a screenshot.  But one particularly obvious example occurs within the first few minutes of starting the game.  The player is rescued from an insane asylum.  The man doing the rescuing is talking to the player but is attacked by a necromorph and is almost instantly transformed.  The player watches as the man’s head deforms and breaks apart in graphic detail.

Dude, your face... dude... DUDE!

Most of the scary images have to do with some sort of violence or threat of violence.  The sense of suspense that made the first game so entertaining was removed from Dead Space 2, though.  Overall I never found this game to be particularly scary, but I can see how a younger audience could easily get nightmares.

Human Disfigurement

The primary enemies in this game are known as “necromorphs”.  They are disfigured humans that have been significantly mutated by the Marker and other necromorphs.  It’s a pretty gross process overall.

The disfigurement doesn’t stop at adults either.  Mutated children and infants are found in the game.  They’re unmistakably children and infants too, it’s not like they could be taken for midgets or something.

Not a midget.

At the end of the game, the player is attacked by the head of the colony’s law enforcement.  Something has evidently gone horribly wrong because the man has been horribly burned on his entire left side.

That can't be healthy.