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Dead Space 2 PC Review January 29, 2011 |
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Summary: "In space, no one can hear you die…" Jacob digs into Dead Space 2 and gives you the lowdown on what to expect, love and hate in the sequel to the 2008 hit game title.
 In space, no one can hear you die… | Page:: ( 1 / 5 ) |
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Visceral Games released Dead Space in 2008, following Isaac Clarke’s terrifying adventure to [basically] save his girlfriend from a derelict spacecraft, the USG Ishimura. Dead Space 2 includes a nifty “Previously on” video that recaps the events that have transpired thus far, which boil down to the following:
Spoilers, obviously
The captain of the Ishimura turned out to be under orders from the Church of Unitology to retrieve an alien artifact called the Marker from a planet called Aegis VII. Apparently its ability to induce psychosis in humans made it very valuable to the religious cult, but it wreaked havoc on the Ishimura’s populace and caused them all to kill each other. As if that weren’t enough, the Marker was acting to suppress the hive mind of a parasitic alien organism that transforms dead bodies into grotesque monstrosities, so after it was removed, the infestation spread to the nearby colony and spaceship full of corpses.
Needless to say, Isaac and the rest of the crew responding to a distress signal were in way over their heads when their own ship crash-landed on the Ishimura. Ultimately, members of the rescue crew were revealed to also be part of a conspiracy to control the Marker and its power. With a hefty dose of improvisation, Isaac was able to put his engineering skills to work in surviving the ordeal and destroying the Marker along with the alien hive mind, but his exposure to the relic was already starting to manifest itself in ways he could have never imagined…
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Three years later, Isaac finds himself in a mental hospital on what remains of Titan, one of Saturn’s moons. The psychosis from the Marker was kept in check with heavy doses of drugs that suppressed his memories, but as he remembers, it begins to consume him. Hallucinations and disembodied voices serve to take the horror to a new level (think F.E.A.R.) as he is shocked into the realization that the Necromorphs have followed him to the Milky Way galaxy and he must find a way to escape with his life, again.
| Gameplay | Page:: ( 2 / 5 ) |
Dead Space 2 wastes little time acclimating you to your new surroundings (and Isaac’s newfound personality) before plunging you back into the ice cold nightmare that is the Necromorph infestation. Little more than five minutes will pass before that “M” for Mature rating is smashed right over your head in what may arguably be the swiftest mindfuck ever delivered in a video game’s opening sequence, if not in a video game, period. It slows down a bit after that as you get back into the swing of things, waving your flashlight wildly about as you proceed through the darkness and are reintroduced to basic gameplay mechanics like Stasis and Kinesis, quicktime events, and “strategic dismemberment.”
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As in the first game, combat with the Necromorphs is largely contingent upon your ability to target specific weak points, usually the limbs or head. Since ammunition is not particularly plentiful, it’s best to conserve what you have by taking careful aim before shooting. For unique threats such as bosses, weak points are highlighted in yellow, and you can use Stasis to slow their movement temporarily to help you hit them. Unconventional tactics are made possible by using Kinesis, the anti-gravity utility that acts just like Half-Life 2’s gravity gun, which allows you to pick up and throw most physics-enabled objects. While debris such as boxes, chairs, or fire extinguishers can be tossed to stagger or knock down an opponent, other, more pointy or explodey objects can be used to dismember and/or kill much more efficiently. Because of this, you can still be quite effective in a fight even after you’ve run out of ammo.
You can still stomp corpses to find loot like so many gory piñatas, but items and credits are also scattered throughout the environment. Inventory space is limited at first (better suits have more pockets), so sell or vault what you don’t need to carry with you. The store terminal allows you to do both of those things, as well as purchase ammo, health, weapons, and suits. Many of the big-ticket items must be unlocked first by collecting its schematic from somewhere in the Sprawl. The Workbench also returns as a way to use those valuable power nodes that you find or buy to upgrade weapons and other equipment. Save stations are common enough that you can quit at almost any point, and are even supplemented by hidden checkpoint saves that were very helpful on a couple of the occasions I died.
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The story is not particularly strong, consisting mostly of recycled elements from the first game, but the characters, including Isaac, combine with tried-and-true atmospheric elements and a new setting to make up for that. A completely self-contained ecosystem for what must be hundreds of thousands of people like the Sprawl simply has far more unique environments to exploit in scaring the crap out of the player than an abandoned mining barge. Although, much of what you experience is more creepy or unsettling than frightening, in that it poses no threat to you yet will still send shivers down your spine.
The sheer quantity of encounters you’ll have with the ordinary Necromorphs means it will eventually become routine and almost predictable (Doom 3 syndrome), but Dead Space 2’s saving grace is that it also manages to come at you in unexpected ways throughout the whole game. I don’t want to spoil anything, but what I’m referring to generally has you re-thinking the idea that there are some areas or moments in a game that are “safe.” It’s this constant state of fear that maintains your adrenaline high in between bouts with the formidable bosses and puts more stress on the ol’ ticker than some may be used to. The resulting blend of action and terror is a marathon thrill ride that few other games are able to duplicate.
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| Graphics | Page:: ( 3 / 5 ) |
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As with any scary game, the lighting (or lack thereof) plays a very important role in Dead Space 2. The flashlight you carry and wield when taking aim with a weapon is often brighter than most everything else in the environment, adding a sense of claustrophobia when all you can see is constrained to a relatively small illuminated circle. Dynamic shadows dancing on the walls will catch your eye from across the room and make you wonder whether there’s a Necromorph hiding somewhere or if it’s just a swinging lamp. Fear of the unknown is an old horror trick, and it’s used well here. Dark environments also help to hide the textures, which certainly aren’t the sharpest I’ve ever seen.
One of the main draws of the franchise, along with the genre as a whole, is the graphic depiction of blood and gore. Dead Space 2 has it in spades, a fact that was exploited by EA in creating a controversial advertisement campaign that involved showing middle-aged, conservative mothers the most abhorrent and disgusting visuals they could put together, just to film their reactions. Needless to say, Dead Space 2 is not for the faint of heart, but even the most hardened and desensitized gamer is likely to experience several OMGWTF moments. You’ll watch some highly disturbing scripted events involving NPCs, as well as some truly gruesome death sequences, which are usually a consequence of failing a quicktime event.
There is no traditional HUD or UI in the game, which works wonders for immersion. Everything you need to know at a glance (health, Stasis charge, ammo) is displayed either on your suit or the weapon itself. When you access your inventory or journal, it appears as a hologram projected in front of you. You’ll also communicate with NPCs and read various texts in this way. A new addition in DS2 is a device that works sort of like a virtual compass. Even though it’s mostly unnecessary due to the game’s straightforward, linear nature, you can bring up this navigation aid and select whether you want it to point you to the objective or the nearest save station, workbench, or store.
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Sound
Dead Space 2’s soundscape is phenomenal. In a game that deprives you of so much visual information, you come to rely on your hearing a lot more, and it will betray you. Out of the dozen or so times I practically jumped out of my chair throughout the game, probably half were caused by noises, and there wasn’t always something there. Occasionally you’ll come across a staged event meant to scare you -- such as an oxygen tank rolling across the floor from around the corner -- but it’s even more likely that you will be bumping into things in the dark and scaring yourself! You’re always alerted to the presence of enemies, but it’s the quiet uncertainty of anticipation in vacancy that will really get to you.
It doesn’t help that there is almost always some damned eerie music playing. It gets you on edge and seamlessly blends between imbuing different tones like “there’s nothing going on right now but you should be worried,” “something’s waiting for you up ahead so be careful,” or “aw, here it goes, you’re screwed!” The worst is when the music is building up and you’re freaking out, hesitant to move forward, then you do and the crescendo makes you flinch, but there’s nothing there. You relax, and five seconds later BLAMMO, something happens. Not only does the composer have an amazing talent for this stuff, but Visceral integrates his work with the game to toy with your mind in a way that’s almost sadistic.
Consolitis
Aside from the usual deficiencies a console port exhibits compared to a game designed for PC, Dead Space 2 actually isn’t so bad in this department. The worst is probably the need to navigate in-game menus, such as the inventory and store, using the arrow keys. Most PC games don’t use them at all, so it takes some getting used to. Weapon selection uses a cross configuration designed for a D-pad, but on PC it’s bound to the 1-4 keys. It doesn’t clearly label which number corresponds to which direction, though, which made things awkward enough that I just stuck to scrolling through my guns with the mouse wheel. I have to give Visceral props for keeping the promise they made to improve mouse aiming, though; it is a hundred times better than it was in the first game, very tight and responsive.
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| Ballistics Report | Page:: ( 4 / 5 ) |
Pros
Cons
| Final Verdict | Page:: ( 5 / 5 ) |