Dead Space 2 Review

The last of the survival horror genre...

Story: 8/10

Story is a continuation of the first Dead Space. After surviving the terror that was the Ishimura, Isaac, is now safe in a space city. However, the infected aliens that terrorized the Ishimura are now loose in the city and are literally ripping everyone to shreds. You wake up in an asylum in the middle of the chaos, hoping to find a way off the city while being haunted by past memories of your dead girlfriend who died on the Ishimura. The story has its twists and turns as you play it out, leading up to a very satisfying ending.

Gameplay: 9/10

Gameplay felt extremely solid. Armed with only a flashlight and engineering tools that you can purchase and upgrade, you aren't a marine, but just a regular engineer trying to fight your way to the next safe haven. Even while playing on the normal difficulty, ammo is scarce, and you must rely heavily on strategic dismemberment or else you'd just be wasting ammo. Strategic dismemberment in this game is essential to survival. Most folks would aim for the head and shoot, however, if you do that in this game, it'll cause the enemy to rush blindly at you, waving its sharp claws along the way. You have to be smart about how you're going to approach the situation because every enemy type is different. One minute you may be shooting the sharp limbs off of a monster, while the next you're shooting off the head of an acid-spewing alien.

Presentation/Performance: 9/10

This game plays sooooo much better than the first one. The first Dead Space for the PC was deemed nearly unplayable because of the horrible mouse lag. Even with Vsync turned off it wouldn't do a thing. Luckily, the devs listened and here we are with fluid controls. Lighting and sound are both essential and crucial in horror games and Dead Space 2 delivered fully on that. When it's pitch black and all you have is your small flashlight that's attached to your mining cutter, you will definitely hear your heart race. I played through the whole game with 60+ fps easily, no lag, no stutters. Took me around... 20+ hours to fully run through the whole game.

The Good:

- Scary is what it needs to be, and scary is what it is
- Bone-chilling atmosphere keeps you on the edge of your seat
- Huge improvement in the controls from the prequel

The Bad:

- Poor character development made it hard to care for some supporting characters

FluffyBunnyPwn gives it 9/10 overall.