Dead Space is a game series I've been waiting to play for a long time. Ever since I got a 360 back in 2012, Dead Space has been on my long list of my games to play. Suffice to say, my expectations were fairly high for a game that I had waited so long to play beyond the free demo I ran ragged years ago. Did Isaac Clarke's romp into insanity satisfy these expectations? Let's talk about it. I played a few hours of the first Dead Space on steam and found the port to be very stiff. Isaac's movement feels very restricted, combat is a struggle considering the biggest obstacle isn't the necromorphs but your own controls. This along with some frustration I had solving some puzzles led me to forego finishing the first game and just skip to the second game. Thematically speaking, Dead Space 1 and 2 are analogous to Kill Bill Volumes 1 and 2. The first installments are meant to establish a status quo of sorts, what our main lead does. Isaac Clarke is an engineer thrust into the role of our main lead as he mows his way through tons of reanimated corpses. The Bride is jettisoned through a revenge fueled quest to "kill bill". Where the interesting part comes in is the sequels. Both Kill Bill and Dead Space have follow ups that focus more on the deconstruction and analysis of our main character. Throughout Dead Space 1 Isaac doesn't speak at all. He's completely silent, so when he talked in 2 I was kind of shocked. I was thankful for the change of course, and this change contributes to the thematic purpose I was talking about. Kill Bill Vol 2 deals with The Bride and her relationship with Bill, the other focal point of the the two movies. Dead Space 2 similarly focuses on Isaac's deteriorating mental state and his relationship with Nicole, his dead girlfriend. Nicole was the sole reason Isaac ended up going through the events of the first game, she was everything to him and she was ripped away. He blames himself for what happened to her and you are assaulted with hallucinations throughout the game. The effectiveness of said delusions is amazing. They’re terrifying bouts of insanity that keep you on your toes constantly. The music of the game, the sound design, the lighting, all these different things work together to make the enemy encounters and the hallucinations feel overwhelming. You really feel as if you’re in Isaac's shoes as he deals with this heavy burden of guilt. Which is ultimately what the game is about, accepting what happens in life and overcoming it. Whatever that thing may be, for Isaac it’s accepting his girlfriend’s death and destroying her ghost in a super trippy boss fight. For The Bride it’s reclaiming her daughter and killing Bill. For you and me there will be moments like this but Dead Space 2 teaches you to move past these things, that you are better than them.
Now let’s talk about the actual gameplay. Dead Space 2 has you play as Clarke, your goal is to find the cause of the new Necromorph outbreak and stop it. For those of you new to Dead Space, Necromorphs are the main enemy of the series. An infection that takes over and reanimates dead flesh. This flesh takes over the host bodies to kill humans in order to reproduce more Necromorphs. Isaac, being an unusual protagonist for a game like this, doesn’t fight with typical weaponry. He is an engineer, so he fights with tools repurposed into weapons. Each weapon has a unique and interesting combat style from not only each other but from other games. In Dead Space, your goal isn’t to shoot the enemies in the head, win and move on. You have to dismember them. Strategically aiming for their arms and legs to cease their movement is very unique. Combat always feel fresh and even after finishing the campaign and playing some new game plus, I still feel this way. There are also some “quicktime” like events that keep you engaged as well. Similar to another franchise, Resident Evil, these sequences are undeniably cinematic and cool to play through.
Dead Space 2 has excellent sound design and music. From the musical cues that accompany monsters, to the screams of agony let out from Isaac in pain, all of it works. No complaints here.
Dead Space 2 came out in January 2011 and for a game that came out more than years ago, it still looks excellent. Isaac's different armored suits look cool, all the enemies look disgusting which is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ rad.
My only complaint about this game is the campaign was much, much shorter than I had anticipated. I grabbed this game for about 5$ so 8 hours to finish it is not too shabby, but remember that this game is normally 20$. For that reason I recommend waiting for a sale to pick this one up. Otherwise you’re getting a super solid survival horror game about overcoming grief. Highly recommend this title. I give it an 8.5 out of 10.