Dead Space 2 Review

After two days of playing Dead Space 2 for the PC, I have finally beaten it. It was a spectacular game full of busting necromorphs and punting necro babies, but of course there were some down sides.

First off, I want to say that I didn't cheap out when it came to Dead Space 2, I got myself the special edition that contains the game, replica plasma cutter, original soundtrack, concept art lithograph and a downloadable Zealong Force Gun and suit.

The plasma cutter is about 3.5-4 inches in height and 6.5 inches in width, I thought it would've been bigger at first, but it all became better when I found out that it lit up. What's weird is that the LED lights are green instead of blue, either way, it's awesome and it's standing up on my shelf. Do I think it was the extra 20 dollars? I got DLC, a replica plasma cutter, lithograph and a soundtrack. I do believe I got my moneys worth. Just wish that a concept art book came with it since other special edition games come with it.

When I got home and tore open the game, I was excited, but the excitement turned to rage when I had to download EA Download Manager. I was forced to install EA's DM while installing Dead Space 2, it wasn't that bad at first, I had the room on my hard drive. And after 3 activations later I had to redeem my copy of Dead Space through the Download Manager. I go and redeem it and the program glitches and I exit out of it. I retype it and it says my code has already been used and my copy does not appear in my games list at all, so I raged for many many minutes. I then ditched DM and tried to add my copy through Steam, I first got an error because I was adding it through the CD drive, but thank God Dead Space 2 runs without the CD and I found the files on my Hard Drive instead. Figuring all that out took me about over an hour. Thus I was finally able to play my game.

I will try to make this as spoiler free as possible, but you are warned that there might be spoilers.

If you don't know anything about Dead Space 2, let me start by saying that you play as Isaac three years later after the USG Ishimura incident. Isaac is found floating in space on his pod and is brought to the Sprawl, a space station on Jupiter's moon; Titan. The game picks up after you wake up, and it starts hard and fast. The minute you are able to move, you're running for your life.

The Good:

The controls were slightly better than the first game. Things seemed a bit smoother along with Isaac's movement. All the basic controls were still in the game with some new controls. Instead of a map, you have colored lights leading you to a bench, save point and store, just like your objective guide in the first game.

Upgrading your weapons takes a lot more nodes, and there aren't that many nodes like in the first game that you can use. I found out that you need to rely on the secret rooms more, and that requires a node. But luckily you're still able to buy the nodes in stores.

The new Necromorphs were amazing, I loved the new designs for them. My favorite ones were the Crawlers and the Pukers. The Pukers are since their vomit will slow you down. So when you're fighting a pack of them, it gets annoying. The Packs were fun to fight when you have your force gun. You can blast a handful of them with the Force Gun.

Puker

Crawler

 Pack

The story line made this game even better than I imagined. At first I thought Isaac talking wouldn't make the game as good as the first one and wouldn't be as scary. But I was wrong, the fear factor was still put in the game and kept it amazing. Couple parts that I liked were the infinite swarm of Necros that came at you, so you were forced to run and couldn't explore or you would be overwhelmed, and then running from the regenerating Necro during the last chapter. The twists were absolutely amazing, I was giggling like a little girl and gasping at certain parts. And then the little cliff hanger at the end is getting me more excited that a new installation might come out.

The new weapons were a neat new addition, I haven't tried all of them. The Force Gun seemed like it was buffed a bit and actually became useful in certain situations. And the secondary fire to the Rivet Gun was hilarious.

The multiplayer was a fun, but very difficult, addition. I haven't played that much with the multiplayer, but by what I've played with, it's a difficult thing for the humans.

What better addition to the game? JET PACKS! A jet pack addition has been added to the Zero-G parts of the game.

The Bad:

One thing I didn't like about this game was the lack of the map system. I loved the map in Dead Space but the got rid of it and replaced it with a guidance system.

One thing that really irked me wasn't because of the game, but was due to EA. As a lot of people know, EA has ruined the PC version. They are not supporting it very well at all. Today they released new DLC for the console versions, but not the PC version. And EA's DRM is horrible (which DRM isn't horrible though?). And along with that, PC users do not get the Elite Suit for beating the game. The PC version of Dead Space 2 should not be as much as the console versions.


All in all, Dead Space 2 was amazing and highly enjoyable. I recommend this game to anyone who's interested in a horror/shooter game. Not only was the game play fun, but the story was intense for me. I believe that Dead Space has a pretty deep story and I love how it branches off to books, movies, comics and even a Wii game. Extended Universes are always a plus for me. I give this game a 9/10, despite it making me rage at some times. The stunning graphics, game play and story is a must have for your video game collection. And now that I am done with Dead Space 2, I can finally update my blog in a better fashion.