Dead Space 2 is pretty rad. I loved the original and wanted to play the 2nd since it came out but just didn't have the money to buy it at the time. I got it for my birthday and can't put it down. I'm on chapter 10 and loving every moment of it. I know its early but this is definitely one of my top games of the year.

It's my favorite game this year. 

Yeah definitely agree, its more of the same from the original, which is not to say its bad thing.

It's pretty good. I much prefer the originals bleaker atmosphere and slower pace, but Dead Space 2 is still a fine sequel.

If GOTY awards could be handed out in the first quarter, then DS2 would take it for sure, but IMO, it's already been dethroned by Portal 2, LA Noire and the Witcher 2, although I haven't played the latter yet, I can tell from the quicklook it has what it takes to be better than DS2.  The problem with Dead Space 2 is that all the awe wears off after the first playthrough.  It does have a ton of replayability because of the NG+ system, but I just found that nothing changed the second or third time through and the story and characters aren't really engaging enough to make me want to play it over and over the way I'll continue to play through LA Noire and Portal 2 numerous times this year.
 
It's a good solid action game, maybe one of the best Action games this year, but with these games like I mentioned coming out and transcending that Action genre, DS2 just kind of feels like it's a step behind already.  
 
Anyway, I'm glad you're enjoying it, it is an awesome game.

@abyssfull Yeah I definitely have been thinking about that. This game is definitely more action/shooter and faster passed than the original but I'm still having a blast. I have L.A Noire, Portal 2 and DiRT 3 sitting next to me and I'm gonna new game plus this before I even pop any of those games in and I think that says something

'tis a great game. I especially liked the lighting - they apparently had a whole team working on the lighting, and it shows :o 
 
Oh and the Stalkers were great too; one of the only genuinely scary things in the game.

It's a great game, you're not wrong about that, but just wait till you get to the end.  Almost completely soured the experience for me. 

@phish09 I see what your saying and since I haven't really touched those games yet I can't say for sure but I think the fact that I want to NG+ it and that you also NG+ the game a couple of times is telling that it's a heck of a lot of fun and a worthy contender when the GOTY awards come around at the end of the year

It's an awesome game, I also really liked the multiplayer but it was always hard for me to find matches. 

Its an awesome game, very eerie and great atmosphere. If a bit easy on normal difficulty, rack it up to the hardest (honestly cant think of what its called right now) difficulty and you've got yourself a serious survival horror. 
 
 I couldn't take the stalkers seriously,granted they were a nice twist on a Dead Space enemy, its just that my friend kept dropping Jurassic Park quotes every time one appeared.

I loved Dead Space 2, its definitely an improvement on the first game but I still prefer number 1 for story and atmosphere. So far I can't quite split it with LA Noire for the best game I have played this year. But nothing else I have played would have come close. Portal 2 though good was still disappointing for me and a few others have kept me interested in them this year. I have it but I have yet to play Dragon Age 2 but given my distaste for Origins I can't see 2 troubling DS2 or LAN for top spot so far this year.

Just finally beat DS2 easily in my top 5 games of all time, loved (it*) can't wait for 3 BRING IT! 

I just started playing it, and this game is stressful, man.

I like it way better than the first. The Ishimura got to be a drag. I much prefer the Sprawl. The levels in the Unitologist church alone are worth the price of admission.

Not that late... I just started playing System Shock 2 an hour ago.

I just beat dead space literally 20 minutes ago and it was better then the first hot damn.

i feel bad for just watching the walkthrough.  i watched the first part and then i got hooked with the walkthrough because the commentary was great and the game looked so great. 

I loved the original but wasn't as impressed with the sequel. Too much of the same.

for me, the second was better, it took me months to finish the first, I was really bored the whole time, the second i finish quickly, but definitely not my best ever...

You know, it's funny this topic should come up because I've been playing this recently too. I'm actually really pissed off at it right now because I'm stuck right before a ridiculous battle with almost no ammo and the nearest store is past the part where I have to kill ten plus enemies. It's the classic survival horror nightmare scenario, and I don't have an old save to go back to.

You know, it's funny this topic should come up because I've been playing this recently too. I'm actually really pissed off at it right now because I'm stuck right before a ridiculous battle with almost no ammo and the nearest store is past the part where I have to kill ten plus enemies. It's the classic survival horror nightmare scenario, and I don't have an old save to go back to.

It's a fantastic game, one of the best games of the year so far.

@harvey_the_pooka: Nah, I had never really heard anyone say anything of note about the original.

So far it's probably my favorite this year but GODDAMN are there some amazing games coming out later this year that it will probably get dethroned.

It's never too late to play a game as good as Dead Space 2.

Meh i find it mediocre

Definitely one of the better games that came out this year.

I got stuck on the last boss because I wasted most of my ammo fleeing from the regenerating guy, so I had to replay the last part of the game running past all enemies using almost no ammo. That made me never want to play the game ever again. It's still on my GotY list because I liked most of the game except that last frustrating level. But it's far from the best game this year.

@BeachThunder:

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

I'm in chapter six. I just looked it up on gamefaqs, and let me just paste the description of the part here:
 
The next area is wide open, and you can count on a fight. To start with, lets take out some BIG threats. As you move forwards, a pregnant necro will waddle out from further on ahead. Be sure to take the limbs off only to avoid the swarm of small crawlers inside it. Once you take that one down, turn around and walk back the way you came. ANOTHER pregnant one will come out, so take it down without popping the babies.

With those two big threats out of the way, this place is about to become crawler central. Crawlers will fall down, two at a time, trying to get at you. Remember that they can cling to walls too! I like to stand where I killed the last pregnant thing and shoot their legs out as the run at me. All in all you should kill about six of them before they stop. Gather up your loot and search the big area for stuff. As you continue past where the first pregnant necro showed up at, another pregnant necro will come from behing. Take it out to end the assault on you.

This hallway has a store to the right, so visit it to stock up! 
 
Emphasis mine. I've got four plasma cutter shots, five line shots, seven javelins and around 150 pulse rifle shots. I didn't play the first game and before I read what I pasted above I didn't understand how the pregnant ones worked so I'm going to see if that knowledge gets me anywhere after I post this. Any general advice on efficient enemy killing techniques would be appreciated.

Alright, I had a bit of a hard time in this area too. 
 
Thoughts/ideas on this section:

• I believe it is actually possible to hit a pregnant in the body and not have it spew babies everywhere; perhaps try using your pulse rifle's alt fire on it. If you do end up with a lot of the pregnant's babies, though, your best bet is to use your pulse rifle or javelin alt fire. Your line gun alt fire is good too, but it takes a while to explode.
  
• When you enter this area go to the left, I believe there are some items you can pick up. Don't worry about being attacked, I think the first pregnant appears only when you walk past the room's half way mark.
  
• If all else fails, there's something crazy you can try; the store is right around the corner, so you can try running all the way there and quickly purchasing something. This is risky and crazy (and might not actually work), but perhaps it's worth a shot. Just remember: you can get attacked while at the store.
  

General advice

• In the future, it's a good idea to try to use multiple save slots. Seriously.
  
• In battles, using stasis can help to make things more manageable.
• You can use body parts as impaling weapons.
• Don't forget, you can find all sorts of helpful stuff by stomping corpses. It can really be helpful picking this stuff up during tight battles - even if it might be tricky to pick up items and avoid being killed. But...
  
• it's best to have a lot of stuff in your inventory at all times. Buy lots of items in the stores whenever you can; it's more important to have items (health packs/ammo) than lots of weapons and upgrades.
  
• Don't bother trying to buy every weapon or upgrade everything. Keep a few weapons and try to focus on upgrading one of them, maybe add some upgrades to some other weapons/stats, but it's generally best to have one priority weapon.

Hope you get past it, this game can be really frustrating when you get in a situation like that.

definetly game of the year for me right now

This first quarter has been packed with outstanding games. If I would have went through this whole year with only playing dead space 2 and portal 2 I would be fine with that. They arent the longest games, but damn do they offer a great experience.

I loved the original but wasn't as impressed with the sequel. Too much of the same.

@SlasherMan: I am praying Rage is a hit. I am a fan of id, but I just couldnt get into Doom3 or their last releases. Not very trusting of Beth softworks either - oblivion put 9 hours of my life into oblivion but after that I was done with everything theyve released. Damn I want skyrim to be good too.