Karen Talks Dead Space 2
Atmosphere
"I don't know whether to compare Dead Space 2 to Dead Space 1. If you ignore the first one, Dead Space 2 seems like it has a really tense and scary atmosphere. Most of the places in the game are shrouded in darkness and you never know if something is going to jump out at you. There are a lot of very weird and scary noises as well, machines and monsters and things, which happen suddenly and can catch you off-guard and scare you. Sometimes there's a noise in the game that leaves you expecting a monster, but the monster you're waiting for doesn't appear. That makes you feel very tense and nervous, because anything might or might not be a threat. Especially in darker rooms - when you can hear a monster, but can't see it until it's right on top of you, that's terrifying.""If you compare it to the first one, though, it's not half as scary. The original Dead Space felt very isolated. You really felt like you were on your own, lost in the maze of the ship and relying on your two shipmates to guide you to the next objective. Dead Space 2 didn't feel the same to me. There was a lot more action. Things were always going on around you, and it never seemed like you were lost or stuck - just overwhelmed by the monsters. I think that's what I didn't like about Dead Space 2 the most. It was less about trying to scare you into thinking you'd be attacked, and more about just having the monsters attack you. The fact it feels less isolated makes it less scary for me."
"The flashbacks and the scenes with Nicole were some of the scariest moments through most of the game. It always seemed to happen when you were least expecting it - just walking through an ordinary corridor and the screen would suddenly flash and Nicole's voice would be screaming at you. When you have to go back on the old ship and Isaac has that flashback of being dragged through the corridor by the tentacle, that really scared me too."
"Some of the new monsters are really good additions to the world. The raptor-like ones that charge at you, I hated those. And the kids that run at you and scream as well. They helped to make up for the game lacking in atmosphere. I didn't like the fact there weren't really any big bosses though. I liked the big fights in the first game - the monster in the zero-gravity chamber, and the final boss as well. Dead Space 2 didn't really seem to have any of that. It had the regenerating monster near the end which was scary at first, but it just got annoying after a while. No really big bosses, though."
Isaac
"I'm glad they made Isaac talk in this one. I prefer him talking than silent. I do kind of miss the way that you could put yourself in his shoes and project yourself onto him in the first game. I think that made the story a lot more interesting. But I don't think Dead Space 2 would have worked if Isaac didn't talk. It let them try and do new things with the story and it suited the game's action focus a lot more. I do kind of wish his dialogue was a bit better though. Every time he's talking to someone on the radio frequencies and they get cut off, he swears. It's always "shit", or "crap", or "fuck" at the end of nearly every conversation in the game. They're trying to make it seem tense and dangerous but it just comes off as silly after a while.""It's good that Isaac is so fragile in these games. In some of the games I've seen, you can take about a hundred shots before you die. I prefer it in the Dead Space games - a few hits and Isaac is in real trouble. And you have to use health packs to heal yourself up. That makes a lot more sense than hiding behind something to magically heal. It's more realistic, and it makes fighting feel even more dangerous knowing that these monsters can chop you to pieces in no time at all."
Story
"I didn't really enjoy the story as much in this game. The first Dead Space had a simple way of telling its story. It kept things logical and straightforward, so everything you were doing made sense in the situation. It kept the player in the dark about a lot of what was going on, but it worked and made you feel even more isolated. In Dead Space 2, there's so much being thrown at you that it gets too confusing to follow. There's a lot more background knowledge in play, mainly because Isaac has a voice of his own now, but it isn't explained. Like with Isaac and Stross, and the Marker. Supposedly they made it somehow? But it's never explained how they made it. Not that I remember, at least. It all just seems so unfocused compared to Dead Space 1."
Closing thoughts
"I really liked Dead Space 2. It was great to go back into that world again, and the combination of scary moments with the action kept me interested all the way through. On the whole, though, I think I preferred the first Dead Space game. Dead Space 2 had too much action, too much convoluted story, and not enough atmosphere or isolation for me."Karen (transcribed by Dan)
---
Currently playing - Pokémon White (DS)
Log in to comment