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    Dead Space 2

    Game » consists of 18 releases. Released Jan 25, 2011

    Dead Space 2 is the sequel to the 2008 surprise hit Dead Space. The no-longer-silent Isaac Clarke finds himself trapped on a city-sized space station called the Sprawl, which has been overtaken by another Necromorph infestation.

    popskinz's Dead Space 2 (Xbox 360) review

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    • popskinz wrote this review on .
    • 4 out of 5 Giant Bomb users found it helpful.
    • popskinz has written a total of 34 reviews. The last one was for Mass Effect 3
    • This review received 2 comments

    A disturbing and satisfying romp.

    Visceral games survival-horror space outing from 2008 was lauded by many for its creepy aspirations and how it culminated so many different elements that as a whole yielded an original result. Dead Space was a great game but the game sadly fell abit short on greatness thanks to repetetive environments and an uninteresting main protagonist. The sequel however does not squander in any of those ways, delivering and incredibly well-paced and thrilling adventure that is more fun, satisfying and feature-rich than ever before. 
       

    Iron man, anyone?
    Iron man, anyone?

    Dead Space 2 puts you into the boots of C.E.C. engineer Isaac Clarke who finds himself in deep doo-doo once again. Three years following the necromorph outbreak on the USG-ishimura he´s back but this time, the sequel takes him to the Sprawl, a space metropolis located on one of Saturns largest moon. Drugged and on the edge of insanity, he needs to take on a new onslaught of blood-thirsty necromorphs while simultaneously avoiding The Sprawl´s military enforcers and his dead girlfriend, whom returns to haunt him. Yeah, he´s got a lot on his plate but fortunatetly, he knows how to withstand these ravaging "space zombies" and the action kicks off just minutes after booting up the game. Whats great about the sequel is that now Isaac drives the action forward since he now talks and has an actual personality. This is good too since the story is enfueled with many emotional high´s and low´s and while the overarching plot isnt all that engaging, Isaac more than contributes to the story. 
      
    The best part about the original game was how it incorporated all the HUD-elements directly into the design. Your health bar is still your spine, and all the on-the-fly transmissions and inventory menus are projected directly in front of you.  This fully immersed you into the experience, and its a wonderful design trick that still shines here. Better this time around, is the atmosphere. Where as the Ishimura featured bland looking industrial environments, the Sprawl makes for a lot a spooky thrills and diverse looking locales. You´ll tread through residental areas, kindergardens, unitology churches and much more, but none of the environments fail to impress.  Dead Space 2 is a very linear game but its one of those rare ocassions where its not a problem at all. Nookies and cranies are tucked away in more obscure corners, encouraging some exploration but should you ever get lost you can always bring up your trusty locator. Impeding your progress are still shops, save stations and work benches for you to work your magic and all of your upgrades, suits and equipment are carried over from game to game and those power nodes used to upgrade your weapons and rig are still very gradifying to find.  
     
    However, the Sprawl isnt meant for sight-seeing and this is no more evident than in the very opening. Necromorphs are

    NOT SIGHT-SEEING!
    NOT SIGHT-SEEING!

     swarming everywhere are there are a few new ones that heat up the action. The Pack for example are small, necromorphed toddlers that charge ahead toghether and can quickly overwhelm you if you are ill-equipped. However, the biggest standout, are The Stalkers. These brilliant specimens work together to flank you and should you ever open up your inventory, look away or reload your weapon, they will run at you with their arms and limbs pulled back and knock you over. Your stasis ability comes in great help here. Helping you overcome these necromorphs are a great abundance of new weapons. Your plasma cutter is still a very effective tool, allowing you to tilt your crosshair to a vertical and horisontal mode depending on what limb you are after to dismember. New weapons include the Javelin gun, which lets you pin enemies on walls and rip limbs off in their entirety. As a whole, combat is very satisfying and the smart enemies and the new tools at your disposal give it some extra oomph.  
     
    Your stasis and kinesis abilities are also used to solve the many puzzles that are strewn about in each chapter, many of which take place in nuanced Zero-g environments. Unlike before, you now have full 360-degree movement and you can use your thrusters to zip around faster aswell. The puzzles are great and break up the action very well and there are also some hacking minigames that occur from time to time, reminding you of the fact that Isaac is an engineer and not a fullblown sci-fi war machine. However, the best parts in the game are the set-piece moments. In one terrific sequence you find yourself on a train ride that doesnt go all that smoothly aswell as an elevator that gets an unexepected visit from a not so nice guest. They invigorate the gameplay really well and throws a twist in the usual dismemberment gameplay.  One minor gripe that i do have is that Dead Space 2 loves cheap deaths. Enemies crawl up behind you and some encounters expect you to have plenty of ammo and health which means that in some moments you are forced to shy away from combat and run to the next checkpoint, its pretty frustrating.  
     

    This is one of those moments in Dead Space 2, where you will have to run.
    This is one of those moments in Dead Space 2, where you will have to run.

    The singleplayer campaign lasts around a dozen hours and offers great replay value but its the multiplayer that will keep you coming back. The premise is basically like Left 4 Dead´s multiplayer since one team will play as the Sprawl security team while the other team gets to play as necromorphs. On all the five maps, the humans have a set of objectives to complete like uploading coordinates to a solar array or firing up escape pods. The necromorphs has to stop them and you get to spawn as at very frequent intervals and there plenty of classes to choose from. Its not super original or all that well-balanced but its still a whole lot of fun and if you latch on to it, you will be rewarded by all the unlocks you get when you level up.  
     
    Dead Space 2 looks and sounds brilliant. The visuals are stunning, the locations dense and atmospheric and the sound design is all around excellent. Voice acting is good, particularly from Isaac and the haunting effects and soundtrack lends a lot to this creepy place. I dont have a single complaint from the presentation side of things.  
     
    Dead Space 2 is a terrific sequel. It gets rid of all the tedious parts from the first game and instead cranks everything up to 11. Its looks better, plays better, has better variety, a fun multiplayer mode and some of the best replay value in recent memory. So if you like a good atmosphere and the idea of turning space zombies into a bloody pulp, pick this game up right now.

    Other reviews for Dead Space 2 (Xbox 360)

      You can never get away from the Sprawl 0

      Despite the fact that we've already seen DC Universe Online and LittleBigPlanet 2 (an MMO and lighthearted platformer), Dead Space 2 is really 2011's first big "hardcore" game, one with the story, gameplay, graphics and production values that will appeal to a large demographic. Last year's big releases kind of bummed me out so I wasn't really anticipating this as heavily as others were but the team's solid and they got some of the best third-person controls and atmosphere going for them so natur...

      12 out of 12 found this review helpful.

      Make us whole again 0

      The original Dead Space remains one of the biggest surprise hits of this generation, and its high quality left me eager to jump back in for more via Dead Space 2. And even though it may take a few unfortunate missteps, Dead Space 2 is still a great shooter that stands toe to toe with the best out there, making it a no-brainer for fans of the genre.First and foremost, the majority of the original’s defining features make a triumphant return in Dead Space 2. The shooting here is second to none, of...

      4 out of 4 found this review helpful.

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