Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Dead Space 2

Well, I literally just finished Dead Space 2, and my first impression is simply...holy shit.

We rejoin Isaac Clarke 3 years after the events of the original Dead Space. He has awoken in the psychiatric ward of a place known as The Sprawl, a gigantic city located on one of Saturn's moons, with no memory of how he got there or why he's in a straitjacket. However, we soon find out. After Isaac's encounter with the red Marker, his sanity has, shall we say, slipped a bit. It implanted something into his mind, and now he sees visions of his lost love Nicole (among other terrifying things). And then before you can finish saying "Hey, I think this guy is the guy from Dead Space Ignition," he's getting impaled by an Infector and turning into a necromorph before your eyes. You're then left to run IN A STRAITJACKET through halls with necros popping up all around you, forcing you to wonder what the hell is going on while also desperately trying to escape and cursing whenever you take a wrong turn. Once you finally escape your jacket and get your trusty kinesis, stasis, and plasma cutter (all in amazingly creative ways), the rest is a long trek through the Sprawl, unraveling the mystery of why you're there, why the necros have returned (Hint: there's another Marker), and what in the hell your visions are trying to tell you.

Honestly, to me the story was a little weak this time around. It was nice finally hearing Isaac talk, but he didn't seem to have interesting things to say, it just kind of made the dialogue easier. There's one rather predictable twist towards the beginning, one completely unforeseen twist in the middle that was surprisingly almost blink and you miss it, and an ending that is...odd, and doesn't make much sense especially in terms of the first game's ending and what Markers are supposed to be/do. The problem with playing a game from an insane protagonist's point of view (and for part of the game with an insane companion) while in this already somewhat confusing universe is that everything then becomes even more confusing. I'm sure that to the dedicated who can parse out all the various audio logs, text pieces, and messages from the Marker/Nicole (which were almost indecipherable to me due to the massive audio distortion they layer on top of it) there is a plot here that makes sense, but for everyone else it's a little hard to follow.

On the other hand, how much does the story matter in a survival horror game like this? Well...not that much. What really matters here are the scares, the monsters, and the action, and Dead Space 2 excels on all three fronts.

The scares. Everyone, including myself in a small way, was a little worried when they started showing off early videos of the game and we saw these wide open areas. After all, practically all of the original Dead Space took place in narrow corridors, constantly imbuing that sense that something dangerous is never very far away. Will the danger and scariness decrease in a more open space? HELL NO. Just because you can sometimes see them coming from farther away doesn't reduce the tension one bit. In fact, sometimes it can even lead to scarier situations because you know exactly what's headed for you and just how screwed you are. A great deal of this is also thanks to...

The monsters. Not only do all the originals make their return, but now you also get the disgusting and resilient Puker, the terrifying necro children called the Pack, the slow but deadly explosive necro babies called Crawlers, and the stealthy rhino-like Stalkers. Each requires different tactics to deal with, and adds their own little spice of terror. And Dead Space 2 has no qualms about throwing all different types at you, forcing you to really think on your feet and manage your weapons and health effectively. The only qualm I have is with one specific monster which returns from the first game. The regenerator. The one that can't die. In the first one you at least eventually get to kill it by burning it into ashes with a ship's engines, but it was still more annoying than anything. So along comes a more bug-like version here in the very final chapters, which chases you from when you first encounter it until essentially the end of the game. I understand you want the final section to be really intense, and feel the urge to push players forward in an anxious way towards the end, but an unkillable enemy who follows you into every room is not the way to do it. Instead of a desperate fight to the finish it became a marathon, where I was spamming stasis every moment I wasn't running. However, other than that one mistaken return, every other monster and encounter just plain works in both their difficulty and scariness.

The action. One thing the first Dead Space excelled at were its action-oriented set pieces. They carried all the explosions and tension of a Hollywood movie, while still remaining interesting and completely distinct from each other. Does 2 do better? Yes and no. With a greater variety of area types to explore in the Sprawl, there is also greater variety for these chunks of action, and Dead Space 2 makes some wonderful use of them. For example, the very first sequence running from necros while in a straitjacket, or an absolutely amazing sequence involving a tram and hanging upside down. So why do I also say "no"? Because there simply aren't enough of them. Every couple chapters in the first one saw either a big boss battle or a big action sequence. In this they just felt few and far between. Admittedly, the full levels felt much more replete than in the first, and each had their own special sequences, but the real big jaw-dropping events just seemed to be missing. Nonetheless, everything else did feel like it improved on the original.

Other mentionable pluses: the IMMENSELY improved zero-g sections, rechargeable stasis, the javelin gun (didn't try the other new ones), the very welcome improvement to punching and stomping, and the fun trip into a very familiar place.

It's hard comparing this sequel to its predecessor because it improves upon it in so many ways, but it also lags in others. On top of that, a great deal of the surprise of the setting, how different necros attack/react, and even of some of the "traps" (necro body on the ground, better bet it's still living) is gone because, well, we've seen it all before. Still, it's one hell of a game with plenty of tricks up its sleeve. And this is all not to mention the multiplayer (mostly since I haven't played it yet), or the inclusion of Dead Space Extraction (since I don't have the Move).

In short, if you enjoyed the first game, the sequel more than does it justice. If you're new to the universe, you've got one hell of a ride in store for yourself.

Dead Space 2 gets a 9.5/10.

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