Its true, your mom could possibly hate Dead Space, but your girlfriend might like it. That is if she is into strategic dismemberment, anatomical shredding, and against-all-odds scenarios causing emotional drainage. The original Dead Space was the only game that a girlfriend I had at that time would put up with for pure enjoyment and stimuli. In comparison to just sitting there with her boyfriend, holding back screams of frustration that she wasn’t getting the attention the Locust or the Geth were receiving. Both of us would remain visually fixated, cemented to the edge of our seats, me with a controller navigating Isaac Clarke in the middle of this movie-like thriller experience aboard the USG Ishimura (spaceship). Neither her nor myself would move or speak until the next wave of Necromorph blasted through the wall and/or ceiling, or the next gas-line busted the moment I walked under it in complete darkness, sending that jolt through our nervous-systems. That same jolt, that same emotional vacuum that made the Dead Space franchise the fresh face of Survival-Horror shooters was translated into Dead Space 2 with “All the gore you could hope for!” Let me put it like this: Dead Space 2 doesn’t just take a step forwards or backwards as a sequel, it honestly keeps its place. Developmentally, add in some levitation combined with radial expansion and you get the epic ride Visceral and it’s deadly franchise is now expected to uphold. Do not underestimate Dead Space 2.
Let me begin by restating, Dead Space 2 does not take a step laterally as far as game play is concerned. It’s an Up & Out feel. Also, since this is a review and not an encyclopedia entry, I’m only going to give you what is necessary of Dead Space background (the rests for you to research; maybe even play the game, its worth it). As far as the single-player campaign goes, massive improvement in environmental and situational fighting variety. Or let me say survival scenarios. With added thrusters to our main character’s suit, Zero-G situations familiar from the first Dead Space are made that much more intense and disorienting (in a positive and innovative way). Lets be honest, virtually or realistically, none of us are used to Zero-Gravity. Add to the equation a large enough flat-screen with high resolution and the line between virtual and reality is made quite thin by Visceral. I am not suggesting that there is a screen-size requirement. That’s just ONE of the many advancements.
Not being stuck on a stalled spaceship helps out a bit too. A little background info is appropriate here. In the original Dead Space you were basically locked in a ship stuck in space traveling from deck to deck to fix damaged mechanisms. Though it was immersive, terrifying and had the utmost replay-value in my opinion, it still had a “Honey-Do List” aspect to it. Chapter after chapter, “go do this,” and ”go do that.” You get me. Fast-forward three years, Isaac Clarke wakes up at a hospital within a colony built on a moon, in a straitjacket. Somehow (eventually explained in the story of course), the same outbreak turning humans into Necromorphs has begun at this hospital and throughout the colony. Blood, pain, and murder ensues. This is where your journey begins. Unless you just feel like being completely wasteful and inefficient, you will be REQUIRED to make good use of the Stasis and Kinesis capabilities to survive all fifteen chapters. Even more so than in the original. Isaac is always a bit behind which is understandable waking up in a straitjacket with no resources to combat hordes of alien mutants. Ammo and Health is just as scarce as it needs to be to provide psychological-pressure and are even more scarce the higher the difficulty setting. In addition to Isaac now having a voice and a larger wardrobe, there are three brand new weapons with primary and secondary fire and some secondary-fire options on the original weapons were also changed. For example, the Pulse Rifle launches a lovely grenade as its secondary-fire instead of the original radial-machine gun alternative. Whether the new weapons were needed is up for debate(no, in my opinion). Enemies are more abundant and at times are used in large numbers at intervals in the campaign in place of a traditional “boss” it seems. Suit and gun upgrades will also be a must if you plan to play through it more than once and on any difficulty other than casual. I personally did not see a tremendous improvement on graphics, nor was it really needed. Keeping the graphics at their pristine level in combination with the newer expansive environments was translated almost perfectly and is most likely the obvious reason for the dual-discs. Yes, you will have to change discs midway through but hey, it could be worse. The graphics stay crisp and real-enough given the Up & Out feel I mentioned early on. Thrusting through space with limited oxygen is for lack of a better phrase, a beautiful corner. Visually and psychologically. If you are not in need of a nap or a Disney movie due to the “come-down” effect after aggressively and strategically slicing your way through this campaign, well, good for you tough-guy. Just pop it in, turn off the lights, and you will be looking forward to the next night of play (unlike the beginning of some of our weekends. Right ladies?) I digress….anyway…..multiplayer.
Indeed, Dead Space now has a multiplayer and it is the reason why I did not give this game an overall 9.5 instead of the 8.5. Online multiplayer is a wonderful new social-technology yet sometimes it seems that every game and its developer feels like it must have one. Visceral fell victim to this “fad.” Don’t get me wrong, I love multiplayer, but more-so, I love a great campaign and story, some games not being able to do both. Dead Space 2 gets an A for effort. Although the campaign was far superior and delivered, the multiplayer DID surprise me. I believe it was adapted decently. Different to say the least. Its a four on four deal. Four humans vs. four Necromorphs, the Necromorph team with extra AI assistance while the humans focus on various objectives within a time-frame. That itself was new to me though appropriate for that the humans do have a bit of an advantage. No dedicated servers, so plenty of lag issues which assumably will be patched to the best of their abilities. One hopes. Ranking up is constantly rewarded with stronger upgrades and newer tools/weapons. Increasing your rank comes easiest when you complete your objective and win the match which keeps alot of the ”goofing around” to a minimum. I cannot say that I did not have an exciting time playing this multiplayer, im just not sure of its longevity or shelf-life shall we say. Could get old after awhile. Due to the pleasurable commotion and replay-value of the solo-campaign alone, this game wouldn’t be a terrible purchase. The multiplayer does help with that but is far from the many Dead Space 2 strong points. There is a volume or two of 2011 left but so far, best game of the year. 
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