Dead Space 2 Review (360)

“You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.”
– Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)

Eeeek!

It’s almost as if Obi-Wan were talking about Dead Space 2’s Necromorphs rather than the Mos Eisley Spaceport in Star Wars. The Necromorphs in this game are scary; really scary. They also are disgusting, evil, menacing, speedy and have a penchant for human flesh. A lovely combination of features, I’m sure you’ll agree.

They come in a wide variety of shapes and forms and respond well to having their limbs blown off – i.e. they die, horribly. The acid-vomiting Necromorphs that can hit you from an incredible range with pinpoint accuracy are the most annoying of the bunch and they soak up your ammo whilst continuing to puke all over you. The Raptor-like Necromorphs are very sneaky, love to hide and then peak at you from behind corners just before launching themselves on a kamikaze run straight into your face. They look evil, sound evil and are bloody fast. I wish you luck in trying to kill them. Kudos to Visceral Games for creating such a nasty collection of Necromorphs and adding new, even more terrifying ones to Dead Space 2. I did have a lot of fun roasting, dismembering, exploding, foot-stomping and shredding them throughout the game.

Why, why, oh why?

There are a few things I don’t like about Dead Space 2. First off, the level design. I loved Dead Space’s sprawling, convoluted levels that took you all over the spaceship USG Ishimura. But in Dead Space 2, the levels are almost entirely linear. I got the feeling I was exploring one very long, dark corridor. It’s not quite as bad as playing Final Fantasy XIII, but it’s not far off.

The first game was littered with many memorable moments of floating around in space outside the ship. But Dead Space 2 this very rarely happens. Sure there are some impressive zero-g set pieces but these are almost exclusively confined to the insides of the Sprawl. Even though you get to see lots of space through the many huge windows/airlocks, you don’t get to go there. Let me go outside, godamnit.

Secondly, I spent actual minutes at the start of the game looking for the button that would make the map appear like it did in the original. Nope, there’s no map in Dead Space 2, probably because the levels are so ridiculously linear you don’t need one. Dead Space had a really good virtual map that you could manipulate to examine every nook and cranny on the route to the next objective. This map also gave you a real sense of perspective. It hammered home the fact that you were a very small fish in a giant pond spaceship. I would frequently wonder what horrors I was going to discover in that massive room that I could see ahead on the map. This all added to the suspense of the game. You can’t do this in Dead Space 2 as there is no map. Instead you’re stuck with the locator to show you the way.

I was also very disappointed with the last few levels of this game. It was as if the designers ran out of ideas and relied on the age-old trick of adding more things to shoot, in this case, tons and tons of Necromorphs. Unfortunately, this all gets repetitive and dull very quickly. I therefore promoted Dead Space 2 in to my list of great games with really stupid final levels. Other notable games on this list include Half-Life 1 and Halo.

Trigger Warning!

Dead Space 2 carries a PEGI 18 rating. This is apt, given that it is a very gory and scary horror shooter. However, what is not made clear is that Dead Space 2 includes a number of sequences that will prove very unpleasant to many people. Late on in the game Isaac has to survive, as the achievement describes it, an “eye poke machine.” Now, you can’t avoid this sequence as it is part of the main story. So if you don’t like needles and/or stuff to do with eyes then you’re stuck, assuming you’ve got this far anyway as eyes and needles make several appearances together throughout the game.

The problem is that Dead Space 2 deals with the eye poke in the goriest way possible. I’m okay with this kind of stuff, having been a doctor in real life and poked a lot of people’s body parts with big needles. However, I can envisage that some people (e.g. Debbie) simply won’t tolerate these kind of sequences. Shooting and dismembering Necromorphs is fine as they differ enough from the human form not to be that traumatic or realistic. However, asking the player to operate a piece of machinery on a lifelike representation of a human head cuts a little too close to the bone. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

To my mind Visceral Games tried too hard to scare the player with the eye poke machine sequence. The game simply doesn’t need it. Dead Space 2 is disturbing enough. It also doesn’t need all the other eye/needle incidents. These are cheap, lazy scares. What’s more, this sequence has had barely had any coverage or recognition in the gaming press that it actually may stop people from completing this game. Did reviewers just not notice or care that you were stabbing a guy in the eye with a giant needle? So here’s a warning – avoid Dead Space 2 if you don’t like needles and eyes.

I’m a monster. Grrr.

Dead Space 2 includes a basic 4 x 4 multiplayer game with 5 different maps to explore. Teams of up to 4 players alternate between playing as Necromorphs and as humans. The humans come complete with space suits like Isaac’s. The Necromorphs sole job is to stop the humans achieving their objectives and for the humans, these objectives vary according to the level being played.

For example, on one of the levels the humans have to activate various console stations before they can flee the level in the escape pods. Teamwork is required as one person alone cannot activate a console station and stave off the Necromorphs. Trust me, I tried and died very quickly.

The alien team gets 4 different species of Necromorphs (pack ghouls, spitter, lurker and the puker) to choose from. I found it much more rewarding playing as a monster than some boring human. Not only do they have their own individual characteristics they also give you the ability to terrify other players. There is nothing more satisfying than sneaking up behind a person, who is busily reloading their gun, and bashing the crap out of them. Their sudden, panicky body movements, flailing arms and badly aimed shots followed by death are all signs of a good kill. Vomiting acid on people from a great distance is also a lot of fun. Bleugh, bleugh, bleugh. Hehehe.

As with most multiplayer games, experience earns you better weapons and armour. There is also a playgroup setting so you can play with just your friends. Otherwise there isn’t much else to note really. Visceral Games’ first stab a multiplayer is simple but effective. I recommend playing at least a few games as a Necromorph just for the sheer fun of it.

Summary:

Dead Space 2 is a brilliant horror shooter that will scare the pants off you. It is a worthy sequel to the brilliant first game, even if it features some very uninspiring level design and a few cheap scares. However, you should avoid this game if you don’t like needles and eye-poking as there are several graphic sequences involving both of these lovely features.

Dead Space 2 is out now for Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 3.

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