Visceral Studio’s ‘Dead Space 2’

The newest survival-action video game, “Dead Space 2”, is a solid addition to Visceral Studio’s already sterling repertoire of games. The game again follows Issac Clarke as he is awoken on a ship infested with Necremorphs, and from the beginning it’s a struggle to survive. The game follows Issac as he travels through the Sprawl, the spaceship the game is set on, meets up with various other characters and searches for The Marker. Issac has gotten it into his head that it is The Marker that is spawning and leading the Necremorphs, and that he must stop it if there is ever to be peace.

The combat dynamic is excellent in “Dead Space 2”. Clarke feels more confident against the Necremorphs, and he should, he’s seen them before. Despite Clarke’s new confidence, the game doesn’t make it easy. There’s nothing more nerve-wracking than putting down a charging Necremorph and barley having enough time to reload before the next wave of them hits. There are a few new additions to the array of guns you can get in the game, but classics like saw blade Ripper and the Plasma Cutter make a reappearance. Also, being able to grab an enemy limb with Telekinesis and impale his friend on a wall with it or make an enemy go in super slow motion with Stasis as you dismember them never gets old.

The game does a great job of varying the ways Necremorphs jump out at you to try and make each time feel new and unexpected, but it still gets a bit predictable after the first play through. There are definitely some moments that make you jump, but the highly far fetched nature of the circumstances make it less personal, therefore less scary. Playing through a dark horrifying ship infested with monsters that has no end of surprises will certainly make you take a deep breath or two, but won’t keep you up at night.

Carrying over from the previous game is Issac Clarke’s internal battle. We witness a excellent view into the life of a man whose tormented by the actions and decisions he was forced to take.

The bottom line is Dead Space’s combat will make you wanna pat yourself on the back each time you get a kill, and then quickly re-grip the controller because you never know what’s next. Clarke’s struggle really makes the player feel the repercussions for the happenings of the game, and lets the player see what it’s really like to go through the scenes they’re controlling.