Review: Dead Space 2

[mrhateful]

"I thought the game was not going to be good, i was completely wrong"


stopped listening there ><, really this is why i don't trust game reviewers and only trust zero punctuation.

Now i have played the game and it is really really bad, its basicly a brown fps with no story to keep you interreset, as suppposed to last time where there was a story line you were following, which was made interresting by the fact that you kept feeling like you had something to do.

Also if you like shooting the same dumb mobs in repettative combat then i say this game is for you.

 

[Elementlmage]

This is certainly a fun game, but it could have been so much more. I'm am still upset that in the opening scene they made a clear distinction between physical reality and mental reality. That one decision alone propelled this game from the realm of Existential masterwork, to "merely serviceable" storyline.

Clearly they should have been reading for Dostoevsky before finishing up the game! XD

 

[mrhateful]

I wish for a game that makes me afraid to play it :[ ...

See I don't understand this view at all.

If a game could truly inspire fear and terror in you, the kind that makes you hug your knees in a corner while you rock back and forth mumbling to yourself, you wouldn't play it - so what's the point?

And if such a game was ever created I can only imagine that censors worldwide would jostle to change it.

See kids this is what happends when people confuse horror with gore..

Horror is when you feel a sense of being alone in a terrorfying world, normally a good horror won't even have to show any truly censor worthy images.

Now gore is when you make the most strange monster with lots of knifes on it and lots of blood and then give your protagonist a gun to shoot its limbs off.

 

[Bad Marmoset]

Good review, thanks Susan.

As you say, DS2 wasn't exactly scary but I was certainly uncomfortable and there was always a high measure of tension as you try to figure just how to bring down the Necros as efficiently as possible. As far as the jump scares, cheap as they might be, I found them quite exhilarating and they kept my heart beating at a suitably high tempo.
On the down side there were certain sections that overstayed their welcome but generally I felt the game held together well. I was also pleased with some of the characterisations including Isaac's and Elly's.
All in all a very good, if slightly short game. However, I am on my third run through so I'm definitely getting my money's worth. It's is also a game that I think I will probably come back to at a later date.
I played this game on the PC and found it be extremely impressive both visually and technically. Some of the scenes where you suddenly come to a window looking out over the Sprawl, or were actually outside the station, were gorgeously bleak. All visuals were done with great care and attention to detail. Thoroughly impressed from that standpoint.

... Bonus points to the puker for vomiting out of it's throat hole after getting it's head blown off. That's some real dedication.

Yes, I was impressed with their dedication also. They were quite awkward at times, the bastards. The ones who like to hide, peer around corners and then charge were a nice addition too. And by nice I mean, utter bastards.

 

[PopcornAvenger]

DS1 was a bit scarier, but DS2 really makes up for it with the thrilling cutscenes. There's one point early in the game - not to give it away, let's just say you're in a rather vulnerable position - that scene had me and a friend simultaneously jumping in fright, then laughing.

Oddly, I think the Necromorph's in DS1 were a bit more frightening, at least the basic model. Pasty white flesh and slack-jawed faces that seemed to have been lost in DS2.

I was pleasantly surprised by DS2 - while I liked the first, I didn't think it was stellar. It's a fun, thrilling game, though. Especially when I replaced the music with the theme from John Carpenter's The Thing .

I agree the game got too repetitive in the later stages. The new objective pointer is truly great, but as a result you can completely miss what you're supposed to be doing or where you're going, you just trudge from objective to objective and push or pull stuff. The objective explanations are in logs buried in your inventory menu and easily missed.

Still looking for a friends/team for the multiplayer :/ . Makes me wish I'd bought the game from Steam.

 

[mrhateful]

Seriously, on one point in FEAR and few times in Dead Space I just said LOL NO THANKS IMA GO BACK TO CRYSIS

When?, when the alarm went off with big sirenes and the monsters slowly walked over to you?

 

[Distorted Stu]

My biggest jump in this game = When one of the baloons popped near the reception desk.

 

[PopcornAvenger]

Yes, I was impressed with their dedication also. They were quite awkward at times, the bastards. The ones who like to hide, peer around corners and then charge were a nice addition too. And by nice I mean, utter bastards.

The Force gun (I had the Zealot model) is almost too much of a "I Win" button for the entire game. They give a real subtle pointer (by leaving a bunch of ammo) that the Detonator is useful for those bald ostrich buggers, but I found the Force gun to be the solution to almost every Necromorph in DS2. If it wasn't for the fact that the Flame Thrower is so much phun , I'd almost never switch weapons.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I hated the fact that Isaac didn't talk in the first game, especially when his girlfriend finally showed up in person. Drove me nuts. She's gushing her heart out and he simply stands there mute, not caring. Also, whenever anyone else would talk to him. Silence. Rude much, Isaac? Really broke the feeling of the game for me at parts.
So glad that they gave him a voice in this one. Can you try and save people in this one? That was another thing that bothered me in the first one. On the Valor, you find a Marine pinned to the ceiling. Perfectly alive and has a green rig, but he's stuck. Isaac simply stares at him and moves on. What the hell?
Going to pick this game up in a few days, when I get paid.

 

[Susan Arendt]

High Five me Susan! No seriously.. High Five me. No I'm not kidding HIGH FIVE ME!
Look we're not getting anywhere until I get a high five. Seriously. Nothing.

But seriously. One of the first times I've read a review and completely agreed with everything.
Oh and Multiplayer is very Meh across the board

Soooo

HIGH FIVE ME!!!!

High Fiiiiiiiiiiive! *slap*

 

[InevitableFate]

Demon babies.

I appoved of that.

 

[Bad Marmoset]

Yes, I was impressed with their dedication also. They were quite awkward at times, the bastards. The ones who like to hide, peer around corners and then charge were a nice addition too. And by nice I mean, utter bastards.

The Force gun (I had the Zealot model) is almost too much of a "I Win" button for the entire game. They give a real subtle pointer (by leaving a bunch of ammo) that the Detonator is useful for those bald ostrich buggers, but I found the Force gun to be the solution to almost every Necromorph in DS2. If it wasn't for the fact that the Flame Thrower is so much phun , I'd almost never switch weapons.

Yeah, you've got to love that Force gun, I had some great fun with that thing especially with some of the smaller Necros. However, I am trying a different combination of weapons this time around (3rd) and I am having to change my tactics slightly.

 

[Wang Wei]

Anyone else noticed the use of the flamethrower in a vacuumed room? If I remember correctly, you couldn't do that in Dead Space 1.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

And yes, I completely agree about the onslaught portions going on too long. like on the drill, for example. That needed to be about two minutes shorter. Lost all sense of tension, just became a chore.

Yes! Agreed. That bit was quite the pain in the butt. The final chapter's

Spoiler

Regenerator chase sequence

also went on far, far too long to the point where it just became annoying.

Still, amazing game in almost every way and one I know I'm going to play through 3-4 times. And it's sooo pretty!

 

[Tonimata]

Am I the only one reminded of banelings by those little exploding babies?

 

[Deathkingo]

Didn't they have that line thing in the first one? I mean, I seem to remember it. Maybe I'm just going crazy...maybe I'm seeing things that arem't there! OH GOD, I AM ISAAC!!!

 

[Pikey Mikey]

High Five me Susan! No seriously.. High Five me. No I'm not kidding HIGH FIVE ME!
Look we're not getting anywhere until I get a high five. Seriously. Nothing.

But seriously. One of the first times I've read a review and completely agreed with everything.
Oh and Multiplayer is very Meh across the board

Soooo

HIGH FIVE ME!!!!

HIGH FIVE =D
I've played through the game and I really like it, my favourite enemy is the Stalkers, just because of how they behave (but they also try to bullrush you if you let them) it's really fun =)

 

[Delock]

"I thought the game was not going to be good, I was completely wrong"


I stopped listening there. Really this is why I don't trust game reviewers and only trust except for Zero Punctuation, which is a critic of a game, rather than looking at the positive to the same extent as the negative, in spite of the fact that the next paragraph will be me REVIEWING the game, and that this review was released well after the release, separating it from the biased (either towards it being the greatest thing ever or absolutely awful) reviews most games receive at launch .

Now, I have played the game, and it is really, really bad not for me. It's basically a brown and a large amount of grey and red fps Third Person Shooter with a more character driven story to keep you interested , as opposed to last time where there was a loosely connected series of accidents and problems on each of the decks you visited story line you were following, which was made interesting by the fact that you kept feeling like you had something to do having to solve every problem on the ship yourself, wondering when the real story was going to kick in, only for that to happen sometime after the halfway point, where up until then you were only given background and mythology .

However, if you like shooting the same dumb mobs in repetitive at points, but still quite pulse-pounding due to the focus on unconventional aiming combat, then I say this game is for you.

Anyways, thanks for that review Susan. I've been considering this for awhile now after I played a bit of it and loved it. I was wondering about the length and ending levels (especially after Dante's Inferno), and it seems that it's not nearly as bad as I feared. I'll see about playing the rest of it sometime then (be it buy or rental).

 

[Abedeus]

Seriously, on one point in FEAR and few times in Dead Space I just said LOL NO THANKS IMA GO BACK TO CRYSIS

When?, when the alarm went off with big sirenes and the monsters slowly walked over to you?

No, in Dead Space when something suddenly jumps through the wall at me. In FEAR, during the nightmare/dream sections, they just freaked me out.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

Am I the only one reminded of banelings by those little exploding babies?

I thought the same thing