Dead Bored 2

    I thought I'd just post a quick review on a game I anticipated for a while and have just recently finished; Dead Space 2.

    I feel ashamed saying this as such a massive fan of the first game, but I'm slightly disappointed. Typically I expect sequels to offer an experience which is an evolution of it's predecessor whilst sustaining the core elements of the game, in the case of Dead Space; it's fear factor and heart pumping gameplay. However... I feel that Dead Space 2 hasn't really offered much more to its players than what was already experienced in the prequel.

    Visceral have added a few new weapons/suits/items etc. but did they think that would be enough to satisfy it's players? All the way through the game I was waiting for something to happen which would give me the same churning feeling in my stomach which I felt frequently whilst playing the first game, however I was constantly met with experiences that I could have just as easily got in Dead Space 1.

    The whole necromorph bursting through a pipe in the wall routine started to get a bit old by the end of the first game, so why did it keep happening the WHOLE WAY THROUGH this game!? Could they not think of more exciting ways to create 'jumpy' moments? I know it's sort of a easy, bog standard way of getting a reaction out of players but that doesn't mean you can keep doing it Visceral!! You might be reading this thinking "I'd like to see you do better', and I probably couldn't. However I feel that being the successful company that they are, visceral could have pulled something more original out of the bag.

    Dead Space is somewhat of a horror game, we can agree on that. What works well in a lot of horror media? Not lot of light and lots and lots of creepy shadows! It's a bit of a clichéd idea however if Visceral were going to use old ideas then they might as well chuck some more in for a laugh. There were a couple of times whilst playing through where I would be walking through a hallway and the lights would go out and I'd start thinking "Ooh. What's happening here...?", but then the bloody lights would come back on again! Don't worry about me Visceral! You gave me a fekin flashlight for a reason! You give me something that will make me crap my pants and let me worry about the mess! A few fighting in the dark moments would have gone down a treat for me! A lot of the enemies were the same, there was even a section in which players had to run and stun their way away from a slow moving invincible necromorph, hmm this feels familiar... Dead Space 1 *cough*. Although they did change the way he looks so it's alright...

    In alot of older films it was common practice to create a build in tension then release a burst of shock, which is something that viewers begun to cotton onto in the last decade or so causing writers to come up with new ways of creating scares. A good example of what I mean is the old, someone looking in a half opened, mirrored cabinet, then closing it to reveal someone standing behind them trick. Over the last few years I've seen a few films use this, however changed. When the cabinet is closed nobody is there, making the audience feel a sense of relief, then moving onto the big scare. The point I'm trying to make is that, Dead Space 2 is still using the old mechanisms which people are used to, they needed to think up something new or at least expand on what they had before. Perhaps by creating the illusion of something that players may recognise from Dead Space 1 but then surprise them with something new, just like the mirror trick.

   Even though I felt that there was a lot of room for improvement, there were a few new features which did tickle my fancy. The introduction of a new ostrich-like, hunter enemy who skitter across rooms in packs, occasionally poking their disfigured head eerily around the corned to take a glance at your position before spontaneously charging out at you. This is exactly the kind of suspense I was looking for, something that I didn't learn about in Dead Space 1 and would drag me out of my comfort zone. There were one or two other bits that I liked as well but they wouldn't mean much unless you've played the game so I'll skip over those.

   Of course this is just personal preference, I was playing another game online recently and overheard a player explaining to his friend how he couldn't play it because it scared him too much, so it must work for some people.

    In conclusion, Visceral have produced numerous games which I've bought and enjoyed so I can't slate them too extensively, everyone makes mistakes. So I do take my hat off to you Visceral for the titles that gave me hours of enjoyment ...but if you look inside the hat there may be a small note reading "I'm disappointed in you...".