Dead Space 2 First Impressions

Well it has finally arrived. January 25th, my most anticipated day of the year. Praise our lord and savior jesus christ! I picked up my pre-order of Dead Space 2 after work today and sat on my duff for a few hours, killing necro-dongs with my man Isaac Clarke just like old times. So how is it? Read on brave soldier and find out!

First off, if you look at any review sites at all you know this game is hot. How hot? Precisely shit hot. I had very unrealistic expectations for this game, and for the most part it delivers on them. Everything you loved about Dead Space is here. The classic weapons are back, with some sweet new ones. Aiming them is much easier now thanks to the new reticule. The game definitely has more action right off the bat, but trust me it is still as pant-shittingly scary as the first. The graphics and sound are fantastic, like we all expected. So do I have any complaints? You know it!

First, I think it's stupid that EA makes you type in a code just to play online. I know it's their retarded anti-used game thing but it still sucks. Then you have to download a 110mb file to play online, not even a patch. Stop annoying me in the game I already paid for!

Second, while I was as eager as anyone to get back to shootin' thangs, the game starts off much too abruptly. You get a short cutscene of Isaac talking to a guy then BLAM, ACTION! I understand wanting to up the pace a bit, but it was too jarring. I wanted to see what Isaac is like now that he talks, and how fucked up he is from the first game. I can't care about this character unless you guys give me a reason to. That's part of what makes a great horror story, when you really care about the main character and want them to survive. They said they wanted to make this game more like the movie Aliens compared Alien, but maybe they forgot that the action doesn't even start in Aliens till like an hour into the movie. The rest is all build-up and characterization.

The whole Dead Space universe has some pretty interesting back story. Instead of reading text logs or buying the tie-in comics/movies, I'd like if I could experience more of it in the actual game. The only exposition I've had so far is another girl yapping at me over my comm link every 5 minutes. I thought Isaac was supposed to be more in-charge this time around? Also, it's pretty impossible to pay attention to someone blabbing in your ear when there could be zombies around every corner.

Anyway, I have heard it's a pretty long game, so maybe it will shake things up a bit later on. The gameplay and the atmosphere are still excellent, so that's what counts I guess. One thing I recommend is playing on the Survivalist difficulty. Anything lower is just way too easy. A horror game is no fun if you don't actually die on occasion. Besides, you owe it to yourself to check out some of the death animations. They are straight up nasty!

Well, that's it for now I guess. Overall I am very satisfied with the game, despite those few things. If you like games that are good, you should buy this game because it's also good! Stay tuned for a multiplayer review!