my Dead Space 2 review

Well guys I thought it was time to write up another short review for you all, and what better than the recently released third person action/horror Dead space 2



Dead Space 2 is a survival horror third-person shooter video game developed by Visceral Games and published by Electronic Arts It is the sequel to Dead Space.

*Small Dead Space spoiler’s below*

The plot in a nut shell: The game begins in a hospital on the Sprawl, a densely populated metropolis built on a shard of Titan, one of Saturn’s moons. You once again take control of Isaac Clarke although he has no memory of the last three years, having just been released from confinement due to mental stability issues and before you can remove the straitjacket, the Dr is killed and transformed into a necromorph, leaving Isaac to escape on his own, and from there the rest of the journey is one where Isaac must come to terms with the past relating to the adventure of the original Dead Space and also attempt to escape another necromorph outbreak, fighting once again for his life and the lives of others as he works his way through the station.







this is where you step in to take on the thrilling experience of Isaac...........

So what’s to like and not like about the game…..

It's more satisfying than it was in the original. Isaac's fast and light on his feet. You can stomp crates in a jiff and melee attack bodies for loot, grabbing things with your telekinesis is responsive, and mixing all of this together with the different weapons in the game is a blast.

the annoying aspects of the first, mainly having to back track all the time and getting disoriented have basically been removed from the game and making it much more interesting and varied.

There are many different weapons available in Dead Space 2, but you can only have four equipped at any given time so make your choices wisely. One thing to consider as well is ammo collection. During the course of Dead Space 2 you can collect every kind of ammo not just for the ones you have equipped, but you will find drastically increased amounts of ammo for the weapons you use, the suit can be upgraded by finding different schematic’s which can add to storage capacity as well as health/attack perks, also weapons can be downloaded by finding schematic’s as well.

The upgrade system is the same as in the original and is predicated on finding or buying power nodes which are then used at work benches throughout the game. Your rig/armor, each weapon, and stasis all have individual upgrade grids that you must use your power nodes to move across picking up additional attributes as you move around the grid. The upgrades can be anything from additional health, increased ammo capacity, to special unlockable features of your weapons, and is basically the same as the original.

As well as that you can buy ammo, health, nodes and weapons using credits found throughout the game at stores, and one cool feature of this version as well as the mapping option you can also get tracking from the location of the nearest shops/benches/save points.

The melee system is much much better than the first where the first felt broken and sluggish this time around the controls are responsive and effective in getting you out of a tight situation, of course as well as melee you will also use your kinesis which just like the original is effective and a real life saver.

There are some new Necromorphs this time around and all the AI seems more complete and they seem to work very well together in completing there objective….namely ripping your head off.

There are some great boss fights and all and all the intensity of the game doesn’t lessen one bit throughout the game, giving a nice balance of action and of course tension to make it a great horror/survival game.

the zero gravity takes a turn for the best where you have complete 360degree movement and the areas are all varied and unique enough to make for some added fun and intensity.

As well as the amazing single player campaign we also have a multiplayer option this time round which is very similar to one of L4D2 in that it pits two teams of four players against each other, one team consisting of humans trying to accomplish an objective, and the other consisting of Necromorphs, who are tasked with stopping the humans from accomplishing said objective. Each playable character has two weapons in their arsenal. New weapons and their secondary firing modes can be unlocked through level progression, and there is a wide choice of necromorph to choice from, the Mp is fun fast and to be honest can be a little one sided, it’s not great but is fun and a added bonus to the great SP story line.







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the SP story is fantastic, I got a wee bit bored with the original Dead Space in the later stages of the game, but this game hooked me from the start and didn’t let me go until the end credits and the only real fault I have is once again the length which I completed in around 11 hours……..of course once completing it unlocks some new suits and all your gear can then be transferred to the next play through, and it also unlocks the hardest difficulty setting which only gives you three saves to complete the game and if you die you don’t start at a check point but rather at the last save station.....the game is a typical go here do this basis but really the game is just amazing.....

The graphics are the same as the original but there are so many more varied and interesting locations it was a really fresh take on the original as well as that the in game music was great as to where the sound effects, of course this time round Isaac talks and it really does make for a fuller, richer and more complete experience.

So is it perfect?…well no game is, but I am giving this game a awesome 9/10 it’s really hard to fault it, everything felt right, from in game play, sound effects, graphics and intensity, the feeling that you playing as Isaac where going loco was priceless and one of the real highlights for me.

Im playing the game on my M17x and it runs flawlessly on max settings.

So anyway hopefully this gives you all a taste of the game, if you have any questions feel free to ask away.

 

So, do you still have to turn off v-sync to avoid mouse lag ala Dead Space 1 ?

 

sorry i cant answer that as i played the game with my windows controller, as i do with most 3rd person shooters.

it isn't a problem i have heard of when talking about the game with some of my friends......but i cant say for sure, the game does run great though, no slowdown at any stage......

 

Yes, BUT, the mousework is MUCH easier with vsync turned on than with the first one. Instead of awful mouse lag, and overshooting menus, you can actually click on something you pointed at. Also the game looks a little better at 30fps than the first one for some reason, and the aiming is alot better. Basically the game-play is how it should have been in the first one. The first one was somewhat quirky and awkward with some of the controls and how it felt. Dead Space 2 has ironed out all of this, and feels like a symbiotic experience like it should. I also can't think of anything negative about the second one, not flawless, but not flawed either.

 

I played this on my desktop with vsync turned off because I hate how it only runs on 30fps when vsync is turned on. I used D3DOverrider from rivatuner to cap the game at 60fps and now it's perfect for me.

If I don't cap it at 60fps the game runs at 150+ fps at max settings so it's a bit too fast for me.. But yea I'm liking the game so far as well, definitely better than the first one.

Although I find the first one to be more scary than the second one, probably because in DS1 the guy walks way too slow and you just couldn't run away from all the danger.

 

oops double post

 

in my case i turned off the vsync in the dead space 2 settings menu, and turned force vsync on in the nvidia control panel. since then i have a stable 60fps compared to the 30fps lock when the ingame vsync setting in ON.