Dead Space 2: Concluded

It's funny how often a power failure in a vast city on another planet is fixed by dismembering 3 alien creatures isn't it. Dead Space 2 doesn't often toe the line where videogame clichés are concerned, however this is the most glaring case.

In this Dead Space, at least we get to see more of Isaac Clark this time, he talks, he goes insane, he's still stooped over like an arthritic old man. Visceral use the fact that Isaac is going insane to good effect by making sure the player is never sure what's real or what's imagined. When Isaac returns to the Ishamura, the bloody thing is always whispering in his ear but, as the player, you are never sure when there's a creature behind the whispering. As a result of this the player is always kept on their toes, never sure when to relax or when one of those spindly creatures will come running at him.

Visceral clearly take a lot of pride in their presentation, this sequel has a very slick UI and similar to the previous release very sparse in-game HUD, with most of the information the player needs being placed in the world, although where it fails is for health and ammo. There's no way of telling (that I can see) if Isaac has any health packs, and if so which size they are without going into the inventory which can be dangerous if there are enemies nearby. Given the ease of use of stasis recharge packs (a light blinks when the player has a recharge pack in his inventory) it seems a bit of an oversight.

It's a scary game, but for me too much of the Wes-Craven-something-pops-out-and-makes-you-jump type of horror, not enough of the spooky psychological stuff. The game does suffer from repetition in the scare gags - never go in a lift in a space city, something is bound to pop out and make you jump.

It's an example in excellent environmental storytelling, without the need to resort to cutscenes every ten minutes. When the action is halted for a cutscene, they are generally incorporated very well into the level. Dead Space 2 suffers from very linear level design, but it's broken up by a few open spaces and hidden by the excellent presentation and visuals.

Unfortunately the ending lets the game down as a package. The final encounter is designed to take use of a particular weapon, unfortunately I never used this one weapon throughout the game so had to backtrack to find one and improve it before I could complete the level.

In short, if the future of humanity leads us to space colonies then I don't like it, and don't think I'll take part thank you.