Dead Space 2

Dead Space 2 pushes the limits of action, horror and terror. After waking up in a sprawling, dark and mysterious location, Dead Space 2 hero Isaac Clarke again finds himself thrust into the middle of a massive necromorph invasion. Surrounded by the screeching cries of undead monsters and the haunting drum of echoing noises, Isaac plots a course through abandoned building after creepy abandoned building. Dead Space 2 is set to deliver best-in-class sound design, visuals and action sequences.

In Dead Space 2, engineer Isaac Clarke makes his return in a blood-curdling new adventure on an all-new space installation known as “The Sprawl.” The lone survivor of a horrific alien infestation, Isaac finds himself confronting a catastrophic new nightmare. Battling dementia, Isaac will do whatever it takes to save himself and dominate the relentless enemy onslaughts. Equipped with a new arsenal of tools to dismember the necromorphs, Isaac faces the challenge head-on. Players will see Isaac fight bigger, scarier and more epic battles that will keep them on the edge of their seats.

Bigger and better

The original Dead Space, which told the tale of an engineer forced to deal with an alien outbreak aboard a ghostly spaceship, was hailed by many as the best survival horror title since 2005's excellent Resident Evil 4, but Dead Space 2 gets even closer to what many consider the pinnacle of the genre.

The nightmare returns

It has everything its predecessor had bar the shock of the new, but it more than makes up for a few familiarities with greater ambition, polish and blockbuster action. A genuinely scary experience with breathtaking visual design, it's almost everything we could have hoped for.

The sequel again puts you in the shoes of engineer Isaac Clarke, but switches its 15 levels of action from the claustrophobic spaceship environment of the original to a much larger one dubbed The Sprawl, a space station in orbit around Saturn's moon, Titan, which plays home to a new alien infestation.

It's still full of narrow corridors and dark rooms housing alien beasts and clever mechanical puzzles to solve, but the sprawling metropolis offers plenty of scope for variety, with the action taking place against a backdrop of shops, schools, churches and living quarters. It also provides ample opportunities for epic set pieces, such as leaping across a broken train carriage with rocket boots and fixing satellites using the game's excellent zero-gravity controls.

New threat

Dead Space 2 successfully mixes old enemies with new ones, even if one boss creature makes a few too many appearances throughout the game. Called necromorphs, the aliens are gross, multi-limbed horrors that mix speed and guile to take you by surprise when you least expect it.

Among the new foes are the Pukers, which launch vomit-based attacks from distance, velociraptor-like beasts that poke their head around corners inquisitively before charging, and the Pack, small child-like creatures that aim to overwhelm with their numbers. As in the first game, the best way to counter the enemy is to strategically dismember them, as shooting off limbs proves much more lethal than standard body or head shots.

Thankfully, Isaac's trusty limb removing arsenal and engineering tricks mean there's hope of escaping the nightmare scenario he finds himself in. Combat neatly mixes brutal firepower with stasis and kinesis abilities, which enable you to slow down enemies for precision shooting and to pick up and throw objects at them respectively.

As well as returning laser firearms like the plasma cutter and line gun, the game introduces a number of notable new weapons, including a heavy grenade launcher called the Detonator and a Javelin gun that pins enemies to surfaces.

Entirely new to the franchise is multiplayer, which allows you to play as humans battling Necromorphs or vice versa. Game modes see the human security forces - who command the same abilities as Isaac - attempt to complete tasks like assembling bombs, destroying objectives or activating escape pods, while Necromorph teams puke, wall-crawl, sprint and melee in a bid to foil their plans.

Scarily good

It's a well balanced experience that offers plenty in the way of weapon and ability unlocks as you level up, but with only five multiplayer arenas on offer it feels slightly lightweight. It may not challenge the heavyweight shooters, but it's a more than welcome addition that faithfully translates the game's singleplayer mechanics to competitive online scenarios.

All in all, Dead Space 2 is a wonderfully crafted sequel that retains everything that was great about the original while taking the spectacle to new heights. It looks great, controls excellently, flows smoothly and packs in a great mixture of scares and action, making it the current standard setter for survival horror games.

Final Thoughts