After an hour, I just wasn’t feeling it. I popped it back on the shelf, where it was left to collect dust for three years. With all this Dead Space 2 news, I thought it was probably a good idea to play through the original, and I’m so glad I did.
You see, the original was actually very good and I’m extremely embarrassed for dismissing it all these years. It updated an aging genre and made it more relevant for today’s gamer. It wasn’t over-done or overly obscene, it was clever and tense. There was something about Dead Space that created such an atmosphere, it was hard to believe the sequel could go wrong at all.
Well, it hasn’t gone wrong per se. In fact, I’m going to put something straight out there: Dead Space 2 is a fantastic game. There was just one thing that bugged me about it - and it’s such an annoying thing to complain about - but it is something that I feel is so important and a real shame to lose: the atmosphere.
It might have something to do with the new Isaac. No longer a mute man in metal, Isaac now sports a rather typical American accent. He shouts “Motherfucker!” if you continually stomp the ground too...
Of course, this is all down to personal taste but there is something very off about Isaac 2.0. I couldn’t imagine him with an American accent, or even an accent at all. I thought I’d get used to it but six hours later I was still cringing. Imagine if Half Life's Gordon Freeman started nattering away? You wouldn’t stand for it!
It was extremely off-putting and each time the game manages to muster up some sort of tense atmosphere, Issac opens his God-damned mouth. It’s a real shame because that is my only real complaint about Dead Space 2. It’s a sleeker, shiner, if shorter, version of the original.
I’ve gone on long enough about my issues with Issac, onwards to the juicy stuff. While a whole host of familiar necromorphs return in Dead Space 2, a good number of them are new.
These range from exploding babies, a pack of screaming children with rather unkempt fingernails, one that spits out acidic bile and my personal favourite, the Stalker. The stalkers are like zombie raptors, they are quick on their feet and run around the room avoiding your gunfire. They also hide behind walls and peer curiously round the corner before running at you full speed. There are even more to contend with but that’s worth seeing for yourself.
Read More Like This
Comments
gingineer 25 Jan 2011 17:43
1/4
I loved the suspense in the first dead space. and i can understand how Issac talking would ruin it. i always think there is an added level of involvement when you can't hear the characters in a game.
if only there was a way of turning off him speaking.
if only there was a way of turning off him speaking.
DoctorDee 26 Jan 2011 00:40
2/4
I liked DS1 a lot. I haven't given DS2 a whizz yet, but I can see how inane banter and exclamations of motherluckver might ruin that wonderfully taught and terrifying atmosphere. And that really was one of the outstanding parts of the first game.
more comments below our sponsor's message
config 26 Jan 2011 15:29
3/4
100% agree; Isaac's gob should remain firmly shut. What could it possibly bring to the game?
I played the demo and was truly unsure which way it would go. The initial drudgery of traipsing through cookie cutter corridors, broken only by the startling but unsurprising appearance of morphs was dull, and the onslaught of necrobabies in the church area put gameplay more into the "survive by luck and well stocked ammo" than it did "by wits and a cool nerve". Once past the church, though, it seemed to pick up aplenty.
I played the demo and was truly unsure which way it would go. The initial drudgery of traipsing through cookie cutter corridors, broken only by the startling but unsurprising appearance of morphs was dull, and the onslaught of necrobabies in the church area put gameplay more into the "survive by luck and well stocked ammo" than it did "by wits and a cool nerve". Once past the church, though, it seemed to pick up aplenty.
gingineer 28 Jan 2011 16:31
4/4
i liked the demo, even the babies which i dealt with ease and limited ammo expenditure. i managed to back into a corner and dispatch them with ease.
given i already have dead space extraction on the wii so don't fancy buying it for the move. i will probably wait a few weeks for the inevitable price drop of dead space 2 before buying. although i think i need to upgrade my TV sound system to something more 5.1 orientated!
given i already have dead space extraction on the wii so don't fancy buying it for the move. i will probably wait a few weeks for the inevitable price drop of dead space 2 before buying. although i think i need to upgrade my TV sound system to something more 5.1 orientated!