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Dead Space 2 Review (PC)
Nachiket Mhatre, Feb 05, 2011 1000 hrs ISTThe new benchmark in survival horror
Engaging storyline, lighting & particle effects, Zero-G segments go from boring to awesome, improved weapon balance, controls fine tuned to perfection, 10-12 hr playtime, fixes all flaws of predecessor, advanced breadcrumbs replace confusing map system
Lackluster multiplayer, blood and some textures still look underwhelming
Expert Rating :
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Many believe that the survival horror genre has been dying a slow death, and rightly so. The Resident Evil franchise has lost the plot (in terms of the genre that is; RE5 was a good game nonetheless) while Silent Hill: Shattered Memories took a turn for the bizarre with a total lack of combat. I would call Resident Evil 2 the very peak of the genre. It refined the quintessential survival horror mechanics with debilitating combat system that brought a sense of dread and urgency to the action, while a brilliant storyline immersed one into the horror.
Resident Evil may have fathered the survival horror genre, but the franchise has taken on a confusing identity ever since RE4 avoided conservative survival horror combat mechanics for action. The genre's deliberately bad controls, with the lack of concurrent running and shooting, make the action less in abundance, but up close and personal. You see, the point of survival horror is to avoid combat when possible. Resident Evil 4 and 5 switched over to full-on action, but still maintained the same genre combat restriction, which made life miserable for many.
Dead Space, however, was all that RE4 should have been control wise, and yet remained true to its survival horror roots. In essence, it was a sweet union of a great handling RE4 with all the good bits of RE2 - which is, in short, near to perfection.
Large Shoes to Fill
The original Dead Space appeared as a deus ex machina and brought back the old school gameplay mechanics that made the genre appeal to fans and thereby resurrected survival horror. It had a great atmosphere, controls that turned the genre on its head and a deep storyline that made it a sublime experience. Topping or even matching that is a tall order, especially when everyone expects it to add something radical to the original. The question being, is there really a need to do that? Like they say, if it isn't broken, why fix it?
A good example that all survival horror fans will relate to are Zombie movies. From Night of the Living Dead to Dawn of the Dead, they all have the same basic premise, with minor adjustments to the characters or the scenarios. And that works because the foundation itself is solid. Dead Space similarly got the plot down to a T, save for some control gremlins and the boring Zero-G segments. So even before it was announced, I hoped that Visceral Games wouldn't pull a Resident Evil 4 and radically rewire the franchise. What Dead Space needs is fine tuning, and fortunately, that is precisely what Visceral did with the sequel.
Spoiler Warning: If you haven't played the first game, the very plot of the sequel contains spoilers for the original. So please do not read further if you intend to play the original, which I believe you should before firing up Dead Space 2.
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