Dead Space 2 was released right at the very start of 2011 and unfortunately this has lead to it missing out on a lot of deserved recognition and awards; I guess the gaming press and the general public have a very short memory. The first game in this survival horror franchise was exceptionally good and really took the crown for the modern third-person-shooter-survival-horror game from
Resident Evil (since the overwhelming disappointment of the fifth game in that series). No longer could you skulk in corners gunning enemies down as they slowly shambled towards you... no the necromorphs were in hidden monster closets everywhere and they leapt, crawled and slithered at you with talons glistening in gore. In short,
Dead Space rocked!
Dead Space 2 is even better.
The sequel improves on the original in almost every conceivable way: the graphics are sharper and more varied in location, enemy design and special effects push the engine - the presentation in general has been beefed up considerably with some amazing set-pieces that give
Dead Space 2 a real cinematic feel and made your heart pound out of your chest. The music is absolutely fantastic (kinda like a mix of
Bioshock and the original
Dead Space that gives the game a lonely but scary atmosphere) and the gameplay has been tweaked and polished to a shine - hell, there's even a decent little multiplayer mode if that's your thing, although it really isn't needed in a fundamentally single-player game.
For me,
Dead Space 2 kicked off 2011 as one of the best years for video-game sequels and really set the bar high for this type of game. While I love traditional survival horror, this franchise has taught me the merit of adding a more action-orientated slant to the claustrophobic scares and dark atmosphere of this genre.
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