Dead Space 2 demo impressions

As I said we’ve been a bit behind due to Christmas, university work and student rallies(riots) but EVEN WE have found time in our busy holiday schedule to play the charming Dead Space 2 demo which has recently arrived on our dashboards and the like. So without further adieu here are some of our lovely impressions of Dead Space 2.

I was late to the party with Dead Space1 and it was a long time before I managed to give it the attention that it so clearly deserves.  But when I did, I could not put that bad boy down, much to the dismay of my dry cleaner (if I could afford one).

With the announcement of Dead Space 2 however, I was cautious, after the initial trailers I was worried. Worried we would see this stellar IP descend into the realm of becoming yet another action game EA couldn’t wait to whack out onto the table, in its everlasting measuring contest with Activision.

Boy am I glad my fears were unfounded! Forgive me father for I have sinned, I doubted the horrendous power of Visceral Games that makes me crap my pants every single time. Graphically it’s still very impressive, the upgraded engine has managed to keep that very Dead Space-y feeling, it’s still beautifully hideous and it’s still disgustingly twisted, enough said.

Isaac still maintains that sense of being vulnerable whilst also being a very cool character and not some whiney bitch, due to his slow pace and his love of stomping on things. I also have high hopes for the whole post traumatic stress idea that Visceral has been pushing and Isaacs hallucinations. if the fraction we saw in the demo is anything to go by this will make for some incredible gameplay.

 The encounters designed to scare me in this demo did feel slightly samey however, with the vast majority of instances being simply BOO! A MONSTER! But there is time, plus as long as I’m still in the mindset of feeling vulnerable and as though I’m slowly going insane, I think this will give me more than enough reason to keep having to change my underwear.  

At first I did feel a twinge of disappointment in the settings, as whilst they definitely capture the Dead Space feel I still felt as though I could just be onboard the Ishimura once again. UNTILL I passed through the gloriously dark Unitologist Cathedral and gazed out of the panoramic window. It instantly gave me a much grander sense of what me and my boy Isaac Clarke were fighting for.  The skyline decorated by huge skyscrapers that stretched on as far as I could see definitely made me think of the thousands of lives at risk.

This is a whole damn city people! So get out of my way, I’ve got lives to save!