I beat this game a few days ago and have put off writing about it for a bit just because I really wanted to let the game sink in and help me figure out where my final standing was on it. It felt like a good game, more polished than the previous one but for some reason something just didn't quite feel right and made me feel like there was an issue I had that I couldn't figure out what it was.
Controls
It was nice of them to switch the reload to square which is the norm with basically all shooters so it did take a couple minutes to get use to going straight from the first game to this one but in the end it was nice. Being able to heal by just pushing a button compared to going into the menu was a bit of a let down since you could much easier heal mid battle where as before it was a risk and more intense trying to bring up the menu while dodging. The melee mechanics seemed greatly improved, they didn't feel so clunky and slow and felt like you could actually use them at times, but I guess they had to improve the stomp if they honestly wanted you to stomp each and every body for your loot.
Gameplay
Seeing as how I found the first game rather easy I decided to try this one out on the hardest difficulty, Zealot. Well lets just say after about 2 chapters I was gladly lowering it down to the normal difficulty again. Now I'm not saying it was too hard, but it was definitely a challenge and it really made you struggle trying to survive with what little you were giving. Since I was borrowing this from a friend who hadn't played it yet, I did not want to keep it from him for a long time and instead get through the game at a normal pace. As I said earlier, the game feels polished in just the right spots that Dead Space 1 was lacking slightly in. Melee is better, the anti-gravity situations are much more enjoyable, and the ability to impale your enemies with their fallen comrades limbs is endlessly fun. There seemed to be a decent amount of puzzles which were nice and not over the top and also didn't seem to be forcefully implemented. The other small additions such as more weapons, the new upgrades, how your suite has passive effects and the new enemies were all nice and added on perfectly to what Dead Space 1 started with.
Design and Music
This game scared me.. mostly. I definitely felt most scared in the first parts of the game with the very creepy asylum feel it had. I didn't know what to expect what with the problems Isaac was dealing with and just the atmosphere you're forced into. That being said, after about half way through it seemed to fall off and the creepiness wasn't as intense before. That might be tied into my 1 'flaw' I had with the game though...
Story
Now at first I was interested in the fact that Isaac had been given a voice and thought you'd be able to connect with the character more. At first this was true but then after a while it started being the thing that bugged me. In the first game you were contacted by 2 people for the most part which mostly just told you what was needed to be done and also set up some suspense by letting you know something big was up ahead. In this one though, because you have a voice, you are more engaged with your contacts and your most important one is around quite often. At times you are also right beside her and I think because of that, it somewhat hurt the horror feel to me. It gave me the feeling of companionship and having some comfort that I wasn't fully alone. So although it was probably completely needed to tell the story by having a voice, it also just took away from the solitude the first one enveloped you in. It's hard to call it a flaw seeing as how it was basically required for the story to move forward but that's just the progress of sequels, but it is what it is. As for the story itself, I did enjoy watching Isaac's mind twist in agony throughout the game but near the end I wasn't really into how it was heading and then at the very end I was just.. confused. Again. Why do I fail at stories?
Overall
So as I said, the game feels like a polished version of the first game and other than the one flaw, I didn't really have much else to say. Although I do have to say the last 2/3 chapters just didn't really engage me at all. In the first game you knew you were nearing the end and wanted to know what was causing all this and what you were going to do with it. This one kind of just didn't have that same mystery and questions and forced you into an annoying 'chase' style of gameplay that was just more annoying than fun. So between the polished gameplay, the super creepy atmosphere in the beginning but the fall off in the middle and the lack of isolation you would feel before, I would have to say that this game is either on par or just ever so slightly worse than the first one.
8(.5)/10
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