Horror Games: Dead Space 2 (2011) Review

So remember how I said that Dead Space was one of my favorite horror games of all time? Well, this is one of those times where the sequel is far superior in every way, like Star Wars Episode IV or Terminator. If you haven't played this game series yet (which I don't know why you wouldn't have since it's amazing), be prepared for

SPOILERAMA: IN SPAAAAAAACE!

So in case you missed the big reveal at the end of the first game, Isaac's girlfriend Nicole, who he had been trying to help escape the ship with him throughout the game, was dead the entire time and whenever you saw her in the game, it was all a hallucination caused by the Marker. So awhile after the events of the first game, Isaac is in a psychiatric hospital in a cityscape called The Sprawl, which is located on Saturn's moon, Titan. After some shenanigans with Necromorphs on the Sprawl, it's revealed that Unitologists on the Sprawl have the Marker and apparently they want Isaac to take his knowledge of it to make copies of it for them so they can spread the glorious Necromorph infection throughout the universe. Isaac ain't havin' none of that, so he bounces and meets a survivor named Ellie who is willing to help him find and destroy the Marker on the Sprawl. They have some quarrels with the head of the Government Sector, Tiedemann, who doesn't want them destroying the Marker because I don't remember why. It's been awhile since I last played this game. On their way to the Government Sector, which is apparently where the Marker is being held, they meet another escaped patient of the psychiatric hospital, Nolan. Nolan and Isaac were both experimented on in the hospital and it's revealed that they both have information about the Marker, but it's locked away in a part of their brain that's inaccessible except by means of a machine that pokes a needle through your eye's pupil, thus allowing your brain to access the locked up info. So, Isaac and Ellie (Nolan turns out to be a psycho freak who tries to kill Ellie and Isaac is forced to gun him down) go to the Government Sector and get separated until the end of the game. Isaac uses the eye poke machine (seriously, that's it's actual name) to find out the Marker's exact location and kills Tiedemann before proceeding to blow up the Marker. Isaac and Ellie ride off into the sunset in their spaceship and live happily ever after....that is, until the next game, when it all goes to hell again.

PLEASE REMOVE YOUR SPOILER GLASSES NOW

So, that's the plot. Pretty deep, but still simple enough to understand. Now, what about the gameplay? Everything that was good about the first Dead Space is vastly improved here. The control scheme is more fitting for a third person shooter, the new guns are all creative and fun to use, the enemies are never too challenging, but still put up a good fight, and this game is has a lot more content than the first. 

It's like the cover of a bad goregrind album.

My one and only complaint about this game is that there is almost nothing scary about it. For being a horror game, the only things even remotely scary are how the enemies look. There's barely any creepy atmosphere, no suspense, and cheap jump scares that you can see coming from a mile away. You can really tell that they were aiming for more of a shooter experience this time around. Think of it as the last game, just with an updated story, more guns, more enemies, and an all-around more enjoyable experience. Dead Space 2 gets 9 hallucinations of your dead girlfriend out of a possible 10. Now, let me show you the best part of this game: the death scenes!