Dead Space 2 Review

Post by Steve Farrelly @ 01:19am 25/01/11 | 73 Comments

It's been a long wait, but Isaac Clarke is back, and he's more in over his head than he ever was on the USG Ishimura.

Dead Space 2 continues the plight of the hapless engineer who was the sole survivor of an outbreak of reanimated corpses called Necromorphs aboard a planet-cracker starship in Dead Space, a run-away critical success for Visceral Games (then known as EA Redwood Shores). And now the team are back with a game that can only be described as "bigger and better" in every possible way - no mean feat considering we scored the first title a 9.5 here on AusGamers.

So what's so good? Read our full review to find out.

dead space 2 visceral games review ausgamers

Buy now from Green Man Gaming Only GBP£3.97!

(compare all prices)

Latest Comments

Link

Crash
Posted 01:36am 25/1/11

For my review I've kept a scare count for every time this game made me jump. I got to 17 by the end of it. Anyway i also really enjoyed it.

Link

fryzeegunner
Posted 01:37am 25/1/11

how is it on PC specifically?

Link

Steve Farrelly
Posted 01:41am 25/1/11

Also, for anyone wondering about multiplayer, I'm smashing that all week and will post a hands-on report on Friday along with our interview with producer Shereif Fattouh about what makes this series tick (and what's with all their baby hatred)

Link

Sc00bs
Posted 01:49am 25/1/11

does the mouse feel all wierd on pc like ds1?

Link

dais
Posted 02:25am 25/1/11

Steve I think you mean

Spoiler:
who was the sole survivor

Fuxake, I haven't finished the first one yet :[

Link

Winston
Posted 03:36am 25/1/11

I truly hope you are not being generous with a 9.7.

I've been looking forward to this since I heard about it and the fact that it has multiplayer blew my mind. Whilst I'd like a co-op campaign (an instant 'buy' when games have this), I guess 4v4 would be a nice change from L4D/2 Vs.

Link

CSIRAC
Posted 04:11am 25/1/11

It's only $60usd on steam atm as pre purchase. Should it be expected to be handed an australian tax come release? (or when the publisher realises)

Link

ctd
Posted 07:10am 25/1/11

Might see how the MP is received first. The first game was just s***e and boring.

Link

BassMan
Posted 07:59am 25/1/11

But unlike the first game, in the first few moments of Dead Space 2 you have no weapons, and no means to fight

errr Steve - think you should fire up the original again & fix this? Otherwise solid review.

I'll buy my copy today...

Link

Khel
Posted 09:48am 25/1/11

$62 on ozgameshop too

http://www.ozgameshop.com/xbox-360-games/dead-space-2-xbox-360

$45 if you want the PC version

http://www.ozgameshop.com/pc-games/dead-space-2-game-pc

Link

greazy
Posted 10:10am 25/1/11

What's the deal with the score? Why didn't you give it a 10 when the review was all praise?

Link

TufNuT
Posted 10:13am 25/1/11

got my PC collectors edition pre-ordered at EB, been looking forward to it for a while.

Link

Steve Farrelly
Posted 10:33am 25/1/11

BassMan, you can stomp and swing melee and have your plasma cutter in the first few corridors of DS1, in DS2 it takes much longer to get close to anything that will help you

Link

kettels
Posted 11:16am 25/1/11

does the mouse feel all wierd on pc like ds1?

Really would like to know this also, I found ds1 was good but totally ruined by my mouse being all 'floaty' and weird. Thats the only reason I wasn't excited about this one.

Link

greazy
Posted 11:30am 25/1/11

I got used to the floatyness you speak off in the first 5 minutes of playing. Remember: You were in f*****g space.

Link

MoSFXx
Posted 02:16pm 25/1/11

Possible GOTY already holy hell, I'm going to have to pick this one up, I never played the first one does it matter?

Link

Thundercracker
Posted 02:32pm 25/1/11

I would recommend playing the first one because its made of win, but you don't need to.

Link

MatchFixah
Posted 02:39pm 25/1/11

I would recommend playing the first one because its made of win, but you don't need to.

I just rang up my local Civic store enquiring about Dead Space on the 360. They said they didn't have it but they'll bringing in the 2nd one on release day.

I want to play the 1st one before the 2nd one. Not goodinuff !

Link

ctd
Posted 03:00pm 25/1/11

Dead space 1 was on special on steam yesterday for about 5 bucks but now it is back up to 15. Either way you are paying too much.

Link

MatchFixah
Posted 03:02pm 25/1/11

Don't think my PC can handle it (as smooth as i want it to). That's why i play a lot of the latest games on the 360. Just so much of a less hassle.

Link

Steve Farrelly
Posted 03:42pm 25/1/11

I still also think this game suits a controller more than a mouse and keyboard

Link

Enska
Posted 05:30pm 25/1/11

I got used to the floatyness you speak off in the first 5 minutes of playing. Remember: You were in f*****g space.

hahaha, gold.

Fixah the first one is cheap as s*** and theres a $17 sale thing happening at EB atm (dunno about QLD), pick it up when you go and get ds2 :P

Link

Martz
Posted 08:25pm 25/1/11

Would this floatyness bs have been fixed by now via patch?

Link

Thundercracker
Posted 09:39pm 25/1/11

The main issue with the PC version with respect to lag can be solved by turning off vsync. Also the mouse sensitivity is a bit strange.

Link

Crakaveli
Posted 09:43pm 25/1/11

I solved my mouse issues with ds1 by turning off v-sync. Sif that isn't the first thing you do when you get mouse lag anyway.

Link

Khel
Posted 09:49pm 25/1/11

I fixed the floatyness by playing it on Xbox 360.

Link

Dethon
Posted 12:25am 26/1/11

Looks like a great game but I'm truly amazed at how it seems everyone wants coop but we never get it!

Link

Reverend Evil�
Posted 01:23am 26/1/11

Can all the keys be re-mapped to any part of the keyboard and mouse? The first Dead Space couldn't, hence the controls were complete balls.

I'd buy this if that's the case. The case being all keys can be re-mapped.

Link

Thundercracker
Posted 09:17am 26/1/11

Looks like the AU version on steam unlocks on the 28th :/

Americans are playing right now damnit!

Link

BassMan
Posted 09:41am 26/1/11

^ Yeah - I wandered into JB in town yesterday (just in case) but was told it won't be on the shelves until Thursday :(

Link

Spook
Posted 09:42am 26/1/11

first dead space on pc was awesome

controls were fine (mouse)

Link

BassMan
Posted 07:55am 28/1/11

Well I'm loving it so far. Just like the original it really impressed me that it didn't need to spend anytime installing on my PS3 - it just loads up off the disc & away you go.

Link

Steve Farrelly
Posted 10:02am 28/1/11

anyone else playing yet?

Link

DM
Posted 10:12am 28/1/11

No clue but i'm downloading it now since I figured I sure don't mind paying $60 for an awesome horror game. I'm playing through #1 now on hard and got damn it is hard. 3 - 6 shots per Necro is just crazy. Anyway just give it a day or so and watch the price jump to $90

Link

Thundercracker
Posted 10:24am 28/1/11

I am Steve. F*** steam, I turned on my US VPN and starting playing.

So far I like++

Link

Midda
Posted 10:27am 28/1/11

I just bought it on Steam last night. $45 from the UK store.

Also, I fully plan on playing it with a 360 controller. I played the first one on Xbox, and the controls felt great. It's not the kind of game I'd want to play with a keyboard and mouse. Haven't downloaded it yet though, plan to get it this weekend.

Link

Khel
Posted 01:37pm 28/1/11

I was going to buy it from ozgameshop and save some money, but I'm impatient, so I'm heading out this afternoon to pick it up and will no doubt be scaring the crap out of myself tonight and over the weekend. Good times!

Anyone tried the multiplayer yet?

Link

DM
Posted 02:06pm 28/1/11

1 thing that is s***ting me to tears on the 1st one is when you aim, your sensitivity drops to next to nothing. You have move your mouse across the pad like 6 times to aim at an arm or leg which is f*****g hard to do when they are flailing around, which forces you to just shoot the necros in the chest to back them up enough

Link

Steve Farrelly
Posted 02:12pm 28/1/11

DM, if you time a melee swing right, it knocks them back and stuns them long enough to take more precision aim, plus you conserve ammo.

The system itself is to not allow for easy dismemberment - you need to feel overwhelmed and clunky the whole time, hence it being far more comfortable to play with a 360 controller on PC or just on the console in general

Link

BassMan
Posted 02:30pm 28/1/11

Khel - my copy was $89 from JB in town.

Link

DM
Posted 06:07pm 28/1/11

I'm at chapter 7, almost 8 I think and refuse to play #2 until i've finished this game. I'm playing on hard so IDK is that will hinder me any but does anyone else notice how the way to go gun wise seems to be to sell all the ammo you get that doesn't belong to the pistol type gun you get first off and just rock that the entire game? Sure others may be super strong while upgraded but ammo for them is expensive and rare. Pistol ammo is cheap, can carry tons of it and all over the place. What i've done is max it out and now it only takes 3 shots to kill most of the necrids or whatever their name is. 2 to knee-cap them and another to the arm propping them up and they are finished... most of the time giving me a 6 shot clip in return so you gain ammo doing it too. A bit easy now that i've worked that out. Though mind you those giant armored fellas sure take a beating. Nothing slow + shots to the shoulder doesn't sort out though.

Super syched about DS2 and really wanna play it.

Link

Khel
Posted 08:43pm 28/1/11

What I found with the first one, was ammo usually dropped for the gun I was currently killing things with. Sure there was random ammo scattered around the place for all sorts of things, but I often found if I was using the Line Gun, line gun rounds dropped, if I was using the pulse rifle thing then pulse rounds dropped, etc. I dunno if that was just my perception of it or what, but I never found ammo to be particularly scarce for any of the guns I was using, maybe you find it scarce cos you're using the first gun all the time and thats all thats dropping?

Like I said, don't really know if thats how it worked, but thats how it seemed to me, I always had a healthy collection of ammo for all the guns I was carrying at the time.

Link

MatchFixah
Posted 09:00pm 28/1/11

refuse to play #2 until i've finished this game

Same. I just gotta go pick up the first one :/

Might do it this weekend.

Link

DM
Posted 12:07am 29/1/11

Just finished it. Bloody good game. Now I can boot up #2! WOOOO

EDIT - Ok straight away aiming is back to normal. In fact I was so used to DS1 sensitivity I had to reduce it from 50 down to 15. Also the way you can project that line onto the floor but also select what the line goes to is awesome, be it bench, store or obejective.

Oh, and it's doom 3 all over again.

Ok bit further in now, maybe about an hour and you sure get money and power nodes faster thats for sure. I'm not sure if this is really going to be hard or not though. I forget exactly what setting i'm on (think it was the 1 above normal) and i'm sheering off limbs in 1 hit so hope it gets harder or I may have to quit and redo the 1 1/2 hours or so I've put in on the hardest setting I can do.

last edited by DM at 00:06:14 29/Jan/11

last edited by DM at 00:07:43 29/Jan/11

Link

BassMan
Posted 09:57am 29/1/11

Just like RE4, the game gives you ammo for weapons you have (with the exception of some crates which always have the same drop).

I found the best strategy was to only buy two weapons, upgrade them to the max & sell any other ammo I happen to pickup.

Link

Mordecai
Posted 11:42am 29/1/11

If anyone gets/has this and doesn't want the one use code for the DA2 armour Ill take it off you hands

Link

DM
Posted 02:00pm 29/1/11

So far this game has startled me 3 times and i'm about mid way through chapter 6. Maybe i'm just a bit tougher to frighten but it's not living up to how scary everyone says it is. Being dark doesn't mean it's going to make you s*** your pants, it just annoys me it's so f*****g dark. flickering lights I don't mind but f*** sake don't make a level only to not light 90% of it.

Also I hope there are many chapters because i'm flying through them. 3 hours played and 6 chapters done. Hope theres like 20 of them or something then i'll be happy. So far it's decent for $60 but sure wouldn't want to pay $90 - $100 for it.

Link

Mordecai
Posted 04:18pm 29/1/11

Spoilers: Secret gun for beating DS2 on the hardcore mode:

Gun stats can be scene at 42 seconds.

Link

DM
Posted 05:26pm 29/1/11

I don't think this is much of a spoiler but i'm 2 1/2 hours played and on Chapter 7 of 15. Yeah this game is not only short but f*****g easy. Time to restart and go hardest difficulty I can.

Link

^rza
Posted 08:53pm 29/1/11

Nice review Fanboy Farrelly....played this for a couple of hours today. There is no way it deserves that score.....

Still feel robbed that i payed $5 to hire it.....

Link

DM
Posted 09:22pm 29/1/11

Well to be fair, it's not just him. This game is getting rave reviews all over the place with the lowest scoring one on Metacritic being 80/100. It's good but I still prefer the first.

The end result is another white knuckle ride of adrenaline rushing, fear inducing, and tons of "oh my god" moments that only the strong hearted can stand. Be afraid...be very afraid...it's Dead Space 2

From the Gaming-Age review and all I can say to that is, my arse. Maybe i'm just a tough bastard to scare but the kind of horror that DS2 offers isn't effective against me. Things that jump out, and loud noises very rarely frighten me. Ok so I admit there have been 3 things that made me jump but I prefer the japanese horror style that very few games have, where it's more about creating atmosphere than actually having things jump out at you. DS1 did this pretty well I think with it being rather quiet and heaving the claws and feet rustle around above you in the vents and hearing low growls.

last edited by DM at 21:22:57 29/Jan/11

Link

Reverend Evil�
Posted 09:21pm 29/1/11

Just out of curiosity, how did you get a score of 9.7 out of 10? Why not just 9?

Link

StrangeRash
Posted 09:34pm 29/1/11

this sounds like massive hype

too bad, i liked the first one. something about isaac's attitude to his situation made him seem like an ideal chinese sweat shop worker

Link

Spook
Posted 07:55am 30/1/11

i used the cutter pretty much the entire way through the first one, cept for the last little bit

Link

CSIRAC
Posted 09:49pm 30/1/11

btw was is this thread ppl were talking about mouse feeling really off in DS1. well i just loaded up DS 1 and an easy way to fix it is to turn off vsync. ive found in most console ports messing with vsync fixes mouse laggyness/gayness.

is there similar problems in DS2 on the PC?

edit: oh thundercracker already made mention of this. carry on

Link

BassMan
Posted 07:40am 31/1/11

I'm absolutely loving DS2 - some parts remind me of Dues Ex & the trippy ex-girl friend scenes remind me of Max Payne.

Spoiler:
I just finished Chapter 7 & I loved it - free falling through space, moving the solar array dishes etc.

The raptor monsters ('Clever Girl') scare the bejesus out of me. Thank Christ for detonator mines...

Link

Steve Farrelly
Posted 12:05pm 31/1/11

I played it on the hardest difficulty setting and found it satisfactory in the Challenge department, if you're too pussy to man up when you play a game, don't cry to me that it's too easy ;)

Link

Keato
Posted 12:22pm 31/1/11

Steve "Man up or shut up" Farrelly

Link

HERMITech
Posted 10:48pm 31/1/11

S*** game is s***

You can't even remap the f*****g keys
Doesn't recognise the thumb buttons on a mouse.

and how the F*** do you get rid of lame arse 3rd person view?

Link

MatchFixah
Posted 10:52pm 31/1/11

It's a 3rd person shooter dooder.

Sounds like a game best played on a console with a controller.

Link

HERMITech
Posted 11:31pm 31/1/11

30/01/2011 5:52:00 PM HERMITech -> Step: Is it an fps?
30/01/2011 5:52:07 PM Step -> HERMITech: yeah like bioshock etc
30/01/2011 5:52:07 PM HERMITech -> Step: or thrd person view?
30/01/2011 5:52:12 PM Step -> HERMITech: first

Step lied to me :(

Link

Keato
Posted 09:05am 01/2/11

S*** game is s*** You can't even remap the f*****g keys

Game is good.

Remapped my keys fine on PC. Just a shame you need so many different keys, I need it to be simplified.

Right Ckick target and hold, then press Kinetic while holding right button, now hold them both and target something now release left button.. all while running backwards from things that jump out at you. Ok, it's not that hard to do but still, I miss shoot them in the face with rocket, run to red.

Link

Midda
Posted 10:09am 01/2/11

I just started playing this last night. It's pretty awesome so far. I'm playing on the second-highest difficulty (excluding hardcore), and it's challenging enough so far. I'm also taking my time as I usually do in survival games. It usually pays to explore rather than rushing, finding more items and stuff.

Link

Tollaz0r!
Posted 02:33pm 01/2/11

So I had a quick go of this last night and it seems good.

I was going to play on the 2nd hardest difficulty (not including hardcore) but I'm thinking of upping it, would this make the game better or worse?

Link

Bah
Posted 03:07pm 01/2/11

Seems pretty much the same as the first so far, good game, but i dont know about "9.7 goty".
And i constantly have no ammo, gets annoying with less than a clips worth in all my guns, usually not a problem when its one or two c****, but when they decide to give me a set piece where i am swarmed it gets annoying and is just a "reload til i find which spot to sit and spam" type situation.

Mouse control is fine on pc, pov is seems hugely zoomed in though which is my only real complaint about it's consoleness so far.

Link

Tim
Posted 03:43pm 02/2/11

Hmm, hasn't anyone else found the first couple levels kinda boring? Nothing new here from DS1, i'm only up to the second Raptor Beast fight in the warehouse. The way they sold the game on telly and stuff makes it look like your busting into space and fighting gigantic monsters every 2 seconds, however i have only come across 2 such events so far, can someone tell me if the dynamic changes soon? if not, i think 9.7 is being very generous.... I bought this on PS3 for the added 'Extraction' bonus, was i making a mistake not getting it on PC? played the first on PC....

Link

autolux
Posted 04:52pm 02/2/11

could never imagine playing this on a pc, you'd just waltz through for the most part... the limitations of a console and atmosphere of a bigscreen & dark room seem to be the whole point..

gave it a whirl on ps3 last night, bout halfway through.. seems a mild improvement over the fist one at best so far. the first one didn't really compel me to bother finishing it at about the same point. i'd probably do the same here, but i may persevere with this one cause i got a nice new plasma tele and console games are a bit dry atm.

very generous score. to be honest, i never really dug the nectomorphs. this games quake 2 setting with awkward monsters somewhere between alien/res-evil, with slightly better than doom3 shiny graphics... but on a console, big screen, lights off, it does have a nice atmosphere.

last edited by autolux at 16:52:53 02/Feb/11

Link

Bah
Posted 05:15pm 02/2/11

could never imagine playing this on a pc, you'd just waltz through for the most part

Just played a part where i was in the center of a room and necros would attack me from every side, annoying enough with a mouse, can't imagine how f*****g annoying it would have been with a controller.

Link

Enska
Posted 05:48pm 02/2/11

Tim, Dead Space was never an action game. Go play CoD if you wanna kill s*** every two seconds.
I've been watchin my bro play through it on Xbox (while I've been finishing up the first on steam) and it looks like much of the same,which is fine by me. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

Link

step
Posted 06:49pm 02/2/11

Step lied to me :(

Yep. I'm a retard.
Thought third but typed first.

I need a holiday.

Link

step
Posted 06:58pm 02/2/11

Game is a bit buggy, having to work back from old saves as the latest one I go to the object, open door & crash to desktop.

Also don't like how you can own these monsters in the head and they still keep coming... yet 3 shots in the body and they drop. Or have super bad aim, shoot a leg and you're fine.

Link

Martz
Posted 11:43am 04/2/11

I was playing the first dead space last night to get familiar with the story etc, I bought it off Steam for $15.. One thing I hate though is that I can't bind mouse2 to move forward (weird config I know) so I have to use the "W" key which is totally alien and unco to me lol. Will probably take me a while to get through the game because of this..

I hope this is not going to be a trend in games cause I'll be farked. Maybe I'll just have to start getting used to "W" for move forward from now on :(

I'm 28 now and been playing this way since the release of Quake1 (14 years ago??) I believe this was the original config for quake 1? is it too late for me to change now? or has mouse 2 for move forward going to be embedded in my brain forever!?!?!

The other strange thing about my config is that keys "A" and "S" are swapped around so "A" is back and "S" is strafe left.. All this config strangeness came from one game, I think it was quake 1, could have been duke 3d, not sure and unfortunately just stuck with it.

Also as others have said here, mouse aiming is f*****g wack.

Link

Sommescum
Posted 11:02am 21/2/11

"I'm 28 now and been playing this way since the release of Quake1 (14 years ago??) I believe this was the original config for quake 1?"

Nope. Ultimate Doom series

(also "a" = aimup ["z" = aimdown] for original Duke3d)

Good luck with the internal key-remapping (I play original key configs regardless of how annoying it can be to avoid this very problem; also adaptability skill +1: memory skill +1: patience skill +1: config scripting skill -1)

Commenting has been locked for this item.

73 Comments

Show

Features

Reviews

ASUS ROG Rapture GT6 WiFi 6 Mesh System