I have had this game for a while now, but have just gotten around to playing it. I enjoyed the first Dead Space a lot and overall I enjoyed this one too. Granted, this one has almost the exact game play as the first one; in fact, for the most part it does not do many things differently from the first game at all. Still, it had a nice story to it and it was fun going through the city in space as it had a lot of interesting levels in this one. It was also immensely difficult. Anyone who claims games of yesterday were more difficult because they did not have saves, try playing this and limiting yourselves to only three deaths. I guarantee you it would be nearly impossible! I played the thing on casual difficulty, the setting that is even lower than normal and there were areas where I was struggling. The monsters of the game, the necromorphs, can really sneak up on you and there were many times I was being assailed from all sides it seemed! After I won this thing, I apparently unlocked a hardcore mode, to which I say thanks, but no thanks! I salute anyone who can take the game on in the higher difficulty levels!
The story has Issac in some sort of mental illness type clinic. At least that is what it looks like at first. However, soon all chaos breaks loose as there is a necromorph outbreak and Issac must escape the chaos. A woman seems to want to help him, but Issac does not fully trust her. He must make his way through this city in space and avoid the fiendish monsters at every turn as he soon learns that another Marker has been made and he takes it upon himself to try and destroy it, all while seeing hallucinations of his departed beloved, Nicole as she torments him and then seems to want to help him.
The game play is, as I said, pretty much like the first game. There are a few new weapons, but like before, I mainly used the plasma cutter, the line gun, the pulse rifle and the flamethrower. You can also, once again, use stasis powers to throw objects and slow enemies down. At times, I found the game a bit too difficult, especially considering I had it on casual. The levels with no gravity are still an utter pain and it got annoying when enemies attacked from behind while you were focused on an enemy ahead. You can upgrade your armor and weapons as before too. Like I said, there really is not a whole lot different in this one as opposed to the last game. Perhaps a bit bigger in scope, but that is about it.
So all in all another fun survival horror in space game. I will not say it is not as good as the first game, but it really does not put anything new on the table. Plus, you are not seeing this stuff for the first time as most of the enemies are from the first game as well. It was cool going through the new city and briefly revisiting the ship from the first game too. I have heard that the third game is not quite up to par with this one, but I will test that myself at some point. Hopefully, not quite as long as the time it took me to play this one after playing the first game though!
