Samoza’s moody reflection was forever trapped in the TV
Dead Space 2
If Killzone and Motorstorm were two franchises that I had long ago given the lukewarm thumbs up to, Dead Space was a game that I loved (two thumbs way way up). The first game was equal parts action packed and scary; one minute you are all powerful, the next as vulnerable as a kitten on an oven hob. Therefore, getting a chance to play an extended demo of the Dead Space 2 was one of the highlights of the expo.
Once again you are in the sturdy engineering armor of Isaac Clarke. However, unlike in the first game he is given a voice – I always thought that he needed a generic American accent to make him more appealing. Despite my misgivings about Isaac’s larynx, the rest of the game looked like an improvement on the first, whilst still remaining comfortably the same – the apparent recipe for all modern game sequels. Graphically, the game has taken a step forwards and the sound effects are as disturbing as ever. A number of new enemy types were introduced, including one who vomited acid killing me on more than one occasion.
The battles were not the only difficult challenge in the game as the puzzles were also a handful. I’m not ashamed to say that I asked the EA rep to give me a heads up on what to do. Is this challenging gameplay a good thing? I believe it is, as there are plenty of games already out there that are already easy enough. Dead Space 2 is certainly one to watch with a release date of 28th January 2011.