Dead Space 2 Preview

03 Jun 2010 at 14:04:43 by Tim McDonald

Because we're sensible people, we love Dead Space. Everyone sensible loves Dead Space. Dead Space combined horrific foes, dingy visuals, and pants-browning tension with an innovative twist on combat and a smart upgrade system. It had a decent setting, a decent plot, and actually managed to induce fear in even the most scare-hardened of us.

It should come as no surprise, then, that we're eager for more on Dead Space 2. The original closed off in grand horror style with a bit of a cliffhanger ending, and we're certainly curious as to whether the original game's flaws – repetition, backtracking, and the feeling of being an intergalactic errand boy – are going to be sorted out.

What we saw certainly looks promising, and those who've been following the franchise through the games, DVDs, and comics will be pleased to note that there's plenty of connectivity between all aspects of the franchise. If you were one of the six people who bought Dead Space: Extraction, then yes, you'll pick up on things that others might miss.

The game is set three years after the first game and takes place in a city called The Sprawl, located on Titan – one of Saturn's moons. The Sprawl is described to us by executive producer Steve Papoutsis as a “gold rush town,” built around the location of the very first planet crack (planet cracking being, essentially, a space-based method of mining.) In the intervening years, protagonist Isaac Clarke has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and paranoid delusions, amongst other mental afflictions, and is a tad more unstable than he was in the first game. His variety of new suits, looking a little more stripped down, worn, and utilitarian, add to this feeling.

With this, though, comes a new sense of being able to relate to him. Rather than the faceless, voiceless wonder he was in the first game, Isaac now removes his helmets and talks back. Indeed, Papoutsis notes that he “calls the shots” following his first-hand experience with fending off Necromorphs. If you're starting to panic, don't worry: we've been reassured that he's not going to become “a wisecracking space marine.”

We're reassured by that, but we're more pleased by the enhancements made to the gameplay mechanics themselves. There are new shooting mechanics; improved telekinesis and stasis abilities; extra weapon upgrades; plenty of new weapons and foes; new dismemberment techniques, and something described as “interactive and reactive environments.” The latter is shown off in an office environment in which the EA player hoses down the environment with gunfire. Lights burst, glass shatters, and debris goes everywhere. While this isn't something you'll necessarily want to do, as ammo will still be scarce, it does mean that missed shots can be turned to your advantage. Shattered glass can be hefted at foes through the use of telekinesis, which is now a hell of a lot faster than it was before and more closely resembles Half-Life's ubiquitous Gravity Gun. Dismembered limbs can be used in the same way, particularly when it comes to especially nasty bits of biological kit like Slasher limbs. These expanded environments can be used to up the fear factor, too, with Necromorphs knocking over lights as they blunder past, changing the parts of a room which you can see and casting sinister shadows over far walls.

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