Dead Space 2 (2011 Video Game) User Reviews

Not just a worthy sequel, but a new sci-fi epic

[slayerjmk95 · 10/10 · 3 April 2011]

The first Dead Space reinvented not just the horror genre, but the sci-fi genre at the same time. Dead Space in itself is one of the greatest sci-fi stories of all time, and Dead Space 2 lives up to that, and more. Dead Space 2 drops you off not after the Necromorph outbreak, but right as it's happening, and this time on a space station instead of a ship (for those who haven't played the 1st game). Dead Space is a sci-fi epic with emotion and horror packed into two little games, as of now, that could be a set of films or a TV series. Fans of the horror, shooter and action genres should all play this game no matter what you've heard and check out the first one as well because you need the original for this one to hold its place among the greatest. Dead Space is one of the greatest sagas of all time and should become more known.

10/10 Stars***

Resident Evil in space

[CuriosityKilledShawn · 8/10 · 27 October 2012]

I am never going into space. Never! I know it's unlikely that we will see commercial space travel in my lifetime (or at all if Einstein's theory of relativity is airtight), but in order to retreat from the horror of this game I just might run away to an island and live a life of coconuts and loincloths. Dead Space 2 ain't no tourist brochure for Outer Space.

Having never played the first game I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to keep up with the story, but thankfully there is a 'previously on Dead Space' option on the main menu. You play as Issac Clarke, an engineer who wakes up on a colony on Titan to discover that a disgusting biological accident called the Necromorphs have taken over. On his way to safety he also fights against the Unitologists, a cult who worship 'The Marker', a faux religious artifact that is actually a man-made weapon that turns human DNA to sludge. The resulting Necromorphs (terrifying monsters made from re-animated human corpses) spread the chaos as Issac flees through the disintegrating colony while hallucinating his dead girlfriend as a demonic ghost.

The dread in Dead Space 2 is overwhelming. It is honestly the most frightening game I have played since Condemned 2 (PS3). If you have a home cinema you can scare yourself to death by playing this at night, with the lights off, and sound turned all the way up. Every breath, every gasp, every distant rumble will make the hairs on arm stand on end, and some of the stingers (quite clever ones too) will cause your heart to stop beating.

The gameplay is the over-shoulder, run-and-gun type you've seen in Resident Evils 4 and 5. I suppose it is a survival horror too, but the environments get repetitive and it goes on for a bit too long. There are 59 trophies (8 of them DLC) of which I managed to win 51%. Multiple play-throughs are required for the platinum but I appreciate my sanity too much to fight to the end more than once.

I need to play something cute and happy to take the edge of now. Dead Space 2 is not for those of a nervous disposition.

Graphics A Sound A Gameplay B+ Lasting Appeal B

A Sequel That Will "Make You Whole Again."

[infamoussubject16 · 10/10 · 30 January 2012]

The original Dead Space raised the bar for the survival/horror genre. Combining an amazing, horrific and claustrophobic atmosphere with a gripping plot and unprecedented challenges, Dead Space showed the video game world how to do things proper. Dead Space 2 is set three years after the events of the first game. Engineer Isaac Clarke awakens aboard The Sprawl--a massive space station centered around Saturn's moon, Titan, in the midst of another grisly Necromorph infestation. Suffering from a fatal form of dementia due to Isaac's proximity with the virus aboard the Ishimura, time is running out for our protagonist. Welcome to Isaac's continued fight for answers and survival.

Dead Space 2 is an incredibly solid sequel. Vast improvements have been made to combat, weaponry, zero-g, and Isaac's skills as an engineer. Most notable, however, is the amazing leap in character development. No longer is Isaac the silent protagonist! This worked with the original title--we knew what Isaac's goal was--but we couldn't really know him as a person. The sequel morphs Isaac from a symbol to a real human being. Isaac's mental and emotional instability progressively erode with the story, as his dementia grows and worsens. At the beginning of the game, Isaac appears to be a man who has faced a harrowing experience, perhaps suffering from Post-Traumatic Stess Disorder. As time progresses, Isaac's hallucinations become more vivid (and dangerous), and he becomes a man completely consumed by guilt.

Like the original, Dead Space 2 features a strong cast of supporting characters. Nolan Stross is a patient on The Sprawl who also has had contact with the Marker. He will often spout out cryptic messages to Isaac, most which lead to a single event in the story. Ellie is a pilot aboard the station, and symbolizes redemption for Isaac. Of course, Nicole Brennan, Isaac's girlfriend, plays a tremendous role in the story.

There are a few points that some players may find to be faults. For instance, the majority of enemies are unchanged from the original (aside from bosses, there are only perhaps 8 new enemy variants). The good news is that the new Necros are a treat. The Pack are former children, and as their name implies, attack in large numbers and with unmatched aggression. Stalker Necromorphs will hunt Isaac strategically through certain areas, attacking with speed and surprise. The most disturbing new enemy type are...the babies. Yes, swarms of dead babies will crawl towards Isaac, cuddle him, and detonate. If you have a concern about mowing down cooing, crying babies, skip this game. While only a handful of new weapons have been added to Isaac's stockpile, all of them have been improved and tweaked. Kinesis (which was only used to move objects in Dead Space) now has combative purposes. Severed Necromorph claws can be fired at enemies, etc. Another cool addition to the series is breakable windows. Certain windows can be blown out to create a vacuum to quickly dispatch rooms full of enemies, but with risks.

Dead Space 2 is not amazingly lengthy, but the sheer difficulty of the game makes up for it. I personally spent hours trying to clear small areas on normal difficulty, due to enemy AI, an all-around shortness of supplies, etc. After one play through, however, the size of the storyline becomes more noticeable.

In summation, Dead Space 2 is a gripping, suspenseful, horrific thrill ride that will leave your palms sweating and your heart racing. Disturbing atmosphere, horrific enemies, an amazing cast and script make this series pop out even more, and I can only hope for another installment!

Remember: You will all be made into one. MAKE. US. WHOLE!!!!

The best sequel in gaming since Silent Hill 2!

[wadehatfield98 · 28 August 2011]

I have been looking forward to this sequel for a while! Dead Space 2 is mind-blowing! My review for the first game fits with this one. The characters were astonishing. I haven't seen this much development in characters ever. Isaac Clarke's development was amazing! His badass style from the first game is topped with his super badass on here. The graphics were just impressive an also more focused from the first game. The creatures did the job and scared me so bad I had bricks of crap everywhere. The atmosphere was more darker to fit with Isaac's tone and sanity. The action sequences were the edge-of-your-seat style. Just everything about this game was breath-taking and I recommend it to every horror fan. And also holds an unforgettable ending that will make you play it over and over. Fingers crossed for a sequel.

10/10

It's not the original, but it's still great!

[hakobyanhakob81 · 10/10 · 16 February 2011]

To me the original Dead Space game opened a new dimension of greatness and was way above the usual being great. Therefore, although the sequel is not the original, it's still great, that's why I rate it 10/10. Playing this game of course took me less than the original, but hopefully I just improved on my playing skills, rather than the game was short, because it wasn't. It successfully delivered the goods.

After the beautiful prologue, I quickly fell back into the familiar action blowing necromorphs to pieces in various ways since there have been some improvements regarding the weapons.

All in all, the sequel was worth the wait and really made me replay the entire story from the beginning once again.

Fantastic Game.

[david_129 · 9/10 · 17 July 2012]

Game length was around 9 hours. Graphically this game is brilliant in Comparison to numerous other 'console' titles.

Story line wise, if you watch the movies (aftermath and downfall) it does help make more sense of whats going on. Its a interesting idea and the parody of the Scientology to Unitology adds an interesting depth to the story line.

Overall i throughly enjoyed this game. The twists are great, length of game was decent and it kept me gripped throughout. Getting used to the aiming mechanism and lack of cover system is a doddle. It's very much like the original, but i feel it has a more epic feel to it overall.

If they do another one, i would pre-order it.

Can't recommend this enough

Even Better

[sorenmike · 9/10 · 14 May 2019]

This game, in my opinion, was a huge step up for Visceral. Honestly I'm not a horror fan, but this game did have my eye for a good long time. To start off, I do like that they added a bit more of a story element, balancing it out well with the horror, while the first one was basically more horror. We get to see how Isaac Clarke, who started out as a silent protagonist, and we never really got any reaction from him until the end. Now he speaks, and due to that we get to explore how he is having to cope with what happened in the first game. I felt it was a really nice touch to his character. The Dead Space universe itself is interesting. We get to dive in more into the world and how humanity is flourishing in space. That is...until the Necromorphs show up. They have a cool gritty Warhammer 40K/Halo/Alien kind of feel to me with how the stations, the suits, and the ships are designed. All in all, I thought this was a really good game, and I thought the DLC story with the characters from the Wii Dead Space game was a nice addition

This is to Dead Space 1 as Alien is to Aliens

[Pepe-arbiter · 9/10 · 21 November 2020]

Whereas the first Dead Space was more of a pure horror experience, Dead Space 2 ups the ante in every conceivable way in the same sense James Cameron "ramped things up" with Aliens. There's definitely more of an action focus here, with some of the most spectacular set pieces in the seventh generation. From flying after a runaway train to fixing solar arrays, there's tons of memorable set pieces. The gameplay takes what worked in the first Dead Space and improves it in every conceivable way, resulting in one of the best looking games from that generation of gaming. The scares here vary depending on what scares you in terms of effectiveness, but they're brilliantly executed and you have a true sense of dread throughout the game even amongst all the action. The story is pretty good though there are many things that go relatively unexplained and they sort of don't set up the main antagonist at all, I'm still not really sure who he was all these years later. But Isaac's character development is handled great and there are plenty of memorable exchanges between him and some of the side characters, such as the scitzophrenic Nolan Strauss to the hard ass Ellie, the voice work is astounding along with the sound in general.

There are so many good things to say about Dead Space 2 that it's really easier for me to point out the only "flaw" and that's the insane difficulty spike later on in the game. The regenerating Necromorphs that irritated the heck outta you in the first game? They're still here and they're even harder to deal with this time around. It doesn't hurt the experience much per se but considering how perfectly balanced and paced the game is up to this point, it kinda throws a small wrench in the system, though it's a very minor complaint for what is one of the best sequels ever made, period.

This game is stunning.

[Scar38 · 10/10 · 15 March 2021]

I got bored of my ps4 so I decided to go back to my ps3, the game I chose was Dead Space 2 and how could I forget how amazing it is... I'm hooked again and can't get enough of it... I wish someone would make another sequel for the ps4 or ps5.

Almost perfect.

[DustinRahksi · 9/10 · 20 February 2013]

This game surpasses the first one in every way, shape and form, except it lacks the horror of the first game. This is one of those games where once you start playing, you don't want to stop, even though you get very frustrated at certain points, I'll get to those later. I would say this is better than Silent Hill 2, I felt it was more enjoyable and had better replay value. Now lets get to the game.

The game: The game opens really fast, and already has a high intensity level. The first thing you will notice is Isaac moves around much smoother, and mêlée is actually useful. The game no longer has those intermissions between levels, it just goes through continuously. The visuals are incredible, and atmosphere and lighting are top notch. Power nodes are much easier to come by now, which means I could completely level up my suit and weapons. The plasma cutter is still the best weapon at your disposal, but the Javelin/spike gun that impales and electrocutes enemies is the most fun to use. There are some new enemies, the most annoying being those Velociraptor things. This game features an assortment of set piece moments that are absolutely exhilarating, very memorable moments to be had. The violence isn't as shocking this time around, nothing compared to the brute ripping Isaacs head while is screaming from the first game. The game does have some Oh S**t moments, the best being when you return to the Ishimura, I'll let you experience that for your self. The game moves along at a great pace, but starts to suffer towards the end, they literally through countless enemies at you and feels too much like a mindless action game. The final stage before the end boss was extremely frustrating, swarms of Necromorphs and those regenerators. Once you complete the game you get a great feeling of peace, but they ruin by setting up a sequel. This should have been the last game, I've started playing the third game and it is a real let down, it should have been over, but no it just goes on and on. I'll review it once I have completed it.

The multi-player: This is going to be quick. It was fun for a couple of hours, but wore thin fast. I think it should have been left out, because this game succeed's when you are isolated, not in a big group that cheese spams their stasis.

The verdict: This game easily ranks as one the best games of 2011. It feels less like a horror game and more like a action game, I'm not saying all of the horror is gone, it's just over shadowed by the action. It's a great game, and enjoyable enough for you to start a new game plus, highly recommended.

Time to once again pick up a plasma cutter and blow away some appendages!

[Aaron1375 · 8/10 · 3 May 2016]

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!

Hell on Space!

[fletcherw928 · 9/10 · 17 November 2022]

How could I possibly forget this game. This sequel definietley had a lot to live up to with the original game that it had to stand on. Dead Space 1 was definitley one of the most memorable standout horror titles for Video Gaming in the 2000s. With Resident Evil 4 revolutionizing and reinventing the horror genre only a few years back aswell as pretty much coining the Third-Person Shooter term aswell where the actual character was in view instead of looking directly through the eyes of your character to the action in front of you which was already well established with games back then thanks to DOOM, Goldeneye 007 and Halo. Resident Evil 4 was definitley scary, but was evened out with some pretty good one liners and comic releif every now and then, such as The Merchant and the annoying Ash.

Dead Space 1 on the other hand made RE4 tonally look like a campy horror b-movie in comparison, with a Sci-Fi Horror vision that was much darker, more desolate and haunting, and almost no comic releif to be found. It was grizzly, grimy horror at it's purest state with hardly any respite from the constant tension and hard adrenaline that the game throws at you.

So what does Dead Space 2 do different from the origional. Well it does a few things to raise the stakes for Issac Clarke and up the ante to almost chaotic levels of horror and action, with a more slick and futuristic Sci-Fi style this time around.

Gone are the grimy, scummy, brown rusted and bloodstained iron walls of the decaying USG Ishumaura, with a crisper, cleaner and more modern looking indoor space corridor city known as The Sprawl, situated on moon of Titan off Saturn. Issac has survived the horror of The Ishumaura, but not without a price. His mind has now been infected by the telepathically transmitted virus stemming from The Marker, which is now causing his mind to be slowly ruined by constant haunting visions involving her dead girlfreind and him slowly deciphering what it all is supposed to mean.

Issac is far more interesting as a character in this game since he can now speak and has many great scenes of diologue with the other characters. The supporting characters of this game range from untrustworthy, to evil, to downright sad with the character of Nolan Stross who I still think is one of the most tragic and disturbing characters ever put into a videogame. Play the game and see why.

The action in this game is unrelenting and it very rarley gives you a break. You will be using your Plasma Cutter once again to slice, dice and dismember the necromorphs which are more evil and bloodthirsty than ever before, simply wanting to kill you in every way imaginable, just because they can! The death scenes are flat out ridiculous in this game, that are so over the top and violent, you might actually have a hard time taking the game seriously anymore, with some that are so sick it is almost comical.

The game also comes with a Zealot Mode which is the game's ultimate diffuculty setting, like Legendary in the Halo series. I've never personally tried this difficulty level, but I've seen others play it, and it is ruthless. You are only allowed to save three times in this game I think, which leaves you with only three checkpoints. So if you die, you will be sent back several hours of progress instantly. Yikes!

But anyway, I think it's a Sci-Fi horror masterpiece and one of the scariest, darkest and most violent games I've ever played, though there have been several that have surpassed the horror factor with the two The Last of Us games by Naughty Dog. So if you're into this sort of thing, I recommend it. It's a pure Sci-Fi horror rush with some impactful characters emotional scenes aswell that may stick with you for a while.

Dead Space 2 is not a masterpiece like Dead Space 1

[legendata3 · 6/10 · 19 November 2021]

Very good action-survival-horror game but not on the level of the first game.

Too many fast enemies variety spawn from all directions in some rooms and you die in ridiculous spots because of this - 5-6 nerve breaking levels. Atmosphere, Immersion & Horror feeling is now levels down because Aizak speaks which depletes you from "being alone in space" vibe from the 1st game, also too many cutscenes, random voice dialogues & action scenes which take control of you and it reminds you that you play a game instead. Story does not interests you at all as you are in a space town trying to find the 2nd marker. There are some stupid puzzles and gravity rooms that are not interesting, you have to hack consoles in every rooms which is stupid. Gunplay is great and there is a vast variety of weapons, double the 1st game. (Played w/t Javelin and it is 1-2 shots enemies no matter where you shoot them). You can change in-game difficulty which is a plus (done once). Overall the game is more action-survival than horror-survival like the 1st game and the difficulty is higher on normal because of annoying fast moving enemies with whom you have to span stun and kill afterwards.

This is far from the first game

[yselimaygun · 5/10 · 13 October 2022]

This game is ridiculuos. It is a "horror" game but it is not. It doesn't have any suspence and loneliness feeling. They just send necromorphs from everywhere. They spawn from ridiculuos points. If you just turn your head from somewhere, be sure that there will be a new monster there. And they attack like crazy. You cant resist them. You just have to die couple of times and then you should build a strategy to which weapon you should use where you should walk first etc. But this is just absurd for this game. This is not a strategy game.

They took good examples from Resident Evil in the first game, but in this game they left those things. There is almost zero puzzle element in the game. There isn't any calm moment. You should put some breathing points, this is just tiring.

Anyway i have a lot more to say but this game consumed my whole energy.

Hard core

[justintimms · 10/10 · 28 January 2020]

Best game play if you want to play dead space and you're new to it, start with number two because it brings all the action of one and three together.

Best Horror Game of All Time

[kercherdillon · 10/10 · 27 June 2020]

No matter what type of horror you're into, this game has it. Jump scares, close calls, brutal deaths, blood and gore, intense music, suspense, terrifying monsters, etc. etc, etc. If you are a fan of horror at all, this game will check at least one of your boxes and surpass your expectations. I believe this is the scariest game of all time - and that's while being compared to the Resident Evils, Silent Hills, Amnesia's and more. Yeah, it really is that good.

Event Horizon - Part Deux: Even Horizon-er

[Average_Armchair_Critic · 17 September 2018]

(2022 edit) Lovecraftian Techno-Gothic classic the horror-industrial complex can proudly display for all eternity.

* * * (Part of the original 2018 review saved for posterity) (Reviewing video games on Internet MOVIE Database, can there be anything more obnoxious? I am so going to hell, to the same fiery suite that is also reserved for people who put mayo on everything and other equally despicable transgressors.)

"Make us whole."

Dead Space 2 deftly dodges the curse of bad sequels

[phoenix-prjct · 10/10 · 19 January 2024]

Dead Space 2 is that rare kind of sequel that not only embodies what made the first game an impactful horror but refines for a faster, smoother experience. Every area has been tastefully expanded with already great gameplay being strengthened and old tactics freshened to keep the player on their toes. Even then, just as the player settles into a rhythm, sound design will creep up behind you to remind you that you're never, ever, safe.

Dead Space perfected what a survival horror game should be, but Dead Space 2 inscribed the series in gaming history. It showed the world a winning formula that I've rarely seen since and its absence is sorely missed.

Dead Plot

[Fields201 · 7/10 · 26 November 2011]

Dead Space was one of those games I happen to discover without knowing anything about it, and it happened to be one of the best experiences in gaming. It was genuinely scary, and the game seemed to get better and better as I progressed through the spaceship known as Ishimura. Then they came out with these animes that wasn't necessary and I never touched the game spin-offs.

Then when Dead Space 2 was announced, I was stoked. Then I finally got to play the game, and even though the tension was still there, it didn't quite live up to the original. Sure, it felt like Dead Space but the enemies were still the same as they were in the first one, which doesn't make it as scary, and the new ones they present just felt more ho-hum than anything else. To top it all off, the plot was lacking. In the first Dead Space, the main character Isaac is an engineer who only volunteered for the Ishimuru assignment because his girlfriend has gone missing. You see, that's a plot... you know, a goal. In Dead Space 2, you wake up at some space station called The Sprawl and all of a sudden these creatures have run amok and you have to destroy its source, The Marker (which was revealed at the end of the first one) and get out of there. That's pretty much it.

However, the game isn't boring and you'll be intrigued to see it through to the very end. Some plot twists occur and the final third of the game is very intense as they throw everything at you. However, the end boss is a joke and the ending felt like more of an afterthought. It was a fun experience, gameplay-wise, but as far as story goes, forget it.

But hey, I liked Dead Space 2 and I hope they make a third. I hope they take this to a new direction this time. Those necromorphs are getting old.