Gaming Dead Space 2 Review

I can't wait for bad games to look even better.

 

Greetings!

Yep. It is just ridiculous.
At least on this game one can change the keys in-game (or so I am told, not buying it till it is on the bargain bin).

 

Dead Space was superb in my opinion, almost perfectly paced and certainly it kept me playing to the very end. Apart from the annoyance of not being able to use health packs on the ground when the inventory was full it was very enjoyable and certainly eerie.

The sequel so far (Chapter 7) takes everything that was great about the first game and adds in a bit more personality - you now see Isaac Clarke - and more variety in the environment such that I'm compelled to keep playing further to see what comes next. The set-pieces are also excellent. There are some creepy moments, like when the lights you go out and you can hear the necromorphs but can't see them, but it isn't a scary game as such, more of a moody psychological horror a la Silent Hill meets Doom (that isn't a criticism by the way) and Dead Space 2 at least does combat well.

The only real disappointment is the lack of support for in-game anti-aliasing. Yes, the game has an AA option but it's a useless edge blur that does little to hide jagged edges so I had to resort to forcing it through the drivers using the AA flag of Dead Space. While it works fine as it did with Dead Space, it unfortunately disables dynamic shadows unless you lower them to Normal. I admit the graphics themselves and, especially, the lighting are superb but isn't it about time we moved away from DX9-only games and offered DX10/11 as standard too. How many people are still using DX9 only cards anyway? It is annoying to have a £380 powerhouse graphics card (NVIDIA GTX 580) and not be able to utilise its features properly. The sooner the PS3 and Xbox 360 die the better IMO, I personally think they're holding back the PC.

 

Strange, I thoroughly enjoyed Doom 3. Found Dead Space 1 to be a bit dull and ripping it off to an extent.

 

+1 to that!

I'm stuck at the very end boss. I have too little ammo, no health packs and I don't think I've upgraded my weapons enough. I might have to revert to an ealier save I've tried to defeat the boss about 50 times but always die!

 

I was probably better then most at the game - I played through it first time on hard as I found normal was too easy. If I had played through on normal I'm sure I could have breezed through but where's the challenge in that? I could have probably managed the insane difficultly (or whatever the one harder then hard was) if I played though again and went completely anal in the resource management/save/reloading.

The problem is in the nature of the way it works - if you want a challenge then it forces you to do stuff that isn't fun. That and the dodgy mouse control meant even though I completed it I didn't really enjoy the experience.

 

3rd person is same as the first. kinna over the right shoulder.

Mouse wise - g500 got it set at mid level DPI - I had to turn mouse sensitivity down to 20/100 in game. no problem with mouse ghosting or not being sensitive enough.

It does seem to be a tiny bit more action orientated. Though at parts its still pant shittingly unsettling.

GFX wise. I personally feel there very good can run them maxed at 1920*1200. Cracking lighting and atmosphere c2d 6600 8800GTX

If you liked the first one this is more of the same which is great. If your not sure, go get DS1 on steam and decide after that.

 

Hmm, I wrote a reply yesterday but it hasn't shown up

Anyway, I said that you can also put Vsync on in the game itself but it's limited to 30FPS, which is too choppy for my taste.

You're absolutely right though, it's something that shouldn't have to be fixed by the user. However, given the overall quality of the game, I'm willing to let this one slide!

 

The problem is engine-related. the mouse is rendered as a software mouse when vsync is turned on in-game, which causes the mouse to chug like crazy.

The solution is to turn vsync off in-game and force vsync+triple buffering on in your video card control panel. It takes all of 30 seconds and the controls are fixed. I own the steam version, am picky about my accuracy, and have played the game start-to-finish 5 times.

Don't deny yourself the glory of a fantastic game because the engine has a problem the devs can't address :/

Because DS2 uses the same engine, this problem still exists, but the devs did everything they could to make it less noticeable. Still, turning vsync off in-game and forcing it through the driver = problem solved. The issue is the in-engine vsync clamps the framerate at 30fps and renders a software mouse. Stupid? Yes. Totally fixable? yes. Worth missing out on Dead Space over? **** no.

 

backtrack the level a little bit. There's a room just after you got off the elevator that should have a diamond semiconductor in it that's very easily missed. 25k goes a long way with ammo Just avoid the big bad and you'll be fine.

also, as far as hints go. Use the javelin gun on you-know-who, use the force gun on the adds, and save your cutter shots for the big heart thing.

After 2 hours of getting my ass handed to me and finally backtracking the level to grab the stuff I'd missed and stocking up on ammo, I went back in and it only took 4 attempts. Was playing on Zealot difficulty. 1st time through the game.

 

the first page of this review is totally off the mark and the whole review a fair mark, personally I thought ds 1 was
great and they did a fantastic job on ds2. I played the first and am half way through ds2 and am loving it. I think
reviewers or critic's get carried away with themselfs looking for negitive thoughts of any game they just can't resist
the temptation. also this is no four hour game 15 chapters really makes call of duty games look like demo's

 

Everything else in this game is great the sound effects good as well, shock & awe etc. . .
The only thing that sucks in this game is the Vintage Suit!

 

omg stop whining you lot and buy it on PS3 WOOOO

 

I disagree. The Vintage Suit was quite possibly my favorite. Looking like an astronaut = win. The 10% store discount is also hax.

 

Thanks for the advice

I've still not been back to play it yet. I felt I needed some space after getting whooped so many times! Ready to dive back in now, I'll take your advice on board. Wish me luck

 

lovely game.

a little more action-oriented than DS1 but still, i never see DS1 as psychological thriller anyway. its an action-thriller.

just like the other poster said Alien vs Alien 2.

great game. highly recommended. its like F.E.A.R. but better polished, better story, and better backdrop (space vs modern world). but probably worse AI...