Dead Space 2 Review

Three years after the Ishimura, Isaac Clarke wakes in a straitjacket on the Sprawl, a city built on Saturn's moon Titan, just as the Necromorphs arrive. The first game's silent engineer now speaks, and that change gives the sequel its heart: Isaac is haunted by visions of Nicole, the partner he lost, and his fraying sanity drives a story far more personal than the original's.

Visceral knows the fundamentals already work, so it sharpens them. Strategic dismemberment is still the core, with new tools such as the Javelin Gun and a recharging Stasis, and zero gravity sections now let Isaac fly freely on thrusters instead of hopping between surfaces. The pacing is relentless, from a shopping concourse and apartment towers to a Unitologist church and an elementary school, and the set pieces, above all an infamous scene with a needle and an eye and a return to a very familiar ship, are among the most memorable in the genre.

The cost is some of the fear. The Sprawl is brighter and busier than the Ishimura, the arsenal is bigger and the fights come more often, so critics find it less frightening even as it grows more exciting. The competitive multiplayer is thin and quickly forgotten. As a horror action campaign, though, it stands close to the best of its era.