Insanity, nightmarish monsters, and pure horror have never been this much fun.
Artwork by Hayden Johnson
Until Dead Space‘s release in 2008, I had never been afraid of a video game. Though horror games had been creepy, unnerving, or just made me jump, I was never scared. It was only after I watched demonic monsters pop out of vents, shrug off bullets like they were butterflies, and mercilessly slaughter my armed comrades, leaving me alone, weaponless, in the dark of a large, empty spaceship that I was completely terrified. I was frightened to the point that I couldn’t bring myself to play the game for a couple of days.
When I finally mustered up enough courage to pick up the controller again, I found that Dead Space was a horror fan’s dream. Combining an intense fight for survival, a dark mystery, an overbearing loneliness coupled with the paranoid belief that something is watching, a fantastically creepy atmosphere with delusional writings scrawled all over the walls, and a subtle psychological prodding, Dead Space does nothing less than draw the player in until the last credit rolls. The final cliffhanger at the conclusion had me jumping out of my seat in horror and excitement for the sequel. When it finally arrived, I was pleased to see it didn’t disappoint.
For those unfamiliar with the events of the first game, here’s a short synopsis: Engineer Isaac Clarke is among a small team sent to investigate a distress signal from the mining vessel USG Ishimura. Upon arriving, the team discovers that the 1,000 man crew is missing, and the vessel is as desolate as a ghost town. Isaac is soon separated from the rest of the team, and watches in horror as nightmarish creatures descend upon his team. Isaac, whose girlfriend Nicole is a crewmember aboard the Ishimura, is forced to piece together what happened, all while attempting to find his girlfriend and escape with his life. He learns that the creatures are called Necromorphs, and used to be the crew until their dead tissue was reanimated and transformed into gruesome monsters by an alien relic known as the Marker. Against all odds, Isaac is able to destroy the Marker and escape intact.
Picking up three years after the events of the first game, Isaac Clarke -the only living member of the team sent to investigate the USG Ishimura– wakes up in a straight jacket aboard the Sprawl, a city built into the remnants of one of Saturn’s moons. The Marker, with all of its supernatural powers, has toyed with Isaac’s mind and left him in a violent state of dementia that threatens to kill him. The minute Isaac awakens, it’s obvious the station has seen better days. Necromorphs have broken out across the Sprawl and, once again, Isaac has to fight to survive and figure out the mystery behind the Necromorphs and the existence of another Marker aboard the station.
Part of what I love about the Dead Space series is that Isaac is not a battle hardened marine, genetically engineered super soldier, or force wielding Jedi. He’s a simple engineer, whose fortes include fixing broken starships, not battling hordes of demons. Since this is the case, he isn’t supplied with an armory of assault rifles, so he’s forced to turn everyday tools into weapons. For example, the first and most reliable weapon is a Plasma Cutter, a simple cutting tool that has been turned into a Necromorph’s worst nightmare. Ingenuity is the name of the game, as Isaac’s arsenal includes butane torches that become flamethrowers, circular saws that turn into short ranged discs of death, and a “hammer” used for breaking up thick chunks of rock that transforms into a shotgun.
Not only does Isaac have to improvise his weapons, his enemies don’t respond to conventional weaponry. Unlike most living creatures, a Necromorph isn’t stopped by pumping its head or chest full of lead. No, a Necromorph is only halted by cutting off all of its limbs. Ghastly and gory though it may be, this is a refreshing alternative to games where spraying bullets into everything that moves will get you gold medals. The severing of limbs, or strategic dismemberment as the developers love to refer to it, gives the series certain uniqueness, as well as a slight paranoia for the gamer. If one is not sure to double check that the enemies have not literally been torn limb from limb, one is likely to pay for it later.
One of the changes that the sequel has implemented has been to give Isaac a voice. In the first installment, he was incapable of any sounds except grunts of exertion and cries of pain and terror. However, now he has a voice, vocabulary, and face with a wide array of emotion and expletives under his iconic helmet. His dementia is also particularly engrossing, making the player doubt whether or not Isaac is really fighting off armies of monsters or just hallucinating. The psychological aspect of the storyline has really upped the ante, and it turns a cut-and-paste sci-fi horror story into a desperate struggle to know the truth.
Aside from the addition of Isaac’s voice, the psychological anecdotes, a couple new weapons, and a few new enemies, the gameplay is largely the same. The only different aspects are a change to the zero-gravity mechanics and the addition of online multiplayer matches. The new game mode is entertaining, allowing players to survive and complete objectives as humans, or strike fear into the hearts of men as a Necromorph. But it isn’t anything spectacular. The other change is slightly more significant; instead of jumping from wall to wall in a zero-g environment as one did in the first game, Isaac’s suit now has thrusters and can move around freely in space.
Though I love the game, and the series, Dead Space 2 isn’t without its hitches. I will continue to have nightmares for weeks about the level that involves navigating an elementary school, but the truth is that Dead Space 2 isn’t quite as terrifying as the original. The creepy ghost ship of the original that is the Ishimura is much more terrifying than an apartment complex will ever be, and the elementary school isn’t close to the eerie hallways of the Medical Deck of the Ishimura.
Another reason why I love the series is that as one moves up in difficulty levels, enemies become harder to eliminate and ammo/health becomes harder to find. There is a perfect sort of terror where a mass of Necromorphs is advancing on the player, the player is firing away, and the gun goes, *click.* Whenever that happens, I have a small moment of disbelief, followed by fear sinking into my gut, panicking, and vainly attempting to run. However, in the sequel, it seems like the farther one gets, the easier it is for enemies to take the player out. The end of the game isn’t so much scary, as it is frustrating that one cannot get across a room while simultaneously keeping one’s innards intact. Also, the new Hardcore mode isn’t so much a challenge as it is a Herculean task. It’s the exact same as the hardest difficulty, except the player can’t carry their upgrades or weapons into the game, and the player only gets three save points, with no checkpoints. Essentially, there are only three chances to save the game, and if the players are unfortunate enough to meet their ends, they’ll have to go all the way back to their previous save. This is just meant to make people angry, and I have a feeling I’d go crazy trying to play it.
Regardless of its faults, Dead Space 2 does all the things a sequel should do: it keeps the successful formula of the original, as well as fixes the problems and adds new things that work well.
Isaac Clarke has carved a bloody swath through the video game industry, and it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to catch my breath any time soon.
★★★★☆
