Players are broken into two teams: humans, and necromorphs. With todayвЂ™s competitive multiplayer market it is hard to imagine this title tearing people away from Gears of War 2, Uncharted 2, or вЂ“ the undisputed king вЂ“ Call of Duty. These modes, although novel, loose their luster after only a few hours of play. However, the one addition that feels lacking is the new Multiplayer Modes. It allows you to see all there is and play it more like an action game. New Game + really lets you explore the game more fully with a much more prepared Isaac Clarke. There are no checkpoints and you are only allowed 3 save games total. Hard-Core mode is for the true horror game fan.

Once the player has finished the game for the first time he is presented with the option of playing in the New Game + mode or the Hard-Core mode. The narrative is gripping and the character development is refreshing for a mute protagonist in the first installment. Even when Isaac is presented with challenges or puzzles they do not feel out of place. The game keeps the player moving, though the game takes roughly 12-13 hours to play. Playing at night I was constantly checking behind me to see what might be lurking in my own living room.

The screams of the stationвЂ™s populace or a monstrosity creeping in the dark are present in the detailed sound manipulation Visceral has mastered. Ambient noises trail behind in every corridor. With a proper 5.1 audio setup, or a good set of surround-sound headphones, the player will experience the game the way it was meant to be played. The sound design is really where the game shows the most polish. Instead, he is on a massive space station with a wide range of areas to explore and even more ghoulish creatures to fear. No longer is Isaac relegated to dark hall after dark hall. Not only are the graphics a step up from the first Dead Space, but the sound and visual design is a notch higher as well. The tension in this game is built masterfully. The blurring division between what is real and imagined not only heightens the difficulty but makes the experience genuinely terrifying. There are moments when the world around him will change, turning even more nightmarish, and manifesting his past mistakes. The events of the first game left him a shell of a man. This brings us to the main new aspect within Dead Space 2 which is the Isaac ClarkeвЂ™s state of mind. As playtime progresses the truth about Issac ClarkeвЂ™s mental condition is revealedвЂ¦ as is the true source of recurring nightmares from the last three years. And it only gets more disturbing from there. With no gun or weapon, he must escape and discover the cause of this recurrent horror. Right from the get-go, the player is forced to run for his life as the people around are slowly transformed into monsters. I will say that Dead Space 2 has some of the most disturbing images seen within a story game this year. But going into all the set-piece details would be a disservice as it is the experience that makes it all worth playing. He is thrown directly into ClarkeвЂ™s position: fighting off the necromorphs, conserving ammo and trying to stay alive. It can be a frightening experience вЂ“ yet also rewarding. As Clarke, the player finds the darkest horrors from his imagination sneaking around every corner in the space station.

Dead space 2