Dead Space 2

Gameplay

The player controls Isaac Clarke from a third-person perspective, looking over the character's right shoulder. As in the previous game, the game uses the Resource Integration Gear (RIG) suit, an in-world heads-up display (HUD) system that uses holograms projected from Isaac's suit and weapons to show information such as messages and ammunition count. In vacuum areas, a timer appears on Isaac's right shoulder, counting how much oxygen his suit has before he suffocates. The RIG also uses gauges on Isaac's back to display his health and stasis module levels. If Isaac's health or air reaches zero, or if the player fails to survive a quick-time event, Isaac will die, forcing the player to restart from the last checkpoint.

Early in the game, Isaac acquires the stasis module, which slows down enemies and otherwise-impassable moving obstacles (e.g. active heavy machinery) to allow Isaac to pass through safely; and the kinesis module, which allows Isaac to carry and fire objects telekinetically. The player can upgrade their weapons and armor at work benches, using power nodes. There are also automated stores, where the player can buy and sell various items, and gain new weapons and suits through acquiring schematics found throughout the Sprawl.

Throughout the game, the player will come across different puzzles that impede progress. In some cases, Isaac must hack consoles to activate machines and open doors; in others, Isaac must repair or reposition mechanisms to proceed. The player regularly encounters zero-G environments, where Isaac is capable of maneuvering in all directions with thrusters attached to his suit. Both normal and zero-G environments may be in areas within the vacuum of outer space; in these situations, Isaac must refill his limited oxygen supply via oxygen dispensers.

Much like in the first game, Isaac must fight the Necromorphs, organisms that mutate and take control of human corpses. To take down Necromorphs, the player must use "strategic dismemberment": in other words, slicing off limbs or sections of the Necromorphs' bodies. For example, shooting a Slasher Necromorph in the head will, like many other types, have little effect; however, it can be stopped by shooting its bladed arms off. Depending on how they are wounded, some Necromorphs, like the Pregnant and the Ubermorph, can adopt new stances and tactics, even sprouting new limbs or spawning more enemies in the process.

Dead Space 2's main campaign offers five difficulty levels (listed in order of difficulty): Casual, Normal, Survivalist, Zealot and Hard Core. Hard Core is unlocked once the game has been completed on any other difficulty. Playable only from a fresh start, Hard Core mode limits the player to three saves in the entire campaign. Item drops and credits are very difficult to find, enemies are very challenging, and checkpoints are absent.

Multiplayer

Multiplayer in Dead Space 2, also known as Outbreak mode, pits two four-player teams of human Sprawl Security forces and the Necromorphs against each other in different locations and scenarios. The Humans complete various mission objectives before time runs out, such as activating escape pods and destroying machines; whilst the Necromorphs simply prevent the Humans from completing said objectives. There are two rounds per match, with each team switching sides at the end of the round. Human player characters start with two weapons in their arsenal, starting with the standard Pulse Rifle and Plasma Cutter, before unlocking new weapons to use. For Humans, new weapons and improvements are unlocked through level progression, along with different suits similar to the ones in single player for the humans. Necromorph players, on the other hand, unlock boosts to their current abilities, health, and damage. Necromorph players can choose the Necromorph they will spawn as: a Lurker, a Puker, a Spitter, or a member of the Pack. In order to use stronger Necromorphs, like the Puker and Spitter, the player must wait for a number of seconds on the respawn screen before that type is usable. Whilst Sprawl Security players spawn in their main spawn areas, Necromorph players spawn through vents and floor panels all over the map, and can choose their spawn point on the spawn screen.

Plot

The game begins in an asylum on the Sprawl, a densely populated space station surrounding a shard of Titan, one of Saturn's moons. Isaac Clarke awakens with no memory of the past 3 years since Aegis VII, having just been awoken by Franco Delille (protagonist of Dead Space Ignition), who is attempting to free him. The already-ongoing Necromorph outbreak claims Franco's life, leaving Isaac to escape on his own.

Soon, he is contacted by Daina Le Guin, a woman claiming to have a cure for his "condition". He is also contacted by fellow patient Nolan Stross (a main character from Dead Space: Aftermath), who endured a treatment similar to Isaac's. Daina explains that Sprawl administrator Hans Tiedemann is building a new Marker using information encoded in Isaac and Stross' brains. She also claims that a self-replicating signal was imprinted on Isaac's mind by his previous encounter with the Marker, putting his life in grave danger, which Tiedemann kept in check with memory suppressants. Ignoring Stross, Isaac fights his way through the city (still filled with survivors trying to escape the Necromorphs) to reach Daina. Along the way, Isaac experiences hallucinations of Nicole, which become more vivid as "she" tries to deter him from his task. Upon his arrival, Daina, a Unitologist agent, has Isaac restrained, claiming that they need him to build more Markers to spread Convergence, an event foretold in Unitology, across the universe; however, an EarthGov gunship strikes, killing Daina and her associates and allowing Isaac to escape.

Stross contacts Isaac, claiming that they can destroy the Marker, telling him its location in the Sprawl's Government Sector; left with no choice, Isaac reluctantly decides to trust Stross. As he makes his way there, Isaac comes across Ellie Langford, a CEC pilot who eventually joins their mission. As they travel through the Sprawl, they encounter several obstacles caused by Tiedemann and the Necromorphs, eventually forcing Isaac to venture back inside the Ishimura, which is docked at the Sprawl for decontamination and repair after the events of the first game. Additionally, Stross' dementia worsens, causing him to gouge Ellie's eye out with a screwdriver; she survives, and Isaac kills him in self-defense. After weathering further verbal assaults from Nicole, Isaac comes to accept the guilt of being unable to prevent her death, causing the visions to become benign.

Upon reaching the Government Sector, Isaac sends Ellie away (against her will) on a gunship to protect her. Once inside, he sets the Necromorphs onto Tiedemann's forces near the Marker chamber. When Isaac reaches the Marker, he finds it surrounded by Necromorphs, which triggers Convergence. With Nicole's guidance, he uses the NoonLight Diagnostic Machine, a device which had been used on both himself and Stross prior to the events of the game, activating the parts of his brain that had been affected by the Marker. He fights his way to the Marker, where he encounters and kills Tiedemann. At this point, the Nicole hallucinations pull Isaac into his own mind, revealing that the only way to make the Marker "whole" is to absorb the body and mind of the one who created it — in this case, Isaac himself. Infuriated and betrayed, Isaac destroys "Nicole" and the Marker codes in his mind in a grueling mental battle.

Waking up, Isaac discovers that the Marker has been rendered nonfunctional, and that the accumulated damage to the Sprawl has resulted in its reactors melting down. Isaac slumps to the ground, ready to accept his fate, to be interrupted by Ellie, who crashes the gunship through the ceiling. The two escape as the Sprawl explodes.

In a post-credits scene, an audio transmission is heard between two people: an unknown man and his ranking superior, known only as "the Overseer". The subordinate relays that Titan Station, which he calls "Marker Site 12," and its Marker have been destroyed. The Overseer replies that the other sites will have to pick up the pieces.

Severed

Dead Space 2: Severed is set three years after the events of Dead Space: Extraction, and shortly before those of Dead Space 2. Gabe Weller now works for the Sprawl Security, and Lexine is now his wife. Gabe's story runs parallel to Isaac Clarke's experiences in Dead Space 2; this can be seen throughout Severed as Gabe stumbles upon the remains of Isaac's various battles.

During a patrol in the Titan Mines, the Necromorph outbreak is unleashed. After the death of most of his patrol squad, Gabe contacts Lexine to warn her of the outbreak. After his emergency warning is transferred, Gabe makes his way through the mines, passing through many areas that will be visited by Isaac Clarke. During this, he receives a transmission from Director Tiedemann ordering all surviving security teams to scrub the facility and eliminate all key subjects.

Once Gabe finally arrives at the Titan Mines exit, he is fired upon by his superior officer, Victor Bartlett, who is in a gunship. After launching explosive canisters at the gunship, Gabe is able to force Victor to retreat. Gabe then demands an answer for his commander's seemingly random act of violence, leading to the revelation that Gabe's wife Lexine is on the list of key subjects to terminate because of her involvement in the "Oracle program", which has something to do with Lexine's recent pregnancy.

Gabe reaches the hospital in a gunship to try to get to Lexine before his superior officer can reach her. Gabe is finally able to make it through the Hospital to the Psych Ward only to find Victor being disabled by two Unitologists claiming to have orders to capture Lexine for further study.

Gabe chases after the two men to a docked ship, where Lexine escapes into the ship while her two kidnappers are transformed into Necromorphs. Once Gabe dispatches the threats, he and Lexine attempt to make their escape but they find the airlock is locked and only accessible from a hackable console near the ship. As Gabe attempts to hack the airlock, Victor ambushes him with a live grenade. After a struggle, the grenade explodes, killing Victor and leaving Gabe severely injured. During his final moments, he shoots the four airlock fuses, allowing Lexine and their unborn child to escape. Gabe, after saying goodbye, succumbs to his wounds. An epilogue reveals Gabe's body has been taken for study, while Lexine's whereabouts are unknown.

Development

The game's creative director, Wright Bagwell, said that Dead Space was very similar to Resident Evil "There's an interesting story from Dead Space and Dead Space 2, which is that when we started building Dead Space, we basically started with a mechanic set that was really similar to Resident Evil 4. The [people on the] team were really huge fans of that game."

In contrast to the approach used in the first game in the series it was decided that Isaac Clarke would no longer be a mute character, and would take a proactive role in the story, rather than follow orders given by others as he did in the first title.

The game's art director, Ian Milham, commented about the multiplayer of Dead Space 2: "Other games are fine[,] but this is different. It's the kind of multiplayer that could only exist in a Dead Space type world."

A closed multiplayer beta began on September 23, 2010. A playable demo was released for the Xbox Live Marketplace worldwide and PlayStation Network on December 21, 2010 in North America and on December 22, 2010 in Europe.

Marketing and release

As part of a build up campaign to Dead Space 2's release, Visceral Games ran a competition via Facebook to get your face in the game by creating a piece of text, video or artwork detailing a melee kill by Isaac Clarke. The winner, chosen from ten finalists, had their face put on a character, who will meet a rather violent end in the game.

A downloadable game was released on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Marketplace prior to the release of Dead Space 2. Titled Dead Space Ignition, it comprises three minigames: Hardware Crack, Trace Route, and System Override. Dead Space Ignition has four endings and obtaining each ending unlocks a piece of equipment for use in Dead Space 2. The creator of the Dead Space comic book series Antony Johnston wrote the story for Dead Space: Ignition. The game was also available as a free pre-order bonus with the standard and collectors edition.

EA announced that the multiplayer component of the game would be receiving two new multiplayer maps. The "Outbreak Map Pack" which includes The Academy and The Concourse, will send players back to survive multiplayer evisceration in The Sprawl on May 31 and June 3 for Xbox 360 and PS3, respectively.

Advertising

For the advertising campaign, 200 women were selected for their conservative values and lack of familiarity with video games. Their reactions to a screening of the game were featured in EA's web and TV advertisements with the campaign slogan called "Your Mom Hates Dead Space 2".

The campaign was criticized as sexist and reinforcing stereotypes against female and older gamers. As the game is M rated and only 17+ can purchase it, others thought the advertisements were pointless and would hurt market share. Mary Elizabeth Williams of Salon.com wrote: "The video game's campaign hinges on a unique premise – one that ignores how much the culture of gaming has changed." The Approval Matrix published by New York Magazine placed the campaign in the Lowbrow but Brilliant quadrant.

On the other hand, notable voices in the video game industry defended the campaign. Kotaku's Brian Crecente asked "Are that many people really taking the Dead Space 2's moms campaign that literally? When did gamers become so humorless?" Steven Hodson of The Inquisitr wrote, "Granted it took a lot of guts for EA to even go down this road but the idea of pulling in 200 middle-aged moms into an individual focus group situation to evaluate a new game – title unknown – was awesome." Some people even went as far as to say the campaign was sheer genius. Game designer Cliff Bleszinski suggested that the EA marketing team deserved a raise. The programmers of the Adult Swim animation block on Cartoon Network also demonstrated their approval by creating a pre-cartoon segment bumper that aired around this time stating that "the best marketing idea of 2011 already goes to Electronic Arts for their Your Mom Hates Dead Space 2 campaign". Electronic Arts won the Mi6 Game Marketing award for 2011 Outstanding Overall Marketing Campaign of the Year.

Retail editions

The Collector's Edition of Dead Space 2 features a copy of the game, replica plasma cutter, CD soundtrack, DLC voucher (for access to the Unitology Suit and Force Gun) and artwork. In North America, all three system versions comes with the plasma cutter. In Europe, however, only the Xbox 360 and PC versions come with the plasma cutter. The PlayStation 3 version forgoes the replica gun and comes with Dead Space: Extraction, and a DLC voucher for access to the Rivet Gun. It is the HD version of Extraction which supports PlayStation Move, features co-op gameplay options, and has been updated to include full trophy support.

Downloadable content

Three downloadable content (DLC) packages were available at launch: the Hazard pack, the Supernova pack and the Martial Law pack for consoles. Each include multiple new suits and weapons. The PC version included the DLC free as part of a later patch. The Outbreak Map Pack containing three free multiplayer maps was released in March 2011 for consoles.

The first post-launch downloadable content package, titled Dead Space 2: Severed, was announced on January 25, 2011. It features characters previously seen in Dead Space: Extraction contained in a standalone two chapter single-player campaign with Gabe Weller as the protagonist. It was released on March 1, 2011 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 only.

Reception

Dead Space 2 received critical acclaim. PSM3 gave the game 92%. Official Xbox Magazine gave the game a 9.5. Game Informer's Andrew Reiner gave Dead Space 2 a 9/10, calling it a "monster of a sequel". He praised its horror aspect by claiming: "[b]attling a seven-foot beast that vomits acidic bile and tries to impale Isaac with razor-sharp appendages is one thing, but watching a mother cradle a necromorph baby will haunt my nightmares until I die." Official Xbox Magazine UK gave the game 9 out of 10. GameTrailers gave the game 9.0 out of 10, praising the game's dark and dreary atmosphere and its intense and unrelenting gameplay, while pointing out the multiplayer component's shortcomings.

GameSpot's editor Carolyn Petit, who gave the game a score of 8.5 for the Xbox 360 and a 9.0 for the PlayStation 3, said: "Dead Space 2 doesn't bring with it the same sense of experiencing something utterly new and innovative that its predecessor did. But it's nonetheless a terrific game, with a campaign that simultaneously leaves you satisfied and eager for more, and intense multiplayer that gives you a great reason to keep coming back to this terrifying universe. Unless you're just plain chicken, this is a sci-fi horror adventure you definitely want to suit up for."

IGN's editor Greg Miller gave the game a 9.0, saying that the survival-horror genre got a new gold standard and that: "Dead Space 2 is more than just an action game and it's more than a survival horror game – it's a game that tells a really personal story about a guy who has been seriously scarred by the events around him. That premise alone makes it interesting, but Visceral Games melds it with rewarding combat, shocking enemies, and huge set pieces before tossing it into a world that's truly creepy and scary." He also said that he did not find the multiplayer very interesting.

Thierry Nguyen from 1UP.com compared Dead Space 2 and its predecessor to "Ridley Scott's Alien and James Cameron's Aliens". In his review, he says, "The first installments in both series focus on civilians panicking their way through a dark spaceship while avoiding an extraterrestrial lurking horror; both follow-ups retain their predecessor's basic aesthetic while deliberately shifting from creeping tension into outright sci-fi action. Aliens introduced space marines, the power loader exosuit, and the Alien Queen; Dead Space 2 gives us scenes of Isaac flying around in zero-g, mowing down Necromorphs with an assault rifle while wearing 'space marine' armor, and confidently throwing explosives with his telekinetic powers."

Fangoria's Doug Norris gave the game 4/4 skulls, praising both the gore and psychological horror. He stated that the intro is "one of the most hellacious first fifteen minutes of a game ever to appear on consoles."

Destructoid's Jim Sterling liked Clarke's change from a silent protagonist to a speaking role, and praised the overall quality of the single player part of the game. However, he felt that there were too many tight corridors in the Sprawl, which made it look like the spaceship of the previous game. He also thought that the multiplayer was "rather unsatisfying and delivers nothing of the pacing and tension that the main game brings."

Hardcore Gamer's Adam Beck gave Dead Space 2 a 4.5/5, praising the cinematic single-player campaign but criticizing its horror aspect by claiming "there are just too many expected encounters when you enter a room and it never allows you to let your guard down". He goes on to say "Dead Space 2 is one of the most disturbing, grotesque and unsightly games I've ever played... but it's so damn good."

EA reported that Dead Space 2 shipped nearly 2 million units in the first week of its release.