Dead Space 2

About Dead Space 2

Dead Space 2 was made by Visceral Games and published by Electronic Arts in January 2011. It follows on three years after the first game: Isaac, now speaking for himself, wakes in a straitjacket on the Sprawl, a vast station orbiting Saturn, with no memory of how he got there and the dead already getting up around him.

It plays as a third-person shooter with horror pacing. Necromorphs ignore head shots; you aim for limbs and cut them apart with tools like the plasma cutter, then stamp on what is left. Stasis slows enemies down and kinesis lets you throw objects, including their own sharp limbs, back at them. Zero-gravity sections let you fly freely through wrecked parts of the station, and you buy ammunition and suits at stores and spend rare power nodes on upgrades at benches.

Its horror comes from close, sudden violence and a station that looks lived in: a school, a church of Unitology, apartments and a shopping centre, all overrun. Enemies crawl out of vents behind you, small infected children swarm, and Isaac's hallucinations of his dead girlfriend Nicole appear when you least expect them.

Compared with the first game it is faster and more cinematic, with bigger set pieces and more action, though ammunition is still tight on harder difficulties. Players who want slower dread should start with the Dead Space remake; those who liked it and want more should play this next.

How to play Dead Space 2

1. Follow the locator line (press the locator button) to see the way to your next objective.
2. Aim for the limbs: cutting arms and legs off Necromorphs kills them faster than body shots.
3. Use stasis to slow a charging enemy, then pick it apart.
4. Grab objects and sharp limbs with kinesis and throw them at enemies to save ammunition.
5. Spend power nodes at benches on the tools you use most, and buy ammunition and health at stores.
6. Save at save stations; on Hardcore difficulty you can save only three times in the whole game.

Tips

• Stamp on corpses to shake out ammunition and credits.
• Keep one weapon fully upgraded rather than spreading nodes thin.
• Watch for vents opening behind you; many attacks come from the back.
• In zero gravity, look around before boosting into an open space.

Questions