Friction Game Review: Dead Space 2 - by Ericca M

What’s up game fans? It’s your favorite resident gamer, back with another Friction Video Game Review! It’s crazy because sometimes I’m afraid I’ll run out of ideas for these and then another title that I’ve had the pleasure of playing will instantly pop up in my head. You know what that means...it means I was born to do this.

Now let’s get right down to business. Dead Space 2 was one game in particular that I didn’t know much about when I purchased it. I was at the GameStop store around the corner from my job when a sales guy approached me after noticing the confused, yet undecided expression on my face. He asked if I liked any kid of games in particular and I told him what kind of games I like. After which, he recommended Dead Space 2.

Dead Space 2 was released in January 2011. It is a survival horror video game created by Visceral Games and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It’s set three years after the events of the first Dead Space, which I hadn’t had a chance to play yet. The story follows protagonist Isaac Clarke’s fight against a new Necromorph outbreak on the Sprawl, a space station surrounding a shard of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.

Of course, when I first started the game I set the difficulty to Casual. I wasn’t familiar with the controls and I knew that I needed some practice before I ventured into the Hardcore territory. We play Issac’s character from a third-person perspective, looking over the character’s right shoulder the entire time, which was frightening in it’s own way. I can recall a time when one of those freaky looking mutated zombies attacked me from the side and I was stuck against a wall, waving my gun around like a damn fool. It was certainly not one of my proudest moments.

The game uses a Resource Integration Gear RIG suit and a HUD system that uses holograms projected from Isaac’s suit and weapons to show you your stats, messages and lets you know how much ammo you have left. What sucks is that In vacuum areas, a timer appears on Isaac’s right shoulder. Whenever I didn’t get out of a particular area in time, I suffocated and died. It sucked because sometimes the last checkpoint I saved at was right before some hellish battle with a gruesome monster.

Another dope aspect of the game is the Multiplayer mode. I had a love/hate relationship with it because it was cool to change characters at different points in the story, but none of those characters were as dope as Issac. They either lacked the strength or the fire power, which got on my last nerve.

Overall, if you’re info sci-fi/horror games like I am, then you’ll love it. I definitely recommend that you try it. You’ll have a blast.

Release Date: January 25, 2011

Developer: Visceral Games

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Director: Wright Bagwell