Dead Space 2 was released this week for Playstation 3 and XBOX 360. I played some of the original Dead Space and loved it, but for some reason I held off on making a purchase until the sequel came out.
At any rate, I picked up Dead Space 2, and it's nothing less than an incredible gaming experience so far. The biggest compliment I can give this game is that it takes the 'survival horror' mantle from the Resident Evil series of games and runs with it.
If you're not really a gamer, and/or you only know Resident Evil from the godawful series of movies they made, you do not know Resident Evil. Forget about that shit - the movies don't even remotely resemble the games. No offense, Milla Jovovich - you are stupid hot and I'm sure you have talents. But those movies are terrible. The original Resident Evil game was revolutionary at the time - a video game that was genuinely scary to play.
In Resident Evil, you played a special forces cop (You were part of a team called S.T.A.R.S.; I do not recall what the acronym stands for and I'm not looking it up) investigating a spooky mansion. Turns out the mansion is riddled with zombies, thanks to a virus unleashed by the nefarious Umbrella Corporation. You're armed with guns, but only have a limited number of bullets. The zombies lumber along nice and slow-like, but underestimate them at your own peril...a gang of them can surround you pretty easily, and then you are fucked. Before you know it, they are feasting on your brains.
As you progressed through Resident Evil, greater threats would emerge. Like zombie dogs. Those were a bitch, and they sure as hell weren't slow. There would be moments of terror - you'd just be walking down a hallway, no enemies in sight, and then holy shit, two zombie dogs crash through the window behind you! Now you don't know when you're safe, or when something's gonna suddenly appear to rip out your throat.
The idea with 'survival horror' games such as Resident Evil and now Dead Space is to take the thrill from watching a horror or intense action movie and take it the next level. You're not just watching some poor soul running for your life - you ARE that poor soul running for his life.
