14 DAY TRIAL // I never bought the idea that Dead Space could be a horror experience, mostly because it's very difficult to create such an experience in a medium so filled with personal control as video games are but also because publisher Electronic Arts and developer Visceral are positioning the franchise as being mass market and most players would not want to actually play something that has horror as its main gameplay mechanic.
But Dead Space 2 seems to have learned a little from the problems that the original had with atmosphere and creates a first ten minute sequence that is pretty effective in impressing upon gamers how vulnerable, both in mind and in body, Clarke actually is, even though he managed to fight and survive throughout the first game.
It would have been nice to see a little more of his inner turmoil initially, perhaps with a wider presence from his girlfriend, but the opening, with gamer fingers pressed heavily on run buttons and each turn hiding a necromorph sets a good tone for the rest of the experience.
Visceral makes a mistake by not making those initial hallway a little more open, actually allowing the player to chose a path through threats and to a point of safety.
The way Dead Space 2 delivers the frantic run the smallest of personal choices, like going around a pillar on the right rather than the left side, leads to early death and a ruined initial encounter with the game.
It makes sense to create fear by restricting the choices that the player has (notice how the main character himself is in a straight jacket) but this should be done only on one level of the game, allowing the player to actually chart his own course through an area and adjusting the experience accordingly.
We have a full review of Dead Space 2 elsewhere on Softpedia and we quite liked it.