A Psychologically Gruesome, Beautifully Disturbing Ride to the Depths of Isaac's Soul.
The first game raised the bar IMHO for sci-fi survival-horror shooters, in that the developers crafted a unique, believable and immersive universe and mastered the art of the scare - ramping up the tension with atmospheric music only for nothing to happen, and then necromorphs pouncing on you after everything had gone deathly silent for a few minutes. Dead Space was a very clever game indeed.
By about half-way through DS2 I had forgotten that Isaac had no voice in the first game, although initially it was very odd to see and hear him conversing with the other characters. You grow to like him in this game, and giving him a personality endears his tortured soul to you in a new way. This game is more about Isaac facing his inner demons than the slightly anorexic storyline again about government conspiracies and experiments with alien technology.
Whereas the first game had some clever twists and turns in its story arc, this game is all about everyone trying to escape the madness inside them and around them. The final boss battle was easier than in the first game but perfectly encapsulated the nature of Isaac's quest to dispel the evil around him and inside him - it was enthralling.
Although you have already gotten over the grotesqueness of the necromorphs in the first game, this one offers some very gruesome moments that Isaac has to undergo himself, it has a very dark tone indeed, especially towards the climax.
The new necromorph variants make the gameplay much more tense than in the original - the ones that take cover and peer out or around objects to get a good look at you, only to disappear if you fire and sneak up behind you very quickly - these were more difficult to face than the original foes. Similarly the young child-like necromorphs that hunt in large packs and can overwhelm you, causing enormous damage if not stopped in their tracks. Both types required more heavy use of the stasis energy as a strategic weapon to slow them down and get an opportunity to fire.
The new javelin gun and seeker rifle weapons are more standard projectile-based guns, which although powerful are more difficult to aim accurately for strategic dismemberment of enemies. I often found myself relying on the line-gun which could take out more enemies than the other weapons, as the new enemy tactic in this game seems to be to create a swarm of enemies approaching in different directions that makes it more imperative to either be very accurate or very effective.
The visuals in this game are stunning, improving greatly on the first game, which was itself by no means bad-looking. The greater variation in environments provides more detail and colour for the background of the slaughterhouse that is the Titan Sprawl, reminiscent of Bioshock's ruined paradise.
Those who have not played the first game will no doubt find this an incredible and terrifying journey. Those who enjoyed Dead Space will again enjoy taking Isaac to hell and back, and although it won't scare them as much, getting inside Isaac's head to understand what happened to him before and after the first game and help him overcome the evil is richly rewarding.
A great game, not to be missed.