Dead Space 2 falls short of the original. There's potential in the new populated area, but it's wasted. Filler plot.
Nevertheless DS2 falls short compared to the original. DS2 is shorter despite being on 2 DVDs, about 9 hours for me. Moreover there's very little plot involved. Isaac is asked to move to his objective where, after some hasty 5 second scene, he is instantly shoved towards the next one. The sense of progression was superior in Dead Space 1. There every action mattered and I felt like an engineer, but here Isaac rushes from meaningless scene to another blasting monsters. There are some villains and allies, none of which seem to have any significance. The game seems drawn out and padded, having a sizable bit set on revisiting Ishimura without proper reason just makes the impression worse.
Additionally the new locale is very unimpressive compared to derelict Ishimura from DS1. The Sprawl was supposedly a populated city, but that doesn't show. Isaac is pretty much the only one alive and he really starts to feel like a some sort of superhero. The chance to use other survivors and horror of the outbreak is wasted. Storywise I also found it odd how necromorps actually have their defenders. In DS1 I was able to shrug it off by thinking Marker must affect people and make them mad, but here I don't see why anyone would think they're a good thing no matter how religious. The story hints that there will be a lot more Markers and necromorphs which seems absolutely ridicilous to me. Beating a dead horse and all that. What's wrong with accidental breakouts, why must there always be a grand conspiracy? Why is Isaac another chosen savior although he is supposed to be traumatized and ordinary engineer?
Gameplaywise there isn't much to complain about. The game is still fun and exciting, though I'm a bit dissapointed how fast-paced and exhausting the series got. Isaac wanders around the station killing hundreds of monsters and there really is no sense of horror here, I rarely had shortage of ammo or health, or oxygen. That is made worse by some of the new aliens: the stalkers preying in the dark behave more comically than fearsomely, and the child enemies are just campy. On a smaller note I feel gore and splatter replaced the last bit of solitary eerie horror DS1 had, everyone dies graphically and the needle part is completely unnecessary. Still, the common necromorphs are some of the best enemies in games, quickly shooting off their claws is always satisfying. Combat feels good and there were some clever intense bits. I'm also a bit bummed they changed some of the unique secondary fire modes into more generic ones, especially I loved Pulse Rifle's windmill mode in DS1 way more than the new grenade launcher mode. Despite of the increased pace the game still has good inventory and store systems as well as non-regenerating health, and conserving ammo is still important.
Summary: All in all the game is still technically good quality just like Dead Space 1. I wanted to play through it fast and see what happens next. However in the end, looking back, I was left with a sour taste and little hope for the future. DS2 seems rushed and lacking thought, while also suffering from the common actionizing that games are having. I can't see the series continuing and improving, seems like Dead Space 1 was the pinnacle of this series, this generation's Resident Evil 1. This is just another unnecessary episode from the sequel factory.
***
7/10
Wishes: Very much like Dragon Age 2, I feel there was no reason to make this game. So unless the developers can come up with a clever continuation there is little reason to do or buy another game. I feel Dead Space 2 should have been about Isaac the Engineer meeting up and working with stranded survivors and witnessing the horror and desperation of the outbreak in a big metropolis. Stark contrast to the solitarity of Dead Space 1 yet sticking to the ordinary guy feel.