Dead Space 2 Questionarium

Strap on your helmet and venture out into the dark and weightlessness with Dead Space 2. This sequel to 2008’s hit survival horror third-person title picks up three years after the events of the first game as unlucky engineer Isaac Clarke wakes up in the Sprawl, a colony built on a moon of Saturn. We asked you, the GameSpot AU community, for your burning questions about this hugely anticipated follow-up.

Gummy_joe: According to trailers, Isaac is now a more vocal character: Does this give us more insight into Isaac as a character, his motivation, and his past, or does it come off as feeling like Samus from Other M?

GameSpot AU: We’re only a few hours in with Dead Space 2, but already the more-vocal Isaac is starting to show his colours. We’ll tread carefully to avoid spoilers, but from what we’ve seen so far, you play a more active role in dialogue than you did in the original game. That said, don’t be expecting much by the way of monologues.

While Clarke doesn’t just wander around blindly following instructions, he certainly won’t be shooting his mouth off telling you about what he did on the weekend. In fact, according to the game’s producer, Shereif Fattouh, the game was originally scripted with much more speech for Isaac, only to have some pretty hefty chunks taken out to fit the flow and mood of the game. Rest assured, though; you’ll learn plenty about him from the cutscenes and flashback sequences that litter the game.

Outrigger_boy: Does the game play differently with more human contact in regards to Isaac being with non-player characters? Does it subtract from the scare factor?

GameSpot AU: Just because you’re chatting more doesn’t make Dead Space 2 any less scary. In fact, some of the NPCs and characters we’ve encountered so far have been creepier than some of the necromorphs. Likewise, while we haven’t seen much in the way of talking and shooting at the same time; we have come across a couple of original scare tactics. Make sure you grab yourself a spare pair of undies or two when you pick up your copy of the game.

Chickan_117: Is it a full four-player campaign mode like the Halo series has? Does it have special one-off tasks/missions like MW2's special ops? Or is it maybe a horde mode like Gears of War 2? Or is the co-op just a "team mode" for the Versus multiplayer stuff?

GameSpot AU: We haven’t seen any sign of any cooperative story modes in our version. As best as we can tell, co-op may have been on the Visceral development team’s drawing board at some point for Dead Space 2, but the end product is straight competitive team multiplayer. Read on for the full details.

DeltaPhoenix08: How do the changes to the way Isaac moves (that is, faster) effect the way the game plays compared to the first Dead Space? And, more importantly, how does it affect the horror factor?

GameSpot AU: Firstly, movement feels much more natural this time around, and Isaac handles much less tanklike than he did last time. Secondly, faster movement is essential at the beginning of the game when you don’t have any weapons and need to flee so you don’t get your face meat torn off.

Even once you do locate and get to grips with the available weapons, Isaac’s speed becomes just as crucial as flinging plasma around the place. Fans of chase sequences should be pleased with what the team has crammed in here, but for the most part, running is used primarily to put some distance between you and your target so you can compose your nerves and whip off their limbs to put them down.

SociopathicBox: Is multiplayer the focus or have they stuck to what made the first Dead Space so brilliant?

GameSpot AU: Dead Space 2 is the first game in the series to get the multiplayer treatment. At about 12 hours of single-player campaign, Visceral clearly hasn’t skimped on story to focus on online play. Matches take the form of competitive team-based maps with an even split of human and necromorph players. Humans need to complete objectives like activating consoles, moving objects, and destroying items within a time limit. As you’d expect, necromorphs need to shut down the efforts of the humans by any means necessary and are able to choose between one of four different alien types before respawning. Multiplayer levels will also include objectives and story hooks to the main single-player campaign.

Dead Space 2 launches in Australia this Thursday on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. Keep an eye out for our full review very shortly! Check out our interview with the game's producer, Shereif Fattouh, below.