You wake up, disoriented. ?There’s a light shining in your eyes. ?Squinting to try to make out the source, you hear garbled words that become slowly clearer until you realize that someone is repeating your name. ?”Isaac, Isaac. ?We’ve got to get you out of this straitjacket. ?Isaac.can you hear me?” ?The voice pleads. ?”Isaac, you’re in terrible danger.”
The orderly in front of you stops shaking your shoulders momentarily to claw frantically at the restraints that bind your arms to your torso. ?Before you can think, the orderly throws his head back and lets out a bloodcurdling scream as some unidentifiable claw-like appendage tears through his chest, stopping only inches from your face. ?You’re immediately covered in an obscene amount of blood as whatever is brutally massacring the man begins to take control of his body, stretching it into hideous proportions.
You thrust your head forward and hit the monstrosity as it undulates and writhes, and it falls to the floor where the screams blend with the noises of blood spattering the walls, the ceiling, you. ?
Stumbling forward, you look for something to reassure you, you’re not next. ?Then ghostly green shapes collect at the center of the screen, resolving themselves into one word: Run.
So begins “Dead Space 2,” Visceral Games’ sequel to the popular “Dead Space.” ?Despite the fact that most rats have a greater attention span than me, and that I am not a great fan of the genre and the current craze with First-person shooter games such as the Halo and Call Of Duty series, I nevertheless found myself drawn into this moody world thanks to the tight linear game play, intuitive controls, and almost hysterical amount of violence.
The game begins with you controlling Isaac Clarke, who has woken from a coma in the medical facility of a space station orbiting Saturn. ?
Adding to the already delightful scene of blood-spewing psychopathic invertebrates, Isaac has the additional pleasure of suffering from a deep psychosis and is spiraling into the depths of madness.
The thing that stands out the most about “Dead Space 2” is the fear you experience. ?The developers have done an outstanding job creating an atmosphere filled with dread. You constantly hear cries of terror from the next room over, and rounding a corner is done slowly, with a quickening pulse while you psychologically prepare yourself.
You’re never prepared though, and the scares are frequent. ?
Play it in the dark, at night, when everything is quiet for the best effect, I promise I won’t mock your girlish shrieks.