Dead Space 2 (PS3)

Date Purchased: November 1, 2016
Date Completed: February 14, 2017

Price: $5.99 (PSN Halloween Sale)

Dead Space 2, after finishing the first game a couple months ago, I had such high expectations and while that may have led to some of my disappointment I can’t say it was merely a victim of hype.  

I like a silent protagonist, I feel it allows the player to connect with the character better when he’s not quipping one-liners that are out of place.   I’m showing my age here, but I much preferred the original GTA III with our silent anti-hero, to the much more critically acclaimed Vice City which had our character speaking with full voice acted dialogue.  So when Isaac Clarke escapes near death in Dead Space 2, narrowly defeating a horde of monsters, removing their limbs and stomping their corpses, exhausted, barely able to walk, only to open a door and act like nothing’s happened, able to carry on a full conversation, not mentioning anything that just happened and even throwing out a few one liners Nathan Drake style, I feel it takes away from the experience.  Yes, this is true of all games, but not those with a silent protagonist, all you need to accept there is that he’s not limping anymore.  Okay, this has evolved into a more general game rant now. 

The action is much more intense in the 2^nd game, but I preferred the slower pace of the original, making mention to how it was “relaxing” in a some strange way.  This game is far from relaxing and I feel brings the game truly into the Survival Horror genre.  There are so many scares along the way, they stop being scary, you just expect necromorphs around every bend. 

The game still looks great for a “last generation” title, the sound design is top notch, and overall it plays great.  As a standalone experience it’s a fantastic game, just not the game I wanted.  Still have to recommend though.

Edit: (Clickable) I've started putting some of my pile of shame reviews on Reddit's subreddit "patientgamers" where they've been relatively successful.