Dead Space 2’s closed door live demo might receive the award for loudest thing on the show floor. I’m not exactly sure how they packed that much sound into a tiny room, but I felt like it was about to blow me out of the mock Church of Unitology pews and make me pee in my pants with in a terrified stupor.
Anyway the demo opened with a mask-less Isaac Clark in the aforementioned Church of Unitology. What followed was familiar to fans of the original; Isaac used the Plasma Cutter and line gun to systematically dismember various shades of Necromorphs, one of which was brand new and called the Puker. The new electric spear gun was also nice, as it managed to not only shock and impale Necromorphs, but also bolt them to the closest wall in the process. Another new feature was Isaac’s ability to use Kinesis to use the blown off parts of Necromorphs as flying projectiles. He shot off a fragment of one, caught it in mid air, and then hurled it right back at the Necromorph to sever another appendage. It was a smart use of the power, and significantly more impressive than the simple “move this here and that there” puzzle that followed.
Said puzzle wasn’t entirely without merit, as it gave way to zero gravity and a fully navigable 360 degree environment. No longer bound to a cool-yet-restricted line of sight system, Isaac was free to hover wherever he wanted. It was short lived, because then this giant (huge) Necromorph emerged out of nowhere and threw Isaac into outer space. What followed was one of Dead Space’s best tricks; a cleverly scripted sequence, half cinematic and half interactive, designed to keep you on your toes while leaving you completely unsure of when it’s “safe” to do anything. It’s half smoke and mirrors, but succeeds in keeping you on the edge of your seat without the use of clumsy quick time events.
Dead Space 2 is locked in for 2011. Check back with us in the future for more coverage!
