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Should I try Dead Space 2 if I thought Dead Space 1 was boring?

M

Miker

Member
First off, let me start by saying I love RE4/5/6, and even REvelaitons to an extent (RE4 > 5 = 6 >>>> REvelaitons). I vastly prefer them to more typical third-person shooters like Gears and everything that followed its template afterwards. So I tried Dead Space because, hey, RE4 in space. But I played a few hours of it, and I found it to be a complete and utter slog.

The atmosphere was great, but the encounter design was awful. The game didn't have a proper sense of escalation and pacing. Going from place to place around the ship, fixing this and that, and shooting enemies that came in small, bite-size groups really wasn't all that exciting. There was little variety in the environment, enemies, and my approach to both. After about an hour, it wasn't that scary, and so as a horror action game, I was mostly in it for the action, and the action certainly didn't pick up. At least it didn't in the 4 or so hours I played.

I just got Dead Space 2 from the Origin Bundle, and I hear it's more action-packed and setpiece-driven, which honestly sounds like a vast improvement. Does it fix the above complaints I had about the first game, or should I just skip the series altogether? Anybody out there who disliked Dead Space 1 for the same reasons and ended up liking Dead Space 2?
 
No because Dead Space 2 is everything a sequel should be to the original. So if you didn't like the first game, then the second will be double the "do-not-want".
 
2 is way more action oriented than 1 is. I actually think youll find a lot more to like, especially if you appreciated the atmosphere but wanted better encounters.

Think Aliens compared to Alien.
 
If you got it for free, why not give it a try? You should like it since Dead Space 2 is much more action focused than the first one.
 
I love re4 and kinda liked ds1 but didn't finish it because I got bored.

I thought ds2 was awesome. The pacing is totally different and IMO a lot more fun. Moving away from being so much like re made it way better.
 
Well If you have already bought it might as well give it a try. 2 is a decent bit more varied in terms of environment and has some new enemies, overall more colorful and loud compared to 1. But if you really didn't like 1 I can't see you liking 2.
 
Dead Space 2 has the pacing and escalation closer to what you want, and it's great.

Then again, I also love the first Dead Space, so don't take my tastes too lightly.

Edit: Plus you already bought it. Just go and enjoy it.
 
Nosgotham said:
2 is more action than 1.
3 is more action than 2.
They would probably be more up your alley
Click to expand...
Dead Space 2 is a good game. Dead Space 3 is a bad game. Dont play 3. Dont ever play 3. It was a dollar on the last origin bundle and it wasnt even that old yet.
 
Sounds like I should give Dead Space 2 a shot. And regarding Dead Space 1 - I don't think it's a bad or poorly-made game. In fact, I think its technical qualities in visual and audio, as well as the HUD, are amazing. Combat feels good, too.

The problem is that it didn't really...go anywhere. At least in Alien, there's an increasing sense of dread as the movie goes on and more plot beats are revealed. In Dead Space, the dread peaked pretty early on and plot beats all involved fixing more things. I exaggerate, but it certainly wasn't compelling.
 
Perhaps. DS1 I suppose felt more...level by level design compared to DS2 which feels more like a long playthrough. I felt DS2 gave me some Bioshock vibes too with the way story was told and the style and environment and yeah it's also more action orientated.

DS3 however, felt like it was stripping away from it what made DS1 and 2 good and in app purchases and in trying to appeal to more people, put off the people who were interested and it seems it didn't really draw new people anyway. Hopefully they do bring back a dead space 4... or even a reboot I'd be fine with if that's what it took to bring it back to form
 
I felt the same way about the first one but I thought dead space 2 is much better, mainly because of the pacing. I couldn't finish dead space 3 though which is uncommon for me, its pretty bad.
 
Wow I didn't know they made a new Origin Bundle, will have to check that out.

RE: Dead Space:

You already own 2 and have bunch of people telling you it's a great game, so nothing new to add there.

For 3, if you get it (could be added in the future games, who knows), it is not a bad game at all. It's not a very "Dead Space" game which I think is the problem. The franchise needed new blood and EA wanted another big AAA, so it's basically Gears of War with Necromorphs. If you are looking for straight up third person action, it delivers. However if you have a buddy to play it with I found the co-op extremely entertaining, if you played co-op in RE5/6 and enjoyed it, this would be quite in the same vein. It's biggest knocks against it are too much action, too little horror (sounds like that's not an issue for you), tacked-on microtransactions (you don't need to do them, they are not in your face at all, I ignored them the whole game), and repetitive missions (the optional side quests can get fairly same-y, but again, optional. I think co-op we did maybe 3 or 4 of them before skipping the rest, and we didn't feel like we missed out. The game is long enough without them anyway).
 
Dead Space is the most boring game I played last gen but I'm willing to give the sequel a try due to the Humble Bundle.
 
DS2 is more action-oriented, but if you want mostly just pure shootbang, DS3 might be more to your liking.

DS3 is also hugely disappointing compared to the first two.
 
Dead Space 3 gets way more crap than it deserves. It's solid, has great action, some unique co-op missions, and a really awesome weapon creation system. You can make some unique stuff if you experiment enough.
 
Miker said:
First off, let me start by saying I love RE4/5/6, and even REvelaitons to an extent (RE4 > 5 = 6 >>>> REvelaitons). I vastly prefer them to more typical third-person shooters like Gears and everything that followed its template afterwards. So I tried Dead Space because, hey, RE4 in space. But I played a few hours of it, and I found it to be a complete and utter slog.

The atmosphere was great, but the encounter design was awful. The game didn't have a proper sense of escalation and pacing. Going from place to place around the ship, fixing this and that, and shooting enemies that came in small, bite-size groups really wasn't all that exciting. There was little variety in the environment, enemies, and my approach to both. After about an hour, it wasn't that scary, and so as a horror action game, I was mostly in it for the action, and the action certainly didn't pick up. At least it didn't in the 4 or so hours I played.

I just got Dead Space 2 from the Origin Bundle, and I hear it's more action-packed and setpiece-driven, which honestly sounds like a vast improvement. Does it fix the above complaints I had about the first game, or should I just skip the series altogether? Anybody out there who disliked Dead Space 1 for the same reasons and ended up liking Dead Space 2?
Click to expand...

hmm..no. I can't say I'd reccommend it. Dead Space 2 is more of the same, but less "wandering", and a heavier emphasis on action, and less on "horror" and tension. The last stage is some bullshit, too.

I might try Evil Within if I were you, but only on next gen.

superNESjoe said:
Dead Space 3 gets way more crap than it deserves. It's solid, has great action, some unique co-op missions, and a really awesome weapon creation system. You can make some unique stuff if you experiment enough.
Click to expand...

I agree. its the weakest of the three games but it's not "bad" at all. just a little above average. it's clear the budget got cut WAY down from DS2, also so there's that.
 
Yes. Dead Space 2 is a massive improvement over the first in terms of combat mechanics and encounter design. It's also one of the finest horror games of last generation.
 
I found DS1 to be cool in terms of atmospherics, but the player control was very slow and clunky, and I couldn't stick with it. Ds2 on the other hand was one of my absolute favorite console games last gen... I highly recommend it even if you didn't like the original. It's really good :)
 
The first couple of responses in this thread are wrong.

Dead Space 2 is definitely more action than survival horror. You might find it to be more entertaining. Honestly, there are times that I prefer it over Dead Space. Both amazing games.
 
Played the first hour of Dead Space 2. So far, it's a lot like Dead Space 1 in how start-stop it is, but I'll give it a bit more time. Even though I've only played a few hours of Dead Space 1, I feel like I can already predict where the enemies where come from. Shooting feels wonderful, though, especially with my DS4's vibration turned up to 150% on DS4Windows :P

One thing messing with me is the volume balance. Some sounds are way, way too loud. The sprinkler at the beginning of the game and squishing on corpses seem louder than everything else, and I can't help but wonder if the game's equalizer is somehow skewed.
 
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