THE original Dead Space came out from nowhere and showed us that dismembering a monster can be fun. Now, Dead Space 2 is here — faster and better. It has been developed by Visceral Games and published by Electronic Arts for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows.

It’s been three years since the events of the first game took place, but protagonist Isaac Clarke still can't take a break. At the beginning of the game, he wakes up on a space station known as the Sprawl and finds the place overwhelmed by monsters called Necromorphs.

From the first moment, Isaac is fighting for his life. Things are worse for him in the Sprawl because of the internal war that Isaac is fighting. He is ruined by the events of the original Dead Space. He saw things no man could ever dream of during his time on the spaceship USG Ishimura and Isaac's girlfriend died on the vessel after he encouraged her to work there.

This is where you come in. The set-up of Dead Space 2 is simple yet captivating. Think of a haunted house, but the best one ever. Shortly after waking up on the Sprawl and immediately treated with the horrors within, Isaac gets it in his head that he has to destroy a Marker, an artefact that create these monsters.

As a player, you can head on from a series of point A to point B missions, where beasts pop out for you to blast. Even though linear is a bad word for videogame industry, it is not the same in this game. It takes the player on a specific ride that’s marked with awesome moments and environments and sound that’s amazing. This time, there are new disturbing enemies and surprises. Dead Space 2 is something that can make you feel like “the same old thing” at times but becomes much more than that as a whole. It has stripped out the stuff that slowed down the original game like backtracking and getting disoriented and replaced it with a ride that is fun from the start to the end.

No doubt, Dead Space 2 is one of the best survival, horror-based games of this generation. It’s well placed, scary and takes the player to an emotional level, which few games can ever do. The action, suspense and reason to replay this game makes it a must have for gamers who are ready to turn monsters into ashes.

neerajjha@mydigitalfc.com