Dead Space 2 haunts

Video game company giant, Electronic Arts (EA) finally released what is going to be an amazing start to a great year of video games. Dead Space 2, is the sequel to the 2008 critically-acclaimed horror adventure game. Engineer Isaac Clarke is back with another haunting adventure.

Waking from a lengthy coma in a humongous city in space known as "The Sprawl," Clarke finds himself the sole survivor of a heinous alien infestation and is faced with a far worse abominable nightmare.

Haunted with visions of his now-dead girlfriend, Clarke is once again doing everything he can to save himself and rid the city of the now-known foe: the unstoppable, hideous Necromorphs.

In this thrilling sequel, Clarke is equipped with many new weapons to dismember these creatures. These will impress even the biggest weapons expert.

This game is not for the weak-hearted. It's hard to mix scariness with surprisingly good gameplay, but Dead Space 2 has done it again. There are many parts of this game where the player's heart might skip a beat because of the scary atmosphere and necromorphs jumping out of darkness.

The game uses a similar user interface as the first one: a third-person perspective with all the menus in a hologram emitting from the suit.

Once again, the controls are solid and never feel clunky (they all feel smooth and players will never have issues with them) while trying to look around and examine the entire area, or looking down at a corpse before stomping it viciously to double check that the enemy is dead.

Visceral Games (the studio of EA responsible for Dead Space) outdid themselves with the audio. Chilling music haunts every darkened hallway while screams and echos of necromorphs in the distance loom.

A new addition to Dead Space 2 is the multiplayer aspect which features two teams of four pitted against each other over five objective-based maps.

This isn't the run-of-the-mill deathmatch. This multiplayer permeates a new type of fear as four members of The Sprawl security team fight against four-player-controlled necromorphs using all new moves, weapons, and scenery to duke it out.

The four different necromorphs include a member of the pack, a spitter, a lurker, and a puker. These different creatures' abilities vary from hurling corrosive projectiles to climbing walls.

While this multiplayer may not catch on as much as other multiplayer giants (Call of Duty, Halo, etc.), it will serve its purpose for months to come as a fun addition to a almost perfectly thought out single player experience.

It's not perfect. The puzzles are well thought out, but some of the gameplay seems slightly repetitive, and hacking the systems seems confusing and just boring at times. This aspect might be better off as a cell phone mini game.

Gamers who aren't fans of horror games, (or horror anything for that matter) might find it hard to wrap their head around even trying Dead Space 2. If these people put their notions aside and try something new, they will thoroughly enjoy this game for what it is: a nicely executed adventure game with fantastic visuals, audio, and controls.

Dead Space 2 is surely the game of the month. You can pick up Dead Space 2 for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, or PC in retail stores or online starting Jan. 25.

To view the launch trailer for Dead Space 2, or to see some gameplay and a video review, go to theaccent.org.