Yesterday night, I downloaded the demo for Dead Space 2 and I have just finished playing through it now. I don't know what the developer's motives were behind the decision to present this particular section of game, so I can't really tell what they wanted to showcase here, so I'm just going to share my thoughts on everything that caught my attention.
The first Dead Space was brilliant, but it had some flaws, and most of these were gameplay oriented. Firstly, the objectives were pretty repetitive, and secondly, the melee attacks Isaac Clarke had at his disposal were very unwieldy. In my opinion, these were it's two greatest flaws. Trumping around the ship fixing this and that while being constantly attacked by necromorphs tended to become an aimless adventure. Don't get me wrong, the game was still very entertaining despite this, because the necromorphs still managed to give game direction, like "AAAAHH RUUUUN" and "DIE DIE DIE". The second flaw was encountered on the harder difficulties. When you ran out of ammo, there was pretty much nothing you could do. The melee attacks where uncontrollable and kinesis wasn't that strong.
The demo has implications that the first flaw will be addressed. Firstly, the narrative seems to involve more than fixing stuff. Getting off the space station seems to a goal, but there seem to be more than just necromorphs in the way. From the evidence suggested by the brief dialogue in the game and the mission summaries in the menu, it seems that Isaac and his mysterious helper (whom he communicates with) will have human opposition. While in the first game, there were conflicts with other humans, like a government agent, in this game, things seem to be more serious. In fact, the human opposition bring in a ship to shoot down Isaac at the end of the demo. The presence on the Church of Unitology - or at least a whole temple devoted to the marker - imply that questions that have bugged us since the first game will be answered.
The other thing I noticed was the improvement to the gameplay. Isaac's melee attacks are not as unwieldy anymore, but I still wouldn't use them, because kinesis has become a much more useful tool in this game. In fact, it's so useful, it's better to use kinesis when there are hard objects around, like severed necromorphs claws, and conserve ammo.
New enemy types bring more tension to the gameplay as well. There were new four necromorphs introduced in this area alone. One, a giant thing with a child-like glowing prehensile seems to be a mini-boss of some kind. Interaction with it was very minimal, because it soon retreated, leaving a horde of screaming necromorph children for Isaac to deal with. These 'children' rush you in huge groups, like ten or more. It's a good idea to bring out more powerful weaponry, like explosives to kill them together quickly, then to dismember them one by one. Dismembering one is easy. One shoot to the leg and they're down, but they're fast and can duck down suddenly, avoiding your shot, and if you happen to miss just one, it'll disrupt your fire and you'll end up getting swarmed. The third new type is a human-shaped necromorph that has medium to long-range attacks. It can spit damaging balls of acid from a distance or vomit more of the same liquid at a closer range, over a wide area. The acid is damaging, and sometimes it starts corroding Isaac's suit, slowing him down. Dismembering one of their limbs causes acid to spurt out, and I think this is more than just an effect, because I missed a shot one time and hit it's head, blowing it off. Just as I did that, I received damage, but I'm not certain if it had just thrown up on me or if was the spurting acid from the wound. I'll have to experiment more with that when I play it. The fourth necromorph introduced is a crawling thing with huge clawed arms. It wasn't as particularly impressive as the other three, but there was only one in the demo and it was the only necromorph in the room, meaning I made short work of it, so it didn't have much opportunity to make an impression on me. I did notice, however, that it was really fast and spent no time screaming at me, like the regular necromorphs do. It just rushed in to kill me.
As for level design, the demo offered three small areas. One was full of glass containers, some of which had necromorphs sealed up within them. There was a lot of fog and mist in the area, which suggest the place was some sort of cryogenic unit. Tension in the area was pretty high and I trust the developers were quite deliberate when designed these levels. Firstly, every little section of this unit contains about three parallel corridors connected by another two at each end. There are glass containers in every direction, and after a little mental spasm Isaac has, you realize that things are indeed sealed up in them. Soon after Isaac displays his mental disorder, necromorphs start breaking out of the containers. The level design forces you to be in situations where necromorphs can come at you from at least two directions. Glass containers next to you keep you wondering when something is going to jump out of them. When something does jump out of them, you hear other containers breaking in the distance, and you'll be forced to deal with the necromorph in front of you while at the same time trying to locate the other necromorph and maneuver yourself into a more defensible position.
The second was connected to the first, the place where artificial gravity is created. Isaac had to turn it off for some reason, and I had the opportunity to experience some gravity-less gameplay. Gone is the wall-jumping of the first game (at least in the demo). Isaac's suit has been upgraded with some air jets that allow him to move around and change direction in mid air. The experience was very smooth and easy to control. This area also introduced a new hacking minigame. This took me a little more time to get the hang of and it requires the player to be really fast, since the time limit is a little short. Even so, it's quite manageable after some practice. There were no necromorphs in this area. It was a room where Isaac gets things done.
The third area is the Church of Unitology - or at least some sort of temple with lots of depictions of the marker, inscriptions and symbols. Things are somewhat less frantic here, since the area is more open, so it's more of a sightseeing experience after you deal with the swarm of necromorph children. It's still tense, because the necromorphs don't stop coming, but the improved graphics and textures really make their mark here.
I will definitely be checking out Dead Space 2 when it's out.