Dead Space 2 Reminds of a Better Time
I decided to dust off my Xbox Series S which looked like a soot covered artifact Indiana Jones would discover. With the power of the admittedly cool FPS Boost function Microsoft established for many older games; it felt like a proper time for me to play Dead Space 2. The original Dead Space is one of my favorite games ever created. And yet, I somehow never played the sequel.
Dead Space 2 is everything I wanted from it. It retains the smooth and evergreen gameplay of its predecessor while also providing the player with more interesting environments. The first game held a nice 50/50 balance of horror and action, but Dead Space 2 seems to lean more 60/40 in favor of action. Overall I loved the game.
And it reminded me of a time long gone.
I remember the seventh generation of consoles like it was yesterday. My Xbox 360 was my trusty companion all throughout high school. If I wasn’t playing the latest triple-A banger, I was knees deep in multiple smaller digital titles. Jumping between games like Skyrim and Minecraft was a regular happening for me and countless other gamers. What I miss the most about this era was the feeling of buying a game on launch day and having a finished quality product in my hands.
I’ve long tried to fight back against the internet mob which screams that “modern gaming sucks”. The truth is, I have an endless list of great games I want to play- many of which come from these most recent years. What I’ve learned is that gamers don’t actually mean the games suck, but everything surrounding them does. If a game like Dead Space 2 launched today, it would’ve had a more expensive edition with early access, a necessary day one patch, and been called “too short”. It feels like most triple-A games that come out now are recommended on sale instead of launch day. I’ve been slightly curious about Assassin’s Creed Shadows, but all of the reviews I’ve seen (one by my own friend) say the game would be more worth it on a steep sale. Dead Space 2 is a relic of another time. Back when games didn’t arbitrarily feel the need to be 30-40 hours to justify its price. Back when names like Bethesda and Bioware really meant something. Back when development cycles didn’t take seven years to a decade and we could get things like Fallout 3 and New Vegas only two years apart (granted they were different teams). A more apt comparison would be how Naughty Dog made three Uncharted games in four years- you get the point.
You know how a lot of people when they hit their 20’s act like the music they listened to as teenagers sucks? I was like that with the seventh generation of consoles. I acted like the games from that time were overrated. It’s only been in the past few years that I realized how wrong I was. While that generation did start certain trends like patches and micro-transactions, it was before it got out of hand. There was still a sense that developers and publishers were trying their hardest to provide us something high quality and unique. Don’t get me wrong, video games have always been a business, but it has never been so disgustingly obvious as it is now.
I didn’t play Dead Space 2 at the time, but joining it in 2011 were games like Skyrim, Batman: Arkham City, Portal 2, L.A Noire, Uncharted 3 and Deus Ex: Human Revolution. I played four of those games on launch day, and I can tell you right now it was a great time for gaming.
While I still don’t think gaming today totally sucks, Dead Space 2 reminds me of a better time.
