Visceral Games

The Devil's Backside

HIGH Some melee kills are decently animated.

LOW An utter lack of excitement from start to finish.

WTF The Devil doesn't even make an appearance in this game. Liars!

In Space, No One Can Hear Me Yawn

HIGH Dismembering Necromorphs still offers some visceral thrills.

LOW Being forced to fight wave after wave of cannon fodder enemies in the game's multiple kill rooms.

WTF Ellie's romantic interests seem to change pretty easily.

Hallways… In… Spaaaaaaaaaaace!

HIGH The second half of the game.

LOW The first half of the game.

WTF Why is there so much filler here?

Survival horror games aren't what they used to be. Once upon a time, they were about survival and horror. It makes sense. It's what the genre is called, after all. These titles would encompass qualities of mystery and exploration as the player fought to stay alive with every step. Over the years, they've increasingly become about action, gunfights, and an overload of cheap jump scares. I prefer the former, despite a plethora of the latter.

After putting [REDACTED] aside, I moved on to Dead Space 2. It wasn't high on my list of things to play this year, but I've heard several people say that it was a serious contender as their Game of the Year, and several more say that it's going to be on their top ten of 2011. After getting through about a third of it, I can’t imagine why anyone would think so highly of it.

Ever bought a limited edition version of a game and walked away with something that was actually worth the extra cash you paid? No? Well, maybe you can do something about it. Maybe that special packed-in hunk of plastic just needed some tinkering. Maybe it just needed some lasers. That is what YouTube's kipkay did with the cute replica plasma cutter that came with Dead Space 2—he turned it awesome.

By the way, our lawyers told us to caution you that this looks dangerous. Do not try this at home. And if you do, do not blame us for burning your balloons, figurines or eyeballs.

We're back! Again! Join us for captivating spoiler-free discussions of Portal 2 and Dead Space 2. Plus: the merits of silent protagonists, PSN madness, Chi buys a 3DS, Mike subscribes to Final Fantasy XIV, Tim loses it over Dante's Inferno, and so much more. We were just so happy to hear each other's voices, we couldn't stop gabbing. With Chi Kong Lui, Brad Gallaway, Mike Bracken, Richard Naik, and Tim "Chance" Spaeth.

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Links:

• Dead Space 2 Review
• Portal Review
• Portal 2 Review
• Dante's Inferno Review

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In Space, No One Can Hear Your Strings

HIGH The desperate and well-conceived opening moments of the game.

LOW The conceptually lazy final level.

WTF Why don't they just lock Clarke out of the maintenance tunnels?

Do you love Dead Space? Do you love Dead Space so much that you want to look like its protagonist Issac Clarke? What if you are too insecure to go all out and dress up in a full-on the engineer's suit? Well, you might be in luck.

Dead Space 2, the long-awaited sequel to Electronic Arts' hit survival horror title, is due to hit retailers in just two weeks. To make sure that the hype reaches a fever pitch, the company has released the official launch trailer for the title. Looks good.