In 2008, EA released a game that would break the rules on gory content, and scares that kept you up for days; Dead Space. Now, in 2011, EA teamed up with Visceral Games and released the highly anticipated sequel, Dead Space 2, which would set the bar for every horror game, combining jaw-dropping action, a truly captivating and frightening plot, and a just overall phenomenal video game experience.

When Isaac Clarke, a CEC engineer, consciously awakes after three long years, he's thrown back into the frying pan as Necromorphs, creatures spawned from something called a Marker, have overrun the Sprawl, a space station orbiting Saturn's moon, Titan. The Marker is derived from the Black Marker, which was discovered on Earth, and Isaac Clarke just happened to stumble onto the conspiracy created by EarthGov and the CEC. Having to deal with crazed Unitologists, Necromorphs, and the government, Isaac Clarke becomes the only things standing between total annihilation and the safety of the universe.

The horror in Dead Space 2 is absolutely terrifying, always catching you off guard. Plus, Isaac's extra-terrestrial based dementia doesn't help the situation much. Gunner Wright, the face and voice of the broken hero, helps to grip and hold the player into the game as this broken man becomes more hardened and sad. The use of cut-scenes (not cinematics) is perfect, always staying on track with the terror and action as Isaac runs around being chased by Necromorphs, and even sucked out an airlock while clashing with a gunship about to be destroyed. Some say the Call of Duty games have great, cinematic value, with big epic shots of destruction and war, but Dead Space has the destruction and ups the ante to a whole new level, kicking Call of Duty into the dust. The music by Jason Graves, who also scored the first game, and the upcoming third game, Dead Space 3, takes some themes from the first game, and expands on them, while creating a new tone. Putting in more emotional ques, Graves uses strings to bring out the awesome horror of Dead Space, while making the player and audience want to weep at Isaac's broken psyche.

All in all, Dead Space 2 is a truly engrossing, grotesque and phenomenal game that exceeds in every way, improving on everything from the first game (which was a great game too), but adding more truly captivating cinematic relevance. This is, truly, the best sci-fi/horror franchise in video games, and one of the best sci-fi/horror stories of all time