A Gamer's Rant

Okay so let me start by saying my PS3 is my primary system that I game on. However I own a 360 and a Wii as well and I consider myself a true gamer because I have a very broad taste in games. I am not an FPS gamer or and RPG gamer, I am just a gamer. I play games that look interesting and I keep playing games that I like. For example I have MAG for my PS3 and I am looking forward to Dragon Age 2 while I am currently playing Just Cause 2. My tastes are very diverse.

One thing that I am really just starting to get into in the last few years is online gaming, and here is where my rant begins.

Why are we paying for XBOX live? I have a PSN account that let's me do everything that XBOX live gold does without me paying Sony for it. Case in point Netflix, I can not watch Netflix on my XBOX without a Gold account. But I can watch it on my PS3 even if the PSN is down because it goes through my Internet access on my PS3 not the PSN.

People keep trying to tell me that we pay $50 a year for XBOX live gold because of everything it gives us access to. So tell me where I am wrong then.

PSN - Free

Online play
Demos
free content
content available for purchase

XBOX live Silver - Free

No online play
No Netflix access
No Facebook access
limited access to game demos
content available for purchase

XBOX live Gold - $50 a year

Online play
access to your Netflix and Facebook
Demos on day one
No free content
Content available for purchase

Now we need to consider one more thing in this situation. Playstation Plus a pay program from Sony that is still in it's first year.

Playstation Plus - $50 a year

Free downloadable games and content
Access to special promotions as well

Now I have paid for Playstation Plus since day one and so far it has paid for itself about twice over because of all the free content that I have downloaded. So if you think I am wrong tell me so, but don't just hit me with "you are a Sony fan boy!" or some crap like that. If you are going to argue with me about this then show me where I am wrong show me how paying for XBOX live Gold is worth the money when the PSN seems to offer everything that Gold offers only they do it for free.

Review

Dead Space 2 by Visceral games is simply amazing. When they announced the first Dead Space I had a mixture of excitement and dread. Mainly because survival horror is a genre that is hard to get right but Dead Space was amazing and part 2 blows it out of the water.

The best way to explain Dead Space one and two is by comparing them to the only two good movies in the Alien series. Alien and Aliens, Dead Space felt a lot like Alien, being someone who was thrown into a situation that he really wasn't ready for and using everything around him just to survive.

Dead Space 2 feels like Aliens because Issac Clark is a lot like Sigourney Weaver's character Ellen Ripley. They both survived a horrible situation and even though they are dealing with the trauma from it they both step up and deal with the threat when it rises again.

The improvements made to how Issac controls actually makes this feel real. In the original he was a little clunky and slow to move now everything about his movements are smoother and faster. He handles his weapons better and his Kinesis ability is actually a viable way to deal with enemies this time around. Everything about the gameplay is improved without messing with what made the original great.

Graphically the series is still amazing everything in Dead Space 2 looks sharper, the effects are great from the weapons and smoke to how everything floats in zero gravity is amazing, seriously seeing blood floating in bubbles is fantastic.

As with the original the sound is perfect the score under lays the tone without missing a beat. The voice acting is great I like Issac more now that he is not a silent protagonist. But this game shines with it's ambiance using the subtle sounds to punctuate the scares. I actually jumped a few times and the entire game is unnerving in the best way possible.

I won't give away anything about the story, but needless to say it flows great and shows just how deep this universe is. Dead Space could go on for years in movies (one anime is all ready out with another about to release as well as a major motion picture in the works), books (there are all ready a few of these as well), and the games. I am impressed with how well Visceral developed this series when there was a chance it could have bombed with the first one. And I am so happy EA is no longer the devil of the industry and supports games like this.

In closing there is no reason to pass this game up, and if you haven't played the original get it first and play it then move right into this one. But don't play it in front of the kids, I certainly did not. Also I will be posting a review of Dead Space Extraction (the rail shooter game that was originally on the Wii and was redone in HD and packaged with the collectors edition on the PS3) once I finish it in a few days if I can keep myself from starting my second play through of Dead Space 2.