EA showed a live demo of Dead Space 2 behind close doors at its E3 2010 booth. The demo was roughly ten minutes and showed off several of the game's new features. In addition to the surivial-horror gameplay that made the original a hit, the sequel adds new effects, more varied environments, puzzle solving, and voice acting for the protagonist, Isaac Clarke. While it's easy for a developer to make a controlled demo look cool and fun, this brief glimpse at Dead Space 2 has me thinking that the sequel will outdo its forerunner.

The demo kicked off in the Church of Unitology. The people from Visceral found it amusing when I screamed, "Tom Cruise, use your witchcraft to put out the fire!" The European press in the crowd didn't seem to get the Scientology reference from Talladega Nights. Seconds after entering the bowels of the building, Isaac was surprised and attacked by a new Necromorph monster. This one had a vomit-like projectile attack. The action slowed down for a dramatic effect. Oddly enough, slow-motion vomit looked very cool.

To mix up the gameplay, Isaac had to solve a fairly standard switch puzzle. It wasn't mind boggling by any means, but it seemed like a good way to mix up the action. Hopefully this was just an introductory puzzle and other ones will be more complex.

Dead Space 2 has a bunch for new armaments for you to enjoy. Isaac can switch suits at checkpoints. Different suits will be better for different situations. The javelin gun shoots several long projects. It kind of resembles a futuristic crossbow. It looked wicked on screen and hopefully plays as good as it seems.

There will be several portions of the game in zero gravity. The zero-G portions of the game let you control the action in 360 degrees. In the demo, these portions were used to break up the action.

The game's graphics looked fantastic, particularly the monsters. The developers promised that the graphics will have more variety too, since the game's world will have the typical scary areas accompanied by common areas like malls and schools.

Even though I bombarded you with a laundry list of new features, I assure you that Dead Space 2 is very cool. The scares, graphics, and sound look like they'll add up to a delightfully frightening time. The new facets of the game should make it a more well-rounded time to boot.

Developed by series creator Visceral Games and published by EA, Dead Space 2 is due out for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on January 25, 2011, in North America.

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