Format: PSN | Genre: Action / Adventure | Publisher: Electronic Arts | Release Date: 01/03/2011

The blood soaked walls, the limb filled sinks and strange gunky mounds on the floor which can only be described as fleshy mucus could deter anyone from revisiting the Saturn based city of the Sprawl. Yet despite the sheer horror it guarantees, people just wish for more Dead Space 2. No one will be able to convince Issac to come back to the frightfest, but for those wishing for more limb tearing action, the Severed DLC package is here to offer up a little more than what didn't make the final cut.

As Issac Clarke is attempting to escape the Sprawl during a mass Necromorph outbreak, the hot headed cop Gabriel Weller from Dead Space:Extraction is pushing his way in. Now married to Lexine from the same game (a marriage made purely from the shared traumatic experience on the Ishimura...so perfect matchmaking), he finds his security team slaughtered and must find his way to his slightly screw loose wife in a desperate bid to escape.

Everything you tried to run away from in the hit sequel will come back to haunt you in Severed. Gabe has to work his way up from the mine to the originally pristine walls of the Sprawl psychiatric wards, and all the Necromorphs make a return, each trying to outdo one another somewhat in the 'Who can make the most dramatic entrance accompanied by orchestral doom' contest. The graphics are disturbingly polished till ligaments spew all over them, the lighting effects are top notch, and there's always a feeling of dread clasping your nerves as bone chilling screeches echo down hallways.

Though the cast of Necromorphs was impressively extended in the sequel, there was one horrid monster that failed to make a comeback. 'The Twitcher', a Necromorph that moulds itself into its victims statis packs to move at lightning speed makes a return from the original game. An evolution of the original, Twitchers are hard to detect and once found, zip sideways incredibly rapidly. They're a frustrating enemy to encounter, and make the rest of the Necromorphs seem like snails. After working through the main game for such a long time and then having to face up to these hyper creatures is a complete shock and one that's guaranteed to make you juggle your controller in sheer panic before an inevitable decapitation on either party. One which will make you shout many a swear word before at some point succumbing to a game over at their pincers, yet they're a great and challenging addition nonetheless.

Gabe is still impressively armed for the onslaught

With just over an hours' worth of content available in two chapters, the DLC really rests on the laurels that it's an extra chapter in a series with builds on narrative. The story is intriguing, with pivotal set pieces and a tense ending, but the plot builds up more questions than it does answers. Severed focuses a lot more on Earthgov's cover up politics and general inconsideration of human life rather than the personal struggle of the protagonists. It's a concept of the series you really want to dive into, but unfortunately is so shallow that it only begs for more, something which would be good if another game was coming just around the corner, but alas it just leaves everything on a stanza.

Annoyingly, a bit too much is brought from the game to the DLC chapters. Many of the locations in the game are re-used in Severed, and it really takes away that unique aspect of Dead Space 2 where everything was identifiably human and yet disturbingly unpredictable. Though Necromorphs appear from anywhere, you'll always know what corners to be wary of, and begs the question why you couldn't just fire up the main game again.

Despite the short play time, Gabe is still impressively armed for the onslaught. Equipped with an impressively upgraded Pulse Rifle and Seeker Rifle, plus easily finding a Flamethrower early on and lines his wallet with enough credits for further upgrades. The limited amount of time allowed means you can't build a perfect arsenal, but one which is at least ideal to your needs. Severed also comes with several difficulty modes so you can suit your weapon collection to your needs and replay it, if only for the trophies.

Though an interesting chapter in the backstory of the series, Dead Space 2:Severed suffers from a lack of original content for the price. Fans will snap it up in a flash but those who are on the brink of trading Dead Space 2 in won't let this downloadable epilogue hold them back. It's still Dead Space at its greatest in terms of quality of production, but feels too rushed in narrative to really be a landmark chapter in the history of the series.

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The Good: Interesting story that delves into the lives of characters from Dead Space Extraction, Creepy atmosphere and great graphics return

The Bad: Way too short, Recycles areas in the original game

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Gameplay 7 Graphics 9 Sound 9 Overall 7 / 10 Bias Adjusted 7.8    The Bias adjusted score is worked out based on a gaming preferences questionnaire that reviewers have to fill out. Phoenix Triggers bias profile I'm not really into slow games. I kinda like casual games. I kinda like a bit of pace in my games. The idea is that it gives a score that better represents the game rather than the feelings of the reviewer to a particular genre. For instance a reviewer who hates RPG games, may mark an RPG down just because of his feelings towards that particular genre. The bias calculator would then elevate the score a certain amount. If the same reviewer loves FPS games and rates all of the high, the bias calculation would show a slightly lower score. It is in the early stages of testing right now, but we hope it will become a very helpful bit of information for you all!!

Silver Y Award The Y Award is given based on the average of the Gameplay score, Graphics, Sound and Overall. 9.75 or more gets the Diamond Y Award 9 or more gets the Gold Y Award 8 or more gets the Silver Y Award 7 or more gets the Bronze Y Award 3 or less gets the Stink-Y Award

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