Dead Space was a game with an identity crisis. With various tools of evisceration and a hulking metal suit at his disposal, not to mention the ability to control objects with his mind and project a stasis field around enemies, Isaac Clark was certainly well equipped. Too well equipped for a survival horror game one might say. The countless battles against lumbering enemies that made up the last quarter of the game became less of a fight for survival than a slow, meandering grind through a game struggling to decide what it wanted to be. In short, Dead Space played like an action game held back by its own survival horror pretentions. At London MCM Expo this year we got to try the sequel; an impressive fifteen minutes of gameplay which managed to cram in enough to show us Visceral Games’ clear awareness of the niggles that plagued the first game. By the conclusion of the demo their message was clear; Dead Space 2 is all about the action.

That’s not to say that the horror aspect has been abandoned. Cheap scares are still there aplenty; with pipes blowing steam in your face, grotesque enemies bursting out loudly and an abundance of gore. Indeed, the demo’s opening few minutes seem almost parodistic of the first Dead Space. Opening in dull freezer-like corridors equipped with many of the weapons from the first game, initial impressions left us indifferent. But the minor improvements are everywhere to be seen; the health and stasis indicators on Isaac’s back are brighter and far easier to see; the lighting is more muted and realistic, and, most significantly, the controls feel far more suited to the game’s brutal combat.

The changes to the controls are subtle, but they are significant enough to make the game far easier to get to grips with. Isaac’s lumbering ape-like animations have been sped up, making movement, aiming and melee attacks quicker and smoother. Being struck by an enemy no longer traps you in a silly overwrought animation, (unless you get grabbed which – as in the first game – results in a button-mashing prompt) which means that being caught amongst a group of Necromorphs no longer results in becoming unfairly trapped. It’s a good job too, because enemies attack in larger numbers, particularly the new Pack creatures, which are reminiscent of the demonic babies from Dante’s Inferno.

Such changes sound like mere technicalities, but they give the game a smoothness and fluidity that brings it closer to its obvious source of inspiration – Resident Evil 4. One of the most welcome changes, however, comes in the fact that you can now control Isaac in zero gravity environments. Whereas the first game restricted you to merely propelling yourself in one direction, you can now guide Isaac around manually. This was shown following a fairly standard – but nonetheless visually impressive – puzzle where you must use a mixture of stasis and kinesis to turn off gravity and guide Isaac up towards the roof. It generally worked well, although it became awkward when we were asked to quickly squeeze through a small gap before a large metal door would shut on Isaac’s head.

But the most impressive changes were evident in the last few minutes of the demo. The dull frozen corridors eventually give way to an eerie church environment unlike anything seen on the often lifeless Ishimura from the first Dead Space. It’s a typically Gothic environment, but we are quickly reminded of the game’s sci-fi core: further corridors lead out into a brightly lit room with a view over the futuristic cityscape of the Sprawl. Suddenly a gunship lowers into view and opens fire at Isaac, smashing the window that separates him from the vacuum outside. The next few minutes are a cacophony of noise and shaking camera, which were appropriately used to show off the game at E3. Dragged, quite literally kicking and screaming, into a chaotic – although obviously scripted – battle with a large Necromorph, you are forced into the vacuum of space, before detonating some explosive debris and ending the demo with a bang.

Dead Space was arguably at its best during moments such as this, but they were few and far between. They felt almost out of place amongst the countless menial errands and small-scale battles, and certainly weren’t scary by any standards. But if this demo is anything to go by, Dead Space 2 is more comfortable in its own skin. Isaac is too powerful, and his enemies too lethal, to be restricted by the old survival horror staples of clunky controls and lumbering combat, something Visceral seem to have realised.

However, the crass and ungainly Dante’s Inferno showed that there’s a limit to the depth and grace of Visceral’s ideas. Many of the enemies we saw here were a little too familiar, as were the weapons, with only one completely new firearm - a Javelin Gun which pins and electrocutes enemies - present in the demo. As it is, Dead Space 2 needs something new and distinctive to make it truly stand out from its predecessor. That may or may not come in the form of the game’s multiplayer mode, but what we’ve played so far feels more like a straightforward refinement than anything truly new. It’s a conscious attempt at teasing out the first game’s niggles and building on its strengths. It’s a commendable intention; but it remains to be seen whether that’s enough on its own.