Gamertell Review: Dead Space Extraction for Wii

Title: Dead Space Extraction
Price: $49.99
System: Wii
Release Date: September 28, 2009
Publisher (Developer): Electronic Arts (Visceral Games)
ESRB Rating: “Mature” for blood and gore, intense violence and strong language.
Pros: Engaging story with great characters, excellent action and controls, fantastic graphics, a couple decent bosses and great two-player co-op.
Cons: Prolonged dialogue hurts replay value, froze at one point, somewhat short, too many hallways and not enough scares.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up; 91/100; A-; **** out of 5

Caveat Lector: This review contains spoilers.

Electronic Arts should be ashamed of themselves.

In Dead Space Extraction, they’ve got the best rail shooter (or light gun) game available on the Wii - and arguably on any platform - and they’ve done next to nothing to let anyone know about it.

The developer videos made available did little to pique my interest and it wasn’t until well after its release that a former coworker convinced me to give it a try. That’s why this review is so late but you should trust me on this: Don’t miss this game.

Dead Space Extraction is the prequel to last year’s Dead Space for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. That game saw a comic book and an animated movie—Dead Space Downfall—tie-in to promote it. EA must’ve thought that was enough momentum to help sell Dead Space Extraction but I knew nothing of any of these (and I still don’t care to). Even now that I’ve completed Extraction, I’m happy enough to keep this entry contained within itself.

It’s that damn good.

Understand, though, you have to be willing to accept certain things to share this view of the game. As mentioned, it’s a rail shooter, so you have no control over where you’re going; you just aim and shoot.

On Rails, No One Can Hear You Scream

Don’t get stuck visions of House of the Dead, however. Extraction is not just another mindless variation of shooting carnival zombies ducks in a row. Presented in the first-person, camera movement is designed to make you feel like you’re actually there. You don’t just stare straight ahead, you react. You may be shooting at oncoming aliens but, if you hear something behind you, you’ll turn to look.

You seek exits and cover. You check on your companions. You’re still given the necessary time to kill what needs to be killed, but the developers use this to create actual space. You feel like your part of the environment, even though you’re actually just being pushed through it.

Another element that could be good or bad, depending upon your expectations, is the story. It’s basic—bad things are happening, eliminate bad things, escape—but it’s told from within the gameplay, not through the standard cut scenes at the beginning and end of each level. This keeps you drawn into the game, as the interruptions to the action are relatively short.

However, you can’t skip them. You won’t care on the first play through but, if you have to replay a level, you’ll quickly grow impatient.

Rail shooters are generally great for playing with friends, but if you’ve gone through Extraction once, you likely won’t want to do it again anytime soon, even with someone who hasn’t previously played the game.

Ishimura, We Have a Problem

This brings me to co-op play, which is perfectly implemented.

A second player can hop in and out of the game at any time without breaking up the action. The limited camera control and weapon slot selection is still left up to player one, player two simply provides more firepower. If you’re on level four and a friend wants to play, let him join you right there. No need to create a new game profile or start from scratch (although you can certainly go back and replay any completed level).

Sacrificing replay value is worth it in this case, however, as it makes the first run-through much more engaging. This game is not played for comic value, as in House of the Dead: Overkill.

These characters felt real. I liked them. I wanted to see them get out alive. Even some of the secondary characters (a couple of which you actually control for a level). They take turns showing moments of strength and weakness and develop a logical relationship with one another as moments of fear and relief take over.

It’s very, very well done but, if you don’t care about story and character and just want to slice up aliens, you’ll find all of this getting in the way.

Nice Planet. We’ll Mutate It.

Unfortunately, Dead Space Extraction isn’t all that scary. It’s intense but never frightening, working better as sci-fi action than as a horror-survival game. This may be due in part to the similarity of the aliens (and their behavior) throughout. If a species is going to take over and mutate dead human bodies, into how many forms would they mutate?

I don’t really need a wide array of aliens for a game to hold my interest but a wider array of locales would’ve helped. Whether on the surface of Aegis VII at the beginning or the spaceship Ishimura for the final three-quarters, you’re largely just running through dark hallways. I never got the sense of what either location actually was.

Likewise, the developers never really explain what you’re fighting. Yes, there’s this crazy suicide cult and a bunch of people flipping out (told in the game and in the bonus video comic included) but who was I fighting? The couple of bosses you face give the impression it’s something very large and plant-like, but you have no idea how this thing fits in with the Marker.

Also, the game froze on me at one point, a rarity with a Wii title. The game didn’t lock up, it just left me stranded in front of a door that wouldn’t open.

Extraction. It Was Fun While it Lasted.

Still, upon completing Dead Space Extraction, I felt a bit empty. This may be due in part to its unnecessary cliffhanger ending (unless Visceral is planning a sequel, they really should’ve just made up their mind) but is largely because I wasn’t done with these characters. I grew to like them, thanks to some excellent acting and mostly believable dialogue. I want their adventures to continue.

Ten levels was too short, especially since it took until level 10 before you see Lexine stomping on a dead alien out of anger and frustration. Totally hot.

So, I hope there’s a sequel. Not Dead Space 2 but Dead Space Extraction 2. Sales of this game have not been great, though, no thanks to EA, so I don’t have much hope. Considering what the protagonists go through in this game, however, I guess that’s in line with the general theme.

Site [Dead Space Extraction]