Dead Space Extraction
Dead Space was a new IP introduced last year by EA. The game itself was a survival horror game set on a spaceship and featured some very cool innovations. These including playing in a couple zero gravity environments, a stasis module that slow time, a telekinetic beam to move objects/draw them into you, and most importantly enemies that are most vulnerable to dismemberment.
Dead Space Extract is the second entry in the series and is a prologue to the first game. The game follows the story of the original outbreak of madness on the colony below. Being for Wii the gameplay was dumbed down to that of an on-rails light gun shooter, but tons of elements that made the original game so unique are still present in one form or another.
My biggest and only complaint about the original Dead Space was that it featured a silent protagonist and like most games that do, it was tough to identify with the character. For me, this generally creates a huge disconnect between the character and player as you can never understand what he’s experiencing and what his motivation and goals really are. I understand the concept is that the player’s feelings are supposed to dictate this, but I find it very rare for a game to actually pull that off. The only examples of the top of my head where the silent protagonist this has worked is maybe Half Life 2 or Chrono Trigger.
The game abandons this concept and gives you several characters to play as. Each is a fully fleshed out character and immediately the game hits you with a much stronger narrative. By the end of chapter 2 I was already more invested in the story then I was in the entirety of the first game.
AS the game is now a light gun shooter you can use the standard wiimote/nunchuck combo, or the wii zapper configuration. I’ve always found the Wii light guns to be much less precise than just holding the wiimote so I recommend that.
Like the original game you have dismember enemies to defeat them, and you also get back all the weapons you’ve had before plus some new ones. While all the weapons have different strengths and fire rates, there’s no visual difference between the shots. This is quite annoying as it’s tough to see what area you are hitting with each weapon. The effects from the original game made it obvious, now everything seems to just fire a bullet. Luckily, the limbs fly off much easier now, it’s like Ninja Gaiden 2, a single shot from most guns will separate a limb from the body, and the shots don’t have to be exact. Just hit the limb you want gone!
The secondary fire modes from the original game are back, but how you use is pretty funny. You have to hold your gun sideways and shoot to use the secondary fire modes. That’s right; everyone who’s ever held a light gun gansta style for laughs now has a reason to do so.
As you move through the levels there are tons of lockers and item boxes you can open to grab the items within. You can use your telekinesis to open locker, or grab any items lying around. You have to shoot the boxes to blow them open and they are all over so it’s tough to get them all. It’s important as there’s always ammo, and health inside.
Running out of ammo is a big deal because you’ll be down to your default weapon which is slow and have a very low ammo capacity, you’ll be reloading constantly. Reloading itself works like Gears of War, you shake the wiimote to start the process, and if you shoot at the exact right time you’ll reload instantly, but if you miss that time, you’ll have to wait for a long, and usually painful, reload process. Quick reloads are the key to kicking ass in this game.
One thing about the gameplay that really annoys me is how far away from the screen enemies can hit you from. In most rail shooters, the enemies have to get right up to the screen to attack you. In this game they can hit from pretty far away. This is a really annoying design flaw, because you’ll think you have time to grab a couple items and then get hit when you feel like the enemies need to come much closer. It takes some getting used to.
Finally the game features several modes. The story mode is broken up by chapters, and items you pick up will unlock new weapons and features throughout that and challenge mode. Challenge mode is just a mode where you mode through an environment while fighting waves of enemies, and getting points. Both modes can be play 2 player as well.
There’s also a bonus content section where you can unlock animated comics and some other features.
Dead Space Extraction has a couple serious design flaws, but it’s still a great game. It’s one of the best rail shooters on the wii, and is a great addition to the Dead Space series. Definitely worth checking out if you’ve played through the first one!
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