Dead Space: Extraction lets players roll through all the events that lead up to Isaac and crew rolling through the USG Ishimura in fear of getting back off with their lives physically and mentally stable. Even why some of the areas of the ship look like they do and why they are barricaded so well. This all comes neatly bundled up in rail shooter style on the Nintendo Wii. Let me break it down for you here.
Controls:
Just like any of the other Rail Shooter style games, the controls consist of you pointing at the screen and shooting. Something made extremely easy with the addition of the Wii Zapper in your gaming arsenal, but still very doable even without. The basics of shooting are about the same using either setup with the only difference really coming in when you get to the various firing types Dead Space is known for.
Each weapon has a secondary form of firing. The plasma cutter is the easiest to describe and visualize for this control. In the PS3/XBox 360 game, the alternate fire was that the beam would shoot out vertically instead of horizontally. This is the case in Extraction, only instead of pressing a button to flip the gun, you physically perform the action with your hands. This leaves you firing all "gangsta" style. Before you ask, no the alternate firing is not just changing from vertical from horizontal. Each weapon is different and has an original firing mode when titled this way. The flame thrower shoots fireballs instead of a constant stream of flame.
In addition to this, you have the melee mode for the game which works just like you would think. You point the Wii Mote (gun) of screen and shake the nun chuck. Doesn't sound all that exciting or cool right? Well when placed in the Wii Zapper, you actually can swipe the gun much like how Isaac did in the first game. I'm talking that you are actually making the pistol whip motion with the Wii Zapper instead of just shaking controllers. Which if you mod your zapper to look like the plasma cutter would make it that much cooler.
I will say that the TK Gun and the Stasis gun where clunky and under utilized, respectfully, in this game. The TK Gun, fired by pressing the Z Button, would react very slow or fire extremely off. Which when you only have seconds to snag something, it can make the game extremely difficult to upgrade and collect ammo. It just seemed best to keep pressing with no real timing needed to snag things. Where as the Stasis gun, fired by the C Button, was something I only used during a Boss Fight where you needed to use it to beat it. It was the slowest to launch and hardest to aim, and outside of the required moments, was not utilized by me at all. It was too frustrating to try and use it normally.
Graphics:
I will say that the graphics, while not up to the PS3 and XBox 360 standards, where extremely good. That is saying something for a Wii game. In some cases, the grainy overlay that came up would add a bit to the tension of the game. Not to mention that creatures were rendered a bit off when at distances making it much harder to land a hit while they were still a distance away, giving the player a sense of reality. Whether this was intentional or not, it worked well to add a little something to the visuals of the game.
Speaking of the visuals of the game, I will say that they are up to the creepiness and Mature rating of the first release. The dismemberments and mutilations to the human flesh in the game was not dumbed down in the least bit for the "Family" console. There was even a bit of Wii Nudity in the game. Visceral did not hold back when it came to this just because of the platform and took care to keep everything up to snuff for franchise fans.
Audio:
Just like the original Dead Space, the audio in this title was just as creepy. This is especially true when you have your surround system set up correctly. The scuttle noises and whispers will drive you mad and fill you full of fear while playing this game, whether at night or during the day. The 3D audio adds to the overall experience just like the visuals. In fact they meld together just so perfectly it will begin to make you feel like you are trapped on the ship and a Necromorph is going to come running in at any moment.
One other thing I love, and Dead Space has been just as good with it as the TV series Firefly was, is the sound in space. There is none. Unlike other movies and TV shows would have you think, there is no sound in space. In Dead Space, everything is turned off but the bass while running around outside the ship. Only the bass that you would be able to feel while in the dark of space, like your gun fire reverbing through you or the explosions rumbling your feet. Outside of that, the only other thing you hear is if someone is talking on the internal com system. This is just something I love and adds an extra bit for me.
Gameplay:
For the most part, this is just another rail shooter with a few different controls and a really engaging story. You point and shoot. You reload and continue shooting. You move along doing this until you reach the end of the game. So what makes this step out a little bit as a different rail shooter then? Well mainly the story and visuals of the game, but there are a few little extras added in that are slowly becoming staples to the genre: like the lack of ammo and only one weak gun with unlimited ammo. I do mean weak too. This is something that wasn't even in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles. In that game, the hand gun was still pretty handy, but the rivet gun in Dead Space: Extraction is only handy when you take the three seconds to fully charge the shot.
One other addition that was fun and frustrating at the same time was the hacking system in this title. There was nothing new to hack into using a mini game, not to the genre or gaming in general. What was used here was an Operation-style game to connect the circuits in the right way to bypass whatever it is you need to bypass. You have to draw in the line from one node to another while not bumping live wires or security shorts. Sometimes they are easy straight lines, but sometimes there are many turns and moving objects to work around. A nice little extra game play feature.
Fun Factor:
While at first you might think that a rail shooter is a rail shooter and they can't be much different besides story and visuals, this game actually puts that thought through its paces. There are so many things added to the genre with this game, like sometimes the creatures you are shooting at only exist in your head so you are wasting ammo. It's a fun little mind trip because you never know when the designers are messing with you or not. Something to keep you on your toes while playing just conserve ammo.
On top of that, while playing with others, it can also have a mini game added in to see who is going to horde the ammo or snag the upgrade first. They fall out or appear so randomly that you can make a game of "who is going to snag it first" as a background to the main game in general. Sounds childish, but it adds even more enjoyment to the game and makes it something fun for the adults who want to play on the Wii.
Overview/Final Words:
I will say that when I got my hands on this game at E3 and then again at Comic Con, I was a little iffy on how this would add to the franchise. A franchise that has revitalized my love of Survival Horror in gaming. I mean it's a drastic deviation from the style I was use to playing the game, but it worked for Resident Evil. It works here too.
This game adds so much to the Dead Space franchise, and in fact, has me wanting to play the first game again as it would continue right where this one ends. Extraction is the prequel after all. It is a definite own for anyone that is a fan of Dead Space and wants more to the story than the Anime and Game gave in the first place. Also if you are looking for a reason to dust off the Wii and play a mature game that is actually Mature, Dead Space Extraction is a must add to the collection of fun party games. I'm still working on a drinking game for this. Although it could lead to a lot of broken glass due to the shocks and scares that accompany the game.
