Dead Space made something of a splash when it arrived on PS3 and 360 last year. The title looked good throughout development but its heady mix of challenges and brutal survival horror all coupled with a science fiction setting James Cameron would be proud of lead to many gamers holding it up as a shining beacon of a new IP. Never one to miss a trick EA have seized the opportunity to cash-in on that popularity with a new light-gun game for the Wii in the form of Dead Space Extraction. With Visceral Games at the helm this new addition to the franchise has the right creative talent but is it merely a pared down version of its big brother?
Well, to put things into context, Dead Space Extraction acts as a prequel to the events witnessed as part of the original game. Set on the busy mining colony where a mythical artifact is found this is an immediately more sociable game. From the onset you interact with a number of characters and will rarely find yourself alone. This changes the atmosphere of the story quite considerably – rather than being a lonely, tense experience Dead Space Extraction instead delivers brash thrills more akin to Left 4 Dead. Your band of plucky colonists journeys its way to the familiar Ishimura while facing down the newly mutated hordes.
The story itself is arguably a bigger focus for the game than its shooting. With levels lasting around half an hour you’ll spend at least half of that time listening to characters discuss the various crazy goings on. It’s a bold move on Visceral’s behalf and as you wield your Wii Zapper it might be one that you question. While the voice acting is entirely serviceable (it actually sports a very varied cast) there seems to be little surprise in the frightened tones of your comrades. This failure to provide convincing dialogue may well be partly be the fault of the visuals. While easily some of the best on the Wii the facial animation doesn’t allow for the range of emotion we are now becoming used to.
It may well seem odd to discuss these things before fully exploring the gameplay but, being entirely truthful, it feels as though it has taken a back seat to the establishment of a reasonable prequel. It’s a shame too as while the back-story of this universe is filled in with fairly bland material the actual combat delivers an experience worthy of description using the developer’s namesake. The third-person viewpoint adopted in the original game gave you the ability to retreat as enemies swarmed onto the screen you are afforded no such luxury here. In all enemy encounters you are pressed down upon by the size and ferocity of the approaching mutations – just as well you can slice them in half.
One of the more technically impressive aspects of Dead Space Extraction is the return of ‘Strategic Dismemberment’. This system allows you to target specific body parts in the name of taking out your enemies. Rather than relying on the traditional headshot the freaky bad guys may well need to lose a limb or lung before they hit the ground. Fan favourite weapons make a return including the Rivet and Line Guns. With a carefully timed shot, if you can manage it with the massive reticule, can deny a beast its ability to crawl anywhere near you and your health bar. This mechanic remains satisfying and the types of enemy are varied enough to require unique strategy.
A melee attack is made available after picking up a pick-axe as part of the story. This one item makes up part of an interchangeable inventory that allows you to alter your weapon load-out. That’s a flexibility that few light-gun games offer and the game is all the better for it. My personal favourite toy was the flamethrower as it made quick work of most enemies. Prefer to pick off those toes? The game allows you to play as you wish. You better be quick to grab the items that litter the levels however as you rarely have more than a second to reach out a telekinetic arm and grab a passing explosive.
That’s right, the telekinesis and puzzle solving make a return albeit in an entirely stripped down nature. While the rest of this spin-off game has made an effort to identify its own originality these sections are weak versions of more grand concepts. Lifting objects out of your way, shooting at specific targets to bolt down panels – these are not the intricate gravity puzzles that made Dead Space so intriguing. That weightlessness does make a re-appearance though as does the turret shooting section. Neither is nearly as impressive as the first game and its easy to question whether or not they were simply ported over to maintain a brand image. Regardless these sections add little and I would much rather have seen them replaced with more of the fun shooting.
Dead Space Extraction, when taken on its own merits, is a well developed, highly polished title that breaks the mold with its story-telling. Unfortunately for me I found the gameplay balance to be rather poor with the best of what the game has to offer being drip-fed to the player. As a stop gap between the inevitable number two game it plays the prequel card regularly with there being little incentive for new-comers to persevere with the story. One for the franchise fans only then and even they might end up being led back to replaying the original.
VideogameUK verdict: 6/10
