Hands On: Dead Space Extraction

By Joe Haygood | June 7, 2009

Ever since it was announced, there have been a lot of ups and downs regarding Dead Space: Extraction.  Some look at it as a simple on-rails shooter, while others have proclaimed it one of the best titles to hit the Wii.  I have yet to see any middle ground on these fronts, but after I got to actually play 10 minutes of Dead Space: Extraction, I became sold on the concept of a “guided” shooter.

So there you have it, the words “guided shooter” have been thrown out by me and the community managers as well.  So what does that mean and how does it differ from a House of the Dead standard on-rails shooter?  Well, for starters, you do get a full range of vision that is controlled by the nunchuck stick.  No longer are you in a fixed perspective when following the rail.  It does not sound like much of a change, but when you have things attacking you from either side, you like knowing that you can swivel your head a bit to shoot at an enemy.  Without this mechanic, I think you would lose the big gaming mechanism that makes up a good part of Dead Space, and that is the flanking of enemies.

So as I started up my tour of Dead Space with senior designer, John Callhoun, he grabbed a second controller and asked me if I would mind if he joined me while playing.  So there you have it folks, there is full drop in-drop out co-op play for Dead Space Extraction on the Wii.  The co-op works really well, and allows you to find items together in the environment, although the primary player controls the turning of the head.

As with its older brother, Dead Space: Extraction is all about strategic dismemberment.  You are always making sure to aim at limbs.  Hitting a body in the chest cavity would do little to no damage, but a well placed plasma cutter to the arms and legs, would instantly cripple and possibly kill the enemy right away.  The strategy of shooting limbs makes you count and conserve ammo, as you never want to be out of rounds in the middle of a swarming back of Necromorphs.

Right now, a few months from release, the game is one of the best looking games coming to the Wii in my opinion.  The enemies look really solid, and there is not much in the details that is missing from Dead Space on the 360, PC and PS3.   Some of the locations look like they came from the first game, and still have effective use of shadows and lighting to give Dead Space: Extraction an atmosphere of fear for the player.  Some of the other humans you run into looked a little off, but the bad guys are all here in exquisite detail and ready to be hacked to shreds.

The Extraction team also made a point of making sure to capture all of the gore and violence that went into the first Dead Space.  Blood is in no short supply here as you blow off limbs, heads and any other appendage that you can shoot off of the Necromorphs.  Dual mode weapon attacks are available, and there are several new weapons for players to choose from.  John mentioned that the development team did not want to hold back in creation of the game, so the carnage that was prevalent in the first Dead Space was translated to Extraction.

With my time up, I came to the conclusion that I really do like the feel of Dead Space: Extraction.  It is not a free roaming shooter, but with the constraints place upon it, we now have a Dead Space game on the Wii that captures the vibe and feel of the original Dead Space.  Look for Dead Space: Extraction to come to the Wii on September 29th, 2009.  Thanks to Ben Swanson and John Callhoun for hooking Aeropause up with some time to play.