Dead Space: Extraction

Our much-delayed review of the Wii horror shooter

It’s glaringly apparent that EA has high hopes for its Dead Space property becoming a milkable franchise in the vein of a Resident Evil or Halo. The first game was barely on the shelves before a slew of tie-ins started to roll out from some corporate netherworld. We can’t think of many times that a new IP has generated so much ephemera so quickly, from an animated film to a series of comics to an art book and limited edition lithograph.

Whether or not this marketing glut had any effect on sales or critical reception we can’t say, but the space horror title shifted a more than respectable number of copies and made a fair few ‘best of 2008’ lists. A full-blown sequel is due to arrive next year, but in the meantime Wii owners can finally see what all the fuss is about courtesy of prequel Dead Space: Extraction, a “guided first person experience” that developer Visceral hopes can rejuvenate the stumbling lightgun genre.

It’s certainly a laudable aim. On-rails lightgun games have a proud history but have all-but disappeared from most gamers’ radars. Of this generation’s three home consoles, only the Wii has exhibited any love for the genre, with the likes of Ghost Squad and Link’s Crossbow Training fitting the old-school niche rather well. Extraction can certainly compete with the best lightgun titles available, and is head and shoulders above the lamentable House of the Dead: Overkill. But its innovations are slightly too underwhelming to escape from the niche; although a fine game, Extraction is really nothing more than an exemplary ambassador for a dying breed.

Characters you care about? In a lightgun game? Craaazy!

In a similar style to the Resident Evil gun games, Extraction’s plot is used to expand and add depth to the main story canon. Taking place shortly before Dead Space’s Isaac and his cohorts arrive on the scene, Extraction puts you in control of a number of characters from the Aegis VII colony at the beginning of the Necromorph crisis. One thing this game does much better than its predecessor is characterisation, with credible dialogue and a largely-British voice cast investing the game’s dramatis personae with just enough personality to make you care about them without descending into the melodramatic clusterfuck that was HotD: Overkill’s undoing.

Pacing is handled equally deftly, particularly in the game’s opening level. Visceral really are masters of wringing every last drop of suspense from any given situation, and with the action switching from relatively calm moments to chaotic firefights at the drop of a hat you’ll constantly be in a state of tension while playing. And the Necromorphs are just as scary as you remember.

The combat itself is lifted directly from last year’s game. So expect lots of “tactical dismemberment” using mining tools and enemies that can be exceptionally tough to kill even at the lowest difficulty settings. The stasis and kinesis modules make a return too, with each offering extra tactical options. Indeed, although the fights lack the instant appeal of a Ghost Squad, there is more room for experimentation and technique than in any other lightgun game we’ve played.

Dead Space veterans will also recognise the zero-g situations that are scattered throughout Extraction, as well as the innovative in-game HUD. Visceral has packed Extraction with a variety of puzzles and set-piece moments that offer a welcome distraction from the basic genre gameplay, for which they deserve to be commended. “Guided first person experience” might sound pretentious, but at least the developer has strayed from genre norms where possible, making for an experience that feels more modern than a simple rails shooter.

Extraction comes recommended then, but with a couple of caveats: it’s as short as you’d expect a light gun game to be, and replayability isn’t quite as good as the developer seems to think: a couple of branching paths don’t really change the experience enough to make a second run feel fresh. And while co-op is perfectly possible, Extraction is really much more suited to solo play. Particularly late at night, with the volume up and lights down.