I don't just play games

I also review them.

So here a review of a game I picked up recently.

Dead Space: Extraction

Described as a ‘Guided First-Person Experience’, Extraction takes the humble Rail-Shooter and gives it a nice fresh coat of paint. Or, to be more accurate, a nice fresh coat of blood.

Comparisons to Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, are obviously going to be made, so let’s get them out of the way now. Extraction has a much better feel to it then Umbrella Chronicles. While Umbrella Chronicles is a fun game to play, Extraction takes Rail-Shooters to the next level, offering far more immersion than Umbrella Chronicles did. You don’t just feel like you’re moving from room to room killing things as they move onto the screen, you do actually feel like you’re the person you’re playing as. Part of this is due to the movement of the camera, which shakes about a lot more in this game, but I’ll get to that later. For now, let’s concern ourselves with Extraction.

Graphics – 8/10
The graphics in Extraction are good. Very good. If you’ve played the original Dead Space, you’ll easily be able to see that things don’t look quite as good as they did during your first trip on the Ishimura, but considering that the Wii emphasizes gameplay over graphics, I feel this is rather an unfair comparison to be making. The graphics are very good though, with lots of blood and gore that you’d expect from a game that has you ripping creatures to pieces.

Sound – 7/10
For the most part, you’ll be too busy blowing things to pieces to care about what music is going on. And that’s why Extraction doesn’t have that much of it. It mostly leaves things being very quiet, so that when something does jump out, it’s all the scarier. Sound effects from Dead Space make their return; with doors, items, menus and creatures all sounding like they did in that game. The voice acting for the characters, while not going to win any awards, is at least good enough to listen to.

Gameplay – 8/10
As I already stated, gameplay has a much better feel to it than Umbrella Chronicles. Blowing the limbs off of your enemies seems a lot more satisfying than scoring a simple headshot, and the ability to slow down your enemies lend a small element of strategy when large groups attack you. The camera moves around like you’re actually looking, running, whatever. And the fact that you can see the other characters in your party at times is also a nice touch. It removes the idea of cut-scenes, allowing events to flow smoothly from one to the next. The additions of small puzzles help to divert from the constant blasting of the creatures, although there are times you need to do both. The controls are also tight, melding all the abilities from Dead Space, such as Stasis and Kinesis, onto the Wiimote and Nunchuk. There are a few issues though. Sometimes the camera moves around so fast, that by the time you’ve seen an items it’s already beyond your reach. And the game can sometimes seem a little unforgiving, throwing so many enemies at you you’re never sure what you aim at. And while the difficulty isn’t in the extreme, its potential difficulty might put some people off.

Lifespan – 6/10
I purposefully took my time with the game, playing it one or two levels a day. And while this did help to extend its lifespan, it does leave something to be desired. It isn’t a long game, although some of the levels can last over 40 minutes a piece. The main story is only part of it though, as there is a challenge mode, but there’s no real incentive to play it, as all the unlockables are on the main game. And while you can play through levels on harder difficulties, again there is little incentive to beyond the simple challenge. The only real incentive to replay levels comes from finding all the Text Logs and Weapon Upgrades, but that’s about it. But what is there is very fun, and shooting creature limbs off never does loose its charm.

Final Score – 8/10
While the game is very good and enjoyable to play, I felt there were some things that could have been improved, and some things that were just lacking altogether. Considering this is Visceral’s first game on the Wii though, I think they did a great job, and while it’s not perfect, it leaves room for improvement, which is never a bad thing.

Buy or Rent?
If you’re the kind of person who likes coming back to games, or if you enjoy ripping things to pieces, than it’s worth picking up. However if you’re only curious in the story, or aren’t sure if it’s for you, then renting it for a few days would probably be better.

And there you have it. I hope the review was helpful for you.

Goodbye.

Oy