Review: Dead Space extracts thrills on Wii
Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 7:07am by Derek
“Jesus Christ, we just killed someone.”
You didn’t want to do it. You weren’t supposed to do it. But you had to do it. You didn’t have a choice—right? You saw it. He was slashing, gnawing, scratching…clawing at that…person. If you hadn’t cut him in half, you would’ve been that horrifying smear of lifeless flesh on that cold steel floor. If you hadn’t killed him, he would’ve killed you.
I mean, he would have—wouldn’t he?
Murder has long been a staple of our medium. Whether we respond by flattening marching mushrooms or firing white-hot rounds into the temporal lobes of those who oppose us, many video games ask us to kill. Far fewer, however, are willing to explore the psychology of the deed and the whirlwind of emotional turbulence it must provoke.
Dead Space: Extraction is far from a thesis on the subject, but it often toys with that psychology through a lens of physiological and mental decay—are you killing to stay alive, or are you just killing?
Shortly after Extraction begins, you watch in horror as they pull a person to pieces, and as their attention shifts from the iron-touched flavor of warm blood to the rhythmic thumps of your pounding heart, you can kill these deranged, wild-eyed murderers or die. The choice seems simple enough, but soon afterward, you find out it isn’t.
That’s when Extraction’s bleak, tragic narrative is at its best.
An all-new prequel to Visceral Games’ outstanding 2008 survival horror game Dead Space, Extraction’s dire tale begins on Aegis VII, where a mysterious stone formation is discovered. Religious fanatics call it a “marker,” worshipping it as a conduit for the afterlife, and as ideological tensions smolder prior to its controversial excavation, the colonists begin to clash. The violence strikes a horrifying crescendo with the sound of synchronized pistols—a mass religious suicide.
Things begin to go horribly wrong on Aegis VII.
October 26th, 2009 at 8:14 am
SOunds good, sounds exciting, but just not gonna pay $50 for something that will take a couple of hours to beat. Has to be cheaper, but I’m glad its getting good reviews.
October 26th, 2009 at 11:39 am
I agree with you. This should be a $39′er. I don’t want to buy any potty mouth games so it’s irrelevant for me.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
I rented this over the weekend and have to say that I really enjoy it. Kind of a slow beginning, but picks up pretty quickly and I love it!
October 26th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Ugh… While this game has high production values, visuals, and story, it just should be a TPS… I’m one of the biggest light-gun/rail-shooter fans on the planet so I can tell when I game is supposed to be a rail shooter and excels in the genre (House of the Dead Overkill) and when the game would be better off in a different genre (DSE, RE:UC).
Not a bad game, but why not put in the effort to make it a 3rd person action experience? This whole “let’s test the Wii waters with a rail shooter” bulls**t is getting on my nerves.
If you want a rail shooter, save your 50 dollars and buy House of the Dead 2&3 or Ghost Squad. You could pick these both up for 15 dollars and they are two of the genre’s best.
October 26th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Great review , however from what my friends have said about the title, its price tag, and other reviews I have read, I disagree with the score.If I can pick up Batman and Borderlands for under 40 dollars the DAY they first come out, there is no way in hell this title should be 55 dollars. Based on the lack of value alone the title should score much lower IMO.
“Not a bad game, but why not put in the effort to make it a 3rd person action experience? This whole “let’s test the Wii waters with a rail shooter” bulls**t is getting on my nerves.”
I agree 100 % with you, and , apparently with crap sales, so do the consumers! I can tell this review was written with a lot of passion and love. However,4.5 stars seems a little over the top for a rail shooter and such a short game, even for a fanboy site.
This game COULD have been so much more than it was. Maybe if someone gave me a free copy for review, I might give it a higher score than it deserves, or if I was a fanBoy, desperate for a good third party title on the Wii, I would be blind to its very short and restricted on rails gameplay.
Last week for $54.99CND at future shop, Wallmart, or bestbuy I could have picked this game up for my Wii. Why the hell WOULD I when I could buy Boaderlands for $39.99CND on the 360 that same day? Or BatMan for that same low price? Give me a friggen break.
Its not that the Nintendo Wii gamers DONT want to buy third party titles, its that they either lack production value, gameplay/ repaly hours, or are too expensive for what they provide.
If you look at the sales of this title, you will understand why it should have been $39.99 at the get go. Defend it all you want FanBoys, the sales figures don’t lie.
to bad, I hope for something better for my Wii in the future !!!