Dead Space: Extraction - Videogame Review

Okay, I haven't felt like I could review a videogame for a while now. Not least because I think you need to finish a game to review it... Unless it's a negative review and the game reaches a stage where it becomes impossible/pointless to proceed. But also because I couldn't be arsed. In this case, I feel like I need to write something because I can't help but feel that other reviewers on the net are missing some important details.

So first of all let me note that I haven't played the original Dead Space. I had no idea how story-driven this game was going to be, but I kind of got used to that. (Though nonsecateur recently asked which was worse: videogame dialogue or dialogue in porn - and I had a hard time defending the former. Admittedly this was not while playing DS:E, but during an early level of No More Heroes - which btw tahu , asides from the clunky dialogue is every bit as awesome as you'd been hyping it up as!)

It kinda feels like the Doom movie plot (where humans are turning into monsters from hell) turned back into a game again. It also comes off a bit like a FPS version of Eternal Darkness (a game where the characters often find themselves halluncinating things as the evil messes with their sanity). So there was plenty to like about the premise. The problem is that the story isn't actually told that well and I cannot help but think that this is probably because it expects me to be familiar with the previous game (for which this is a prequel). As such, there are all sorts of details which are undoubtedly passing me by.

Another issue is the gameplay. I know that the game is supposed to have me shooting in the dark in order to give a sense of horror, but half the time I really cannot see what I am supposed to be shooting at. Not only that but the game seems to be judging me on how often I miss the "aliens" even though I'm often firing wildly with an automatic weapon or spraying fire with a flamethrower. Also, occasionally I'm given the option to look around (most of the game is on-rails with no option of looking from side-to-side) and there's this beeping which tells me I'm running out of time to do this. During these sections I'm convinced there's something I'm supposed to be looking for and failing, but for all I know it's just an opportunity to pick up items. Items which - I must add - are often hard to differentiate from the dim lights which are found all over the place.

Still, there are some good ideas for an on-rails shooter. Every now and then you have to shake the wiimote to turn on a kind of torch in the darker parts of the game and that torch will need to be relit every now and then. Still, there were plenty of pretty dark bits where this wasn't available and that felt a bit odd. Another good feature was the stasis, um, balls or something... They are these shots you can fire (only a few at a time) which will freeze an enemy and give you a bit more chance to reload your guns without being overrun. Also the guns have two fire options, so short-range weapons may have a long-range function or automatic weapons may have a slow but powerful charged-up option.

Now finally the big important issue for me here. I knew that Dead Space: Extraction was going to be short. It's an on-rails shooter. I know from experience that they aren't generally very long. Normally they work through replay value (with Ghost Sqad being an excellent example of how well this can work). Actually by on-rails shooter standards DS:E is pretty long, but this is partially due to the large amount of dialogue which interrupts the action. The bigger problem I had was that the game pretty much ends on a cliffhanger. While this cliffhanger might seem pretty good to someone familiar with the original game "Dead Space" it was completely incomprehensible to me as a player unfamiliar with that game. No, I don't have another console. When are they releasing Dead Space on the Wii? Never. Oh. Damn.

So yeah, that was great fun for one day's gameplay. But it's left me deeply unsatisfied and rather disinclined to play "challenge mode" or play over on greater difficulty when I know that the story is never going to be properly resolved. Meh.... (Cross-posted to Nintendo Wii)