At a Glance

Dead Space was one of last year's surprise hits for PS3 and Xbox 360, offering an atmospheric and chilling twist on the deserted space-ship style survival horror style FPS genre. The game had great direction and pacing combined with superb sound effects that moved the genre forward. Dead Space Extraction is the Wii instalment of the series, and takes the form of a prequel to the previously released game. The events in Extraction take place before those of the Dead Space game, and contemporarily to the events of the Downfall animated movie. A group of colonists from Aegis VII are fighting an invasion of Necromorphs. Unlike the previous Dead Space game, which was a free-roaming affair, Extraction is an on-rails shooter, like the House of the Dead style games. But developer Visceral Games is promising to take rails-based shooters to new levels with the game. Dead Space Extraction retains much from the previous version, such as strategic dismemberment, weapon upgrades, stasis, telekinesis, alternate-fire modes, but it also introduces new characters, enemies and weapons, and features new puzzles and co-operative multi-player gameplay. Electronic Arts is really viewing Dead Space Extraction as a test of whether "mature" games can fly on the Wii, since it brings new and different content to a franchise, rather than just a graphically watered down version of the PS3/360 title. And while Extraction's graphics may be low res, they are as visually stunning as users have come to expect from the series, and there's all the blood and gore that the previous game had, too. The result is a frenetic, fast-action gore-fest with all the violence, horror and action that will appeal to Wii shooter veterans and Dead Space fans alike.