Classic Review: Dead Space Extraction

[Remilia Scarlet]

THE FALL OF A COLONY.

 

 

Where do I begin? I guess... the fact that this game even exists is a good place to start. That was Visceral's first mistake. Dead Space Extraction released in 2009 on the Nintendo Wii, a console known to be a family friendly device. Why Visceral thought that a Wii Dead Space would be a good idea is beyond me, but whatever they were smoking, it needs to be confiscated, because, quite frankly, this game blows. 

 

Beginning of the outbreak

 

Extraction is the prequel to the 2008 game, and takes place immediately before and during the initial outbreak. You play as Nathan Mcneill, a P-SEC officer sent from the USG Ishimura to investigate a disturbance on the Aegis VII colony. At least 60 people have committed murder, suicide, and other violent acts, for unknown reasons. Almost immediately, McNeil and his buddy, Weller, and a survivor, Lexine, get caught in massive outbreak, and attempt to flee the colony. The rest of the game is spent trying to stay alive long enough to get out.

 

It's an interesting premise, and a fitting beginning for the series (watch Dead Space: Downfall if you want the breakdown of exactly what happened on the Ishimura - it takes place during the events of Extraction). However... it falls flat almost immediately. Almost all the major plot points are told via exposition - long, drawn out, painfully boring exposition - and anything interesting is logged in the text files that you never have time to actually grab. It doesn't help that all the text files are positioned in out of the way corners of the screen. 

 

Endless, boring exposition peppers the dialogue left and right.

 

Character dialogue is average at best and cringe worthy at worst. The script is mediocre, the set pieces predictable, the scares non-existent. It has the feel of a low-budget B horror movie that wants to be an action flick. The horror comes from the relentless and extreme violence, which there is plenty of. Visceral had an amazing chance to do suspense properly with an FPS, and they wasted it on spectacle. 

 

The characters are one-dimensional. They aren't interesting at all. They exist to be cut down, eviscerated, dismembered or shot. The one character with potential, Lexine, is wasted as the stereotypical girl in distress. 

 

The joys (pains) of motion control

 

The first of Extraction's many sins is the fact that it is motion controlled. While motion control is not inherently bad, I cannot stress enough that it was an absolutely terrible idea for this game. Dead Space is too fast-paced, too frenetic, for accuracy in an on-rails, motion-controlled shooter. I cannot tell you how exasperated I was trying to fight Necromorphs when the screen kept shaking and swaying from side to side. My shots constantly missed and led to my death numerous times - to the point that I just gave up trying to play the game, and quit for 6 months. The sad thing is, the motion controls actually WORK. If the screen wasn't so goddamn shaky all the time maybe I could actually get a shot in and stay alive!

 

Adding to the list of problems is the fact that McNeil (the player) loves to spin his head 360 degrees all the time. This makes picking up ammo packs, HP nodes, upgrades, and text logs nearly impossible because of the frequency and speed. During my run I was constantly low on ammo and health because I never had time to pick any up. My exasperation only grew more the longer the game went on. The Necromorph attacks were relentless and constant, which in itself is not bad - that's a staple of Dead Space, after all, but the constant swaying and turning of the character made these encounters almost impossible to survive based purely on virtue of skill. 

 

Character models and environments are nice, but it only reinforces how bad the combat is.

 

Further more, the actual combat is a chore unto itself. The reticule is slow and reloading is twice as long as in the main games. Granted, you can speed up reloads by pressing the square or L1 buttons twice, but it does little good. By the time a clip is fully loaded, the Necromorphs are already tearing into you.

 

A wasted opportunity to do something great

 

EA and Visceral had an amazing opportunity to do something truly spectacular with Extraction and they tossed it right down the drain. Riddled with plot holes, sickening camera movements, crappy combat, bad dialogue and a host of other faults, they took a gold mine and replaced it with lead. Dead Space Extraction had a chance to prove that origin stories could be good, but instead reinforced the idea that they are nothing more than a cheap cash-in.

 

Final Verdict: 4/10 - Bad

Edited October 24, 2015 by AnimeDreama

[Lonemankane]

I thought it was a good game not the best but over all good, I would not really care for the story for dead space games never really had a good from the start and if you played the games for the story then your playing it for the wrong reason.

[Remilia Scarlet]

I thought it was a good game not the best but over all good, I would not really care for the story for dead space games never really had a good from the start and if you played the games for the story then your playing it for the wrong reason.

 

For you, maybe. I don't know why you're playing the games, but Dead Space has a fantastic mythos when you strip away the extreme violence. That is exactly why I play the games. I like learning more Isaac's universe and the Necromorphs.

[Lonemankane]

For you, maybe. I don't know why you're playing the games, but Dead Space has a fantastic mythos when you strip away the extreme violence. That is exactly why I play the games. I like learning more Isaac's universe and the Necromorphs.

Yes the games world is cool but it's a game about you playing as a guy who kills aliens/ Neromorphs, the story is not really much to talk about, I play it for how good the combat is and the kinds of guns you use and the new things you can use in all of the newer ones of the games, games don't need a story to be enjoyed and most games now adays put too much into the story and not much into the combat making it a painful kind of game to play but the story is good.

Take the game alone in the dark the old one, the gameplay is a hit and miss the story however is very good, another game Fear, story is ok not really good but the gameplay is a lot better and more fun to play, with most story games you pick it up and you beat it and that is it nothing really to do in them it's like watching a movie you don't want to watch it again because you just watched it and to come back to it at a later date can bring back some of the things you got when you first watched it like if it's a horror movie some of the bits could make you jump again if you watch it at a later date then the day after.

[LunchCannon54]

You know you can play it with a standard controller, right?

I guarantee you'd enjoy it more if you did that.

Personally I loved it. Stripped Dead Space down to its bare essentials and was absolutely great fun using all of the weapons and blasting all of the Necromorphs with impunity with the amount of ammo the game gives you. 

 

I do however agree about the collectibles. Some of them are a real pain in the arse to collect because it being a rail shooter they're on the screen for a few seconds then they're gone. There's a particularly bad one in Chapter 7 I think it is that is almost literally right at the end of the level, and is only collectible for a brief instant as you turn around, and of course if you miss it you have to replay the entire level just for that brief shot at it again.

Other than that though yeah I loved it. Will go back and try for the Platinum eventually. 

[Lonemankane]

You know you can play it with a standard controller, right?

I guarantee you'd enjoy it more if you did that.

Personally I loved it. Stripped Dead Space down to its bare essentials and was absolutely great fun using all of the weapons and blasting all of the Necromorphs with impunity with the amount of ammo the game gives you. 

 

I do however agree about the collectibles. Some of them are a real pain in the arse to collect because it being a rail shooter they're on the screen for a few seconds then they're gone. There's a particularly bad one in Chapter 7 I think it is that is almost literally right at the end of the level, and is only collectible for a brief instant as you turn around, and of course if you miss it you have to replay the entire level just for that brief shot at it again.

Other than that though yeah I loved it. Will go back and try for the Platinum eventually.

I think the same

[Arabian_Glory]

Big fan of the series I haven't tried extraction yet but after reading and watching a couple of reviews I don't think I'll ever play this one Ill wait until they release Dead Space 4 or a good spin off

[TheYuriG]

Ah, I disagree with pretty much the whole thing.

 

if you played the games for the story then your playing it for the wrong reason.

If he is playing games because he wants to, he is playing for the best reason. It's not upon any of us to judge.

[Lonemankane]

Ah, I disagree with pretty much the whole thing.

 

If he is playing games because he wants to, he is playing for the best reason. It's not upon any of us to judge.

yes but if he is reviewing a game he has to put on the table what others care about then just the story, but am not looking to start fights on small things like this I am just saying what is on my mind.

[TheYuriG]

 

yes but if he is reviewing a game he has to put on the table what others care about then just the story

He did, he talked about gameplay, collectibles, story, motion controller, camera, characters... pretty much everything.

 

am not looking to start fights on small things like this

I'm not either, just don't agree with the "if you are playing for X reason, you are playing wrong" statement. People can play any game for any reason they want, let them have it. Just saying.

[Lonemankane]

He did, he talked about gameplay, collectibles, story, motion controller, camera, characters... pretty much everything.

 

 

I'm not either, just don't agree with the "if you are playing for X reason, you are playing wrong" statement. People can play any game for any reason they want, let them have it. Just saying.

I will, but I will stand on this though the game is best played with a normal controller

[TheYuriG]

I will, but I will stand on this though the game is best played with a normal controller

No arguing on that, I played on the DS3 and don't remember having any problems with the game, hence the first line on my post.

[Lonemankane]

No arguing on that, I played on the DS3 and don't remember having any problems with the game, hence the first line on my post.

yeah, the only thing I use the other move control is with house of the dead overkill or house of the dead 4

[Dantes_994]

I found the story of this game to be better than DS 1,2,3

[Leaderboards]

I was frustrated at first, but Extraction is pretty good.

 

Glad I decided not to skip it.

[JeManquedHygiene]

I thought the game was okay for an on-rail shooter (which, in and of itself, is arguably a mediocre genre that shouldn't even have survived past the 1990s).

 

I completed DS2 almost a year ago so it was nice to revisit some iconic rooms in the Ishimura. It did feel like a Dead Space game and it has some nice additions to the in-game lore if you're interested in that.

 

The shaky screen is annoying but you get used to it. From a trophy hunting perspective, the worst part of this game is picking up collectibles : the constant fear of not being quick enough and missing any is greatly detrimental to the enjoyment of the game, especially as there is no way restarting from a checkpoint.

 

Replaying some chapters to get 5 stars was tedious, but manageable as you'll get most of them on your Impossible run anyway. Challenges were pretty much a breeze with the maxed out force gun, but I felt there were too many of them. The last ones felt like a chore.