Dead Space: Extraction is yet another Wii game that I was skeptical about heading into E3. Having played the demo, I now believe that "guided first person experiences" can be worthwhile. That said, I hope the game brings enough to the table to warrant a purchase instead of a rental.

Dead Space: Extraction is a direct prequel to the first game; it even runs behind the timeline in the Dead Space animated movie released last Winter. It features an all new cast of characters and it has been hinted at that you would play the role of multiple characters as opposed to only the one you begin the game as.

Dead Space: Extraction looks beautiful on the Wii and I credit the developers for finding some unique ways to get around the Wii's hardware limitations. The game's dark color palette lends itself to masking the lack of anti-aliasing on Nintendo's hardware, and the quality work on the models is able to shine through because of this. Viewing this game from a distance, it could be easily mistaken for the Xbox 360 game.



All of the nifty gameplay features that made the original unique make returns in different capacities. Kinesis is now how the player picks up ammo and other items from the environment. Audio and video logs return to give the player a larger scope of the storyline. The guideline feature (known to some as the blue line of destiny) has been reworked and now offers the alternate routes through Extraction's levels. Stasis is the only feature which hasn't changed in function, it still allows players to handicap faster enemies and avoid environmental dangers.

The gunplay itself feels as great as you would expect, and I'm happy to report that the very creative weapons that appeared in the first game return alongside some new ones. The new weapon that I played with was basically a lightning gun that can chain electricity from one enemy to another. The gun wasn't very powerful on its own, but it was put to good use keeping large groups of enemies at bay. Alternate uses for all weapons make their return by twisting the Wii Remote ninety degrees and then firing.

Atmosphere is what sold the original Dead Space, and it is back in spades in this pseudo-sequel. Dark rooms, excellent voice acting and palpable tension have all returned. Prior to playing Dead Space: Extraction I thought the fear that was intrinsic to making the first game so great would be gone. The format of the new game allows for surprise, and suspense in ways that I hadn't thought of. Being an on-rails game allows the developer to perfectly orchestrate the growing sense of fear with the eventual payoff. Creating fear in this genre is more akin to a film than a game, as such this game is more like Ridley Scott's Alien than Resident Evil. This advantage is what will give Dead Space: Extraction the potential to scare us even more than the first game did.

My primary concern is with the whole package. Even if the target is to make this game as long as the original, (roughly ten hours) what is going to give the game some legs. All I ask of EA, Visceral Games, and Eurocom is to make me want to buy this game instead of rent it. Give me something that will last longer than a week.